Quote:At first glance it might be possible to look at Fallout: New Vegas and think of it as nothing more than an expansion to Fallout 3. It uses the same engine and the core gameplay has largely been kept intact, so it does share some resemblance with its uncle. But it only takes a second look to see that Obsidian Entertainment is placing its own unmistakable mark on the Fallout franchise. A new Hardcore mode, tweaked combat, weapon mods, gambling, and a game world as big as Fallout 3 are just a few of the things fans will be raving about up to and beyond the release of this next entrant into the much-loved game series. Obsidian, a development studio founded by some of the same people that created the original Fallout games, is back on the scene in a big way.
First, a little background info for those that perhaps don't follow Fallout as closely as others. These games take place in an alternate universe where Earth has gone through nuclear Armageddon, crushing society and splintering the survivors into warring factions desperate to scrape together an existence from the barren wasteland. The catch is that this alternate future is based upon the sci-fi comics of the '50s and '60s, filled with atomic cars and talking robots. Add in some dark humor, deep role-playing mechanics, and a wide open world to explore and you've got a recipe for Fallout.
New Vegas picks up three years after the events of Fallout 3, but don't expect the story to continue in a linear fashion. This is its own self-contained tale with its own original characters -- it stands alone. This time the setting is in the remnants of Las Vegas, aptly named New Vegas. The nuclear war didn't destroy everything out here in the desert, though there wasn't much to begin with. Things have held together relatively well all things considered, leaving plenty of places to explore from downtown New Vegas and the Hoover Dam to the towns and settlements of the surrounding Mojave Wasteland.
Fallout: New Vegas starts off with a bang. From a gun. Firing a bullet. Into your head. It seems that some people didn't want the package in your possession to make its scheduled delivery. These crooks leave you to die in the desert outside of New Vegas, but a strange robot with a cowboy personality who goes by Victor rescues you and brings you to a genial man named Doc Mitchell to get you all fixed up.
It's with Doc Mitchell that you'll go through the streamlined character creation and customization setup. Those who played Fallout 3 will be right at home here -- all of the same options exist for creating the look and feel of your character, plus a new age slider has been added -- but the entire process goes by much faster than the protracted childhood of the last game. In a break from tradition, the main character is not a vault dweller raised in a protective fallout shelter that many fled to as the war began. This allowed the developers to get you right into the action should you already be a veteran. After a few questions about your personality, adjustments to the SPECIAL (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck) base stats, tagging a few skills, and receiving a new Pip-Boy 3000 arm mounted computer, you're set free to run off into the wild blue yonder.
Adjustments to the structure of the opening moments have been made for both newcomers and experts alike. Rookies might want to settle in for some Rorschach tests, word associations and grim humor at the hands of Doc Mitchell while the game decides how to craft your base stats before heading outside for a series of tutorial missions.
Pros, on the other hand, can blast through the opening, pick their own stats, and skip the tutorial quests. They can even select the brand new Hardcore mode for some added difficulty. Be warned: Hardcore mode lives up to its name. Taking that option will make the game much more realistic by -- among other things -- adding weight to even little things like bullets, forcing the player to regularly eat and drink water to stay alive, requiring a doctor visit to heal broken bones, and making Stimpaks heal over time instead of instantly. Not for the weak willed, but Obsidian is promising a treat for those that make it through to the end.
Like most role-playing games, New Vegas starts off with a relatively straightforward task -- find out who left you to die in the desert. Along the way, you'll run into various factions and groups vying for control of the region and it won't be long before you get sucked up into the biggest confrontation of them all. The bureaucratic New California Republic is looking to move in and take over the Hoover Dam, a miraculously operational facility. The slaver crew known as Caesar's Legions has other plans.
But before you can get caught up in that war, you'll have to take your first steps towards revenge. That adventure begins in a town called Goodsprings, which is where many of the new features of Fallout: New Vegas begin to show their faces. The biggest of these are related to combat.
New Vegas is still an open world role-playing game and the combination of real-time shooting and VATS (a targeting system that pauses the game and allows for a more classically RPG style of combat) has not changed. Newly added is the ability to find and equip weapon mods and specialty ammo, further tweaking and improving an arsenal that already contains twice as many weapons as Fallout 3. If that Grenade Machine Gun isn't good enough, you can always add an extra mod on it to make its rate of fire even faster. Scopes, extra clips, special ammo and more can be found for most weapons, and every change you make to the gun is reflected in its look in the game.
Some additions have been made to the flow of combat as well, making New Vegas a much more flexible and fluid looking experience. During real-time combat, new camera options have been added and the mechanics have been tweaked. You can now aim down the sights like most standard first-person shooters, and the game options can be tweaked to add in the cinematic, slow-mo kill cam previously only available through VATS. If you do bring up VATS, you'll find new options for melee targeting including special moves. No matter your battle preferences, prepare for a similar gore fest to Fallout 3. During the demo I watched as the player took an uppercut swing with a 9 Iron golf club to the face of an enemy. His head flew off in a stream of blood.
Another major addition to the flow of combat is the new companion wheel. This is a single-player RPG and you directly control only one main character, but along the way you will come across numerous companions who might be persuaded to join up and help you out. With the companion wheel, you'll be able to quickly dish out basic commands to let your helper know whether to fight or flee. You'll also be able to much more easily manage their health and equipment. And if you make a dumb decision by giving a trained sniper a shotgun, the companion will let you know it.
There's lots of new firepower, for sure. But you'll need it when facing off against some of monsters that inhabit the area around New Vegas. As Obsidian has a history with the Fallout franchise, it is making sure that the longtime fans see things that make them get all nostalgic. New beasts like the mutant Big Horner are joined by some old foes. The Gecko (normal, Fire, and Golden variants) and the elite Supter Mutant Nightkin are back, the latter of which can switch on some active camo to make things extra tricky. While the Nightkin is invisible, you won't be able to target them in VATS.
Things get trickier yet when you add in the new armored defense some elite enemies can present. When targeting some of the stronger units in New Vegas, you might see a red shield appear on the screen. That would be your indication to switch weapons to something more effective. Perhaps a Plasma Caster would be called for.
If you haven't figured it out by now, my first look at Fallout: New Vegas was rather extensive, and it did a great job of showing off just how massive the game is. In addition to the opening town of Goodsprings, I also got a look at Primm (a real-life town that includes a roller-coaster), Novak, Black Mountain and the Helios 1 Power Plant. Along the way I got a look at several quests that ranged in complexity from simple Gecko hunts, to sniper defenses inside the mouth of a huge Dinky the Dinosaur statue, to giant set pieces that involved turning solar plants into massive solar weapons.
The most interesting part of the watching the quests play out came in the explanation of the extended system of notoriety and karma. Once again, you're free to be as nice or nasty as you please and your overall karma level will reflect it. At the same time, each faction or town you come across will react to your reputation you have with it. Help out the Brotherhood of the Steel and they might give you some protection or let you inside a locked down training camp. Piss off Caesar's Legion and they might send a hitman your way. Smaller towns might simply give you discounts…or tribute. With this system you're free to be both good and evil, shaping the way the world reacts to you along the way and ultimately affecting the outcome of your game.
I'm quite impressed with all that has been added and tweaked – Obsidian clearly did its homework and thought long and hard about what aspects of Fallout 3 could be improved upon without changing the formula too drastically. I've listed a lot of the new features here, but still haven't even gotten to all of them. Even the conversation system has been tweaked to better integrate all skills and better let you know the odds of succeeding in a persuasion option. And I didn't get to see the main strip in New Vegas at all – a place promised to hold surprises for those that can survive the treacherous road in.
If there was any disappointment with my first look at Fallout: New Vegas, it came with the look. Though work has been done on the engine to improve the flow of combat and conversations, little if any was done to make it more visually appealing. It will have been two years since Fallout 3 came out by the time New Vegas hits store shelves and the animations and character models are beginning to show their age.
For me, that's a small concession. All of the additions to the gameplay sound exciting and the core of what made Fallout 3 so fantastic is completely intact. Want more of a great thing with plenty of new additions to make it feel fresh all over again? New Vegas has your back.
Keep an eye out for Fallout: New Vegas this fall on Xbox 360, PS3 and Games for Windows PC. And stay tuned to IGN for much more leading up to then.
Fallout 3 was a really great game and all the changes so far sound like changes for the better, so I'm definitely hypes up for New Vegas. Hopefully this and Alpha Protocol are hits so that Obsidian can keep making new RPGs.
I want to bring to your attention something very important. First, let me start-off be explaining what this is about. I am a member of a movement called the Campaign for Liberty. We are an organization that was created with the campaign money that was left over from Congressman Ron Paul's political movement. We are an organization dedicated to the principles of full liberty, sound money, and a non-intervention foreign policy.
For the past few years, our organization has been at war. This war has been fought with the most dangerous organization America has ever seen: the Federal Reserve. Let me sum the system up in a nutshell: created in 1913, the Federal Reserve system has led to the destruction of our dollar. Through the mass printing of fiat--paper--currency, our dollar's purchasing power has been diluted. We have also seen the effects of inflation has the money supply continues to outweigh the demand for items on the market.
In 2009, Ron Paul introduced a revolutionary idea to Congress: HR 1207. If this historic bill is passed, it will, for the first time, give our government the power to fully audit the Federal Reserve system. Our hope is that by auditing the Fed, it will enrage the American people to the point where we will have the power to do what our Founders would have wanted:end the Federal Reserve system once and for all. As of now, Dr. Paul's bill has over 300 co-sponsors in the House. Through our efforts at C4L, we are making history day-by-day.
As of now, we are facing a big problem. Rep. Dodd from Conn. has introduced a dangerous bill called the "Fed Empowerment" bill. If this bill is passed, it will give the Reserve more power and control over the market system. If you don't already know, the Federal Reserve system was the primary cause of the 08 collapse when it manipulated interest rates to a point where investors were thrown-off, and a mass bubble was created that eventually lead to one of the biggest busts in economic history. Add to it the fact that the debt that the government owes to the Federal Reserve has grown to an ungodly scale, and you can see why it is time for the system that our Founders so despised must go.
This petition will be faxed to your reps to let them know that you do not want the Fed gaining anymore power. By doing this, you will be sending the government a message that it will never forget.
I want to make it clear that this is not about left or right wing policies. The acts that the Federal Reserve system have caused this country have caused people on both sides of the fence to look at the Reserve system with anger and dismay. The fact that 75 percent of the American public want to see the Fed audited shows that We the People have a chance to save this country from a collapse that will make the Depression look like child's play.
It is a flash game which is essentially a straight copy of Super Mario Bros.-- except you can now play using other classic NES characters. Each of them control like they do in their own games, and all have special moves unique to them. It's amazingly fun and very well-made.
You can play as:
Mario, from Super Mario Bros.
Link, from The Legend of Zelda
Bill, from Contra
Simon Belmont, from Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest
Samus Aran, from Metroid
and Mega Man, from Mega Man
1. Senkou no Night Raid [2 episodes]
2. House of Five Leaves [2 episodes]
3. Angel Beats [4 episodes]
4. Arakawa Under the Bridge [3 episodes]
5. Tatami Galaxy [1 episode]
6. Working [3 episode]
7. Rainbow [2 episodes]
Dropped:
8. Heroman [2 episode]
9. Kaichou wa Maid-sama [1 episode]
10. Mayoi Neko Overrun! [2 episodes]
11. Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou
12. Hakuouki [1 episode]
12. B Gata H Kei [1 episode]
Notes:
-Heroman features a standard plot about a put-upon kid who receives a giant robot which he then uses to fight evil invaders. Nothing new there, but the show has enough color and energy to make up for any shortcomings in the plot. I don’t know if I’ll finish the show, but it should be fun for a few episodes at least.
-Despite a premise that made it seem destined for utter failure, Kaichou wa Maid-sama is actually a very earnest shoujo romance. It’s got touches of humor, a strong female lead, and a male lead that’s actually a decent guy. On the flip side, it’s annoyingly generic in its plotting and seems like a ripoff of Kare Kano but without the visual uniqueness and energy.
-B Gata H Kei gets Dropped. DROPPED. Not quickly enough. It’s just so incredibly stupid, with no redeeming values what-so-ever.
-Hakuouki just didn’t catch my interested.
-Arakawa Under the Bridge has that special brand of weirdness that only SHAFT can provide. Some of the humor is stretched a bit too thin, but it had enough humorous moments and interesting quirks to keep me interested through the whole episode. I don’t know if I’ll stick with this one to th end, but I’ll definitely watch at least a few more episodes.
-Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou has a very interesting premise, a student at a magical school is pegged as the second coming of the worst dark lord in history, but it’s all squandered on harem nonsense and a parade of panty shots and other such fanservice foolishness. A pity, but hardly a rare occurrence in today’s anime market.
-Senkou no Night Raid is an action packed thriller about a group of Japanese secret agent in China during the 1930′s. They’ve also got some kind of super powers, one can leap through space and another can performs feats of extreme physical strength and so on. The historical significance of the period and location is pretty dark for Japan, so it’ll be interesting whether they touch on any of the atrocities committed in China or simply leave it as background.
-Working is a show that I should hate, but somehow I don't. It's a slice of life comedy about a average guy who falls in with a bunch of wacky characters that work at a local family restaurant. Somehow it manages to be funny without resorting to sexual innuendo and fanservice, which is much appreciated these days.
-Rainbow, about six kids in a Japanese prison in the mid-50's, is a show that I'd really like to enjoy watching, but it's oppressive depressing nature makes that very difficult. Everything is very downbeat and dark, even the art is stark and unfriendly. Also, all of the adult characters are perverted sadists with no redeeming factors at all, which makes the show kind of ridiculous even when it's trying to very serious.
-I haven't actually watched KissxSix but everything I've read and seen about it suggests to me that anyone in their right mind should steer far away from it. I don't think this show has anything good going for it whatsoever.
-House of Five Leaves a samurai drama, is one of the best shows this season. It's a slowly-paced series that focuses on the characters and their interactions and what they're all about rather than action or wacky hijinks. Very, very good show with some rather unique character designs.
-Tatami Galaxy is probably the strangest series this season. It follows a college student who has completely failed at love and so decides to make everyone else fail too. For a while, it works, but then he starts to have feelings for a female student who he has known for a while. It sounds standard enough, but the results are anything but. Utterly wild show in every way.
Alright, take the director of the Pokemon movies and have him do a sequel movie to a fighting force mecha show from the early 80′s. It sounds like a recipe for unadulterated mediocrity, yet somehow Time Strangers manages to be one of the most bizarre, surreal, and personal animes ever created.
In a way, I would liken this to Watchmen, even though it came out over a year before that famous comic. Both weave tales of heroes who had their moment in the sun, but when the war was over, they faded into obscurity. They’re all older now and one has turned his one-time fame into a successful commercial enterprise. Another is the Surgeon General. They don’t really see each other anymore and they’ve all got their own, somewhat boring, lives now. But when one of their own is threatened, they band together to fight. They outcome is very different, of course, and Time Stranger’s is an internal struggle, but the similarities remain nonetheless.
Remy, the female member of the Goshogun fighting force, falls into a coma after an accident. The other members of the group come together to support her and try to get her the medical treatment that she needs. It’s an uphill battle and the doctors have little confidence in her recovery, or survival. In Remy’s mind, she and her friends a trapped in a strange desert city where the locals believe that once its your time to die you have no choice but to die. Remy and her friends all receive letter claiming that they will die very soon, but they aren’t going to go down without a fight. As Remy’s letter claims that she will die first, they all focus on trying to keep her alive past the deadline to show the locals that there’s no such thing as fate.
While Time Stranger does have several action scenes, action is not the focus. Rather it focuses on Remy’s internal struggle and how she deals with almost insurmountable odds. She realizes that her death is almost a certainty, but she never gives up.
But let’s get one thing out of the way: Time Strange is 14 years old and it looks it. The animation gets the job done, and there are some moments where a lot is done with a little, but it’s not going to blow anyone away. More than anything else, that’s the main gripe with the show. However, it should, in no way, take away from enjoyment one gets from viewing this movie.
The music is a mix of haunting and surreal, with a pure 80′s power ballad at the end. Again, nothing truly exceptional here, but it holds up better than the animation and aids in setting th proper mood.
The main draw here is the characters, or, specifically, Remy. She is one of the strongest and most unique female characters I’ve seen in an anime. She can fight when she needs to, but it’s her strong will and never-say-die attitude that make her truly standout.
Specs: Directed by Kunihiko Yuymama, Released by Ashi Productions in 1985. Released in the US by Central Park Media, still available new.
Upsides: Great story with lots of psychological depth, interesting characters, strong female lead.
Downsides: Some of the animation hasn’t aged too well, some of the impact is lost by not having seen the original series.
Verdict: This is one anime movie that’s not to be missed. 9/10
Where to Find: Just about anywhere that has a decent anime selection.
Ghost Hound is a 22 episode anime series directed by Ryutaro Nakamura [Kino's Journey, Serial Experiments Lain] and written by Konaka Chiaki [Hellsing TV, Armitage III, Big O, Serial Experiments Lain] with some support from Ghost in Shell creator Masamune Shirow. Produced by Production IG. The series tells a layered story about a boy named Taro who is struggling to cope with the loss of his sister during a botched kidnapping more than a decade ago. With the help of a noted psychiatrist, Taro tried to figure out what really happened to him and his sister and uncover the mystery behind a series of strange dreams that he’s been having. As the story unfolds, it’s clear that there’s much more going on in the small, mountain town where he lives with his parents, things that threaten not just his life but the entire country.
Story
Thanks to Nakamura’s talent as a director, the series has an air of intelligence and importance that many series from the past few years sorely lack. The show often walks a fine line between surreal, bizarre, and frightening, often dealing with very strange images, particularly in the dream world that Taro finds himself in. The story unfolds slowly and builds towards and end that, unfortunately, feels a bit rushed and too simple for what came before. This is the series main fault: the finale. Everything leading up to the point was very good, although the second half couldn’t quite match the quality of the first. In particular, the final two episode feel very inconsistent in tone with much of the rest of the series. It’s definitely a series worth watching, but the finale should have been better than it was.
Animation
The soft, rounded faces and wide eyes of the characters is often at odds with the bizarre imagery and unique editing that appears in the series, but that tends more towards serving the purposes of the series rather than hurting it. It’s well animated throughout, except for the last few episodes where the budget seems to drop a bit. I’m not sure if there was meant to be more than 22 episode and it get cut short towards the end or not, but it does kind of feel that way in how the last episode has a few animation errors and an overall rushed feel to the technical quality. Overall though, it’s not an action-packed series with lots of movement, but it looks good for the most part at what it sets out to do.
Sound/Music
This is one area where the series really excels. It’s a bit hard to describe how good the sound work is for the series, but it’s done much better than a lot of other shows I’ve seen. Much of it is tailored to give a haunting and surreal feel to the action on screen, which is definitely appreciated during the first half of the series when it has a much darker tone. The voice actors all fit their parts pretty well, although Taro’s voice can be bit annoying at times. The music is equally well-done, although it often takes a back seat to the sound work, but that’s not a problem because not all series need to have music constantly pounding away.
Final Verdict
A good, sometimes great, series that’s brought down a few notches by a rushed, inconsistent ending. It’s disappointing considering the talent involved, and the quality of the first half to two-thirds of the series. Nevetheless, it’s still a worthwhile series and one for fans of dark, surreal anime series that have a bit more intelligence than most. 8/10
Specs: Ran from October 18, 2007 to April 3, 2008 in Japan. Currently available on DVD in the US from Sentai Filmworks.
What can we say about the TG-16? Well, it was originally released in Japan as the PC Engine on October 30, 1987, by NEC and Hudson Soft, almost exactly one year before the launch of the Sega Genesis. It launched in North America about two years later and was readily available in Europe through imports. It sold very well in Japan, outselling the Genesis, but was crushed in the rest of the world by both Nintendo and Sega. There was even a CD attachment, called the TurboGrafx-CD, the first for any home console.
But, in the end, it dropped to fourth place behind the Genesis, NES, and SNES in the worldwide charts, dooming it to obscurity with general public. Still, the system was not without its quality titles, which we will look back on in this series.
Here is a list of titles that I will take a closer look at:
Super Air Zonk, Gate of Thunder, Soldier Blade, Super Star Soldier, Blazing Lasers, Bonk's Adventure, Bomberman '93, Military Madness, Ninja Spirit, R-Type, Splatterhouse, Alien Crush, Devil Crush, Legendary Axe, Chew Man Fu, Parasol Stars, Ys I & II, Ys III, Lords of Thunder, Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, Dead Moon, Aero Blasters, Magical Chase, Neutopia, Time Cruise, and maybe a few others.
After I play through these games, I'll probably end with a discussion on how these titles hold up to similar games on the SNES and the Genesis. Maybe a little bit of discussion on graphics and sound as well, probably just gameplay for the most part though.
