New Umbrella Chronicles preview

Yesterday, IGN posted up a new preview of Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles.

The fact that they refer to it as "Resident Evil: Fan Service" thrills me with anticipation since I'm mainly looking forward to story side of the game above all else. UC really sounds like a playable Wesker's Report. The gameplay doesn't look too bad either, especially with the weapon upgrade system.

The new Umbrella character shown in new screens throughout the net has finally been named and given a backstory as well.

"The character you see here is Sergei Vladimir. He was a colonel back when he was in the army, and people still call him colonel now. When his homeland (RUSSIA) collapsed, he joined up with Umbrella and became one of their executives. Since he's the one who founded Umbrella's private army section, U.B.C.S., he works closely together with them."

With his ties to the U.B.C.S., I'm hoping to see Carlos and/or Nicholai in the final chapter of Umbrella Chronicles.

thanks to THIA for the latter info.

Rampage: Total Destruction - Review

About a year back, Rampage: Total Destruction was released for Gamecube and Playstation 2 for the budget price of $19.99. Now it is available for Wii with an RRP of $29.99. Are the Wii extras special enough to justify that $10 price difference? Well, if you're a Rampage fan then, maybe, but if you aren't then probably not.

There are a total of 40 monsters on the Wii version - that is 10 monsters more than what the Gamecube or Playstation 2 version had to offer. All monsters have their own specific animations that are full of life. From the slimy slither of some to the snarling howls of others, they are all unique in their overall appearance and attitude.

Each monster has their own unique stats ranging from three attributes - crush (damage), jump (how far they jump), and run (how fast they are). Sadly, all 40 monsters share the same special moves that can be unlocked throughout the game by accomplishing various challenges. I can't help but feel that there could have been a little variety thrown in instead of the same exact moves per monster.

Each stage sets up a certain challenge ranging from collection challenges, eating challenges, boss challenges, and many other types of tasks to fulfill. These must be accomplished in order to gain the special moves for each monster and you will want to learn as many as possible since extra monsters can be unlocked from building up the current monsters.

Extra monsters are also hidden in each stage. Punch a certain block of a building with a certain monster to find a cryotube that will unlock another monster. As I said, a certain monster must be used to unlock others, so this will lead to constant repeats of stages if the incorrect monster is used. This can get frustrating if there is a certain monster that a player is trying to unlock.

The overall gameplay is the exact same as any other Rampage games. Destroy a town then move onto another. As already mentioned, there are challenges per stage that help to break up the monotony. There are even boss fights at the end of each area, but these feel like nothing more than just another extra challenge. Bosses are nothing more than a slightly more damaging tank or helicopter. The repetitive gameplay that haunts previous Rampages is still here in Total Destruction it's just got a new sugar coating on top with the new graphics and slight gameplay enhancements.

Speaking of gameplay enhancements, this time the stages are 3-D and your monster is allowed to move into the background and foreground while below the buildings. The buildings are 3-D for the most part - the monsters can move around the sides and across the front but not the back of the buildings.

The stages have some ups and downs with the new 3-D appearances. On the whole, it allows for more objects to appear in the area and allows the monsters to interact with just about all of those objects, but the new 3-D setup seems to make it hard to control aiming at times. For instance, flying objects are sometimes harder to knock down since the monster has to be lined up properly with them when attempting to attack. Say for instance you're trying to swat down a helicopter, you have to make sure that your monster is perfectly lined up below it when your monster jumps to attack. This can also mess you up when trying to grab a human - there are many times where I accidentally grabbed a garbage truck or some other vehicle while attempting to restore health by grabbing a human.

There are a total of 8 stages (cities) to conquer - the Wii version contains an extra Dallas stage. Each stage provides a new setup of buildings and threats that the monsters must overcome. As the game progresses it becomes noticeably harder as many more tanks, helicopters, SWAT teams, and army men start to gang up and the small buildings from previous stages are now replaced with large skyscrapers. The difficulty can get a bit cheap at times since the enemies can literally spam the monsters with bullets and wipe their energy bar down to nothing very quickly as the monsters try to perform their usual slow animations when fighting back. This is the way all Rampage games eventually get it seems and Total Destruction is no different.

Thankfully, to compensate that difficulty, each stage within an area can be continued from with an infinite number of continues once a monster loses all lives. Only the current stage must be redone instead of the entire collection of stages within an area.

The sound effects in Total Destruction can get a little annoying at times. Constant burps, farts, and cheap laugh sound effects litter the game. Not even the main menu is free from these constant noises! Eventually you can get used to it, but it is annoying at first. Many of the monsters have fitting sounds that match them however. The stage music repeats the same tunes quite a bit and they are catchy, though your monster will probably be so busy trashing cities that the audio will be like a distant memory.

The Wii controls for Total Destructions don't really utilize the controller that much. In short, with the Wii remote and nunchuck setup, swipe the remote to make a monster grab or charge a winding punch and perform an up down motion for a ground pound or building kick. Sometimes the motion controls are not immediately responsive, which can lead to minor frustration with the controls. The analog on the nunchuk is used to move the monster and A and B are used for the punching and jumping respectively. The controls feel natural once some time has been spent with the game, but there is nothing revolutionary here.

The game can actually be played with the Wii remote alone. Point up to move into the background, point down to move into the foreground, rotate to the right to move right, rotate to the left to move left. Yes, it is as chaotic as it sounds! It is interesting to try however. I would love to see someone master this way of playing so I could sit back and enjoy the novelty.

Total Destruction still has not changed enough to bring in any new Rampage fans. If you're a fan of Rampage however, then this is the best one yet and the Wii version is the most complete version out there. There's tons of variety in the monster selection this time around, but the gameplay still has not evolved that much - it is only disguised with new graphics and 3-D stages. If you can handle the repetitive gameplay of the previous Rampages then this is worth a try, if not then this game is not going to change your mind.

The Good

+ New 3-D stages
+ 42 unique monster varieties, 10 of which are only on Wii
+ New Wii exclusives - 10 new monster, 1 new stage, and Wii controls

The Bad

- Still has the usual repetitive gameplay that all Rampages share
- All monsters have the same unlockable special moves
- Cheap humorous sound effects can get annoying

The quarter crunching classic that has basically remained the same throughout the years finally changes just a Wii bit, but still not enough to draw in any new fans.

Graphics: 7.0
Controls: 7.0
Sound: 6.0
Gameplay: 7.0

And therefore Berserker dubs thee: 6.8/10

An interesting interview...

So a few weeks ago, I was interviewed about my Final Fantasy XII walkthrough by a blog by the name of AlphaZero. The interviewer sent me the questions by email and I answered them for him and that was that.

I kept checking his site and have finally found that he posted the interview which you can read here.

Little did I know that they would rephrase the questions in the style shown...

I considered emailing the interviewer about that after I saw it posted. I never have been good at taking jokes so I didn't see too much humor in it right away. I just wish that he would have informed me about the way it would be posted.

Anyway, it's no big deal. I was mainly just shocked at how it turned it out. It's just humor, right? I've had one reader comment (to me) that he got a good laugh from it.

Here's the actual interview through email:

Can you tell me a little about yourself beyond what's in your "About Me" on the walkthrough? School/Job? When you wrote your first walkthrough? What made you get into it?

My name is Kevin Hall. I'm 27 years old, live in Mississippi. I'm currently unemployed though I'm in the process of getting a job at the moment.

My main hobby is video gaming, which I suppose is very evident. It's been my main hobby for quite a while now.

The first walkthrough that I wrote was in the summer of 2001. I had a bunch of extra free time during college semesters, so I decided to try to write one for GameFAQs. I actually wrote it to try to win one of their bounty prizes. And yeah, I did win that prize if you're wondering.

It was much more enjoyable than I thought it would be, so I started working on guides during the summers when I didn't have anything else to do then I slowly started to write more often on a regular basis.

Is writing a walkthrough as altruistic as it seems? I mean, you produce this mammoth guide for people to use at no cost. Do companies like IGN and Gamespot pay you for rights to post your walkthrough? If so, how do you get paid? On a per-click basis? Even if you get paid, somehow I'm guessing the amount of work you put into the walkthrough makes your hourly rate pretty low. So why do you do it?

I write them because I enjoy it. It's the ultimate cure for boredom, and also I do it because it adds a lot more replay value to the game for me. With some of the games that I write for, I would usually toss the game aside after completing it fully, but while writing a guide, it gives me a new reason to go back through the game. I usually play through the game at least once before writing for it.

And no, there is no payment for the most part. I have done some Featured Guides that are exclusive to one site and received payment for those guides and I have received gift certificates or free games/services every now and then from other sites.

When you read a walkthrough, especially one for a big ole game like FFXII, you wonder how these people find this stuff out. A specific example is the Zodiac Spear, which you can only get by not opening certain treasure chests. I figure for stuff like that, you must rely on some inside information. Are you working with people who helped develop FFXII? Or is that something that you hear about from someone and then verify yourself? Or are you actually systematically opening and not opening every treasure chest in every permutation? (I hope not!)

Yes! The Zodiac Spear in particular was one secret that I had to find online - the GameFAQs message boards. There are a few treasure chests that were looked up online as well. I try to verify every single thing before I add it to a guide of mine, even if that means going through a long section of the game again.

And no, there is no help from the developers, either I learn about through the info online or it is from my own experiences. Some of the boss stats were taken directly from the FFXII Bradygames guide since it's impossible to find that info otherwise. Most of the writing in the walkthrough is based on my own experiences or reader submitted.

Was FFXII your hardest walkthrough to write? About how many hours did you put into it? What's the feeling you get when your walkthrough is finally ready to be released?

Yeah, it has been the hardest so far. But the experience wasn't near as bad as I thought it would be since I enjoyed FFXII so much during my first playthrough and didn't mind playing through it again or writing about it whatsoever.

I used to sit back and wonder how in the world a guide writer could write a walkthrough for an RPG. There's so much info! I suppose it all depends on how much you like the game.

I would spend about 5 hours a day (maybe more) on FFXII. I started in November and I guess you could say the guide was complete by January. I still don't view it as complete, but I've stopped working on it for the most part. There's still a few areas that I'd like to add... and I might do that before the year is out.

Out of the walkthroughs that you have completed, which one do you feel is your best work? What is your favorite gaming genre to write for?

That's a tough one, but it is between Shadow of Rome and Dead Rising. I was completely immersed in those two games and I feel that the guides that I wrote for each of them showcases that level of immersion.

I tend to stick with action games when writing a guide since they usually please me the most. I look for a game with a lot of replay value usually - something that I can get better at through extended play. Usually the harder the game is, the better since I'm always up for a challenge.

What is the community like? Is there competition among people to write the first/longest/best walkthrough? Or does everyone get along? For instance, I noticed that a guy named Alex also wrote a walkthrough for FFXII. Did you talk with him at all? Did you guys collaborate? Or are people very territorial?

I don't keep in touch with other authors myself, though I do visit the GameFAQs contributer board every now and then to read about some of the stuff that is going on with them and the site. The GameFAQs contributor board is a very solid community with a bunch of fine writers on it.

There's a little competition among us. There has to be some there for all of us to write well. I think every writer is a little conceited in their own way.

And no, I haven't spoken with Alex, or any of the other guide writers for FFXII, though I have emailed Split Infinity and sephirosuy a bit to discuss a few minor details on FFXII.

I'm the kind of person that prefers to work alone. That's just my style, though I would be open to some collaboration with the other writers at some point if they didn't mind.

How, if it all, has the walkthrough-writing experience affected your personal life? Have you made friends? Have you lost some? Does your family support you?
You mention that you want to write walkthroughs professionally -- how does that happen? Do you know anyone who makes a living out of writing walkthroughs?

I definitely have more online acquaintances. Not so many friends though since I tend to keep to keep a low profile most of the time.

My family is slightly supportive. They know all about this hobby of mine - throughout the family. Though it's not really something that I can sit down and discuss with them that often.

I'm really not sure how one gets into the business of writing a strategy guide professionally. For Bradygames and Prima Games, I have read that you basically just send off your resume after you post a guide up on GameFAQs (with a link to that guide) and hope for the best.

I still haven't tried that. If you look on Gameindustry.biz you'll find a resume of mine up with the other resumes though. I've just recently posted that up.

Do you get a lot of weird feedback? What is the oddest thing that has happened to you in your walkthrough-writing career?

Yeah, some of the feedback can get quite amusing at times, especially since I've wrote for FFXII. I've received an 80K email from a reader that just wanted to talk about his experiences with FFXII and give me some pointers. I had to spend about a good thirty minutes one night reading that one, especially since I'm a slow reader.

I have received a flame email where, when responded to, the reader actually commented on how much he enjoyed the walkthrough when he replied to my smart remark to his flame.

Also, I have received emails from the developers of some games that I have wrote for. One developer for Final Fight: Streetwise actually emailed me about my guide for that game and sent a whole bunch of Capcom freebies that he had lying around. I was quite shocked at his generosity in doing that, which is why that is often my most memorable email.

Thanks again for your time.

No problem. Glad to speak with you.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - Review

Many gamers' minds were set at ease when Metroid Prime delivered a first person action experience worthy of the name Metroid. Later Metroid Prime 2: Echoes carried the first person action experience even further. The series now ends with the last installment, entitled Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Like all great game trilogies, this one goes out with a bang.

Metroid Prime 3 is far more story driven than the previous Prime's, much to my liking. The gameplay has a few more cutscenes to offer but the cutscenes never get in the way of the action or exploring. To set everything up for you storywise, three bounty hunters besides Samus are sent to planets around the solar to stop the Phazon corruption of those worlds. Eventually something goes wrong with all contacts and Samus is immediately sent in to complete each of their tasks. This description is, of course, skipping the action packed intro however. The intro actually took me about 2 hours to complete!

The story has just the right amount of involvement to keep a player enthused while accomplishing objectives. Samus will usually be contacted each time an objective on a planet is complete and the voice at the other end will offer her advice on what to do next or inform her of any situation at hand and point out the next destination on her map.

Oh yes, I said "voice" there, as in voice acting. Corruption features a full voice over cast for every character with the exception of Samus - well she still grunts and yells a bit. The voices fit perfectly for each character and really help to make the gameplay and story more satisfying this time. The overall sound is basically like a standard Metroid Prime - it fits well and sounds very good with a surround sound setup.

Samus journeys to several different worlds in her spaceship and must stop the Phazon corruption of each world. Of course plenty of problems get in the way while attempting to put an end to the corruption leading to a full objective list for each new area. Samus starts out with many of her basic weapons - the morph ball, bombs, charge blast, space (double) jump. There is no need to track down every single item like before. Like all Metroids, she still has to backtrack to other locations (planets) in order to pick up an item that was previously inaccessible the first time through.

If you despised that portion in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes where Samus had to journey back to several areas to find previously invisible creatures like I did, then you'll feel relieved that there is nothing like that this time around. There are some items that she must recover later in the game to continue to the game's final portion but most of them are collected throughout the main journey. I only had to go out of my way to track down two of those nine items. No "Wind Waker triforce shard gathering"-type fetch quest this time - well, for the most part.

The action is still just as intense as the other Prime's, actually even more so than its predecessors. Boss fights are stellar as always. One boss in particular is one of the best I have seen in a Prime game - such variety in that battle! Normal enemies are more plentiful during this adventure as well. More enemy encounters are definitely welcome in a game with such enjoyable controls however.

Yes, as you might have expected, the controls keep the action running smoothly and allow for some instant precise aiming. Prime 3 still uses Z targeting to allow Samus to move around her foe, but this time she does not keep her arm cannon locked on to the target. While locked on to an enemy through Z targeting, the cursor can be moved freely, so you actually have to aim at your target this time instead of just worry about dodging. It helps to make the game a bit harder since you can't fully concentrate on dodging like the past Primes, but with pinpoint accuracy thanks to the Wii-mote it all works out in the end.

The controls in this game fully utilize the Wii-mote and nunchuk attachment. The entire menu of the game (main and pause) all require the use of the Wii-mote, which makes navigating them a cinch. There are many switches and levers that require the player to pull, twist, or pump using the Wii-mote. None of these are overdone at all - they are all placed at just the right spots throughout the game and offer variety when needed.

Samus also has a grapple beam that is used quite often in the game. Lock onto an enemy with a shield then throw the nunchuk forward (a throwing gesture, mind you ;p) to grapple his shield. Tug on the nunchuk and Samus will rip the enemy's shield away from him. The Wii controls are very responsive. For instance, while grappling an enemy, you can gently pull back on the nunchuk and Samus will pull her grapple back just a bit but the second you perform a tugging motion, Samus will jerk whatever item is grappled. By the end of the game, you'll be feeling like Omega Red, literally.

Her spaceship can be controlled to some degree when she enters the cockpit. There are a variety of options to choose from while looking around at the controls. Her spaceship plays a much bigger roll in this game than any other Prime. She can actually call it to a landing dock found further in a stage in order to travel to another planet or save and also use it to help out in a few other ways (puzzles and enemies).

Love it or hate it, scanning is back once again! A mirror image of Samus' face can be seen in the visor while scanning this time - this image of Samus ties into the game's story progression in a unique way if a player takes the time to notice Samus while scanning throughout the game. Scanning seems to have much more of a purpose than simply filling out a logbook this time however. There are credits that can be obtained from scanning certain mechanisms or creatures.

All of the credits add up to allow access to the game's bonus material from the main menu. There are red credits (scan creatures), blue credits (lore [research] scanning), yellow credits (defeat bosses or other powerful enemies), and green credits (received from friend cards). Friend cards are obtained from performing certain hidden tasks in the game and can be sent via an online connection to obtain green credits. I can't offer many details on the friend system since I'm locked out from that aspect with my current connection speed - I think each friend card yields one green credit when sent though.

Samus now has a super mode entitled "hyper mode" that she can activate at any time if she has at least one energy tank (hold down +). At that time, her suit is empowered with Phazon energy and she can shoot highly destructible blasts from her arm cannon. This mode can be both a blessing and a curse depending on how it is used. A meter is displayed on the top portion of the screen and this represents the amount of Phazon that can be shot and it represents the energy tank that is currently being used. So Samus is actually sacrificing her life energy for a more destructive blast.

An interesting aspect of hyper mode is that the Phazon can actually corrupt Samus' body depending on how long hyper mode is sustained - every activation adds to her corruption. Once full corruption is reached (meter turns red), all Phazon must be shot out of the body immediately. Failure to remove all Phazon from Samus' suit will result in death.

Corruption can also enter Samus' body from taking too many Phazon shots from enemies. In other words, you might be fighting with an enemy then all of sudden Samus is hit with a Phazon shot causing her corruption level to reach max. At that time, Samus will be thrown into hyper mode and be forced to fire out all Phazon from her body while the enemies are still attacking her.

This is a very unique mode that can make for some unexpected gameplay elements at any time with its blessing or curse aspects. Normal enemies can also enter hyper mode as well and must be taken down with Phazon blasts at that time so there is always a use for this mode and it is not just "there" like wasted gameplay abilities in some other games.

With the past Metroid Primes, I found that I was in a hurry to get through the main mode - didn't even consider trying to find all the powerups and items - but with Metroid Prime 3, I felt it necessary to hunt down every single item on my own before venturing to the last portion of the game. For the first time ever, I have achieved a 100% collection ratio in a Prime on my first playthrough. I'm also considering another playthrough, which is another first for a Metroid Prime game since I usually just toss them aside and look for another game once completed - might try a higher difficulty this time.

The only minor nitpicks that I have with this game are the doors. Just like in other Metroid Primes, the doors will simply not open every time for me and I have to sit and wait on them while venturing through a level - is there a trick to this? Am I racing through rooms too quickly? Also, the final battle wasn't as epic as I was expecting. The battle just before the final was fantastic, but the very final battle was plowed through too quickly. I suppose the rest of the game and the final area built me up too much. All of this is barely noticeable in a game with such a good blend of action variety however.

My final game time was a little over 24 hours for those interested and that is with 100% completion (not all scans though). I think all gamers will find something to enjoy here whether you like the previous Metroid Primes or not. The new control scheme and gameplay mechanics really add a bunch of variety that will keep any gamer type interested while attempting to remove all Phazon from the solar system.

The Good

+ Fun controls.
+ Excellent sound (complete with voice acting!)
+ Tons of action.

The Bad

- Final battle wraps up too quickly.
- The game ends. Games this good should not end. :(

From the action-packed intro to its ultimate conclusion, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is bursting at the seam with "win" material.


And therefore Berserker dubs thee: 10/10

Evil is fading, now its time to get corrupted!

I would be lying if I said that I picked up a Nintendo Wii just for the Resident Evil games. I had strong faith that Metroid Prime 3: Corruption would be one of the first games to fully utilize the Wii controller based on the information that I had read about it around when the Wii was announced. Well, I just picked up Metroid Prime 3 yesterday and it is fantastic so far! My right wrist is actually sore at the moment from a boss fight so I decided to take a break for a while and type out a blog entry.

I'll have a full review up in a few days once I get finished - and I have plenty to say so far. :)

"You toxic creature - did you imagine I'd simply allow you to run loose, corrupting everything you encounter?"

Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition guide

You would think with the lack of posts on this blog that I have been avoiding games or something. Heh, far from it actually. Whenever I write a guide for a game, I tend to run that game into the ground - trying boss fights over and over, trying different strategies for a particularly hard part, multiple playthroughs with multiple saves at key points, stuff like that. It's strange how one portion of a game that usually takes a player 5 minutes to complete will take me about 30 minutes or longer, well with the way I go about writing a guide - everything must be confirmed andall details will be showcased.

Anyway, long story short, I posted up my new guide for Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition on the gaming sites a few days ago. The game doesn't really need another walkthrough but I figured one more along with the other 15+ guides on GameFAQs wouldn't hurt. I have been tossing around the idea of writing a guide for RE4 quite a while now and finally decided to go ahead and see it through now that the Wii version is out. I must say, the surge of RE5 info got the best of me - yeah, I blame it mainly on that.

I've recently been playing through the RE games in order. It's been about 3 years since I have last played through all of them so the experience felt a little new once again. The only thing I regret is having played through Resident Evil 2 so much back in the day. I have really overplayed that game and it still shows just a bit - it just doesn't amuse me near as much as the others. Resident Evil 3 and Code Veronica are still my cup of tea. RE3 has such a good amount of action with the constant Nemesis pursuing and Code Veronica still holds up well with its graphics and story even now. REmake still has that atmosphere down pat as well, I'd like to add!

Anyway, with that said, maybe now I can move on to other games and let the Resident Evil series rest for a while. I wonder? With the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) coming up soon, I might get obsessed once again.

"Everyone's gonna' die!"

Founder of GameFAQs stepping down

A couple of weeks ago the founder of GameFAQs, Jeff "CJayC" Veasey, mentioned that he is planning to step down from his role as administrator of GameFAQs as he said in this Daily Grind thread. SBAllen, also known by the username of "Sailor Bacon" will be the new administrator when CJayC leaves.

His site has helped many a gamer in their times of need and still is the best site to surf over to when in need of help with a video game. Even though he is not stepping down at this moment, I wish him the best for whatever future goals he may have.

We'll miss you Ceej!

"Don't say Goodbye. Say Good Journey."
"Live the journey, for every destination is but a doorway to another."