Dragon’s Crown is the latest game by Vanillaware, a company well-known for its distinctive 2D art style. It is a fairly traditional brawler at first glance, but there is far more lurking just beneath the surface if one is willing to dive in. Borrowing aspects from both RPGs and dungeon crawlers, Dragon’s Crown quickly becomes a manic mélange of a slew of great genres; but the main question on everyone’s mind is, “Is it fun?” Well, let’s get down to brass tacks.

If she were real, lifting that frog would be enough to break her back.

First and foremost is the art style. Players will fall into one of two camps: those who hate it with an undying passion and those who love it with an equal fervor. Personally, this reviewer fell into the latter. It’s over-the-top, exceedingly so, but it’s done with such tongue-in-cheek bravado that it’s hard to not enjoy. Whether it is the dwarf who looks like a side of beef with a beard, or the sorceress whose curves make Barbie seem realistic, as long as it’s not taken too seriously, it’s pretty endearing. But the characters aren’t the only thing to think about here. The environments are absolutely gorgeous; it is honestly some of the most detailed art that I’ve seen in a game for a long time. There’s no debate on this aspect: the environments are beautiful.

Along with the design, the characters themselves are quite likeable. There are six classes to choose from: Dwarf, Fighter, Wizard, Sorceress, Amazon, and Elf. While there are similarities between certain characters, the variety of play styles is incredible. The Dwarf, who relies on pure muscle, plays completely different from the Sorceress, who fires off magic spells constantly. The Elf, who prefers to keep her distance, but can hold her own toe-to-toe, is miles away from the Wizard, who also relies on magic. The Fighter and Amazon are fairly similar, but still inherently different. Vanillaware has done a great job in differentiating the classes, and by doing so, has also drastically increased this game’s replay value. While the story doesn’t change (aside from the ending, of course), the varied gameplay makes it more than worth it, and when you consider that each playthrough is around 15 hours, that’s a lot of game.

Speaking of the story, there’s not really all that much to it. It’s pretty standard fantasy fare: a mystical item is being searched for, and you must help to stop it from falling into the wrong hands. It’s just nothing new, and like as not, players will just skip through most of the dialogue, something that I despise, but am very guilty of in this game. The story just kind of seems to be there as a reason to allow the wholesale destruction of swathes of baddies, not as a reason unto itself.

Now, after all that, let’s discuss the gameplay. Simple and elegant, your sole purpose is to kill everything you see. Your moves vary depending on your character, be it magic, brute strength, or arrows. Regardless of who you choose, though, all can use “Rune Magic.” In order to use this, you must find runes in the background of the stages. Then, you either touch them or use the right analog stick to activate them, add one or two runes from your own inventory, and see what happens. The results can be quite spectacular, running the gamut from brief invincibility to creating a flying carpet. This is a great addition, but it is a bit hard to use while in the middle of a massive battle.

Hectic action leads to muddled screens.

Up to four characters can participate in the fighting, with multiple familiars allowed, as well. When you have one or two allies, it’s great fun; however, when you have a full roster of sorceresses, wizards, and amazons, the screen gets extremely muddled. It is next to impossible to keep track of your character in the sea of brightly colored spells and flying enemies. There is a circle around your character, but it does little to help. Numerous times, I found myself attacking in the completely opposite direction of the enemy, something that makes you feel pretty useless. Because of this, Dragon’s Crown is quite difficult. However, rather than the beautifully balanced difficulty of a game like Dark Souls or Super Meat Boy, you get a game that is difficult for all the wrong reasons. It can quickly become very frustrating because it doesn’t feel like your own fault when you fail, which takes away a lot of the fun that the game potentially had.

Even though this problem rears its head fairly often, the boss fights are still incredible. Every single fight feels different and requires a different tactic to succeed. Whether it’s a kraken that is trying to trap you in a cave or a vampire that will try to turn innocent girls while you fight it, there was clearly a lot of thought put into these encounters. Also, any Monty Python and the Holy Grail fans will enjoy one specific, amazing boss that I refuse to ruin for anyone. Suffice it to say, that alone is almost worth purchasing the game.

A typical Dragon’s Crown boss fight.

Of course, there is a lot of loot to be had as well. As you go through a stage, you pick up weapons, armor, and accessories; however, you have to wait to return to town to use them. Also, they have to be appraised beforehand, which costs a fair bit of gold. It’s an interesting system that makes looting a fair bit of fun.

There are a few other points that need to be touched upon. The multiplayer, while being run-of-the-mill, is perfectly fine. The cross platform support between the Vita and the PS3, something we’re sure to see even more of in the near future, is quite nifty; however, I found the Vita version to be much stronger, if only because the controls are far superior. The music and sound effects are good, but ultimately forgettable. Not a single tune comes to mind, and I just played the game about an hour ago.

Essentially, Dragon’s Crown comes down to one word: fine. It’s not necessarily a bad game; it’s just a game that doesn’t live up to its potential. It’s fun to destroy waves of enemies, but it quickly becomes frustrating when you can’t even tell where you are. The art style is great to look at, but there just isn’t much of a story to back it up. At the end of the day, it’s good, but it could’ve been a lot better. Vanillaware has made a beautiful game in Dragon’s Crown, but there’s just not tons of substance behind that veneer.

This review is based on a review copy of the Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita version of Dragon’s Crown by Vanillaware, distributed by Atlus.

I was about three when my family got our first Nintendo console. It was mostly for my older brother, who, unlike me, actually had the motor skills to operate a controller. However, though my mother may be loath to admit it, I think my parents also wanted it a good bit. My mother was something of an Atari whiz at the time, having blacked out at least three games, Missile Command being her proudest. My father would play, too, but was apparently lacking in any notable skill.

By the time 1990 rolled around, I was a ruddy faced five-year-old with enough command of my appendages to make an attempt at playing. As most people of that era, Super Mario Bros. was my first foray into the video game world. Though the controller was as uncomfortable as anything, leaving deep, red ruts in my palms, I found that I was entirely unable to put it down. I was intent upon finding the princess and destroying as many turtles as humanly possible.

My brother would play with me quite often, most times forcing me to play as the lesser plumber/savior, Luigi. It was always a good time, but would usually end with my brother throwing the controller and kicking me out. I, however, never once took my frustrations out on the controller, as tempted as I was. Of course, this was just a litmus test of our disparate personalities. My brother had, and still has, a terrible temper, while I was and am much more laid back, even verging on timid. For my brother, it was always the game’s fault that he lost, never a shortcoming in his skills. I could recognize my faults and attempt to correct them, learning the subtle nuances of each game. I was to find out shortly that Mario has a lot of nuances.

I would come home from daycare, or, as time passed, school, and immediately blow out the cartridge and pop it in. After an hour or so, the honey yellow hue of a hot Alabama afternoon would spill through the open window, tempting me, usually successfully, to put down the controller and wander around until the crickets told me it was time to scurry back home. After the cursory supper (try as I might, the only food I ever remember having for supper is my mother’s fried chicken; I know this to be untrue.) and a begrudging trip to the bathtub, I would beg my mother for one more jaunt through the Mushroom Kingdom. Occasionally, this request would be granted, and I would delve back in with a renewed fervor. The heavy, comforting humidity of a summer’s night would combine with the sweet exhaustion that we can only know as children, putting me into some strange middle-ground between consciousness and sleep, making the game seem almost easy. I would plow through the stages, almost lazily killing Mario’s enemies. Oddly enough, I still find that to this day, I play video games better in that golden haze of sleepiness. Eventually, however, the strums of sleep would begin to play for me, and my eyelids would slowly droop further and further, eventually closing altogether. I would wake after a few seconds, only to find that my game was over. I would take this as my cue to go to bed.

With this routine, I eventually became a professional at mushroom hunting, shell dodging, and coin collecting. I would constantly tug at my father’s arm, pulling him to my brother’s room to watch me destroy a boss. Often, he would come willingly; other times, he would have to go to work, or he was going out for the evening. I would only understand later what that meant, and why my mother would get so upset at him, but things like that did not really impact upon my young mind. All that mattered to me at the time was the desire to show off my meager talent. However, as time went on, my father was around less and less. He was going out almost every night, and when he was home, usually once a week, it was usually just to get into a fight with my mother. I would later learn that my father was an alcoholic. He was unable to keep a job for any substantial length of time due to this fact, and when he lost a job, he would drink more. It was a vicious cycle, one that I’m unsure as to whether he was ever able to break or not. What I really noticed was that he was not the father I’d come to expect. He wasn’t as happy-go-lucky as he’d always been. He just seemed unhappy, and no matter what I did, it didn’t change him.

To avoid this, I sunk myself further into Mario, truly becoming a hero in my own mind. Mario was no longer fighting to save someone he loved; I was. I couldn’t change what was happening in my real life, but I could traverse strange lands and fight odd monsters to save a princess I’d never met in my life. And despite what was going on in my life, those are some of the most meaningful video game memories that I have. I have struggled to capture this feeling again, and have never quite succeeded. I had intertwined myself so fully with the hero of the game that I could hardly separate one from the other. It was a one-time product of outside influences: my father, my age, my cares (or lack thereof). It’s something that’s lost to me now, but I have memories that will always be sweet to me.

I no longer asked my father to watch me play. When he was around, I tended to avoid him. I would go outside to the playhouse that he built for me and my brother and read comic books, or real books, or play with my toys, or listen to music, or just sit and think. I would do anything but be around him. I just wanted my old father back. Whoever this man claimed to be, and regardless of what his name was, I knew that he was not my father. It became my goal to find him. He had become the princess that was always in another castle.

I developed a plan that could only be born in the imaginative and infinitely naïve mind of a child: I would beat Super Mario Bros., a feat that would make him so proud that he would have to come back. I became utterly single-minded. The call of the Alabama wilderness no longer held any sway; I would sit in front of the Nintendo until my mother pulled me away. I eventually realized that my father hadn’t even been in the house for well over month, but this didn’t deter me. I knew that once I beat Bowser, I would not only rescue the princess, but also my father.

One beautifully crisp Autumn afternoon (a Saturday, if I remember correctly), I finally did it; I beat Super Mario Bros.. I rushed out of the room, wanting to pull my father into the room to see what I’d done, to be proud of me, to come back to me. I started toward the kitchen, but knew he wasn’t there; I dashed outside to see if his truck was there, but it wasn’t. I was going to call him, but I realized that I didn’t even know where he was. I didn’t know what to do. I’d done what I thought would make him proud and bring my true father back, but how could I even tell him what I’d done? Maybe if I told my mother, she’d somehow be able to reach him.

I wandered into my mother’s room. She was sitting on her bed, folding laundry. I went in and put on my best broken smile, and said, “Hey Mama, guess what? I beat Super-“; but I couldn’t do it. My voice cracked and hot tears forced their way past my clenched eyelids. I stammered and tried to get it out, but I just couldn’t finish. My mother came up to me and gently put her arms around me. She knew what had happened, and she knew it wasn’t Mario that I was crying about. She kissed me lightly on the forehead and said, “You beat Mario? I knew you could do it, honey.” I hugged her back and cried harder. She crouched and lifted my head up. She wiped my eyes and said, “Harry, I love you, and I know you miss your dad, but we’re going to be okay.” I sniffled and quit crying. I went back to my brother’s room, shut the Nintendo off, and went out to my playhouse, the one that my father had built. I just wanted to be alone for a little bit. While sitting there, I realized that the princess isn’t in any other castle. I had found her, but I hadn’t found my father. But I also realized something else. It didn’t really matter. My mother had always been there for me, for good times and bad. I’d miss my father until he came back, but my mother had never left to begin with. She was the one that I really wanted to make proud. And she still is to this day.

I haven’t seen my father in 20 years. He wrote me a letter when I turned 18, and the return address was somewhere in Tennessee, but I threw it away without reading it. I didn’t need to. I don’t want his apologies; I don’t want his reasons. I have my mother, and she’s never in another castle.

It has recently been revealed that David Hayter, the voice of Solid Snake in every English language Metal Gear Solid game, will not be returning to the series in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. In a recent interview with GameTrailers, Hideo Kojima said that, “It’s a new type of Metal Gear game and we wanted to have this reflected in the voice actor as well.” Of course, the main character is Big Boss this time around, not Solid Snake, making a strong argument for a change of actors; however, Hayter also voiced a young Big Boss before, showing that he’s more than capable of handling the character. While I’m not jumping to sign any petitions, I feel that this is a huge loss for the series that won’t be fully felt until MGSV is released. While it seems like there’s a bit of overreaction on a lot of peoples’ parts, I would argue that quite a bit of the controversy is well-founded.

For all intents and purposes, David Hayter IS Snake, whether Solid or Naked. He put over a decade of work into developing this character, learning how Snake would respond, and putting an incredible amount of emotion into a character that could have just turned into John Rambo. While I’m willing to put money on the wonderful Richard Doyle, the voice of Big Boss in MGS4, taking the reins, things just won’t be the same without Hayter. His gruff, up to three packs a day voice has always represented the series to the fullest. His voice is instantly recognizable and screams, “Soldier who has seen and done far more than he should ever have to, but will continually push and get the job done.” Kojima can cast whomever he would like, but the problem that I have is that it just doesn’t make much sense to change. If Hayter was demanding an exorbitant amount of money or going on horrible, Christian Bale-esque tirades, it would be perfectly understandable, but there is no indication that this is the case. Kojima has his reasons, I’m sure, but I wish he’d just share them, rather than just say “new direction,” and be done with it. At face value, taking an actor who has built a long-term relationship with a character and changing him out with a new actor seems like an awful idea.

And there’s no better way to prove a point than with an analogy! Let’s talk about a television show that it seems like everyone loves: Breaking Bad. With the last half of the final season soon to air, everyone’s ready to see how Walter White’s story ends. Now, imagine that you tune in and Walter White is no longer played by Bryan Cranston. Let’s say he’s portrayed by Denzel Washington. While everyone can agree that Mr. Washington is a wonderful actor, he has not put as much time and love into the character as Cranston, and would just not be able to pull it off as well. Everyone would be horrendously disappointed, to say the least. This situation is not that different. Throughout the various Snakes, Hayter has been a constant, fine-tuning his character work and building personalities. With him being snatched out of the series, someone else, who I’m sure will be of top quality, will have to begin from scratch building a relationship with the character. That doesn’t mean it’ll be awful, but the little nuances of character that Hayter can pull off without thinking will not be present in The Phantom Pain.

In the end, what’s going to change, other than just a voice, is the soul of the series. Hayter will be conspicuously absent, a void that will be blatantly obvious to people who have followed the franchise. How this will affect the game remains to be seen, but there’s going to be a subtle change that no one will be able to deny. With all that said, I will still buy this game the second it’s released. Despite this change, Metal Gear has always come as close as possible to gaming perfection; however, this one is going to be a little bittersweet, with the loss of possibly the most memorable voice in video gaming. Good luck, Mr. Hayter; you will be missed. May a flight of angels sing thee to thy rest. ( A little histrionics are always welcome in a Metal Gear Solid discussion.)

Sly is Finally Back

Originally developed by Sucker Punch, the Sly Cooper franchise has been an unsung hero of platforming since its inception. Unfortunately, as InFamous and its sequels gained in popularity, Sly was left by the wayside. However, Sanzaru, who were big fans of the series, stepped up to take the reins, based largely on a demo Sly level they created. They were given the task of creating The Sly Collection, an HD remaster of the previous Sly games. When this came out great, Sanzaru was given the go-ahead to begin work on Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, the fourth installment of the series. It’s a great story; however, does it add up to a great game?

The basic premise is pretty simple: Sly Cooper is essentially an anthropomorphic Robin Hood; he is the world’s foremost thief, but only steals from the people who can afford it. He is helped along by his childhood friends, Bentley and Murray, a turtle and a hippopotamus, respectively. In this installment, pages of the Thievious Raccoonus, a book chronicling the Cooper Clan’s secret abilities, are disappearing. Bentley determines that there is a nefarious villain dancing through time, trying to erase the Cooper name from the history books. Luckily, Bentley has developed a way to transform the gang’s van into a time machine, allowing them to help Sly’s ancestors. While the story is nothing new, it is done with such a great sense of humor and wonderful writing chops that it comes off as an extremely gratifying breath of fresh air.

One of the many mini-games.

Gameplay is as varied as possible, featuring platforming, driving, side-scrolling, shooting, fighting, and rhythm, to name a bare minimum. The gameplay is even further mixed up by allowing you to play as Sly, Bentley, Murray, Carmelita, and all of Sly’s ancestors, who each have their own special set of moves. You have Galleth Cooper, who can launch himself to extreme heights, all the way to Tennessee Kid Cooper, whose cane also doubles as a gun. Taking it a step further, Sly has different costumes that he obtains in each level. Each allows him to further explore the various stages by giving him a special power. You can slow time, shoot arrows with ropes attached, or leap across huge gaps, just to name a few. On top of that, there are six different levels, ranging from prehistoric days to Medieval England, and each one has its own unique gameplay, secrets, and is absolutely gigantic. They are beautifully recognized, and give Sly 2’s incredible level design a real run for its money. Taken as a whole, it makes Thieves in Time one of the most diverse games to come around the bend for quite some time.

Of course, diversity would mean nothing if the controls didn’t let you take advantage of it. Simply put, the controls are absolutely perfect. They are easily the best I’ve seen since Super Meat Boy; tight, intuitive, fluid, and responsive. Every leap you make puts you exactly where you want it to. Landing on tightropes and spires is done with the simple press of a button, and though there are tons of different objects to latch onto, the game always seems to know where you want to be. The stealth aspects are the same as in the past; you are only spotted when you enter an enemy’s fairly small area of detection. However, the ease of sneaking around the enemies is offset by the sheer amount of them found in later levels.  The real difficulty comes in when you start trying to find the massive amount of collectibles. Each level has 30 clue bottles, which, when you obtain all of them, opens a safe, a bunch of treasure, and extremely well-hidden Sly masks. In order to find all of these, you have to take full advantage of everything that the controls have to offer. Sanzaru truly did everything they could to give you the tools you need to take on the challenges that their world tasks you with.

Level design is second-to-none.

The varied gameplay and spot-on controls are supported by beautiful cel-shaded graphics. The colors are deep and rich, and every level is amazingly detailed. There’s a wide variety of enemies for every level, and each fits the theme perfectly. The Middle East stage really stands as a testament to how much care Sanzaru put into crafting the levels. The HUD is unobtrusive, but gives you everything you need to play. A simple press of the left analog stick brings up markers to show important points in the level and also puts a compass under your feet, pointing to the main objective. Also, after boss fights and at various other points, there are beautifully animated cut-scenes that will make you wonder why they haven’t made a Sly Cooper cartoon.

While Thieves in Time doesn’t do anything completely new or innovative, it doesn’t have to; what it does, it does absolutely perfectly. From flawless controls to rampant diversity, Sanzaru shows that they are more than capable of handling this beloved franchise. At $40, this game is an incredible buy, especially considering that you get a free Vita version with the purchase of a PS3 version. Considering the price and quality of Thieves in Time, I cannot recommend this game enough. This is platforming at its best, and I can only hope that we get more soon.

Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★ 

This review was based on a retail copy of the PlayStation 3 version of Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, developed by Sanzaru Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment.

In my younger and more vulnerable years, I spent some time with a certain console. Not only was it able to exceed my expectations as to what emotions electronics could evoke, but it also became a well-worn friend, walking with me on a road that was not as welcoming as one would hope for. The games were subpar to none, creating worlds that have become as familiar to me as the one which we trod upon every day. I became a false expert on many subjects: espionage, cars, carnage, etc.

My friend was eventually usurped by a faster, prettier, less amiable console, but it remained in all of our lives like an old cur who, despite being replaced by a pretty pup, is still the family favorite. The thinly veiled friend that I speak of, of course, is the Playstation 2.

The dreams of a generation have been formed by this magnanimous machine, and many dreams were given form on this platform. However, I was recently informed that the PS2 will not be available anymore. I cannot deny that I became quite emotional upon hearing this fact. What will become of these worlds that we’ve worshipped for so long? I immediately ran to my console, rag in hand, ready to do whatever I could to make this machine run for as long as possible. To make use of an incredibly trite phrase, this is the end of an era.

While the PS2 may not be my favorite console (that hallowed honor belongs to the Super Nintendo), it was responsible for shaping my gaming habits. My deep desire to delve into the daunting worlds of various RPGs was formed upon the SNES, but solidified on the PS2. A massive amount of time went into fine-tuning my twitchy thumbs’ reaction times to hit a henchman’s head from a hundred yards. By the time I finally ambled to the PS3, I had a strong feel for what games I would continually enjoy, not to mention a skill level that was to be reckoned with. If it wasn’t for the PS2, my burgeoning obsession with the virtual worlds of games could have been joylessly squashed like an ant beneath an uncaring boot.

Now, as we prepare ourselves for the eventual release of the latest Playstation, we must bid a fond farewell to our constant companion. As each console slowly dies an ignominious death, the Playstation 2 will fall into the realm of museum pieces. We’ve begun to see some of the more popular PS2 titles become available for other consoles, but they shall never have the full library available; it’s just not fiscally viable, nor is full backwards compatibility. There will undoubtedly be specific games that you or I or somebody loves with an undying fervor, but will fade into the horizon of our memories like a ship carrying a loved one to a distant land. The video game court (which exists only in my fevered imagination) shall eventually find the PS3 guilty of murder in the 1^st of the PS2, heavily abetted by the PS4. To take a line from a better writer than I shall ever be, I have only words to play with, because I no longer have the Playstation 2.

Sony has announced today that on November 19, 2012, Playstation Plus will be available for the Vita. The features of the portable version of Plus are essentially the same: cloud storage and everybody’s favorite, the Instant Game Collection.

Sony is rolling out some pretty heavy hitters for the Vita collection: Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, Gravity Rush, Wipeout 2048, Jet Set Radio, and Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack!. On top of that, you’ll also get 1 GB of cloud storage.

The best part, is if you already have a PS Plus membership for the PS3, it transfers to the Vita. No need to pay twice for two different consoles. So for those with a Vita, this is a great way to grow your game collection quickly.

The amazingly tense side-scrolling survival-horror game Lone Survivor is coming to the Playstation 3 and the Vita, according to creator Jasper Byrne.

There’s no release date yet, but Curve Studios is hard at work on the port, coding it from the bottom up; they also plan on adding French and German translations.

Hopefully, we get it soon, so we can have our collective pants scared off of us. Lone Survivor is one of the best indie games I’ve played in quite a while, so anything that brings it to new people is a good thing.

Everybody’s favorite hedgehog (except mine…I used to have a hedgehog) will be getting new games as early as next year, according to Sissel Henno, Sega‘s European head of brand licensing.

Henno, talking to Toys ‘n’ Playthings magazine, said, speaking of Sonic’s future, “We will have several new digital titles launching as well as a new boxed game…” While no other details were revealed, it’s enough to whet any Sonic fan’s appetite.

Though the last few games featuring the lightning-quick rodent have been lackluster at best, we can all hope that, somewhere in these games, there’s one that recalls what made Sonic great in the first place. If not, we can always wait for the long-promised Sonic Fan Remix. That game still looks amazing.

Medal of Honor: Warfighter did its best to be as realistic as possible, even going so far as to consult seven actual Navy SEALS for the game. However, EA got even more realism than they expected.

The seven SEALS, members of the infamous SEAL team six, the squad responsible for the raid in which Osama bin Laden was killed, revealed classified information to the game’s creators. This has, of course, resulted in serious repercussions for these SEALS, who are still on active duty: they are at half pay for two months, and they received official letters of reprimand. While the letters may not seem like much, it effectively kills their chances for future promotions.

You would think that the added realism would make the game incredible, but after consulting our review, that doesn’t seem to be the case. It’s sad to think that they would throw away their careers for an ultimately mediocre game.

According to Nintendo, there are now at least 5,000 Wii U kiosks across America, and they are just waiting for you to play with them.

Major retailers like Gamestop, Target, Walmart, Best Buy, and Toys’R'Us set the displays over the past weekend, and they have a variety of games to choose from. Depending on what kiosk you hunt down, you’ll be able to play either ZombiU, Rayman Legends, New Super Mario Bros. U, SiNG PARTY, or Nintendo Land.

The Wii U will be coming to the states on November 18th (November 30th for Europe), but if you just can’t wait to get your hands on that unwieldy, yet strangely attractive, controller, check out your local retailers. You can find the closest kiosk by going here.