Friday Night Beer N' Game

The Beer Drinker's Anthem

The Beer: Leinenkugel's Red Lager is a satisfying twist on an old classic, which combines the robustness of the original Leinie's Red, with the smoothness of their later creations such as Honey Weiss. I must admit when I first saw this on the shelf at my local liquor store I was a bit weary. Three different times I had it in my cart only to put it back; I had been burned with their other concoctions plenty of times before. This time though, I decided to roll the dice, and take a chance, and thankfully I got a Yahtzee.
When they say Red Lager, they weren't kidding, this beer has one of the deepest amber colorings I have ever seen, and what's more it manages to maintain a nice head until the last quarter of the glass. A very impressive feat for a lager. When you take your first swig, your taste buds light up with that nice nutty/woody flavor amber's are known for. The aftertaste is pleasing as well, making you want another drink because you want more of the flavor, rather than one that makes you want to rinse your mouth out. Overall a very refreshing beer that is great until the last drop, and one that will defiantly be a hit at parties.



The Game: MegaMan 2 is a game that everyone has played so I'll keep this short. From the moment you turn on your NES and here that legendary music, you know it's time to rock! Choose your beginning stage (MetalMan anyone?) and listen to the best music the 8-bit era has to offer. Beat a robot master, steal his weapon, and use it to kick some more robot ass! After you've taken down the pions, it's time for the balding ass face himself...fallowed by a weird alien thingy. Dr. Wily should know by now not to mess with the blue bomber...unless of course the person playing him has had three Red Lagers. Although I was far from drunk, the beer did have it's affects on me, and I found myself making mistakes I normally wouldn't have made, and managed to tack at least 30 minutes onto the total time it takes me to beat this game. Guess I still haven't found that perfect Beer to Game ratio.



Remember, The Best Way to Start Off the Weekend is With a Friday Night Beer N' Game!

PS3 vs. Xbox 360 vs. PC- Can't We all Just Get Along?

Okay, so we all know that a "war" of which platform is superior has been raging as long as there have been video games.
1980:

Guy 1: Hey I just got a Colecovision.
Guy 2: Why? Intellivison is way better.
Guy 3: They both suck, you have to go to the arcade if you want to play the best games.
Guy 4: I'm still happy with my Atari 2600.

2010:
Guy 1: The 360's graphics are amazing! Halo is the shit!
Guy 2: The PS3 is way more powerful thanks to it's Cell processor! God of War 3 is going to be awesome!
Guy 3: Why do you guys not understand that PC's have and always will have the best graphics and games?
Guy 4: I'm still happy with my Wii.

I'm guessing that everybody who is even the slightest gamer has heard or partaken in one of these arguments. In fact the main reason I'm writing this is because recently I discovered a small game store in my home town. Upon entering said store, the first thing out of the owner's mouth was "What system to you play on." To which I responded "Name one, I have them all." (All the major ones at least.) Then he asked me to choose between the Xbox 360 or the PS3. I had to think about it, since, in my mind at least, both have their strengths and weakness, and preference should be determined by which types of games you play. "I guess I would have to choose my PS3." I said. Little did I know that the man standing before me was probably the worlds biggest Xbox fanboy. I felt like I stepped on a land mine, as he sputtered out things like "the Xbox 360's graphics are better, they proved that." (Who is they anyway?) Eventually I got tired of trying to explain my views on gaming, and just ignored him, eying up the NES games he had.

So anyway here's the truth of said arguments, we'll start with the obvious one PS3 vs. Xbox 360. The PS3 DOES have the best graphics, processing speed, lip syncing abilities, and all that jazz, but only on exclusive titles, such as Killzone 2 and Uncharted. Seriously, there is no denying how realistic and mind blowing these games are, and yes I know that creating a graphically advanced game depends mostly on the developers of that game and less on the hardware, but it's hard to make a realistic game if you don't have the means in which to run it. However, if you do a side by side comparison of the 360's version of say, Assassin's Creed 2 versus the PS3 version, the 360 version would win hands down, sorry Playstation fanboys, but it's true. Why is the 360 version (usually) better? Because multi platform releases are designed and programed to the Xbox, because it is easier to work with, and if it runs on the 360, it WILL run on the PS3, yes even Gears of War, sorry Xbox fanboys but it's true. This is what happens when you port a game to a system other than what it was designed for, obviously it isn't going to run as smoothly.
Here's an exception to multi platform rule. Although it hasn't been released in the US yet, Final Fantasy XIII has, from the begining, been developed for the PS3. SquareEnix has promised that a multi platform release would not affect the quality of the PS3 version, and they were right. However they also said that the two versions of the game would be identical to each other. Basically saying the PS3 and 360 have the same graphical capabilities. This time though they lied.

1024×576/2xAA

1280×720/2xMSAA

The PS3 version is defiantly better in terms of graphics. Why? Because FFXIII was developed for the PS3 and ported to the 360, the problem in doing it this way instead of 360 to PS3 is that the game turned out extremely large in file size, about 38 GB. A perfect size for a blue-ray disc, which holds up to 50 GB. The Xbox 360 version, however had to be compressed down to 18 GB in order to fit it on three dvds. You can't tell me a port that is 20 GB smaller than the original is identical. So for once the PS3 wins best in a multi platform release. Whether you understand this or not here's the breakdown: The 360's graphics are 1024×576/2xAA, while the PS3's are 1280×720/2xMSAA. A crude translation of this would be the 360 version is like a step above standard definition, while the PS3 version is in true HD.
Lets talk about the PC for a minute, my opinion is this... I hate it. Now don't get me wrong, I understand that graphics are technically better. I understand that a PC does more than just game, and that any game that has ever been made has probably started as lines of code on a computer screen at one point or another. I get it. It just doesn't fit my personality. I don't like the fact that one persons PC can run games that someone elses can't. (cough, Crysis) I don't like my games contained in a virtual space and not on a shelf, I love sitting on my couch, and for the love of god I hate playing with a keyboard and mouse. But I also realize the reasons I don't like the PC might be why others do. Maybe you like upgrading your machine to see how fast and smooth you can Borderlands run? (by the way, the best version of Borderlands is the PC version, graphically speaking) Maybe you have limited space and like to have 300 game stored on one hardrive, and like services like steam? (or you like pirating games) Maybe you like to get comfy in your computer chair? Maybe a keyboard and mouse really is the best way to play a FPS?
So do PC's really have the best graphics and sound? Well, yes and no. It depends on when in time you're talking. PC's continually "evolve", meaning a computer that is made today is going to be technologically superior to one that was produce a year ago, or, depending on your wallet, a few months ago. Consider this, when the Xbox 360 first came out, it was the best of the best, even better than the PC. A year later the PS3 did the same thing. (although you wouldn't know it until two years later when some good exclusives FINALLY came out.) So the pattern here is this; PC's gradually rise, while consoles spike, and gradually become out dated, and repeat with the next generation.
So PS3 vs. PC? The winner...PS3. (by now you might be wondering if I'm a Playstation fanboy, well I'm not hear me out) For the first time since the birth of video games, consoles are now the most advanced platform for gaming; all thanks to money. PC gaming is slowly but noticeably becoming a thing of the past. I can remember walking into the software section of my local Walmart ten years ago, and seeing a multitude of PC games that rivaled that of the console titles. Now the same Walmart only has two shelves dedicated to PC gaming, and one of them is full of World of Warcraft expansions. With consoles only growing, it's hard for developers to get the funds they need in order to produce a game that is as graphically advanced as a console game. Balance that with the fact that PC gaming is some what of a niche market, and it's easy to see why developers are jumping ship.
What of the Wii? Its far from the "best" but it is also the best selling console. (though that success is starting to fade.) Personally I love my Wii, and think the motion controls are cool, but not every game needs to have them. I'll be the first to admit the motion thing is a fad, and that Sony is being idiotic in releasing a phallic version of the Wiimote for the PS3. Dumb move.
Like I said before each console has it's strengths and weaknesses. The PS3 has the best graphics and is the most technologically advanced, but has a relatively small library of exclusives, and a so so online service. The Xbox 360 has a much better online service, though you have to pay for it. It has a much larger library of games and a greater diversity. The PC is as good or as bad as you want to make it, being customizable, but has a continually shrinking library and fallowing. And the Wii has fancy motion controls that urge people to get active, however only a small percent of Wii games are actually worth buying, and it tends not to appeal to "Hardcore" gamers, who feel it's a gimmick, or a fad.
So there you have it, a post that got way longer than I wanted. I just wanted to give out the facts mixed in with a little of my opinion, though I tried to keep it as unbiased as possible. So hopefully a lot of you are like me, and don't act like that game store owner I mentioned, because I think we'd all be happier if we just get along.

Bull Shit Gamer-John Madsen is My Homeboy

Okay, so this isn't the show I was planning on making, but I got an idea yesterday so crazy, that I just had to make it a reality. I wasn't expecting it to be that great, but after I had shot the video, and edited it all together, it was actually pretty good. So enjoy, I will be looking forward to hearing what you think, as always constructive criticism is welcome.

ToeJam & Earl

If you were to try and think of a game to better describe the early nineties than ToeJam & Earl, you would be thinking for quite a while. ToeJam & Earl is the sleeper hit of the Sega Genesis, and other than the blue hedgehog, they are two mascots that represent a company. Anyone who owned a Genesis back in the day is familiar with these two, and like them or not, you can't deny the creativity behind the game.

ToeJam & Earl are two alien rappers from the planet Funkotron, out on a cruise through the stars. Earl (the big guy) decides he wants a turn in the driver's seat. ToeJam obliges and grips tightly as Earl flies into an asteroid field, weaving in and out of the giant rocks. Just as the duo is about to leave the field, an asteroid slams into their ship, sending them crashing down to a nearby planet, Earth. On impact the ship breaks into ten pieces, which scatter themselves all over the planet. ToeJam & Earl must find and repair their ship so they can return to Funkotron, as long as the earthlings don't get them first.

ToeJam & Earl is unique in that it randomly generates levels, and items. So no two play-throughs are alike. You first start out on a small isle, surrounded by water. Immediately you will notice presents lying about the ground. Inside of these presents are items that you can use to help you along the way. Items include everything from food, money, wings, a slingshot, spring shoes, a raft, and numerous other things that either help you or hurt you; yes that's right, presents in your inventory can hurt or even kill you, but like all presents should be, they are wrapped up tightly, with no way of knowing what's inside.

As stated before the whole object of the game is to find the ten pieces of your ship and reassemble it, so you would assume there to be ten levels, wrong. There are actually 26 levels in the game; each being tied together by an elevator that is hidden somewhere within the level. If you take the elevator up from the first level, you will find a land mass floating in space. Find the next elevator to move up higher to another land mass, and so on; and since the levels are generated randomly, you have no way of knowing what levels will be in what order. If you step off the edge of one level, you will continue to fall until you hit land on a previous level, which may be one level down, or ten.

Every so often, when an elevator stops at a new level a hint box will tell you a ship piece is at this location, in which case you will have to find it before moving on to the elevator. But don't think that finding ship pieces and elevators is just as simple as walking around, there are plenty of enemies that are just as random as the rest of the game. You got your demons with pitchforks, crazy mothers pushing their children around in shopping carts, dancing hula girls, crazed men mowing, bogey men, nazi chickens, and so many more. You're not completely alone though, there are allies on your insane adventure (though not many). Most notably is a man in a carrot suit that, for a price, reveals the contents of your presents, and Santa Claus, who if you sneak up on him, will drop said presents as he speeds off on his jet pack.

One of ToeJam & Earl's best qualities is it's music. Seems like I've been picking games with funky music a lot lately, like the last three reviews. Yes, the music is a mix of funk and jazz, with just a touch of hip-hop. It's said that the game's composer, John Baker, took his inspiration from Herbie Hancock, and the Headhunters. Listen to the song "Rocket" sometime, and you can totally picture ToeJam & Earl jammin'. The only problem with the game's unique sound is there aren't many tracks in the game, with each level comes the hope of something fresh for your ears to feast upon, but what you get is one of the five (and that may be stretching it) same old tunes. Yeah, the music that's there is extremely good, especially with the Genesis's limited sound capabilities, but it leaves you wanting more.

Graphically this is one of the most impressive game's in the Genesis library, and a nice break from the traditional sidescroller. Each level is bright and colorful, and rests in a starry backdrop, which may be a turn off to have the same background for the whole game, but as the levels get bigger, you will see less and less of the cosmos, so it's balanced very well. Walking around in a semi three dimensional plain, similar to the game "Rogue", looking for ship pieces and elevators gives ToeJam & Earl a slower pace than most games, so you're either going to find it soothing and fun, or boring and repetitive.

The unique perspective really catches the eye

To date there have been two sequels to ToeJam & Earl, ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron for the Genesis, and ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth on the Xbox. Panic on Funkotron received great reviews both commercially and critically, though fans of the original were disappointed to find the developers deviated from the original semi 3d perspective to a sidescrolling platforming game. Mission to Earth was a launch title for the Xbox which received mix reviews, and suffered from poor sales, and people wondered if a game filled with stereotypical nineties idioms could stand in the new millennium. In 2006 ToeJam & Earl was added to the Wii's virtual console and was once again highly praised, or thought to be boring (some people get it, some don't). Talks of a re-release on Xbox Live and Playstation Network have circulated for the past couple years, but remain unconfirmed, as is talk of an entirely new game on the DS. Greg Johnson, creator of ToeJam & Earl, has stated that he has failed to generate interest among publishers for a new game, but says he'll keep trying. If only a certain company would make a new console, hmmm... I'm gonna keep asking, Sega, so give me a Dreamcast 2 already!

Overview:

Story: 3/5

Graphics: 4/5

Gameplay: 3/5

Music: 3/5

Originality: 5/5

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Curve: Low

Length: Average

Total Score 3.6 Worth Buying

Next Classic Hint: Don't be fooled by his cute appearance, this little guy packs a punch, weather it's his drunken, money grabbing ways, or big, long, bushy... tail, you can't help but love him. So grab a beer (or milk) and hide the duct tape, it's time to have some fun!

Hey it's been a while!

Yeah I know it's been almost three months since my last post, I apologize for that, been busy with work, the holidays, and all that jazz, but be prepared, because 2010 is going to be my year. So let me tell you about my "goals" this year.

Firstly, let me tell you about an annual tradition of mine. Every spring I take 7 days to "study" a particular gaming series, and play every game from that franchise (or as many as I can) in order, I call it Game Days. Last year was Metroid. This year, I'm choosing Sonic The Hedgehog, seeing as it's his twentieth anniversary, and Project Needlemouse is on it's way. This year, is going to be slightly different though, instead of me just playing around, I'm also going to review each "day" instead of the individual games themselves. I'll be going in a pattern, one day of play, one day of review, one day of play, one day of review, and so on, so now my little week of awesomeness has expanded to two glorious weeks.

Nextly, by this summer I hope to have my own Webshow as well as start posting other video segments. The web show will consist of me reviewing cult classics, but instead of me just talking, I will be "expanding" to incorporate elements of the game into the real world. My other little segment will be called "Over Rated and Under Rated" where I will feature two games whose review scores I will swap, and give my reasons why. More info on both of these in the near future.

Lastly, Friday Night Beer N' Game will now be a bi-weekly occurrence. My reasoning is this: Beer is expensive, and I'm broke, simple as that. So thats that, tomorrow I will be posting my long over due review, and hopefully getting this train back on it's tracks. Thanks so much to everyone for reading, and expect great things to come in the future. Keep on playing!

Friday Night Beer N' Game

This Week's Beer: Dos Equis Amber

This Week's Game: Breakout

The Beer: The regular Dos Equis isn't bad, but it defiantly tastes like any run of the mill Lager. Amber Dos Equis on the other hand, has a rich flavor that satisfies the palette, while not leaving the sensation of being full after only a few. It has a dark gold/red color that is really appealing to the eye, and a crisp, refreshing flavor that can be appreciated by both the drinkers of light beer, and drinkers of stout/dark beers. This is a beer that can be enjoyed by everyone, and I highly recommend it.

The Game: Breakout on the Atari 2600 is a game that has represented a generation of gamers. For the one or two of you who don't know, Breakout is that game in which there is a bunch of blocks at the top of the screen. You use your paddle controller (a controller with a big dial and a single button) to move around a paddle at the bottom of the screen. A single pixel will bounce around the screen, when it hits a block it disappears and you get a point. The pixel will bounce back to the bottom of the screen, you are to position the paddle so the pixel will bounce again, hitting more blocks. Sounds simply? That's because it is, and that's the beauty of it. Nowadays we are all looking for the most advanced games to play, which is fine. Thirty years ago, all you needed was something so simple as Breakout. Even today people, myself included, have found this game to be both enjoyable, and addicting. I personally find it sort of therapeutic. Like my brain is defraging itself while I play. Maybe that's just me. Anyhow, remember, the best way to kick off the weekend is with a Friday Night Beer N' Game!

PaRappa The Rapper

As you know most cult classics become thus because they are, well, different. This is a good thing, because originality is king in my book, but every once in a while I stumble across a game that is so weird that I can't help but love it. PaRappa The Rapper is one of those games.

You play as a teenage dog named PaRappa who is out to win the heart of Sunny Funny (who is a daisy). To do this PaRappa will have to, or at least in his mind have to, learn karate, get his drivers licence, work at a flea market, bake a cake, win the right to use the toilet, and finally put on a concert. PaRappa won't be doing this alone though, he seeks out the aid of "masters" to teach him. Each master will explain everything in the form of rapping, and PaRappa will have to copy or improve upon their raps in order to learn.

You rap by watching the line at the top of the screen. When a master says a line that you are to repeat, symbols representing the buttons of your controller will appear on the line, fallowed by a depiction of your master. Then, your likeness will race across the line towards the symbols. You have to press the correct button at the exact moment your head crosses the represented symbol. You can either just press the buttons and repeat your teacher verbatim, or you can add in some more button combinations, to improve on the lyrics.

During each level you will be rated on how well you are doing. At the bottom, right hand side is a meter that says U-Rappin', fallowed by either cool, good, bad, or awful. You always start out at good, screw up two times and you drop to bad, two more to awful, and two more to fail the song, you can move back up by rapping good two times in a row. At the end of each line, you will hear either the scratch of a DJ to let you know you rapped that line well, or you will hear a "quacking" sound to let you know you messed up. To pass a song you will have to complete the song with a good rating, so there isn't much room for error.

Your masters include, a karate master onion, a driving instructor moose, a rastafarian frog, a cooking chicken, and a professional rapper who is like a spider/monkey. Each master has their own style of rap, but all of them feature the same thing; catchy, humorous and downright weird lyrics, set to a funky beat. The music is where the game really shines, after all, it is about rapping, though, that doesn't mean that just because you don't like rap or hip hop, that you won't enjoy PaRappa. I personally don't like rap one bit, but still this game manages to put a smile on my face with it's cheery, oddball lyrics.

Somebody was also having a good day when they came up with the artistic style. All of the characters in the game are two dimensional, while their environments are 3d. This creates a sort cardboard cutout like world, which is both artistic, and amusing. During the levels though, the 3d rendered objects that are present in the cutscenes are gone. Instead the developers used 2d objects, but arranged them to create a 3d looking stage. Think of it like this, if you take a piece of paper, fold it into thirds and stand it up you create the illusion of 3d, kinda like Wolfenstein, or Doom, only prettier. The environments you are rapping in also change depending on how well you are doing. If you are doing good your teacher will be really into the song and jump around and dance. If you are doing poor, they will lose interest.

The story is heart warming, and is told through a series of amusing cutscenes, but don't expect anything epic. The characters are, like in any good story, the best part. Each has there own special mannerisms and quirks. PaRappa is your stereotypical nice guy who gets ignored by the pretty girl, Sunny of course being that pretty girl. By the way don't try to make sense of the game or the story, you'll just end up hurting yourself.

Let's take a brief look at difficulty. Simply put, this game is hard, like makes you question your skills hard. I have to admit, when I saw the game's cutesy style, I wasn't expecting a challenge. For starters, the game's manual doesn't do a very good job of explaining how to play. You assume that you push the button right as your head passes over the symbol, after all that's what it says in the manual. But no such luck, you mess up even though your rap sounded good. So you try again, this time and the next couple of times you get it, but just when you think "hey, I got the hang of this" you mess up and fail the song. Then you start to wonder if the game is broken, or if you've just been deluding yourself into thinking you were a good gamer. Only after an hour or so of trial and error, do you realize, your supposed to hit the button, just after PaRappa's head passed over it. Duh!!

So once you figured out how to play, you can fly through it, right? Wrong. You see the game is only six levels long, which means in order to make a challenging game the difficulty has to step up exponentially. So for a game that could be beaten in less than an hour, you end up spending more like three or four (or six in my case). You don't necessarily get mad when you fail though. Actually, I found I was having so much fun, that it didn't bother me. What did bother me was when my sister, who never plays video games, sat down and beat the first level on her second try, when it took me like ten. Life just wanted to kick me in the nuts repeatedly that day.

PaRappa The Rapper hasn't age well unfortunately. This game came out when rhythm games were just starting to make an appearance, and although it blew those who played it away, it now has little ground to stand on. Now a days the rhythm genre is extremely big thanks mostly to Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but back in the days of the Playstation PaRappa was top dog (no pun intended). On August 30, 2001 PaRappa The Rapper 2 hit shelves, although it sold fairly well, it is not considered to be a very good game. For one it is about the same length as the first, which is to short to justify spending fifty bucks on. Also it seemed as if the creative spark that carried the first game, no longer existed.

PaRappa The Rapper was really popular in his day, spawning plenty of merchandise, along with a children's anime in japan, and a spin off game, UmJammer Lammy (weirdest name ever). PaRappa's success is like an Offspring song, good, but ends shortly after it's begun. The hip-hop hero may be back sooner than you think though, with talks of a third game on the PS3, hopefully it will be more than six levels long, and slightly easier, but most importantly, it better be as goofy and lovable as it's predecessor.

Overview:

Story: 3/5

Gameplay: 3/5

Graphics: 4/5

Music: 4/5

Originality: 5/5

Difficulty: Hard

Learning Curve: High

Length: Short

Total Score: 3.8 Worth Buying

Next Post Hint: Clean between your toes, and put on some funky jams, we gotta find the pieces of our ship!