La-Mulana

Swallowing your pride might surely happen sooner or later the moment you begin trying to explore the sacred ruins of La-Mulana, an independent platform puzzle game that recently got remade for the PC as well as WiiWare.

Playing through La-Mulana made me realize something that is deemed as inappropriate towards approaching this adventure. You are not supposed to be speed running, hack and slashing or trial and error your way through the ruins.

Instead, you are expected as an archaeologist to carefully unravel the many cryptic hints that await you, be it written on signs, tablets, skeleton remains or even more subtle objects or backgrounds. La-Mulana is a thinking man's game combined with action platforming.

Henceforth, it would be best if you started remembering, writing or taking pictures of each hint. Take heed of the advice the quirky gaming elder gives you through e-mails, and especially show your respect towards the ancient ruins of which celestial beings were once occupying these areas. Or else, divine judgment might find your way through those pesky electrical eyes.

Don't believe me? I angered the gods by reading upon a tablet twice which clearly said not to do so, thus activating hard mode. With more enemies spawned everywhere, the game suddenly became even more challenging.

My challenge aspect, of which I once wrote in another post, has faced a different dilemma here. Whenever I was absolutely stuck and clueless on how to proceed, I searched for help. Other than that, I tried my best to navigate, as a token of my respect towards the single designer that created this impressive title.

But, it has to be said. La-Mulana is one of the hardest games I have ever played, and it simply comes from the fact that the game is very non-linear, very confusing and very cryptic on how to proceed at certain parts. Regarding combat and platforming, I'm used towards those kinds of difficulties, but finding a way to progress through this at certain times is mentally challenging.

Nothing beats out the feeling of uncovering a new route by yourself finally though, such a huge reward to experience. A lot of endurance and patience will be needed for these moments. Getting stuck and being unable to proceed, I guarantee that everyone who plays this the first time around other than the developer himself will experience it.

Despite bearing a striking resemblance towards 2D Metroid and Castlevania games(or Metroidvania/Castleroid if you will), La-Mulana is king when it comes to multiple paths being available, as well as of purposeful backtracking.

The complexity of the level design and the obtusity of the puzzle design is compelling. It really is a genuine hardcore title, and also serious competition for other 2D action platformers. Puzzles are not my main interest in general, but the design seen in here is a large driving force for enduring them and continueing.

While Super Meat Boy's precise platforming and Dark Souls's methodical combat are excellent sources for hardcore gaming, La-Mulana uplifts the puzzle element so much, it demands to be played by anyone who is searching for a challenge in an entirely different way other than showing off practiced skills.

One more aspect that keeps you playing through this long adventure is the impressive soundtrack, each of the area's having their own theme. The songs are reminiscent of many classic 2D action plaformer games in the past in the sense that they encourage you to keep playing, and to keep remembering the precious parts.

To sum it all up, let me quote the Destructoid review's paragraph that catches the essence of La-Mulana's core gameplay,:

"If you go into La-Mulana like any ol' action game and don't pay attention to literally everything, you will find yourself wandering the halls lost and confused for hours. You can't take anything for granted, the faintest etchings on the walls could offer some hint as to what item must be used. You must treat every word, every artifact, every structure like it's the most significant thing in the universe. Read those riddles with the same focus you would dedicate towards open-heart surgery."

There are only 3 upcoming new titles left this year for me to experience regarding games, which are Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward, ZombiU and Paper Mario: Sticker Star. If they fail to be even better than this in overall, then I can say without a doubt that this remake of La-Mulana is my favorite and best game of the year 2012.

Rating: 9.0

Dark Souls

Dark Souls is a game that punishes you severely at the most in the early sections. After the tutorial of Northern Undead Asylum, the most ritual part of training for the upcoming battles seems to be Undead Burg, swarming with the undead.

Being able to play this sequel on my PC was a welcome addition towards accessibility from From Software's part. In this Prepare to Die edition, a few new areas and enemies alongside gear are included.

After I created a warrior class based character and ventured into the world of Lordran, at one point I farmed up until 30000 souls, which serves as the game's main currency for leveling up, as well as reinforcing, buying and modifying gear.

If you die, you lose your amount of humanity and harvested souls. But you are able to retrieve these precious currencies at the same spot you died on. However, if you die again before retrieving this, you will permanently lose it, which happened to me after farming that many souls.

Thus, after the emotional breakdown, I started over, took advice and tried a pyromancer now. Overcoming the difficult early parts finally, Dark Souls began to grow on me. Preparing to die means preparing to learn more and get better at a very difficult game that becomes easier the further you come.

Patience is absolutely required to survive, observe your enemies and defeat overwhelming situations. Even the weakest ones are still able to chain combo you to death at all times, leaving you most likely frustrated.

The graphics are stunning, in particular the foggy backgrounds foreshadowing other areas, and sometimes even large creatures. Not only that, the atmosphere is definitely polished here, as ambient sounds, medieval fantasy scenery and dark locations form together to create it.

Soundwise, next to the ambience, just listening towards the creature sounds, the weapons clashing, large objects and even your own character is subconciously ever present, either during or after playing.

However, there is hardly any soundtrack unless you battle bosses or visit neutral areas. But what little there is, surely makes up with it's quality. As for the story, it largely is implied in the background as fragmented hints as to what is happening in the present, with more interpretations available.

Interconnected areas engulf the experience of exploring the world furthermore, stimulating various routes the player could take and lessening backtracking. Unfortunately, I was unable to play this online. But I understand the nature of the player versus player mode involving invading others.

The methodical combat of Dark Souls feels like a fresh experience from the many current RPG's with either turn based or strategic options. As far as customizing goes, it has quite some details, although not as deep as say, Monster Hunter Tri, a similar game which I also played.

Anor Londo is easily my favorite location from this, with a breathtaking sky, beautiful architecture and some of the toughest enemies around. Including Ornstein and Smough, the most infamous boss battle of the game, pictured above.

There's also another online mechanic, which is being able to leave behind helpful messages for other players. And, you are able to make covenants with factions, boosting you in different ways. Co-op is available in the form of either other players, or given the certain conditions, summonable allies.

If you didn't know yet, Dark Souls is the sequel to Demon's Souls of which I will be able to play luckily very soon. They are definitely an example for other developers to take as far as challenges and difficulty go, combined with gameplay that is intriguing and designed well.

We need more of these kind of games. Less hand in hand linear tutorials. More prepare to die editions. I say, From Software, bring on Dragon or Death Souls.

Rating: 8.5

EDIT: Managed to beat Demon's Souls as well. Since the two titles are rather similar, I have decided not to write about the original. But rest assured, both games are definitely worhy!

What Makes a Great Horror

Opinions differ, but what makes a great horror? Let me try to formulate this into several segments. Each of them should be considered as my perspectives and ideas surrounding the theme of making an effective attempt at the genre.

And before you object to me, this list is meant mostly for horror movies that could be considered serious, so horror comedies do not apply today.

Originality

Without a doubt, the hardest thing to obtain is originality these days, and horror is no exception. Be it by the setting, an engaging plot, a creature almost unthinkable, weapons, characters, scenes, music and certainly not in the least, sound.

Sound

This is so important for the genre because it goes along with any haunting scenery, any creepy figure, any foreboding moment, any shrieking character, the list goes on. While visuals are the core definition of any movie, sound is arguably more important in horror. 

That doesn't mean that you need cat-scares(which are either false scares or loud scares) to make the lasting appeal all the time. A simple breathing process of a person during a suspenseful scene is enough already to make it effective.
    

Fear of the unknown

This doesn't necessarily have to do with originality, because sometimes, letting the wind gust through a scene with dark objects and a black sky beyond an old window, or hearing strange movements coming from the pipeworks inside the walls might be enough to set us up for something called fear of the unknown.

Sure, you could think that it's just the wind or the pipeworks making the sound, but what if there is someone else present? What if hypothetically, it's your little brother messing around, or it's someone blowing air in the next room?

The greatest horrors don't need visual or audible scares, they just need to mess with your mind and your fragile imagination.

Inspiration

 
And with this, I mostly mean real life situations. Current taboos or large incidents could serve as sources for future inspirations for horror media. If it successfully can drag some of the insanity of real life back into the horror, then that adds another positive aspect for it.

Believable graphics

I think that most people that actually care about this are the same ones that condemn CGI for many awkward and unbelievable moments these days. Good CGI exists, but the majority of them creates huge damage towards the overall experience.

How many times have you heard people say that a certain horror movie was interesting until the "CGI monster" came up? Sure, back in the last century, things weren't necessary great either with costumes and masks, but what I am trying to say here is that I would like to see believable graphics.

It doesn't have to be realistic all the time, just believable so that you could fear it.

High quality

 
Honestly, most horror movies are crap, it's embarrassing. High quality means that the director and it's team has taken care of qualified acting, editing, cinematography, special effects and any other technical effects I might have missed, aside from the elements that usually let the people see a horror in the first place.

Combine all of the above, and you have made a great horror for me. You have also made a great horror if:

-It offends
-It scares
-It's disgusting
-It makes you think that it's creepy insane

What Do I Fear?

Here's a little bonus post about things I personally currently fear:

Wasps

Moreso than hornets or bees, wasps have frightened me since I was stung by one of them on my left middlefinger during my elementary education years. The mere sound of them passing me by my ears is a provocative tactic in my perspective to back the fuck off for the otherwise harmless insects.

Most people are more afraid of spiders, but I don't happen to be. Mostly because of their lesser mobility movements to catch up with us silly humans. There are exceptions in certain kind of species that I believe are able to jump, but I am of course talking more generally about urban living insects.

Rollercoasters

Laugh all you want, but despite knowing very well that these attractions are safe to ride, it's an exclusive feeling for me. It's not that I ever have been nautious about them, but it's more the feeling of thinking that I am about to fall into the hole of terror, especially during those fast drops from high above.

Either that, or it is the feeling that I am not falling downwards, but rather thinking that I will fly upwards from my seat if this speed keeps up. And then there's also those rollercoasters where you are hanging instead or those sections where there are corkscrews, loops, twists or whatever variations there are.

Death?

Do I fear death? It depends upon when you ask me, as I have mixed thoughts about that. Not that I constantly think about it, but there are moments in life, random ones, that these thoughts can pop up. Sometimes I do fear it, thinking that there is nothing left and knowing that I must enjoy my ride at the very best during life.

Sometimes, I don't fear it, thinking that it will not only bring complete closure, it will give you the ultimate retirement as well, and you will hopefully be able to look back at a great life, given that you have reached an admirable old age.

I suppose that all three of these phobias are psychological related. I know of the first two that other people rather enjoy them instead, and about the third one, well, I think that most people struggle with it during those moments of thoughts as well, like me.

Retro Blog: Resident Evil

Amidst the mixed reviews of part 6, let's celebrate that there was a time when the franchise was untouchable; enter REmake. Praised with global critical acclaim, even if you started out with the original PSX version, or happened to play it for the first time on the DS, most of us will agree that the GameCube version is the definite one.

As my first horror game as a young teenager, I believe it's this game that brought me into all the horror media really good, including films, books, myths and stories. I remember the really scary parts with Lisa Trevor and the zombies/hunters breaking the doors just to fly in.

I was definitely frozen in terror by this. Not to mention that extremely haunting soundtrack, Resident Evil´s scenery seen in here remains beautifully scary. The hanging man from the residence area is one event I´d like to remind everyone that this game knows what it represents.

Fear of the unknown, of horrible creatures and of survival horror. Unless you play on Easy, the game´s amount of supplies is just about right, given the circumstances. You simply cannot attempt to kill every creature encountered, because that goes against the nature of the game.

Resident Evil has graphics which will probaply never look old enough to view, especially the backgrounds. After a decade, I replayed this, and I managed to beat it again, with tension and enjoyment for the eighth time. It´s my most beaten one out of anything else.

The plot, the characters, the mansion, I will probably remember them forever. This is a masterpiece and a classic comprised of two discs. Capcom managed to remake Resident Evil with such stunning results, that the impact can still be felt by me.

Gone are pretty much any cheesy lines from the original, in comes professional voice acting. Combine that with new areas to explore, new enemies, several changes and more bonus content plus a challenging difficulty on almost every mode, and you get REmake. 

It still is one of the scariest games I have ever played, but most importantly, it´s such a joy to have played through all of the different modes. Invisible Enemy, Real Survival, One Dangerous Zombie and Hard modes, combined with two characters.

Even if everything was crafted extremely well with this, I still applaud Capcom for making the decision to go revolutionary with Resident Evil 4, changing the course of the franchise dramatically. And while Resident Evil 5 and most likely 6 as well aren´t entirely true towards the horrific nature of the earlier games, at least the gameplay remains terrific.

Whatever the course of future titles will be, Capcom will always be able to look back at this and be able to remember that REmake is a great example to follow with inspiration. Revelations was a great direction, let´s see what´s coming up next.

Rating: 9.4

The Tall Man

Not to be confused with the villain from the Phantasm films, this is a new title from Pascal Laugier, the French director who brought us Martyrs(2008), one of my favorite modern horrors.

As my most anticipated title for this year, because of the director's potential, it was time to watch this during October, which by the way will have more horror related posts on the way. Not that this post is essentially all the way horror, but more of a mixed bag.

Children are being abducted in a small town, disappearing completely. The town folks are angered, worried and hopeless as it all happens so sudden and unexpected. Rumors have been generated as to the presence of The Tall Man being responsible for this, but there are no eye witnesses.

Jessica Biel from the first remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre(another reboot has been shown a couple weeks back) stars as the protagonist Julia. Amidst the folks of the town as a nurse, she is aware of the myth, but doesn't give it much thought.

Until her own child is abducted mysteriously, which she desperately goes after, but after a struggle in the kidnapper's car, she loses track of them and goes back to the town's local pub. There, something doesn't seem right despite her current shocked state and the help being given.

Suddenly, she must escape from the folks who notice that she has fleed the pub. Taking a secret hike, Julia reunites with the child. Midway through, a twist is revealed, turning the suspicion towards someone else. As Julia returns with the child at home, more insights are revealed.

I'm being obviously vague here, not showing you all details of the spoilers in order to protect the impact. But I can tell you this, the ending will eventually be recognizable mere moments after the quarrel near the caravan. And the mood of the film will have changed by then.

While The Tall Man is not a great horror or thriller, it does end with some food for throught. Thus, it ends up being alright, nothing too special, but as a standalone title, it stands out amongst the many similar ones who often have lame reasons for the vanished.

Rating: 6.5

The History of Nintendo

Comprehensive look at the vast history of the multinational company known as Nintendo Co., Ltd. It all started in 1889, when a small based card shop would eventually emerge slowly but greatfully throughout many decades.

With many interesting changes for Nintendo happening, shifting from markets again and again, and learning from mistakes and successes, they kept rising steadily. Personally I already knew a few bits of information before 1980 regarding Nintendo's history, including the hanafuda cards, the first 2 Color TV Game Consoles, some of their toys such as the Ultra Hand and Chiritori and interesting bits of trivia such as investing into Walt Disney, love hotels and a taxy company. 

But The History of Nintendo provided for me, as a dedicated fan, a whole new perspective of historical moments and products to read into. They created so many kinds of cards, many kinds of toys, many kinds of board games, many kinds of electronic toys, a vast amount of card games and even produced miscellaneous stuff such as rice, cane-prams and photocopiers!

Some of the most interesting new stuff I learned in here was amongst other things the Love Tester, the N&B Block, the Laser Clay System, the Shooting Simulations, the Kosenju weapons, the Kosen Denwa LT and the brief insight into Nintendo's most influential president; Hiroshi Yamauchi. There is no doubt for me that any fan of Nintendo's uncountable video games, whatever games they like, should definitely consider learning much more about their large, often forgotten era of emerging.

This is only the first volume of a series of books concentrated around the company. The second volume deals entirely with the Game & Watch games, and it's easy to think where they would go next with the third one.

Rating: ***