Guitar Hero: Metallica Review

Guitar Hero has become a force of nature within our pop culture, parodied in television and film and played by millions, both gamer and non-gamer alike. The guitar simulation series has become so successful that life has begun to imitate art, with bands lending more than their music to the production of the games: their likenesses, their trademarked style and stage presence, even their very own legacy. This intimate pairing of game and music industry became inevitable the moment bands began gaining more notoriety (not to mention sales) from new listeners faster than ever before (DragonForce saw a 126% increase in CD sales and a 500% increase in digital track purchases after being included in Guitar Hero 3). What began as guest appearances by Slash, Tom Morello and Bret Michaels has expanded into a new line of band franchises, starting with last year's unexpectedly excellent Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. Aerosmith allowed players to play a huge selection of the band's best tracks from over the years, along with favorites from bands Aerosmith had played with. You could play as not only Aerosmith's guitarists, but other musicians as well, including hip hop legend Darryl McDaniels. Yes, Aerosmith was a glorified expansion pack, but all so much more, with band interviews that completed the full presentation of the rock legends. Yes, the game was fantastic...but it still left many wanting.

This is because of the long-running rumors of a highly anticipated Neversoft/Metallica collaboration that had circulated just as GH3 was released. The notion was a pleasing one, particularly since the series had neglected so many appropriate songs from the band (One simply wasn't enough). Metallica continued existence as a rumor out in the gaming aether until the release of Guitar Hero: World Tour. Neversoft announced that the band's newest album, Death Magnetic would be available as DLC (along with the song "Trapped Under Ice" being in the included set list) and the uncertainty was put to rest by a teaser trailer in GH:WT's video menu featuring the song "Master of Puppets" and boasted the tagline Ride the Lightning.

A few months later and here are with Neversoft's celebration of one of the best-selling and most influential metal bands in history. Was the wait and anticipation worth it? To the Metallica fan (such as myself), the answer is an easy one. To the uninitiated...it's still an easy one. But before commanding you to add this game to your library, let's examine.

The set list is the most obvious feature to inspect. Upon first glance, it's incredible. Over 20 guest acts and hits from Metallica's extensive catalog, mostly consisting of older hits (there's only one track from the unfortunate abortion that was St. Anger). Additionally, a good amount of these songs are from the band's two masterworks: Master of Puppets and the "Black Album." The highest selling point for me was the inclusion of instrumental masterpiece "Orion," a lifelong favorite showcase of late bassist Cliff Burton. At a second glance, however, the setlist shows some problems. The primary issue here is the paltry sum of 49 tracks, only 28 of which are by Metallica. That's not a small amount, but contrasted the sheer number of songs in the standard GH series (World Tour shipped with over eighty), it feels insubstantial. The quality of the guest acts is a mixed bag. While there are some truly kick-ass tracks, like "Blood and Thunder" by Mastodon or "Toxicity" by System of a Down, too much of it feels alien in the context of this game. Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Tuesday's Gone" and Bob Seger's "Turn the Page" are fine songs, but southern rock just doesn't fit in with the edgy spirit of the game (why they didn't include Metallica's own covers of these songs from Garage, Inc. is beyond me). More appropriate bands abound, like Slayer and Samhain, but I am baffled by the exclusion of other 80s metal (particularly Megadeth, for obvious reasons). This game could have been a glorious celebration of the thrash metal genre spearheaded by its reigning kings. Whereas eclecticism is essential to the main GH series, it feels a little odd here. I will, however, make an exception for Queen, as they are one of the best damn bands in the history of everything and better damn well get their own game soon.

The gameplay is...well, Guitar Hero. However, unlike Aerosmith, which ran on the GH3 engine, Metallica runs on the GH:WT engine. This is a two-edged sword. The con: GH:WT engine is not as responsive as GH3. The pros: World Tour's tap/slide mechanic make certain solo much more forgiving (I'm looking at you, One) and the full band experience truly soars in this context. Having four players fully realizes the series' effort to immerse you in a rock star fantasy, and Metallica does just that. You're not simply playing fake guitars, you're stepping into the shoes of Kirk Hammet or Robert Trujillo. The drums, particularly, are a star feature, considering Lars Ulrich's relentless style and trademark double-bass work. The game capitalizes on this by featuring support for a second bass pedal for the GH:WT drum set used in the game's new Expert+ difficulty. I was extremely dismayed to discover this new difficulty was only available for drums, and any hopes for open notes for lead guitarist or more demanding charts for bass were demolished.

Speaking of which, the game's difficulty (more precisely, the lack thereof) is baffling. The Metallica tracks in previous GH titles were among the most challenging, so one would assume GH:M would be the hardest game yet, but many of the songs are incredibly easy for veteran players. I five-starred a good portion of the songs on my first try. Now, the game isn't without challenge. Tracks like "Battery" and "Master of Puppets" are soul-crushingly tricky, and Slayer returns to top the horror of GH3's "Raining Blood" with the almost impossible "War Ensemble." The game's climax is the absurdly easy "The Thing That Should Not Be," played in a dark ice cavern surrounded by the tentacles of the Nameless One (rad!). "Master of Puppets" is a far more difficult chart and oft considered their magnum opus, so I would have picked that as the finale...or, at the very least, capitalize on the Burton-inspired Lovecraftian surroundings and include "The Call of Ktulu."

Such exclusions are the game's greatest downfall. Whereas Aerosmith felt like a full collaboration between Neversoft and the band and a full representation of their storied career, GH:M ends up feeling slightly incomplete, like a big track pack with a few new characters. Now, the game has some really nice features. New to the HUD is Rock Band's patented star meter that lets you know the progress of your final grade whilst playing the song. The in-game manifestations of the band are polished and well animated, and the overall aesthetic fits the content. The lyrics (and for some, a concert video) are included for every song, and most tracks have a mode called Metallifacts, which plays out like VH1's old Pop Up Videos. The digital band will perform on screen while factoids about the song play at the bottom. It's a neat feature that provides interesting trivia with a listening theater, but the factoid list is too short and will repeat, sometimes 2 or 3 times, before a song is over. You have a good deal of actual guitars at your disposal and World Tour's create-a-character mode returns along with two guests: 80s rocker King Diamond and Lemmy of Motorhead fame (finally!). This is where I take the most fault with the game. Only Metallica's current four members are included. No Newsted, no Mustaine (again, where the hell is the Megadeth?), and sadly no Cliff Burton. Neversoft said the exclusion of former bassists was to not "slight" Bob Trujillo, but I feel they've slighted the fans and the memory of a phemomenal musician by excluding proper tribute to Cliff. This is something the common player will be completely oblivious to, but as for me and other hardcore Metallica fans, this will stand out as the most irking oversight.

But is it fun? Hell yes. Should you get it? The aforementioned easy answer is yes. Even at sixty dollars, this glorified expansion is still a welcome series addition brimming with variety, and some of these songs have been awaited for far too long. Metallica fans will eat it up and others will be introduced to some of the most memorable metal anthems in history. If you love Guitar Hero, this is a no brainer. Grab your axe and ride the lightning.


Final Score: 3 Facemelting Shred Solos out of 4.

Paging Mr. Hollister.

It has come to my attention that fellow gaming journalism and Fire Emblem enthusiast Sean Hollister has been visiting the Bandicoot12 Studios blog. This gentleman was one of the Nintendo booth attendants at Wondercon and was a true joy to interact with.

Sean Hollister! If you are reading this, you are commanded to email your contact information and friend code for Shadow Dragon to bandicoot12studios@gmail.com as soon as possible.

And an additional comment regarding Shadow Dragon: Sean is correct on the items being the balancing factor. Upon fully exploring the forge, I realized how easily I could turn a simple rapier into an instrument of God's will, an implement so omnipotent and filled with limitless power that a simple brandish could eliminate our world. (Damned crit rate, always getting me one-hitted...)


Insert coin to continue,
Iwasaki Koji

PS: To all of my friends and readers and fellow tacticians, let's engage in warfare!
FC: 4382 7584 0843

Boing! Docomodake DS Review

Product tie-in games are nothing new. Countless websites have Flash-based timewasters devoted to their products, and there have been many interactive advertisements on the consoles, such as the much maligned Yo! Noid on the NES or the awful (if free) Yaris racer on the Live Arcade or even the just plain silly, as with Dorito's dinosaur versus delivery truck game, Dash of Destruction. Not dissimilar from their film-based counterparts, these "advergames" are rushed and derivative, seeking only to get you to buy more crap (or even destroy the competition, as with Coca Cola's Pepsi Invaders on the Atari 2600). However, there are a small few where the branding is ultimately irrelevant and the game itself can stand out through the clutter of its peers to be one fine platformer, such as MC Kids or Cool Spot. Thankfully, Docomodake is in the latter category.

You may be thinking, "what the hell is Docomodake?" and that would be the proper response for the Western audience. The Docomodake Family are the mascots of NTT docomo, Japan's premiere cellphone provider with over half of the market share. The Docomodake brand itself is wildly popular, selling various merchandise on an almost Hello, Kitty level, so it's no surprise such a popular mascot received an advergame on the country's most popular platform. Initially, the real surprise was that this game saw the light of day on our shores at all, as we have zero connection to the mascot and are not even remotely NTT docomo's target market. However, upon playing the game, I can see exactly why it was ported overseas: it's excellent.

Docomodake is a simple sidescrolling puzzle platformer, consisting of 50+ bite-sized levels, each never taking any more than five minutes to complete, making it a perfect on-the-go DS title. The various set pieces are familiar: block puzzles, weighted platforms, killer death spikes. What makes the game shine is the abilities of the titular Papa Docomodake, who is off on an adventure to find his family who have gone missing in preparation for an upcoming festival. Besides running, jumping and rolling with the d-pad, the touch screen is used to partition Papa Docomodake by touching him and dragging off pieces with the stylus. The more you do this, the more little Papa clones there are and the smaller your player becomes. There's a multitude of uses for this mechanic. To squeeze through a small opening, split off into as many tiny pieces as possible. Use pieces to weight down a scale platform and get past or drag a tiny Papa to press down a button to open a passage. Pick up pieces to hurl at enemies or break blocks. Or my personal favorite: stack pieces on top of eachother to form a ladder for Papa to climb. The list goes on, and each use of Papa's segmenting power is inituitive and interesting. The mix of puzzle platforming and miniature players can't help but remind of the GBA's exceptionally underrated Mario VS. Donkey Kong.

The difficulty curve is fairly consistent. To the experienced gamer, many of Docomodake's puzzles won't be a challenge once you fully understand all of Papa's capabilities. The game grades you on the percentage of treasure you manage to collect in each stage and your completion time. I got 100% on most levels with a time of under 2 minutes and still received a C a good deal of the time, so this game can become a speedrunner's dream (or nightmare, depending on your level of optimism) if you so choose to be a completionist. The game itself is fairly short, lasting only three hours or so, but at Docomodake's 20 dollar price tag, it's nothing to gripe about.

Boing! Docomodake DS, with its immense charm and creativity (not to mention some nice music), stands out as one of those obscure gems that, sadly, few people will ever invest in. If you're a casual handheld/on-the-go player who wants a mix of cute and loveable little mushroom folk and clever puzzles or a hardcore gamer looking for a game to actually show you something new, you simply cannot go wrong with this title. Score yet another point for Nintendo's unbeatable pocket champion.

Final Score: 8.5

Correction.

In my original preview of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, I complained that there would be no quick match for online play, limiting you to only playing friends. I have since purchased the game and found that to be untrue. Chalk this one up to the Nintendo booth staff not exploring their own product thoroughly enough. Additionally, the aforementioned handicap system is exceptionally broken, giving so massive an advantage to the weaker player that the feature might as well not exist at all.

On a side note, however, the retail product still encourages my endorsement.


Insert coin to continue,
Iwasaki Koji

EA strikes again!

The industry juggernaut Electronic Arts was present at Wondercon, as well.

Now, Bandicoot12 Studios has been no stranger to frequent criticism of EA, whether it be the power-hungry, monopolous fashion in which the company devours smaller studios, the continued lack of innovation in their franchises, or the ever astounding lack of polish in their games which causes one to speculate if they indeed have QA testers on staff. However, I'd like the readers to know that this coverage of EA's booth will actually be...more of the same.



Haha, oh wow. Just look at the cute little bugger! Hovering near Capcom like a rabid hyena, waiting to scavenge some of their traffic. To my (absolute lack of) surprise, EA was showing off a rehash and a feature that should have been included in the initial package: both the new Burnout Paradise: Ultimate Box and the new Mirror's Edge DLC.

This isn't to rip on Burnout Paradise, though. Many may recall me blabbering on about "best racing game in years" last year, so rest assured I consider Paradise, along with its substantial amount of free DLC to be a phenomenal effort by EA. This isn't to rip on Mirror's Edge, either...I did quite enough of that in December, what with phrases like "biggest disappointment of 2008" being thrown around. Truly, Mirror's Edge had the potential to be something truly special, one of those games whose names conjure goosebumps when uttered, something to be said in the same sentence as The Sands of Time or Katamari Damashi. Unfortunately, inconsistent design philosophy and pacing, coupled with some astoundingly bad hit detection and peppered with a shamefully shallow story and equally shallow characters left me wanting and hopeful for a sequel with vast improvements.

This is the part where I would talk about the fresh new DLC that focus only on pure parkour paradise...but instead this is the part where I get to say that I only spent a few frustrating minutes with the game. This would be because everything playable was only on a few laptops, which habitually crashed every ten minutes.

Oh, EA. Thank you for matching your incompetent software quality with hardware failures as well. Oh, EA. Thank you for having a bitter booth staff who became extremely irritated when I mentioned Mirror's Edge's technical problems.

Though, honestly, all past hatred aside...thank you, EA, for trying. Last year you put out Burnout Paradise, Dead Space, Boom Blox, Mirror's Edge and others that do not spring to mind right now. After years of churning out assembly line, Triple-A shovelware, you took the time to make an effort and ended up with a couple stellar games for your troubles...and massive layoffs.

The nature of the industry is such right now to make me tremble with rage or simply sigh in bewildered exasperation. You, EA, are damned if you do and damned if you don't: a catch-22 between making money and making good games. Anyone with their fingers on the pulse of the gaming world knows what I speak of: the death of innovation, the rise of fierce and ugly competition, the overall Hollywood transformation of our industry. Truly, I think many of us suffer for its success.


To quote Tycho Brahe: "We are being digested by an amoral universe."

Epic win.

I hate to interrupt coverage of the Wondercon Capcom booth (particularly my rundown of Bionic Commando), and I wanted to keep personal posts to a minimum, but this was simply too fantastic of an event to not chronicle here.

I MET SHOE. THAT'S RIGHT. DAN "I'M SO AWESOME I APPEAR IN RETRO GAME CHALLENGE, THE BEST GAME OF 2009 THUS FAR" HSU. DAN "I'M RAD ENOUGH TO HAVE PENNY ARCADE WRITE ABOUT ME" HSU. DAN "PERHAPS THE MOST RESPECTABLE JOURNALIST IN THE GAMING FIELD" HSU.

Oh...and his lovely girlfriend.

Ahem...let me rap for you. Upon arriving at Wondercon (this being my first convention of this kind), I was slightly overwhelmed, yet simultaneously underwhelmed by the amount of content that interested me. I had spent over an hour grilling the guys at the Nintendo booth and wandered around long enough to meet Mike Mignola, but I still felt restless.

However, upon rounding the corner at the Suicide Girl's booth whilst chatting boredly on the phone with Bandicoot12 Studios' own graphic designer, Momo...I came upon the strangest sight. Beside a tower of graphic tees, leaning restlessly against an adjacent booth, was a strikingly familiar face. Surely my eyes deceive me! 'Tis only another young Asian fellow with a goatee. But I refused to believe that and my eyes scanned for his pass badge, which ended up displaying the simple, yet evocative moniker: Shoe.

"I need to call you back."

Cellphone snapped closed and was banished to the confines of my pocket as I was rendered speechless and babbling for pretty much the first time in my life. Sure, I'd met all sorts of celebrities (some just minutes earlier), but this was different. This was an individual I revered, aspired to be, possibly emulated...frankly, someone I gave a crap about. Excited introductions exchanged and I spouted boyish praises like so many careless roses at a prize bullfighter's feet. I admitted my devastation at EGM's untimely death. Not only did I hold that (along with Game Informer) as the pinnacle of print game journalism, but I hoped to one day move to SF and, at the very least, intern there. (Plus, the bastards at Ziff never sent me the final issue.)

And, as is likely when two or more passionate gamers congregate, the inevitable dissection of gaming topics ensued. Topics included Resident Evil 5, the effect of the shooter genre's prevalence on established franchises, the advent/resurrection of local co-op in the current generation...and how he was starving and waiting for his girlfriend to finish picking a tee shirt. This would be Rachel (I do believe! If my memory is faulty, do forgive me!), the adorable blonde in the image above. I proceeded to help her pick between various Umbrella logos, Star Wars, and Hylian crests. Which two she decided on, I have no idea.

After some other idle chatter, I shamelessly requested an autograph and a photo and we parted ways. I spotted him chatting up some guys at the Capcom booth while I was inside, busy on my second hour of Bionic Commando play. And gasp, he waved and recalled my name. Tee hee and blushes abound.

Now, if this all sounds like a pathetic orgasm of words of worship from a little twelve year old fanboy...then I've succeeding in using the best of my writing ability to express my feelings. Sure, he may just be some unemployed journalist, but I spent years as a faithful EGM subscriber. I have always respected those well established in the gaming industry, particularly any journalist who can not only attain merit and reknown, but keep a sense of character and integrity. Shoe is one memorable bastard, and I've considered him among the ranks of Jerry "Tycho" Holkins as a ranter/raver of highest degree, someone with the balls to sell it straight and keep it down to earth. So as a fan and someone aspiring to get into the gaming industry (particularly the journalist aspect), this was a momentous occasion for me, and easily the highlight of my Wondercon experience.

Here's to hoping I can maintain a correspondence with him, as his input would be invaluable. You should check out his blog he's got going with Crispin at http://www.sorethumbsblog.com/ and keep an eye out for the big new project he's got up his sorcerous sleeves.

Oh man, seriously! Shoe! I met Shoe! It's embarrassing to think he might actually look at my business card and visit this amateurish nightmare, so ghastly in its shoddy late night verbosity. Eh, at least my Shadow Dragon rundown is halfway decent.


Insert coin to continue,
Iwasaki Koji.

News from Capcom's booth!

This update comes a handful of days late, but I figure it's better late than never, or so the adage goes.

As recapped in the last post, Nintendo had a solid presence at Wondercon...but nothing compares to the sprawling monolith at the heart of the convention center dedicated to the one and only Capcom. Though a comic convention, Wondercon's most prominent display was from a video game company. It warmed my heart to see DC in Capcom's shadow.

Capcom had several games on display, the most prominent being the recently released and long-awaited Street Fighter IV. The front of their booth held a kiosk of two 360 units, a PS3, and an arcade cab. Throughout the con, it was a hotspot for newcomers to play their first fighter since Championship Edition on the SNES and some heated competition between hardcore fighter fans. Even yours truly got in a pretty nice streak before being unseated by some cheap Zangief tactics.


Off to the side of the quarter circle orgy was a modest display of Capcom's upcoming DLC strategy title Flock, where you control an alien ship herding sheep. It's an intriguing little title, but I unfortunately did not get to spend any time with the game. Being remiss in neglecting the little cottonball, I plan to inspect it when it's released on April 8th.

The main attraction of the booth, however, was nestled away behind the merchandise store in a glorified cubicle of mysterious treasure. This was Capcom's M-rated booth, where those blessed with the appropriate identification or mastery of Jedi mind tricks could sample the more graphic goodies: Resident Evil 5, Dead Rising: Chop 'Till You Drop, and Bionic Commando. RE5 was merely the Japanese version of the XBLA/PSN demo, so it needs no discussion here.

Chop 'Till You Drop is the Wii remake of the early 360 smash Dead Rising, a simple beat-'em-up that let players roam through a playable Dawn of the Dead homage and cause whatever zany chaos they liked. I was originally baffled at the decision to port this nearly 3 year old game to a less powerful system. However, after some hands-on time with it, I can say my initial impressions are more positive than I anticipated.

The first thing anyone will note is the graphical hit required to function on Nintendo's little white box. While the actual models haven't changed much, there are some very noticeable jaggies. The most severe graphical downgrade is in the animation, where the 360's fluid dismemberments are replaced with generic bloodspurts and explosions that would seem more at home on the late PS1. The Wii's limited on-screen unit capabilities means no more littering an area with your fallen foes.

Gone is the photography mechanic, which is a two-edged sword. On one hand, you've lost the ability to take hilarious screenshots of your Ashley Williams-esque escapades, but you've also lost the tedium of finding fresh frames to level up. Experience is now gained solely via stomping the undead. Not all that has been stripped away is a bad thing, as the loss of most voice acting not only saves you from hearing Frank West's "I've covered wars" broken record, but also Otis' insufferable nagging.

But for all that has been toned down or taken away, Capcom seems to have balanced it out with new controls, gameplay mechanics, and other tidbits. The camera has become somewhat more situated over Frank's shoulder, which, coupled with an aiming control scheme assimilated from RE4 Wii, gives the game a more streamlined run and gun experience. Melee hits are now divided into weak (A), strong (waggle), and a host of new specials, usually performed once the zombie in incapacitated by a knee shot or buckshot spray. For instance, the old Home Run move with the baseball bat is charged with a fast wiimote waggle that results in a swing of immense splash damage that hurls all in-range zombies off into the distance like Team Rocket in a way that is inexplicably gut-busting. Unfortunately, many of the waggle motions required for special moves are ambiguous or unresponsive.

The once universal inventory screen has been split between a d-pad controlled weapon selection, a miscellaneous item/healing pause screen, and the ability to have a melee weapon equipped at all times, even during gunplay. The AI has been revamped and new enemy types added (the killing of which results in bonus PP), including the ravenous poodles from the intro and some rather annoying parrots. A major complaint I had for the original version was that it boasted many a time when a couple hours would be spent mindlessly slaughtering zombies only to have happy gore time come to a crashing halt upon accidentally stumbling on a side-boss and being woefully unprepared. Cheap death and it was back to your last save, which was whenever you felt it necessary to find a bathroom. Saving now happens anywhere you like, and the addition of checkpoints makes the game far more enjoyable. Booth attendants informed me of new costumes and other extras, but my limited time with the game did not prove these new bounties.


Overall, the original Dead Rising experience remains intact. From this reviewer's position, Chop 'ill You Drop just feels more fun than its predecessor. But, even as a "budget" title at 39.99, it's hard to recommend this to owners of the original version, as there does still not seem to be any truly significant new content. But for those of you who don't own a 360, this would be a welcome addition to the pitifully tiny M-rated Wii library.