Game Review: Ico

*People are actual size

So back in 2001 a game simply called Ico was released. It had kinda crappy box art and didn't garner tons of attention at first. I was a devout Nintendo fanboy and it was released on the PS2. As such... I never heard of it. Later this same game company made a game called Shadow of the Colossus. This was a hit and established that games could be art. It has even been picked up to be made into a movie now. Only then did the name Ico become a household name in the gaming community. 

Flashforward 11 years and now I own a PS3 and the Ico and Shadow of the Colossus HD collection. I had never played through either game and I was excited to see what all the fuss has been about for so long.

Well, on paper, this game sounds kinda boring. One big long escort mission. Small boy (Ico) is imprisoned in a castle cause he has horns and that's what they do to boys with horns. A tremor shakes the boy's cell and he escapes and is alone in a castle. Find the princess, get out of the castle. Occasionally be attacked by easily defeatable shadow monsters that try and re-kidnap said princess. Rinse, repeat. 

These guys are easier than they look. I beat them down with a wooden stick.

That is literally all there is to this game. Its a lonely game. Rarely is there any talking. You only meet one other person in your journey besides Yorda and the black shadows. Rarely is anything explained. The princess that tags along (Yorda) doesn't speak your language so when she talks, you get some random language characters. Its basically one big long dungeon puzzle. Push a block, climb a rope, swing on a rope, climb a ledge, etc. etc. 

Now I hate escort missions in games (and this game is just a huge escort mission), but somehow here it is thoroughly entertaining. And here is why:

You will climb on every last inch of this castle. 

See that? That is the whole game right there. Well, almost, since the whole thing isn't in the picture. Every last square inch. Every open space you see, every wall and doorway... See those tiny round things under the bridge to the right of the waterfall? You will go there too dragging Yorda every step of the way. This game is beautiful. The scale is incredible. One thing that has bothered me in modern games is the loss of scale. People seem too large and capable. When they do put things in that are large and give you a sense of scale, then it is usually a non-interactive rendering like backgrounds or buildings that you can't enter. In Assassin's Creed I can run across the rooftops of the entire city of Rome or Constantinople in 15 minutes or so. Ezio would scaled this entire castle in and out in a matter of minutes. In this game it can take 2 minutes to climb a single ladder. Inside is scaled to outside. It all exists and you are tiny. And... it.... is .... breathtaking.

Reference this picture and the size of the wall Ico is standing on with the one above and you get an idea for the size of the castle.

There are only two ways to lose. Fall from too high, or the princess gets captured and the world turns to stone. Either way, you will be going back to your last physical save point. There was no autosave feature, so if you don't save, you will repeat stuff you've done. The only way to save are on these stone couches. You sit down, Yorda sits next to you and you take a rest and save. I liked it. I forget what it is like in our modern gaming culture to have consequences for dying since dying just puts you back a few minutes or to the beginning of the recent firefight.

Take a break guys.

There is a bit of a downer to this game. The controls are really wonky. Trying to get Yorda to follow me or to turn and face the correct angle never seemed to do exactly what I intended. I had to fight Ico to climb. I'd touch a pole for him to climb and he'd treat it as a wall half the time. I'd jump to catch a bar, and Ico wouldn't catch it for no good reason. Wonky.

The place this game truly shines though is the weird bond between Yorda and Ico. They never really talk other than Ico calling out to Yorda to follow him. But they trust each other. Maybe its the hand holding, the the constant life saving, or just the fact that they are trying to escape together. You feel the bond somehow and the game capitalizes on it as its main story function.

This pretty much sums up the whole game to me.

Anyway. I'd recommend everyone everywhere to play through this game to get a sense for what building in games should look like and feel like. Even after 11 years this game (or at least the HD version) is still amazing and breathtaking in its scale.

8/10 for turdy control

Game Review: Mass Effect 3

Tell me more about the Shepard.

Mass Effect is an anomaly of a video game experience. It is a game that was planned as trilogy right from the start. It is a game that lets you make universe altering decisions which the repercussions may not show up till two games later. It is a game that you can morph to be your own... from the Gender and look of your version of Commander Shepard, to his back story, to the relationships you develop, even who he/she falls in love with. It is an epic space opera that you get to control.

This trilogy is the greatest video game experience of our modern times.

Lucas knows his family.

Here's Lucas looking at pictures of the family. He's still working on recognizing Emily and Hunter. He says "Elimy" and he doesn't get Atoo, but he like saying Hunter... so there ya go. 

Game Review: Assassin's Creed II: Revelations

... or Assassin's Creed II:3... if that makes any sense.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations is a game that is really only appealing to people who are already invested in the series. While fun to play, at heart the game really is just a bunch of more of the same sort of stuff we've been doing. The new parts that have been added aren't that interesting and frankly aren't even that fun. If you haven't played AC, ACII or ACII:Brotherhood, the general overarching plot won't make a whole lot of sense so it is not a good entry point. There isn't much in this game that hasn't been done before, often times in a more interesting way.

A Few More Lucas Videos

Here are a few more videos of Lucas for your enjoyment.

First, Lucas sings the ABC's. He's been doing this for quite a while and in this video he's doing it kinda bored here, usually he sings faster and more enthusiastic.

Finally, Lucas sings "Tonight Tonight" by Hot Chelle Rae. Again, he's usually more enthusiastic, but when he noticed I was filming him he was more interested at smiling into the camera than singing for the most part... but you get the point.

This guy is cooler than me in every single way.

Ok, so this dude is pretty much cooler than me in everyway imaginable. I mean seriously. First off, Yale. So there's that. Second, the dude's got style.... I wear the same shirts I've had since 9th grade. On top of that... Check out these cello skills.... while BEATBOXING!

"Oh, but Krit...," you may say, "But you speak Chinese! At least that makes you special!"

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BEHOLD!



SOPA and PIPA summarized

Here is a summary of why there is so much backlash against SOPA & PIPA in case you weren't sure by now.

Brought to you by Lumin Interactive and Condor Consulting

iPhone roit...

Hundreds of angry Chinese people.... one slightly amused white guy.

(Apple store annouced they wouldn't be opening as planned to sell the new iPhone as planned)

Game Review: Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Game Review

Zelda has been in my life for a REALLY long time. I've played most every Zelda game out there growing up(excepting the abominable Phillips CD-i renditions). I remember playing through Ocarina of Time for the first time. It was wonderful. It flowed. It was funny and had heart. It felt like how Zelda should be in a 3D world. It was a masterpiece. It was a world with characters that I cared about and could explore. Majora's Mask continued that but was haunting, dark, and moody. I loved it. I've never played a game quite like it.

The originals on the NES were brutal hard and epic. I remember calling the Nintendo Power 1-900 tip line cause I couldn't figure out how to get to the final town in Zelda II (ProTip: You can chop down the forests on the overworld map).

I remember playing A Link to the Past so many times I knew that game backward and forward. I remember envying that kid who won the Nintendo Power contest and was put into the game as a secret easter egg.

Wind Waker didn't do it for me that much except that I liked the art style and finding Hyrule under the ocean was the coolest thing ever. Maybe I just got bored sailing...

Twilight Princess felt like a rehash of Ocarina of Time to me. The wolf thing wasn't that interesting, there wasn't anything very new. I kinda got bored with it. That being said, it was still vastly superior to many other games out there, but with the Zelda pedigree, I want more. The art style felt cool, but ultimately won't hold up in years to come.

So now I embark on a new adventure... and I hadn't been nearly excited for it as I had been for Wind Waker and Twilight. Maybe because I didn't enjoy Twilight as much as I had hoped.  But as I picked up my Wii remote, wary of the glowing reviews, I set out on a nearly perfect Zelda experience.

Cello Wars

Gotta love it.

Why I've Lost Faith in the Political System

I've been thinking a lot about our current political situation. You see, I kinda saw this "Debt Crisis" as kind of a final exam for the people in Washington. "Okay, you've gotten bad grades in the past. You probably shoulda looked into this debt thing months or even years ago... but now it is crunch time, let's see you guys make it happen." And they failed. The let down America. They let me down. So I've been thinking about it all. Not just the "Debt Crisis" or whatever the most current problem happens to be, but the whole kit'n'kaboodle. The point is, there is no feeling of leadership to make things run smoothly. Not in Obama. Not in the Tea Party. Not in Boehner. Not in Mitt Romney, any other realistic Presidential Candidate (there are some that I'd think would do well, but I have severe doubts about how they will fair). Of course, unless you buy into all that crap, you aren't going to get the money to get elected in the first place.

You see, our political system is broken. Now let me be clear... Our Government Isn't Broken, just the people who run it have turned it into something horrible. The Constitution is one of the most amazing documents ever written and is vital to the success of our country. People sometimes interpret it differently from each other, and that is okay.It is still amazing. Our system of Checks and Balances and 3 segments of Government create an environment that makes it very difficult for corruption to set in and fester.

What doesn't work, however, is the bloodlust party system blanket that has been layed over the top of the Constitution rendering it inert. Every political outing is an out-and-out brawl. It is the Montagues and Capulets. A war this will continue endlessly for no reason other than Democrats and Republicans are enemies. 3rd parties aren't the answer either because they don't hold any useful sway in the modern rhetoric.

Moments That Matter Most

Christina Perri - Jar of Hearts

I really like this song. Especially this live piano version.

World's Biggest Water Balloon Fight

I thought this was kind of fun. It was filmed at the world record breaking of the largest water balloon fight at BYU in 2010.

Wheel of Time #wotrr - Winter's Heart - Prologue

Welcome to my Wheel of Time re-read! This will be the 1st post of many posts to come. Now you may be wondering, "Wait a second Krit, if this is a re-read, why in the world are you starting at Book 9?" Well I'm glad you asked, my good friends!

You see, everyone out there is doing a re-read out there right now. Check out Dragonmount.com for a list of some other re-reads that are going on. Well, I'm tired of starting at TEotW. Everyone does that. Recently, I think it was Terez (a notable WoT fan, especially via Twitter/Theoryland.com) that said we've all read TEotW n times, TGH n-1 times, TDR n-2 times, etc. Well. I'm starting most of the way through at Winter's Heart for that reason. So, in the interest of keeping things fresh for myself and my readers, this is what I've decided to do.

Perrin and his merry men

To begin, I like talk about the covers. I think they are interesting in how they represent a book. When I think
of Winter's Heart, the colors Blue and Purple come to mind every time. A cover is the 1st impression of a book. So seriously, WTF.