game opinion

I understand people’s pain at Capcom’s recent announcement that they are canning Mega Man Legends 3 for 3DS. The original PSone games were fan favourites, and by all accounts an incredibly good RPG. Legends 2 left the story unfinished and the anticipation for a conclusion has now been building for ten years. When the third chapter was announced in September of last year the patient devotees were obviously overjoyed so have it now snatched from their grasp seems, frankly, cruel.

Don't hold your breath on this getting a revival now Inafune is gone from Capcom.

Mega Man Legends 3’s cancelation is especially unexpected as the game was already well underway. This combined with Capcom’s almost complete lack of scrutiny of their recent Mega Man titles (the twenty-four year old character currently possess one hundred games to his name many of which are iffy), makes the deletion of this game from existence almost unfathomable to passionate gamers.

Perhaps if we take a step back from the passion of the situation Legends 3’s unfortunately fate would seem more understandable, though no more palatable. Capcom is of course primarily a business, and on a financial level Mega Man Legends 3 is unappealing. RPG’s have always been a huge sink of recourses; they are long games with a lot of content and they take a significant amount of man-hours to produce. Then of course account there is the 3DS platform it was destined to adorn, with it lower than expected install base no doubt affecting any projected sales expectations.

I was interested to see how a big name fan favorite would fair, unfortunately Capcom didn't want to satisfy my curiosity.

The final and perhaps key element of course is that fans of the game, while vocal, are limited. Indeed I suspect that many at Capcom never wanted Legends 3 to enter production, but the influential producer Inafune probably used his clout to push it through. His subsequent resignation from the company then probably gave the moneymen a chance to cut their losses before any further investment was made. Basically for a time the greatest Mega Man supporter ran the company who produced it, and thus forced it into existence for the 100,000 or so people who could be consider fans of the series (that is how many copies the second game sold). Once Inafune left Capcom pulled Legends 3’s life support, and they were happy to see it die.

It sucks, I won’t pretend it doesn’t, but fans getting bent out of shape simply have to see this for what it is, a wise business move. The money it would make simply not justify Mega Man Legends 3’s existence. While it MAY recoup the cash they invest, Capcom could easily pump out another set of three Battle Network titles in the same time for half the money while cashing on the Battle Network’s current and proven fan base. Ultimately, I am sure Capcom knows good business and if they think they think Legends 3 won’t make money they are probably right. But that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have been a great game, or that we have to be happy about their decision.

It has been a while since I did one of these link posts, and if all you do is follow me on DoFuss you could be easily mistaken for thinking that something horrible has happened to me — especially if you are still waiting for the last DoFuss Show (believe it or not it is still planned). I checked back the other day and I have posted alarmingly little in the past six months despite previous promises of increased content.

I will not make excuses, but my life has been turbulent and my attention drawn away from the site by my search for work and my writing for other sites. In truth though for all of this I have had more than enough time on my hands, and can’t really place how I wasted it all.

Things have been changing though. Firstly the number of sites I now contribute to has grown, now including Games Jobs Japan, a site set up by gaming recruitment agency Interactive Selection to help place foreign workers in Japan. On top of this, while my furious hunt for work has met with a number of refusals recently I have at least been responding to follow up emails and even a few interviews.

A change came for me last week though as I realised that, in order to really get my first foot on the ladder of gaming employment, a bit more direct experience was need. So I joined the Train2Game design course. This two to three year is specifically constructed to help its pupils train for work in the industry. Backed by TIGA, and supported by a range of other gaming institutions, the design course I am on is set to give me a basic grounding in the skills I need to enter the production side of the industry.

But I don’t intend to rest on my laurels or let DoFuss fall to the way side, yes I will be busy studying… and writing… and hopefully working… but my love for this little site endures. With that in mind the direction is to shift slightly. My hope for the next few months is to post daily, but with a more eclectic range of topics (with gaming remaining at the core). The plan is to add news that catches my eye, links to my other writings, diary entries about my course and, on occasion, the kind of musings you have come to expect from DoFuss.

So starting soon, maybe tomorrow, expect DoFuss to get busier. Until then (like you can’t wait) below are links to everything you may have missed since my last link post, just to prove I have been keeping myself out of trouble. Also, for the record these big link posts may look lazy but they are a pain in the arse to do, so this will (thankfully) be the last one.

Scared Gamer Reviews- DJ Hero 2, Super Meat Boy, Braid (PS3), Dr Kawashima, Costume Quest, Dead Space 2, Dead Space Extraction, Dead Rising 2, Dead Rising Case West, Stacking, Pilotwings Resort, Marvel Vs Capcom 3, Portal 2, Steel Diver, Gatling Gears, Beyond Good and Evil HD, InFamous 2.

Reporting Gamer Previews - Yoostar 2, Ninja Gaiden 3, Serious Sam 3: BFE, Catherine, SSX: Deadly Descents, Rayman Origins, Ridge Racer Unbounded, Orcs Must Die, Prey 2, Blood Rayne Betrayal, The Darkness 2, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine, Call of Juarez: The Cartel, Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon, Track Mania 2: Canyon, Alice Madness Returns, Soul Calibur 5, Hunted the Demons Forge, UFC Personal Trainer, Resident Evil: Operation Racoon City, Wii Exerbeat, Red Johnson Chronicles, Dark Souls, Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Silver Earring, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Solider, Dead or Alive Dimensions, Child of Eden, Anarchy Reigns, Star Wars Kinect.

Game People Podcast - Alan Wake, Stacking, Flower, Uncharted Series, LA Noire.

Reviews – LA Noire, Faery Legends of Avalon, Soldnerx 2: The Final Prototype – The Last Chapter, Mircobot, Zeit, Spare Parts, Hard Corps: Uprising, Nintendo 3DS, Pilotwings Resort, Super Street Fighter 4: 3D Edition, Nintendogs and Cats, Steel Diver, Dead or Alive Dimensions, Strania: The Stella Machina, Ghostbusters Sanctum of Slime, The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile.

Previews – Bullet Storm.

Articles and Interviews – Nine Things to Remember About Japanese Business Culture, Interview with Q-Games Ariel Angelotti, Interview with Q-Games Jaymin Kessler.

Here we are, July 2011 and finally I am writing the last of my 2010 posts. It is in many ways poor timing as I currently find myself thinking far more about my past than my future. Here feeling slightly isolated and jobless in Birmingham, Japan seems very appealing, so my hope is that that maybe by wrapping up these posts and aiming to the future will help me come to terms with my situation and push on.

Somewhat fittingly I felt kind of trapped when I first played Enslaved. I was just out of a long relationship, but still did not feel free. For all of my protestations that I was fine, part of me still felt tied to my past. So I would drink a little harder, go out a little longer, and generally run further from my memories.

There are reasons these close bonds with my ex-partner. Fuelled by a desire to make her happy, I was constantly thwarted by her melancholy. Over time I came to except the struggle of this, but eventually I found my attempts to please were pulling down my own mood. So I was faced with a decision, stay and fight a losing battle or leave her, and worry about my own mood. Unfortunately is was a choice that would hurt her, and so went against my goals of the previous years.

Clearly a woman in need, something I (apparently) struggle to refuse.

Then a long came Enslaved, a game loosely based on the classic 16^th century Chinese novel ‘Journey to the West’. Enslaved tells of a woman, Trip, and her long journey home after being captured by slavers. Trip is far from helpless, very capable with technology, but finding herself in a destroyed New York as the game begins there is a quick realisation that she will need help on her journey.

Enslaved reclaimed world has a narrative all its own. Many years after whatever caused devastation of this post-apocalyptic America everything has been reclaimed by nature. Trip’s companion is in many ways a reaction to this environment, a nameless nomad who’s brute of a man like power and agile ape like moves have garnered him the nickname of Monkey with those he trades with. These qualities are vital, because as I take control of Monkey every ounce of his power and speed are needed to navigate the decimated world, and battle the slaver robots that populated it.

Huge robots are just one of the troubles Monkey has to deal with.

Much of what makes Enslaved work so well how it manages to bring elements of the classic text in its Sci-Fi setting. Monkey’s emergence from a stone egg in the original text is superbly mirrored in his escape from a status pod as the game opens. Other items are similarly reproduced but one element really embodies own my emotional ties to the game; the slave band.

In the original text it was a golden crown that enslaved Monkey (an cast out animal god) binding him to the hero’s will. In much the same way the slave band allows Trip to control her Monkey, but it is a strange kind of slavery. She is not violent or malicious, and indeed the very idea of servitude in upsets her. It is a necessity in her mind to ensure his help to get her home, but an uncomfortable one that she wishes she didn’t have to resort to.

There is something in this relationship that mirrored my life. Not that I was a slave but I never wanted to make her unhappy. I was never ordered to obey, but displeasure and disappointment was clear. And as surely as Monkey’s slave band inflicted pain up on him when he failed to follow instructions, I suffered mental pains when I saw my action distressed her.

The love and bond between them grows, switching from technological to emotional. Something I think I may envy.

But where my issues slowly drove a wedge between my partner and I, Enslaved sees it bring them closer together. The explicit dependence from Trip is matched by Monkey’s unrealised desire for companionship. Without realising it the bond slowly transcends the technology that traps him. Indeed in one scene that beautifully demonstrates the games graphical prowess, when Trip attempts to free Monkey and he stops her with a subtlety and tenderness of expression rarely seen in games thanks to developer Ninja Theory’s amazing facial capture technology. It is scene that demonstrates perfectly how he needs the bond, but is unwilling to confess his emotional need, preferring to keep the slave band.

I sat playing Enslaved, jealous of just how perfectly the bond between Monkey and Trip developed. There was a beauty to me in just how a love grew between the two characters, when neither had been looking for it. Sat in my room I contrasted this with my own life. Of how I had started at love, until the dependence grew eroding it with the pressure becoming too much for me. Leaving me still wondering if I did it all backwards, and envying Monkey.

I have just realised that I forgot the obligatory games of 2010 preamble… so yeah. This is about a game which came out last year that made an impact on me, not the best or the worst of the year but I liked it. This is the penultimate one of these so soon I should be back with some more in the moment posts, in the mean time if you want to check out my current reviews or articles go here, here or indeed here.

Games can encapsulate a mood; they can heighten a feeling, and sometimes even lighten the load. Some titles achieve this emotional resonance from their narrative content, others simply come at the right time capitalise on events in our lives, for better or worse (as Braid recently did for me). It is a dynamic that can be both painful or therapeutic, throwing in to relief an issue or allowing an outlet for raw emotions when there is no way to confront an issue directly. For me it was Vanquish that came at just the right moment to vent some very primitive emotions. And as thoughtless a game as it can be, it was just what I needed.

Beautifully Vanquish offers and standard definition HUD, also perfectly timed for this point my life.

Sat alone in my tiny apartment I was, simply, angry; at myself, at my life and my situation. I couldn’t decide if it was my fault, the worlds fault, the years fault, all I knew was that somewhere in me there was a rage with no escape. My anger sat beneath the surface of my smiling facade as I taught children and went out socialising, only occasionally escaping in at very drunk moments.

I had pre-ordered Vanquish months in advance of its release on the promise of another Platinum Games twist on an established genre and director Shinji Mikami’s involvement (the man behind beloved Resident Evil), little did I know how much I was going to need its cathartic action by the time I collected on my order, and how susceptible I would be to it.

Furious, fast paced action punctuated by mindless bravado filled cut scenes and (deliberate?) bizarre translation. Vanquish immediately drew from me a happiness that harkened back to movies like Starship Troopers.

This particular level is one of my favorites, fighting off attackers from a train as it circles around a tunnel.

As I struggled to decide how deliberate the genius of the game was, I realised I was transferring the anger inside me on to the hundreds of enemies that swarmed the world. Robotic opponents that balanced perfectly my ability to blow them to pieces with a range of satisfying weapons against a difficulty that challenged just enough to make me feel accomplished without a sense of being patronised.

It wasn’t just the gunplay that had me wowed. Vanquish’s core mechanic of fast paced movement, which saw me speeding around on rocket powered knee pads from one cover point to the next, did an equally amazing job of drawing the negativity from me. Typically such cover focused third person action games employ a plodding stilted advance, limping from one area of (relative) safety to the next, hiding as energy slowly recovers before repeating the same process again. Duck, fire, duck, fire, crawl forward, it frustrates and gives a sense of impotence in the face of the odds. Vanquish sheds this, forcing me to leap from one cover points to the next, dodging bullets as I go. In truth the system is ultimately the same, with a defensive posture still necessary to recover energy and boosters fuel, but speed and movement makes this defence as engaging and satisfying as offence, far more similar to the 2D games of old than a modern shooter.

AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!.... AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vanquish drew my frustration and anger from me as played. The game became a storm drain for my emotions, running off all the excess that had for so long bubbled under the surface. Harmlessly dissipating all of the darker thoughts I had been having. There was no down time, no question of thought or brooding as I sped from one piece of low cover to the next and switched between ever more satisfying weapons to take down robot hoards. Pure unadulterated stress relief that, in my case, was perfectly timed.