"The Game of This Generation"

There are too many arguments amongst today's gamers. 

Xbox versus PS3.   Call of Duty versus Halo.  Rock Band versus Guitar Hero.

However, there is one (and maybe only one) statement that the enitre video gaming community can agree on: Super Mario 64 is a video game "classic" and, as video game journalist Nate Ahearn argues, "It may be the game of this generation."

  

"If you didn't play Super Mario 64 when you were little, then you didn't have a childhood," states high school senior Ian Horner, and a lot of gamers would be inclined to agree with him.  Super Mario 64 is held in very high regard amongst video gamers, but is it deserving of this much praise?

Based on its story, no.

While most games that are considered "classics" are supported by strong storylines, IGN's Hilary Goldstein is one of the many gamers who enjoyed the game but don't think much of the game's plot.  "On paper, the storyline of Super Mario 64 is laughable.  A plumber named Mario is on his way to the castle of Princess Peach, his royal girlfriend, to eat some cake that she baked for him.  Bowser, an evil turtle with a spiked shell, kidnaps Princess Peach and takes all of the kingdom's Power Stars with him.  Oh no!  Now, it's up to Mario to re-collect all of the stars by retrieving them from the castle's paintings, and save the Princess!"

Not exactly a script worthy of "classic" status.

"I don't get why the writers at Nintendo get let off the hook all of the time for their poor writing," says an angry Ben Croshaw.  "I don't care if they are creating a game that is marketed towards casual gamers.  Casual gamers aren't brain dead, but the writers at Nintendo certainly are if they think that a game with this plot is worthy of anyone's money."

Regardless, gamers don't consider this game a "classic" for its story, but rather for its gameplay.

"Super Mario 64 was the first great 3-D platformer," says Goldstein, "and it has laid the groundwork for every platforming game ever made or to be made."  Throughout the game, Mario shows off his surprising athleticism by pulling off acrobatic moves such as jumps, backflips, and wall jumps in order to find those missing stars.  "The large, detailed 3-D enviroments provided players with playgrounds in which they could make the best use of Mario's moves while also taking advantage of the vast freedom given to them by the game," says Goldstein.  As Mario preforms these amazing feats, he lets out enthusiastic shrieks of joy with each move, "just to let you know how much fun he is having.  And, over a decade later, its still hard not to smile when Mario happily screams 'Yipeeeeee!" at the top of a triple jump."

Super Mario 64's soundtrack delivers as well, providing gamers with simple, upbeat tunes that have stayed with gamers until this day.  "While I think the Mario franchise is more overrated than the Miami Heat, I can't deny the fact that it has some damn catchy music," says Croshaw.  Local college student and self-proclaimed video game fanatic Chris Jester takes it a step further: "If you don't remember the theme song for Bob-omb Battlefield (the game's first level), then something is seriously wrong with you."

Predictably, Bowser is defeated, Mario saves Peach, and everyone is happy in the Mushroom Kingdom (until Bowser turns right back around and does the same thing all over again in the next game).

And, most importantly, Mario finally gets to eat his cake.

"Don't Think, Feel"

The most creative game of all time?

Every once in a while, something comes along that is so different and revolutionary that it changes the way that people think forever.  It may be looked over by some because it is so ahead of its time, but those who approach it with an open mind will be rewarded with an experience that is unlike any other.  For the video game industry, that something is Rez.

“If you could play through Rez only once, I’d have to wonder where your soul went,” says David Smith, a professional video game journalist at IGN (a video game news website). 

Rez is about as abnormal as any video game has ever been in the 30 year history of the industry. The game took over 3 years to make, yet it can be completed in just under an hour.  The controls consist of nothing more than moving the control stick and pressing the A button.  The game has virtually no story or back-story whatsoever.

So, what exactly is Rez?

Tetsuya Mizuguchi, head of the video game developing firm Q Entertainment and member of the Japanese techno group Genki Rockets, created Rez as, “an experiment with synaesthesia.”  Synaesthesia, for those who don’t know, is a euphoric state in which all of the body’s senses work together as one.  Since video games cannot affect taste and smell, Mizuguchi focused on connecting the player’s senses of sight, sound, and touch.

While that may sound strange, Mizuguchi managed to incorporate that concept into the entire game.

“The most difficult thing that I have ever had to do while [working] at IGN was to try and explain Rez’s gameplay to readers without making both myself and it sound completely stupid,” says David Smith.  Well, it’s time to attempt the impossible.

Each of the five levels in Rez is built around a music track mixed by a professional techno artist.  Levels begin by showing a plain black screen with nothing on it except for your character.  A very slow and basic techno beat plays in the background, and the player’s controller vibrates along with the bass of the music. 

The player’s goal is simple: shoot everything that moves, but what follows is what makes the game interesting.  Every time something is shot on the screen, it erupts into a colorful explosion and adds an effect to the music track playing in the background, such as a cymbal or a drum roll.  As the player advances through the level, the music picks up its pace, the in-game visuals increase in complexity, the more enemies there are on screen to shoot at, and the more exciting the game becomes for the player.  All throughout the level, everything on screen moves in tandem with the music, the controller vibrates with the bass from the beat, and the soundtrack builds up to a climactic sequence in which the music, the visuals, and the difficulty is turned up to the highest level of intensity.  The senses of sound, sight, and touch act together as one.

Synaesthesia achieved.

Mizuguchi had very high expectations for his synaesthetic shooter.  “With Rez, I wanted to create something more than a game; I wanted to create an experience.”  Looking back on it, Mizuguchi feels that he and his team accomplished that goal pretty well.

“The first time you see all of it in action, it’s kind of breathtaking,” says Newman junior Braden Weaver.  Junior Gary Brenner feels the same way.  “As a fan of both techno music and video games, Rez was like the perfect combination for me.”  He continued, “I think that if I had to pick any game to support the argument of video games as an art form, I would probably pick Rez.”

So, if Rez was so mind-blowingly awesome then why isn’t it considered a video gaming classic today?

“There are several reasons as to why Rez is not widely acclaimed as the classic that it should be,” explains Nate Ahearn, also a video game writer and reviewer from IGN.  “For starters, it was initially released on the Sega Dreamcast in 2002, which was dangerously close to the end of the Dreamcast’s life cycle.”  Ahearn believes that the game performed poorly upon its release because at that time “everyone was picking up their shiny new Playstation 2’s.”

“Secondly, Rez’s uniqueness turned out to be a major disadvantage during the game’s marketing stages.”  Ahearn explains that since it was so much of a departure from anything that anyone had ever seen before, it did not appeal to the mainstream market.  “When given the choice between something unknown and unique and another generic FPS (first-person-shooter) that is almost identical to all the other games of its kind, the mainstream market will sadly choose the FPS every time.”

“Lastly and very simply, not everybody likes techno music and flashing lights.”  Ahearn believes that by creating a game built specifically around one type of music, Q Entertainment severely limited their possible customers.  “As artistic and amazing as I think Rez is, it’s just not everyone’s cup of tea.”

Mizuguchi recently announced his latest title, Child of Eden, which will be “a spiritual successor to Rez.”  “I’m counting down the days until [Child of Eden] comes out,” says Braden Weaver, anxious to get his hands on Q Entertainment’s newest title.  Gary Brenner is also excited about the sequel to Mizuguchi’s cult classic.  “I can’t wait to see what they can do with 8 years of new technology to work with.  I think is going to be something special.”

Mizuguchi declined to comment on the development of his newest game, only saying that “The fans of Rez will be happy, I promise.”

David Smith provides some advice for gamers everywhere: “If you own an Xbox 360 then you should do yourself a favor and download Rez for only 10 dollars from the Xbox Live Arcade.  There is no guarantee that you will like it, but it will be unlike anything you have ever played or experienced before.  So buy the game, relax, turn the lights down and the volume up, and enjoy your trip to Synaesthesia.”

                         

Rez gameplay video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAncDNDsv7s&feature=related

The Death of Sonic the Hedgehog

A fat Italian plumber and a talking blue hedgehog.

In 1999, these unlikely heroes were the video game industry's biggest and most recognizeable icons.  Mario and Sonic had elevated Nintendo and SEGA, respectively, to heights never before seen by any gaming corporation.  Obviously, Mario has gone on to rule the video game industry as a the world's most exciting and athletic plumber, but what has happened to Sonic since then?

Escapist Magazine writer Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw sums it up: "Over the last decade, SEGA has seen the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise die a slow, painful death, and their biggest fans have helplessly watched every second of it."

Sonic's last two games, Sonic 2006 and Sonic Unleashed, have been widely considered as two of the worst games in recent memory.  As IGN.com writer Hilary Goldstein points out, "We [in our IGN.com game reviews] gave Sonic Unleashed an abysmal score of 4.8/10, and Sonic 2006 a slightly more abysmal score of 4.5/10.  It's actually kind of sad; the combined scores of each of the last two Sonic games don't even add up to the perfect 10/10 score that Super Mario Galaxy 2 recieved just a few months ago."

So how did Sonic the Hedgehog go from being the video game industry's icon to the video game industry's punchline?

It all happened because of a little game called Sonic 2006.

"Forget about the broken, unresponsive controls.  Forget about all of the obvious plot holes.  Forget about the awful script and cheesy voice acting.  Forget that you only play as Sonic in one-third of his own game.  Forget about the insanely long loading times for visually unimpressive levels."

"Forget about all of those problems," exclaims a clearly angry Greg Miller, a professional video game journalist and longtime Sonic the Hedgehog fan.

"Even without all of those faults, Sonic 2006 was still doomed to fail because it went where no video game has ever gone and should ever go before."

Miller, pauses, takes a deep breath, and closes his eyes.
"Interspecies relationships."

That's right, in Sonic 2006, the blue hedgehog becomes romantically involved with a human Princess named Elise in what many video game fans have called "the most awkward relationship in entertaiment history."

"There are so many things wrong with this relationship, I don't know where to start," exclaims Miller, ready to begin his angry rant.  "Firstly, they are vastly different in terms of appearance.  Elise is at least two feet taller than Sonic and Sonic's head is wider than Elise's entire body.  Secondly, their relationship is so forced that it's hardly believeable.  It's a good thing that the voice acting is so unbelieveably bad that it takes some of the focus off of the terrible script.  The dialogue in this game made me want to vomit.  And thirdly and most importantly, they are different f*****g  species!  It's just disgusting!"

Miller's rant continued on for about 10 more minutes, but I think you get the picture.

"Sonic 2006 has aboslutely ruined Sonic the Hedgehog's repuation for the forseeable future," says Hilary Goldstein, a writer at IGN.com.  As the one of the first games ever to be released on the Xbox 360, Sonic 06 was one of the most anticipated games of year.  Fans were hoping that Sonic would kick off the new generation of console gaming with a bang.

Unfortunately, that anticipation ultimately destroyed the game.

Hilary Goldstein explains that, "In order to capitalize on the large number of gamers looking for a good first game to buy for their Xbox 360, SEGA rushed Sonic 2006 out the door far earlier than they should have.  They did not give their development team enough time to finish the game and, surprise, people weren't happy with paying $60 for an unfinished game."

While Sonic 2006 sold well upon it's release, it was met with very harsh reviews that severly crippled sales. 

"Every aspect of this game lacked polish, from the storyline, to the script, to the graphics, to the controls," says game reviewer Nate Ahearn.  "And all of that is assuming that you will be willing to sit through the frequent loading screens, which can last up to around four or five minutes.  It is very possible that the game spent more time loading the levels than I did playing them."

"Sonic 2006's plot becomes so convoluted that, around the halfway point of the game, the characters give up on trying to understand it and mindlessly wander around thoughout the game's final hours," says Ben Croshaw.  "They travel though time so often that it is hard to remember what has or hasn't happened yet at the period of time they are currently in.  I was expecting some answers to lingering questions at the game's conclusion, but I just ended up watching the credits roll with a blank look on my face.  Trying to understand the plot of Sonic 2006 is like trying to piece together a 1000 piece puzzle with only 20 of the pieces.  It's just incomplete."

But forget about the story, gameplay is what ultimately makes or breaks a video game.  So, how was the gameplay in Sonic 2006?

"I can't really comment on Sonic 2006's gameplay because the in-game camera wouldn't let me see much of it," says a sarcastic Hilary Goldstein.  "The little bit of gameplay that I actually got to see, however, was so unlike Sonic.  Sonic the Hedgehog is supposed to be the 'fastest thing alive', yet for some reason in Sonic 2006, he rarely ever sprints at full speed, choosing to lightly jog throughout the game."

But the problems don't stop there.

"Controlling Sonic's jumping and landing is hard enough to do on it's own, but it is made impossible by the fact that the camera seems to want to show you anything but your character," Goldstein continues.  While it is aceeptable for games to have flaws, a game with the number of crippling flaws that Sonic 2006 has is unacceptable."

Those who actually had the courage to play Sonic 2006 through to the end were in for one final surprise.  As Greg Miller describes, "The end credits began to roll, and I breathed a sigh of relief that it was all over."

But it wasn't.

"The theme song of Sonic 2 from the early 90's began to play and nostalgia kicked in.  Strangely, the music stopped momentarily and the high-pitched voice of rapper/singer Akon yelled "REMIX!" at the top of his lungs.  Listening to Akon's awful hip-hop rendition of the Sonic 2 theme was a fitting ending to my experience with Sonic 2006."

Miller, pauses, takes a deep breath, and closes his eyes.

"Just like the rest of the game, it destroyed both my childhood memories and my childhood hero."