Guest Blog: Liam Gardner - Uncharted 4

The release of Uncharted 4 earlier this year was met with a lot of fanfare and for obvious reasons, the trio of Uncharted games the preceded A Thieves End are some of the best games from the previous generation. The question is does the 4^th instalment of the franchise have enough gas left in the tank to whisk players through another whirlwind Nathan Drake adventure.

The intro to A Thieves End is most reminiscent of the one for Among Thieves ,no dilly dallying ,no long narrative intro, straight into the chaos with no idea why you are there or who is trying to kill you for the umpteenth time and it is during this opening sequence, a boat chase among a rainstorm with waves crashing everywhere, where the game first surprised me I had full control of where to take the boat and who to crash into and this freedom is something that Uncharted 4 does well in its gameplay sections and I’ll touch on that later, usually the Uncharted games are very stringent in what they allow you to do during vehicular sections, the car chase through the jungle in Drakes Fortune, the hopping between trucks in an icy Tundra in Among Thieves but this boat chase, right at the very beginning of the game sets the precedent for what Uncharted 4 is at its core.

However it’s after this adrenaline filled intro that the (as of Uncharted 3) obligatory ‘Kid Drake’ section kicks in, now I’m not knocking naughty dog for trying to fill us in on Drake’s backstory and what his youth years were like it’s just I never found them all too intriguing, they limit what you can do they bring the whole game to a halt just as its getting started, I understand the need to introduce Sam as a character but barring a few select moments I found the majority of these flashback sequences dull and unentertaining.

Let’s talk mechanics, Uncharted never had the best shooting mechanics and this is one area that has been universally improved in A Thieves End, the shooting feels tight, the guns feel impactful and the dynamite is so good it makes me cry, I didn’t like how they changed the Sniper Rifle weapon though as it no longer allows you to aim without zooming in and running and gunning with the Dragon Sniper in 2 was some of the best thrills you could get but overall the overhaul of the shooting mechanics make Uncharted 4 all around a better game to play.

The rope swinging is one mechanic I saw and was very excited for how Naughty dog would implement it, would they relegate it to a few select ‘cinematic’ moments or will we be free to utilise this tool to our own enjoyment and possible peril, while it is not used too much in each battle there are, I feel, enough places for it to shine during combat away from the scripted uses (and swinging on a rope while firing an RPG is fantastic when done right).

The set pieces in A Thieves end are spectacular, the rope is utilised in these rather well, whether its playing cat and mouse with the most stubborn APC in existence or sliding along the mud desperately trying to hold on the excitement is ever present, the puzzle sections too are back and while not extremely difficult (they rarely are in Uncharted) there is a sense of satisfaction when solving the mystery and continuing on.

The characters and their motivations in this game range from pretty darn good to downright annoying, on one side of the coin you have the man Victor ‘God damn’ Sullivan and Sully is the highlight of this adventure for sure his wisecracking nonchalant bravado is on point whenever he is on screen and seeing him never fails to conjure up a wry smile and a laugh.

The same can be said for Drake most of the time, even when you’re watching him at work in his day job or discussing the future with Elaina at their home he never falls flat part of this is due to the writing but I must give credit to Nolan North I feel he is very at home as Drake and after 4 games feels very natural in the role. Drake’s conflict in the game is the struggle between the swashbuckling adventure lifestyle and the slow, but safer, family lifestyle with Elaina Drake is very much a man in a midlife crisis who wants to feel that rush one more time but doesn’t wish to jeopardise what he has with Elaina. 

Drake’s brother Sam is the lynchpin in all of this, after an event in their life earlier Drake thought he would never see his brother again but surprise here he is in the dead of night requiring your assistance and this of course being the perfect reason for a globetrotting journey for Drake and Co, Sam himself is not a bad character by any means but like another select individual he feels forced, like the developers were trying extra hard to get us to like him, now it is understandable for the developers to want us to connect with Sam however unlike Sully, who has now 3 games of build-up, Sam never comes across as natural, he feels less like an important character you should care about and more like a convenient plot device to get Drake back out adventuring( plus he insinuates Sully is not trustworthy, not getting any points there Sam).

Now I mentioned when discussing Sam that there was another character whose inclusion just left me confused and that is Nadine, this character is a literal black hole of personality her entire reason for being in the game is ‘me strong me hurt Drake’ never are her intentions really delved into and never is she fleshed out, Nadine is very reminiscent of Talbot from Uncharted 3 except Talbot never had mandatory fights where you were restricted in your movements. I understand the need to have a counter to the cowardly head villain and the developers tried this with Nadine being the strong stoic mercenary who takes no shit but it falls flat because I didn’t feel like I was getting beaten by Nadine because she was better than me but rather because the game intentionally gimped me, and her story never even concludes as she just says forget this and leaves before the climactic boss fight, Nadine represents a whole lot of floundered potential as she could have a great and credible thread but any semblance of this is hard to see and she is so under developed on a whole its tragic.

In previous Uncharted games the treasure always had some sort of ‘hidden effect’ that the villains were trying to obtain for any number of nefarious means or a curse which should be left well alone, but in Uncharted 4 the treasure is just that it’s treasure. With a story centred on long dead pirates and their migration and subsequent creation of a Piratopia that there was no curse or supernatural aspect behind it all honestly made me sigh. Uncharted 1 had the cursed statue, 2 had the fruit amber which provided super strength and also had blue Smurf demons? 3 had flaming head zombies and cursed water A Thieves End has pirate treasure normally no one would describe hidden pirate treasure as boring but in the light of previous Uncharted games it sadly is. 

Some might argue the crux of Uncharted 4’s story is about the greed of man and the settling of scores because Henry Avery’s treasure is the big score that got away but that all seem too blasé for Drake and co, the closest we get to supernatural is exploding pirate corpses and it feels like Naughty dog sacrificed a huge part of what made the franchise unique and replaced it with a more down to earth realistic plot point which isn’t bad per se but for Uncharted? It’s certainly disappointing.

Now all these negative points does make it seem like I did not enjoy my time with A Thieves End which isn’t true I enjoyed the hell out of this game, the freedom it gives you in the gameplay, the trademark Uncharted dialogue. The adventure on show is certainly one of the best in the series, but the final boss is a way better example of a ‘cinematic’ boss fight than the one in Uncharted 3, a few characters and the final chapters aside Uncharted 4 is a fantastic title that I recommend anyone play even if it is a little more grounded in its reality.

If you wanna contact Liam or follow him online you can find him @Giji777!

The failed Vita and why I like it.

After talking about the Wii U a few weeks ago and how I still enjoy it even if it is deemed a failure I felt I should talk a bit about the Playstation Vita and how many would deem this handheld to also be a ‘failure’especially when comparing it to Nintendos 3DS and mobile gaming. I really enjoy the Vita and a lot of the games made for the console but I can absolutely agree that Sony again dropped the ball with their handheld system in the West.  I don’t believe the console is in any way a bad console for what it does or the games it has on it but I do feel Sony have not learnt from any mistakes of the past and brushed the Vita away as if it is the unwanted member of the Playstation family.

I feel to a point the PSP was a way more popular console, it certainly had longer Western support by Sony compared to the Vita. I did own a PSP and used to play it quite regularly but the only reason for this is because I modded the console with the help of a friend (and honestly who didn’t mod their PSP?). I mainly played Japanese Gundam games and PS1 games if I’m honest, I cannot remember a specific Western game I truly enjoyed on the console however I will say there were a few fantastic titles on the system that I used to play a lot that were Japanese Developed such as Tekken 5 DR which I would say is the best numbered titles to this day and the Shin Budokai Dragonball games. So there were elements to the PSP I enjoyed but I doubt I would have without the modding capabilities that plagued Sony and the console.

The reason I bought a Vita though is not because of my enjoyment of its predecessor but because I’d signed up for Playstation Plus and kept getting free games for it that would stack up, at the time when I first got PS+ the Vita games it provided me with were actually titles I was interested in playing such as Gravity Rush, Uncharted and Dragons Crown as well as a few indie titles. I thought if I keep getting decent titles like this I may as well pick up the console and just never buy any games for it so I bought the original model new with Tearaway (another great  game) included and for about a year I generally did not buy anything for the console.

Over time with the sales popping up I have been buying Vita games and I did buy a few physical imported Gundam games so I certainly do have a library built up albeit a small physical one so in no way do I leave my Vita to gather dust the way I eventually would my PSP. I feel the Cross save function for games like The Binding of Issac have really played a big part in this also, it’s such a wonderful feature and allowed me to continue my games on flights abroad, I can’t fault it.

Much like the Wii U I find myself getting annoyed that a lot of Vita exclusives have moved to other formats like IOS or Steam, I think it’s great that it will allow others to actually be aware and experience certain titles as some certainly deserve to be played but It kind of takes away some of the reason to ever play the console, I’m certainly torn on this.

I Felt some games used touch features for the sake of it, I think one of the biggest culprits of this is Uncharted: Golden Abyss. I have only played the game for about an hour and it’s nothing special but the tutorial would stop you every now and then saying things like ‘If you want to jump and climb touch the front screen’ when you could literally just press X and have it done automatically like in any other game, why mess about with touch features for something like this. I have no issue with touch features like rubbing the screen to uncover something or to zoom in and out but if you’re using it just for the sake of it because it’s on a console that uses the features then I’d rather you not bother, be creative with it for goodness sake.

The Vita actually got me in to a lot of Visual Novels which is a genre I really did not think I would ever care about, usually I cannot be bothered to be reading constantly when I’m playing a game but thanks to a sale and the DanganRonpa series I was hooked on the storyline and have now played every released game in the series, the great thing about these games is that they make sure they do something I feel any handheld should do and allow you to save at almost any point so you truly can play on the go even if the game is text heavy. I certainly would not want to be on the move with a game like this and be unable to save after reading a whole bunch of plot.

I will say I find the console comfortable to hold and never really find any issues with the button layout, I think I may find issues with the smaller slim version however, I love the interface of the system itself it’s really simple to find anything you need and the store is just as simple to navigate, I will say It does annoy me that some Apps on there cannot be deleted such as the calendar and the recently shut down ‘near’ service (think streetpass but shit)

As much as I enjoy the console I have never actually used the remote play feature which allows streaming of PS4 content to the Vita, this is because I’ve never had the need to, all of my consoles are in my own room and I never felt the need to go elsewhere in the house to play them, if I did I would just move the console I do think this is a cool feature for those who need it however!

I thought the Playstation TV was an alright idea in theory as it was a Vita console without a screen or buttons you could hook up you your TV. I mean if you wanted Vita games but did not want the Vita and wanted to play them at home it’s certainly an option for you but half the games were not even compatible due to Touch screen features so if you did own one you had to be quite selective, either way it was discontinued in the West last year which really does not surprise me…

People like to say the console is a ‘Weeb machine’ because most of the support was from Japan and at this point pretty much all the support is from Japan, I can see why they would say this because it’s generally true. All the games are either Niche titles or JRPGS with a few Indie games sprinkled in, I have no problem with this as I have found plenty of titles I’ve enjoyed, however the reason it’s this way is because Sony again don’t know how to push a handheld in Western markets, the support is there from Japan but not everyone is a fan of typically Japanese games.

The Vita started off well with games geared more towards a Western audience like ports of PS2 classics, Uncharted and Tearaway but soon after it just sort of dried up, I don’t ever remember there being much advertisement for the console either and most people were already disappointed with their dust collecting PSPs at that point to see a clear reason why this one would be any different other than touch screen features. Perhaps the necessity for a  handheld aimed more towards ‘gamers’ rather than kids is not really there, I certainly feel a bit odd bringing out a handheld on the train or in public even though that’s primarily the whole point of them and I’m sure others do too.

I think one of the reasons it sold so poorly in general though is the ridiculous price of memory cards. I believe my console game with a 15gb card and due to the amount of games I would get from PS+ I would constantly have to delete titles and redownload them when I actually wanted to play them again rather than just having a full library available to me whenever I wanted.

This was an issue somewhat with the PSP also but at least with the PSP the memory cards were a fairly decent and reasonable price that also did not have to be Sony specific and could be any sort of Sandisk card as long as it was the right physical size to fit, of course there was the chance for corrupted data from cheap cards but the option was there.

With the Vita though there is not this option, you HAVE to buy a memory card specifically made for the Vita, this tiny little thing that holds your games has to be from them. That’s not so bad right? Wrong! Because Sony never cheapen the price for these cards, If I wanted the biggest card I could find which was 64GB it would set me back almost £70 plus postage as god knows there Is no Vita merch in any game store I’m aware of in the UK.

I actually did bite the bullet and buy this memory card recently because I was just sick of constantly trying to make room for the games I would be getting,  It was annoying to have to pay this price but I felt with the lack of the support for the console in the West they may just stop making these cards soon and then to buy one new would be even more expensive. I’m glad I did buy it because I can just play whatever the hell I want now without the worry but eventually I’m sure I will fill this up too! I sure as hell won’t buy anymore cards!

I really like physical media rather than purely digital although I have got a number of digital titles on all my consoles due to services like 'Games with Gold' and such I really would prefer it to be physical, now in the case of the Vita I only own a few physical games by choice however there are a few games that I’m happy actually get a release in the US and EU such as the new Gundam Vs game which came out this month but there was just no option to own it physically which kind of bummed me out, I understand it is a very niche game but I’d love there to have at least been a very limited run of physical cases for them, I just love to see them all displayed on my shelf.

Some companies do actually do this and that’s really cool it’s like developers know there is this really small but vocal fanbase in the west for the Vita and they appreciate them as much as we do them, it’s almost like the Vita is this little club of people sometimes from what I read online and I have no issue with it, I know people who have bought one and literally only have ps1 games on it because they want to play them on the way to work, I know people who just buy exclusives and I know people who just play imports  or Indie games . There are all these different kinds of people playing who are so vocal and happy the console exists and that’s kind of endearing.

As much as I like Sony I feel it is crucial they learn from their mistakes in the West with this sort of thing especially with VR coming up, I am quite excited about VR and will likely by the PSVR at some point however I am hesitant as I don’t want it to just be a fad first of all and I don’t want Sony to slowly drop supporting it altogether as they have the Vita. Perhaps as VR is attached to a home console this will not be the case but I cannot shake the feeling.

I think it would be best if Sony do not make any more Handheld consoles and if they do they better make sure they learn from it, I think they can certainly release mobile games even if I am not one to play games on a phone or tablet but they certainly do not need to focus on making another handheld, I think the Vita will be fine for the duration of the PS4s lifetime but I feel all developers will move on after that which is totally understandable, I think I’ll continue with it for ps1 games on the go if anything at that point but who is to say what’s going to happen in a few years time I suppose.

Overall I still continue to enjoy the Vita and feel I will for some time as PS+ continues to provide me with some fun titles and sales generally always bring me something new to play, I think it’s a shame that the Vita has been reduced to this by its own companies lack of support amongst other issues but I think if you’re on the fence about it and perhaps want to try a few titles then by all means see if you can find a used console or one quite cheap but be aware of the issues like memory cards and multiple exclusives eventually being ported either to the PS4 or Steam, it’s certainly no necessity to own this console as a Sony fan but it’s left an impression on me.

Gundam Breaker 3 (PS4/Vita)

This week I wanted to talk about something Anime-related again however there is a bit of a twist this time around, I’ve been playing a PS4 game called Gundam Breaker 3 a lot at the moment and I dare say it might be one of my favourite Gundam related games to date. I’m a huge fan of Gundam and love making Gunpla models when I find the time, my room is littered with them.

Recently Bandai and Sunrise have been pushing the Gunpla aspect of the franchise a lot more as they have had three separate animated series relating to it in which the characters are normal everyday people who just participate in tournaments in which their custom models battle it out. With the popularity of such, sales naturally went up but a lot of people yearned to be able to make custom units in the same way they do in the series, now there are many talented people who can do this in real life but for someone like me it’s quite difficult to go beyond just snap building.

That’s why I love that they made this game, the game pretty much follows the idea of those Anime I mentioned above in that you place your Gunpla in a virtual environment and pilot it in battles against other users or the CPU, but with this game you can totally customise your unit with any existing parts placed in the game. So for example you could make the original Gundam but give it the tank tread legs of the Guntank, or you could give your standard Zaku II a huge ass Gunblade, the possibilities are somewhat endless and I find myself spending more and more time just making units and uploading pictures of them to social media rather than progressing in the game itself.

The reason I got this game so early rather than waiting until it was much cheaper was because it was actually translated into English fully (with the voices still being in Japanese), this has become the case with a few titles on the PS4 recently and is such a great idea, I mean the PS4 is region free so why not? I used to import a lot of titles on the Vita and PS3 but they were all in Japanese text and therefore pretty difficult to get my head around in some cases, I would generally shy away from any game like this title which relied heavily on text to explain the mechanics of the game (Like an RPG for example) but by having this option available I’m more willing to import.

I think it’s funny that they didn’t do this sooner to be honest, Bandai knows that many fans buy Gunpla online from Japan and import their games so why not offer this option to them and get the most out of their sales, so far I’m about halfway into the game and have not noticed any spelling or grammatical errors so I would say they have done a good job translation wise for the text, I have had absolutely no trouble in figuring out what I am meant to do objective wise or what the effects of certain equip parts are.

This gives me faith as there are about three more Gundam or Mecha related games coming out in the next year that are going to offer the same English language option, it’s going to destroy my wallet but I’m so happy Western fans are being taken into consideration, it is important to remember however this is the Asian release of the game (Singapore,Taiwan etc) and not the Japanese release, it has full Japanese Voice acting but the text can be in languages such as Taiwanese or any other Asian Language for that region.

When I played the original game I felt the focus was absolutely on the online play as the difficulty in going in to levels alone would ramp way up or they would last so long due to being all on your own that you wouldn’t really want to play more than one match at a time. This time around I do still play alone but you always get at least one or two CPU controlled units with you to alleviate some of that difficulty spike.

It’s clear they still want you to play online (and I do when I can!) but at least there is that option to go solo with CPU backup, I will say I do generally get people joining me online but they are usually those that are so overpowered and over-levelled compared to me that any mission they do is a cakewalk and no real fun, they are also super impatient when I’m looking through the items we got during the mission and deciding if I want to equip them or not.

This game shines for me due to the amount of customisation on your unit, I had only played the original game but on the Vita and it was all in Japanese (so pretty impossible to understand what I was doing), had an awful frame rate at times and was generally not as fun due to the lack of things to do. I did not play the second title so cannot comment on how much they improved from the original but in terms of this title I think they blew the original out of the water. I’m playing it on PS4 so there is that natural step up graphically as this is the first of the series on the console but the amount of options I have to design my unit is fantastic.

You have the standard leg,arm and head parts as you would in the other titles but this game allows for much more finer detailed options such as the ability to add emblems and decals to your unit, being able to change the material you unit is made out of such as plastic, High gloss injection or metal composite and one of my favourite appearance details has the be the option to make your unit battle damaged, I love this it really make the unit stand out more than just a big plastic blob on the screen, you can even add weathering effects to the unit which give off a really worn or dirty look.

The gameplay is relatively simplistic as it is generally a multi-level based mission in which you and your team will face hordes of other Gunpla enemies, with a mid and main boss’ usually appearing throughout  the level, once you have defeated X amount of enemies you are then able to move on to the next stage of the mission until you face the strongest unit and end the mission. Now there are variations in this in which it can be you versus a giant mobile armour as a kind of one on one boss battle and there are also some more objective based gametypes in which you must defend a command post while defeating enemies.

The combat is generally a simplistic fare as you have your three main attacks, light, heavy and projectile based attacks and when you gain enough power you can execute a special move that does huge damage, now obviously there are a wide range of customisable weapons, so for example with your melee attacks you can use Beam sabres, whips, knives or even martial arts fists as if you were in G Gundam, now if you have the latter that will affect your entire fighting style as well as your special move which can be anything from a combo to a Kamehameha type move.

Now those are the standard equipable weapon types however as you progress you may gain certain parts that allow you to use even more weapons, for example if you equip the 00 Raiser Seven Sword backpack which has buster blades on each shoulder then hell yeah you can use those. Have a back plate with two throwable daggers on it? Hell yeah you can use them. It does not even stop there an addition in this game from the first was ‘Builder Parts’ now these are small items that are either cosmetic or weapon based, an example being if you added a grenade anywhere on the body you can use it, I personally use the ZZ head beam cannon and put it on my units chest to have a decent long range attack.

The good thing about these extra weapons are that they do not replace you existing melee and projectile weapons, these will always be your Square, Triangle and R2 weapons no matter what, these extra weapons are controlled by the D-Pad for selection and used by pressing the circle button. You actually have enough room to use 8 extra weapons so two for each direction, I think this is wonderful even if it does make you slower and you mech look massive.

Now while the combat can get a bit more intricate if you throw all this into the mix it does not really go beyond an almost horde mode sort of thing where you’re just smashing through waves of enemies so in that respect it is not a touch on the arcade fighter series Gundam Vs, however I feel in time it could become a lot more than it is now if the developers will allow it, it is certainly a huge step up from the first game.

I think I would recommend this if you’re a Gundam fan or even a mecha fan, there are so many options and the in game story is nothing you really need to pay attention to or need to have watched the series in order to understand, it’s just sort of in the background so this is a pretty decent place to start for anyone. Of course I’m a huge Gundam fan so there is a bias somewhat in that I’ll pretty much play anything Gundam related I can get my hands on,

I would have to say that I would class this game as my favourite of the bunch I have played, I think the reason for this is just from the satisfaction of making your own unit, I love this aspect of the game so much and feel it can only be improved in much more detail in further instalments, this game is most definitely worth your time if you’re a fan or the series!

If you ever pick up the game and want to play add me on Psn: ScatmanBegins

I just want to take a short moment to thank Royce for always sharing my Blogs, I mostly write for myself but thanks to him my blogs have reached a lot of people I would never expect them to reach, he does a lot of work for a lot of people but I really appreciate it and will miss him in California this year!

Downwell (2015)

This week I decided to delete the blog then I decided I write for myself and to bring it back again... anyway on the recommendation of a friend (@Antlol666) I decided to look in to the game Downwell, now I was curious about it after hearing so much about it online and through friends but it was only when it was on sale on the Vita store for under £4.00 that I decided it couldn't hurt even for that price and man I don't regret this at all, I love this title a lot but first I wanna talk about how this game came to be.

The game was the 13th title developed my Japanese Developer 'Moppin' who had previously done a few gamejam type games in order to challenge himself. Downwell was going to be another of these games however the developer saw the potential and continued to work on it even after the week was over. After sharing images and Gifs on his own Twitter the game came to the attention of Publisher Devolver Digital. With that the game was soon to be released on IOS and Android devices in 2015 and shortly after on Sony devices in 2016.

I can see why this was originally released on mobile platform, I mean it works well on the Vita but it's so addictive and quick to play/end that it just seems like the kind of thing you would play on your commute to work, I could not see myself playing this on the PS4.. I mean I could for sure but it's so simple quick and addictive I feel it works well on the move. I couldn't play it for more than say 20 mins but I could play it a lot throughout the day if I wanted to.

This game is entirely simplistic, It takes no real thought and no real strategy. In a sense it is almost 'roguelike' much like The Binding Of Issac and other games like Rogue Legacy, I think these kind of games are fantastic and both of those mentioned above are some of my favourite games I got through the Playstation Plus service. It can be quite difficult as you get in to it but the game is so quick and easy to start that you will find yourself playing it over and over.

I love the simplistic art style, it's your standard pixel 'Indie' design, however it is purely black and white other than the frame you choose for the game, so basically it's black, white and another colour until you unlock more frames. Personally I prefer the classic Gameboy frame in which it is monochrome because it reminds me of when I used to play my Gameboy Pocket but I feel the Red frame which you start with is really appealing to the eyes.

There is not really any story or plot point to the game, dude jumps down a well and fights whatever is on the way down trying to harm him while trying to collect any treasure he might come across. A simple story with even simpler gameplay, there are just three basic controls, movement, jumping and shooting with each stage getting increasingly more difficult with new enemies, items and things on screen at one time.

I think with games like this I can actually understand why people play video games on their mobile phones, I mean I still do not think I would as I have portable consoles however I believe games like Downwell that have short addicting gameplay work incredibly well on this platform and obviously were tailored toward it in one form or another, why wouldn't someone just pick up their phone play maybe 4 mins and the put it away, it's an absolute short time killer and the more I think about it it's similar to the mobile game Doodle Jump.

The game has a lot in the way of multipliers and shops, I myself rarely use the shops as I like to save the currency in order to unlock more things at the end of each level, but the shops allow you to heal, buy weapons and more. The multipliers are fantastic and allows the gameplay to become even faster and chaotic, I personally like the drone multiplier and laser combo myself. That's the beauty of it you can just keep it stacking with weapons and other multipliers after each level or if you take the time to go to a cave.

There is not a lot more I can say about a game that's this simplistic but overall this is a mobile game above all else, I could never play a game on my phone because I see it as just that, a phone however having this on the Vita was fantastic. I dearly hope this gets brought to the 3DS for those who do not own a Vita because, it's cheap, It's quick and above all it is a lot of fun. It goes to show a game so simple can be a contender against a world of AAA titles left right and centre.

Abandon the Old In Tokyo - Yoshihiro Tatsumi (1970)

Abandon the old in Tokyo is a collection of short Manga stories by artist Yoshihiro Tatsumi which were first serialised in various magazines in early 1970. Tatsumi's work is widely regarded as the first ‘Gekiga’ which is the Japanese term more akin to the term ‘graphic novel’ in the West, Tatsumi coined the term originally in 1957 when he did not want his art to be considered to be something aimed at children. This collection was actually Tatsumis second batch after his first release in 1969 of The push man and other stories but  his earliest work was Black Blizzard which began the 'Gekiga' genre off back in 1956.

Abandon the old In Tokyo is perhaps the most popular of his works in the West and was first published in English in 2006, from there is gained a few awards such as Best U.S Edition of Foreign Material and paved the way for future releases of his work in the West.

The great thing about this title is you can easily pick it up in English to own if you go on Amazon as it is pretty cheap new or even used, but If you really don't want to pay for it you can find it on sites like Manga Reader quite easily which is what I did originally. However I now want to own it and will be picking up the other two short story collections along the way and I really would suggest you do too if you're curious enough as the covers look fantastic.

The stories presented in this Manga are not related in terms of characters but they all take place in the same city and follow the plights of a persons daily life, their struggles and their responsibilities, each story is really not very long and gets right to the point. I shan't go spoiling anything because I think each story is well worth reading fresh and could honestly be spoiled in a single sentence I would rather speak about the themes and how they made me feel as a reader.

First though I would like to speak about the art style, which is very simplistic in terms of character designs, it reminds me of something more like Astro Boy in that respect but I think where it really shines is the art of the world itself, it really shows how congested and busy the world is. Especially in the story relating to noise pollution and how when reading it by seeing the bombardment of sound the character has to deal with on his commute.

One major gripe I have with the art  is that pretty much all the characters look the same, I generally thought it was the same character in about 4 of the stories which is not the case, It did take me out of some of the stories to some degree and I know a lot of artists get accused of 'same face' syndrome but this was literally a complete copy of a character used about 4 or 5 times, I can forgive this as the stories were really good but I would have preferred a bit more variation where possible.

I like that the Manga does not really shy away from the more ‘disgusting’ aspects of human life like disfigurement, old age and their effects. It creates a much more human story where not everything is perfect and anything in life can hit you when you least expect it, it also shows that we as humans have a lot of things that perhaps make us ashamed of ourselves or the race in general but that they are all aspects of life that are biological, particularly sex. There is one story in which I male remembers when he walked in on seeing his friends Parents having sex and was embarrassed and disgusted by seeing parents who are seen as these authoritative figures in life reverting to what he believed were animals.

In a lot of cases the tales focus on one person taking care of someone or something else, the man and his elderly mother, the father and his daughter a man and his monkey and even a man and his failing business. Each of these stories have the same theme in that each character has tried their best to take care of someone or something because that is the responsibility that has fallen upon them, although brief the author does well to portray each characters internal struggle with themselves and how their responsibility has changed their life. It shows also how these characters carry the weight of the world on their shoulders and in most cases cannot cope, with disastrous effects.

Another Theme of the stories revolves around fear and social anxiety, specifically in one story where a man no longer wishes to work for his company and hands in his resignation only to lose an arm in an accident, due to losing his arm he can no longer find work and everything goes wrong for him, the story ends with him being in a large crowd of people and running in fear. The anxiety aspect is quite well done throughout and doesn’t always make it the main point of the story, in many cases it just shows how crowded and busy the streets of Tokyo are on the commutes to work and to me just seeing that imagery and imagining being in those situations on a commute get me all anxious, I hate rush hour and certain times of the working day as it is and just thinking about having to deal with those situations makes me shudder.

I think we need to remember this was written in the 70s when the male was the breadwinner primarily and in Japan there was a great sense of honour in being the patriarch of a family. In most of these stories the male is put in fear by his own failings and how this has effected the female members of his family, be this being unable to afford to look after his elderly mother, being able to commit to his fiancé or being able to live with the shame of his daughter having an affair with the company president but taking care of the product (a child) of that affair.

This may be more relaxed nowadays in most places but there seems to be this immense pressure of day to day life forced upon most of the male characters of these stories some of which are out of their control and some of which are their own fault. These events and pressures only shows their downward spiral which in every occasion ends up negatively for them but also shows their yearning for a simpler life that would possibly make them a happier individual. I think a lot of us have wanted to sometimes jack in their job or commitments and just escape some time, I don’t even live in a city myself but sometimes I just want to move away and live in the middle of nowhere and relax, but that’s just a temporary feeling and I feel the characters in these stories have had this feeling for a long time.

The message to me in these tale generally revolve around the monotony of life, especially as an adult and how you can become a negative person if you get stuck in such monotony. I think this speaks to me because I’m in a full time job where I work long hours and I think with anyone in full time employment they can get stuck in a rut and really dread the first shift of the week. I think this Manga reminds me to make use of my free time well and always try and do something that I can enjoy otherwise I’ll focus too much on my professional life and let that take over entirely.

Overall I enjoyed reading this for the brief time that I did as it was certainly different from any kind of Manga I have read before, it is definitely not something I could compare in anyway to the likes of Jump Manga and I appreciate that. I’m happy I picked this at random as it really opened my eyes to the different genres that exist in the Manga world and I hope to find more like it quite soon as I am about to order some of Tatsumi's other works now on Amazon. If you’re looking for something different that is not too time consuming then seriously consider giving this a read.

The Wii U is over but I still love it

With the NX being announced I was thinking about the Wii U and it’s legacy, I know a lot of people will deem it a failure of a console and in many ways it was advertising wise. However I noticed online so many news outlets, forums and even people I know are just so against Nintendo as of late. I feel this is generally due to the Wii U and its poor reception. I never wanted this console to be my main source of gaming entertainment and to be honest I picked it up on a whim when it was super cheap at a store that was going into administration but this console has honestly become one of the most fun consoles I’ve ever owned and has only ever presented positive experiences to me. 

Originally I really did not care for this console or the 3DS, I was so off put with Nintendo but I remember looking up a number of games for the 3DS and DS that I had missed and instantly buying the 3DS so I could catch up. This got me back in to the Nintendo mood but I was still not about to buy a Wii U. The only thing that made me want to get the console at first was Bayonetta 2 being an exclusive, as the first one was one of my favourite games. Only when a shop in the UK went into administration and they were selling their stock super cheap did I actually pick the console up.

     One of my favourite things about this console is the Virtual Console which allows you to buy older Nintendo games and emulate them on the console, now this is not anything new as it was also something you could do on the previous console as well as the DS and 3DS. The reason I enjoy it on this console is because you can use the game pad as a portable NES/SNES (within reason), I love playing games like Mario World on the toilet (Don't Judge me) or just sitting in bed with the headphones in while I play Kirbys adventure in dream land or some shit. 

  

I     I have to admit I love reading peoples experiences with the games on the Miiverse, mostly because it's dumb young kids who have never played a game before the ps3 era and have no idea what the fuck they are doing at any point so they just ask the most obvious questions, but there are those who generally just wanna share something cool they did, I feel like if it were the same system on any other home console it'd be full of people just being mean for the sake of anonymity.

     That actually leads me to my next point, the Miiverse, which is pretty much a semi social media esq application on the console (and was later added to 3DS) in which you can post screenshots from your game, comment on them, give tips and also see what your friends have been playing or doing in their games. I know it's a Nintendo console but this always seems to be the nicest and least toxic place to discuss games, I've never met a shitty person on there, everyone seems to be so pleasant and just wanting to have a good time, unfortunately I don't really use it much as the update kinda messed with a few things and made it more difficult to see what your friends are up to.

     At first I was not too fond of the idea of the Game pad and generally thought it was some Ipad gimmicky shit, but once I sat down with it it truly made for some unique gameplay opportunities. The second I tried it with the launch title Nintendoland and saw the functionality with it in terms of multiplayer where you as the game pad user could become a ghost and see everything but those on the main screen couldn't see you I knew the game pad was going to be a blast. 

      I mean a lot of games don't really put their focus into the game pad and they don't really need to as it just works well as a minimap or an inventory screen like in Zelda but a lot of games really used it to their advantage, a recent game that did this for me was Starfox Zero, the main screen was your standard Starfox view but the game pad was your cockpit view and if you tilt the game pad in any way it will move the target in that direction. 

      Although there is the option to use the gamepad most games will just allow you to use your Wiimote or even a Pro controller which looks a lot like an Xbox 360 controller, there really is something for anyone with this console. My favourite thing they ever did was allow an adaptor to let you use your old Gamecube controller for Super Smash Bros , my only gripe with this being you couldn't use it for any other games or even for the emulated Wii as I used to play most Wii games on the GC controller, I hope it's not too late to patch something like this in? 

       

     

I    I want to talk a little about why I feel this console failed overall, there are a lot of reasons for it for sure but I think the main reason is because Nintendo got cocky. The Wii was a surprise hit not just with those who played games but more so with those who really didn't care either way, I know older people who still play fucking Wii sports, there are so many games for this console that cater towards those who don't really play games much, I'd say this is true also for the original DS with Brain training and such.

     Now of course if you've got one of the most popular consoles in recent memory you're probably thinking 'well it will be easy to get people on board once we create a new one', I would have thought the same to be honest and I think that's why they chose the name Wii U, because it's like a continuation of that console. However I think this is the main reason the initial lack of attention this console got because  of the demographic for it, being kids or parents of kids who were none the wiser a lot of them thought this console was just an optional add on for the original Wii, who could blame them though honestly?

     It really did not do much to differentiate itself from the Wii and I know a lot of parents bought Wii U games for their kids thinking they would work on the Wii which just caused further problems which they really could not be bothered with at that point.

I     I think Nintendo do get stuck in a rut and maybe they believed 'if it aint broke don't fix it' with their IPs but I feel like lately there has been a large lacking in the creation of new IPs. The only stand out title I can think of in this respect is Splatoon. Now it was great to see Nintendo put their focus in an online multiplayer game for once but personally this game was not for me, I just did not connect to it overall, it was fun but nothing got me back into it after launch, I've only played it a handful of times at most but after writing this I feel I should give it another chance.

Splatoon was a step in the right direction for sure but they really need to focus more on some entirely new games if they want to keep evolving with the times. This almost goes hand in hand with another issue the console faced after its initial launch and that was the lack of third party exclusives and towards the end third party games in general.

At launch we had titles like ZombiU which while not anything amazing they were something just for Wii U owners, however with the decline of the console many developers either cancelled their third party games entirely or put them on indefinite hold. I think the most annoying thing is that ZombiU was the eventual port to other consoles to make a quick buck recently, I find this really shitty as the whole point in this title was the gamepad functionality, to not have that and just make it a generic zombie game really makes me wonder what the point was in the port.

I    I think my overall favourite title on the console has to be Super Mario Maker, this game just hits every note with me, it has the simplistic gameplay of core Mario titles, the Online interactivity of a game from this console generation and above all else allows me to just create and share whatever I want. I've not felt that way since games like Zoo Tycoon and Sim City which I used to play for hours on end on the family computer. To be able to create and share in a game is a wonderful thing and provides so much longevity to a title.

I find it strange that fans really want a new F-zero and other older titles yet Nintendo just doesn't make one because they feel there is not really anywhere for the series to go, I mean that's fine but a lot of their current series are only slightly different from their predecessors. The new Star Fox is almost a total remake of 64 for one thing so at this point remake the original F-zero, it'd make something for new fans at least. I mean I'd quite like a new F-zero at this point with online play and customisation, they should know there are a group of people who want it because of the game that came out recently named Fast Racing Neo, sort it the fuck out Nintendo.

     With that said though I feel Nintendo still maintain a good relationship with their customers, they know their games never go cheaper so after a few years they re-release them for like £20.00. They start to listen to their customers and allow some more niche titles to make their way over to the West like Shin Megami Tensei IV and Project Zero. They finally made a multiplayer focused shooter with Splatoon and they decided to go forward with DLC and in some cases make things from scratch such as the DLC characters for Super Smash Bros. I think these sort of things are what keeps me happy with the company and the latter is what made the Wii U a much more positive experience overall.

      Not only do they have a good relationship with their customers but I feel like they third party developers that decided to stick around also had a lot of opportunities to release some great games. Platinum Games were probably the best example of this, they were already set to make big waves with Bayonetta 2 which they naturally did, it was the reason I got the console and it did not disappoint in any way. However I feel Hideki Kamiyas Wonderful 101 was simply amazing.
  
     Imagine Viewtiful Joe mixed with Pikmin and you've pretty much got 101, the game is just goofy as hell, tight gameplay and a great Super Sentai inspired setting with giant robots thrown into the mix later on. I seriously hope we get a sequel to it some time but I feel it really relied on the gamepad so if the NX doesn't have that it'd have to be a 3DS game I think.

Their latest games, Star Fox Zero and Star Fox Guard are also pretty good but they are a departure from the Platinum Games style I'm familiar with and as mentioned earlier Zero is pretty much a Remake of 64. But having Nintendo let them handle one of their first party IPs just goes to show the trust between the two and that their relationship will only continue strongly over time.

It kinda bummed me out there was not much in the way of interactivity between the 3DS and the Wii U, I mean the only example I can think of is being able to transfer Miis and then later in both consoles lives having the ability to have a joint account for both consoles. I know that eventually some games had the cross play function so that if you owned it on both consoles you could transfer your saves, but there was no ability to buy a game and having copies for both consoles included.

I feel like this should be mandatory so you can play on the go and shit, I think it would be such a good idea for virtual console games too, it's amazing to me that the 3DS only just got SNES titles, I'd totally buy some if I could use my saves from the Wii U... If the Playstation Vita/3/4 can do this easily it should not be so hard for Nintendo to do the same.

I have a lot of hope for the NX at this point because I feel like Nintendo can learn from their mistakes in a lot of areas and produce something that a wider audience will again enjoy. I feel as though there will no doubt be some kind of gimmick but I think there will still be the ability to at least use a Wii Mote as so many people still have them. Id like to think the Wii U won't be forgotten and the NX will allow the use of the gamepad and backwards compatibility, if not It's not the end of the world as I still use my Wii U as a Wii also anyway.

I feel like they seriously need to consider cross buying and saving as so many people play their 3DS, they need to make a lot more online based games which they've had success with recently in Mario Kart, Splatoon and Smash Bros. More than anything though they need to market this thing well, their strategy of Nintendo Directs are really popular but if they want the sort of audience the Wii had they will need to make sure they do enough to reach those sort of people. Nintendo have always made consoles for 'anyone', the Wii U was no exception it was just poorly thought out.

To me the console did not fail, it was a fun experience that I don’t regret in anyway and I will continue to use the console for years to come for games like Super Smash Bros and also all the virtual console games I have amassed providing they don’t have the option to transfer any of these to the NX.

Overall this console is underrated and really could have had a much fuller life but sadly we're reaching its twilight but this in no way means the console is not worth your time. This console has a large amount of great games and I know I've had a of fun with it, yes it could have been a lot more in a lot of ways but I'm happy with my purchase. As I said before this console would never be my main source of games, I own pretty much all the consoles and I have a lot to play because of that but every time I have gone back to the Wii U I have had a lot of fun.

I have fun with a lot of games but I can honestly say the older I get the harder it is for me to be not only focused or find time for games but  consistently enjoy my time with them, with Nintendo games they have always been a pick up and play thing for me because you can drop in at any time and not have to play many levels before you can put it down and leave it for a few hours or even days. Perhaps that is only true for me but I think it helps in my enjoyment.

I've never found their games too difficult they are just a fun experience with a really charming nature, the majority of my favourite games this console generation have been from the Wii U, they are the ultimate stress tool for me they combat it so well and I'm glad really chill games like that still exist, you don't need something with a complex story or complex gameplay to have fun these days and I think that it something I think a lot of developers need to remember nowadays.

I enjoy more complex games like Dark Souls and the like but you can't forget the simple almost age old ways of Nintendo IPs. I've just gone back to Mario Galaxy and it just makes me feel this sense of wonder I've not felt in a long time, Nintendo just know how to give you a good time where the stakes aint super high and you're just here to have fun and enjoy the time you have, I greatly appreciate the love and care they put in to their titles especially as I get older and sadly have less and less time for my favourite hobby.

I hope you enjoyed this somewhat, if you did let me know at @ScatmanBegins on Twitter. This blog almost got deleted for a phishing scam the other day somehow and i got mad at blogger support, I mean I mostly write for myself but I'm glad other can find some enjoyment in it! Any encouragement would be great!