All right – for me, the gaming season has officially started. This is signified by the release of titles that have seen praise at various trade shows like E3, or games that have a good deal of buzz around them prior to release. This season usually starts around this time anyway, as most publishers release their best and hottest titles just in time for the holiday season. This week, we’ve got a number of goodies for you, including a wolf God with an affinity for painting, a slimy little dude who packs a mean punch, and a look back at a popular series of games, just in time for it’s newest iteration. And also, just because I get to do what I want in this column…we’re going to take a look at the new “Weird Al” Yankovic album. Honestly, what gaming nerd DOESN’T like Al? On with the reviews…

OKAMI IS O.K.

I hope the state of Oklahoma doesn’t mind me using their slogan for this review’s title, but it was all I could think of. OKAMI, just released for PS2, is Capcom’s big “art” game – a game that has significant buzz for the past TWO E3 shows, not just for it’s look, but it’s gameplay. Developed by Clover Studios (the team responsible for the VIEWTIFUL JOE games), OKAMI takes you on a journey unlike any seen in games yet, and will hopefully spark a new age of unique gameplay and non-Western themed storytelling for games in the states.

As the God Amaterasu, you have been revived in the form of a wolf, a hero to the land of Nippon who must once again aid in the banishment of an evil 8-headed creature named Orochi. Supported by Issun, a bug-sized “artist”, you roam the lands, helping out the villagers and eventually working your way to defeating Orochi. As you progress, you learn new techniques for your main “weapon”, the Celestial Brush. With it you can rejuvenate dead trees, create wind, make the sun appear in a cloudy sky, slash at things to break them, and more. It’s application and use in the gameplay comes as second nature, controlling with just the R1 button to access the “canvas”, then square or triangle to paint and the left analog stick for movement. The triangle button is pressure sensitive too, so if you want a thick or thinner line, this is the way to go.

Visually, the game is beautiful. Looking like no other game you’ve ever played, OKAMI mostly resembles a painting brought to life, as each area looks like a new canvas, freshly covered and not even yet dry, as the blacks and grays tend to run near the edges. Bosses can loom high in the sky, and each area has some new tasks to perform and people to help. The main character of Amaterasu is also animated very well, as she runs from place to place, flowers seem to spring up at the touch of her paws. The game is truly a sight to behold.

The game’s combat and puzzles all utilize the Celestial Brush in one way or another, which is how it becomes an integral part of the gameplay. Slashing at enemies or creating bridges out of thin air to get to other areas sometimes feels a bit contrived, as you can only do these things when prompted, but still the feeling of awe remains, as the lush world and vibrant look of the game retains that “artsy” feel. At the outset, however, there seems to be a good deal of handholding as you learn how to use the brush, and lasts far longer than I would have liked. Still, it’s a small trifle indeed when one looks at the large scope of the entire game. There’s much to do beyond the main story missions, and the various tasks around the towns will keep gamers occupied for quite a while.

So, my review title isn’t quite as apt as I’d hoped. OKAMI is much more than OK. It’s a beautiful, engaging, unique gaming experience that anyone who enjoys fantasy or just wants to try something new should partake in. Once again we have an argument for Roger Ebert that games CAN be a form of art – not just for looking at, but an interactive form of entertainment that aren’t just a game, but an experience meant to be had in order to fully appreciate it. In OKAMI’s case, art is a literal term, not just for the style of the images, but how you manipulate the world and the gameplay. This will be one of the best games you will ever play.

One Gamer’s Opinion:

S(UB)LIME

Next up is an unexpectedly fun little adventure for the DS named DRAGON QUEST HEROES: ROCKET SLIME. In it, you take the titular hero (that would be a slime named “Rocket”) on a adventure to save his brethren. The Plobfather has kidnapped all 100 residents of Rocket’s town and it’s up to him to rescue them. Sounds a bit kiddie-fied, yes, but don’t let the goofy names and cutesy cartoon graphics fool you. There’s an incredibly deep adventure waiting here beyond some simplistic cosmetic functions.

In a bizarre hybrid of ZELDA, POKEMON and FINAL FANTASY, Rocket sets out across the land with one goal in mind: save the slimes. To do so, he has one attack and one attack only, and that is launching his little blue body into things to send them skyward. By holding down the A button and pressing the d-pad in a direction, you can stretch your hero out and slingshot him into his foes. This “elasto blast” in just about your only attack, but works surprisingly well. By positioning yourself under the falling objects (be they items or enemies) Rocket can catch them on his head and throw them at will, carrying up to three things at a time. When rescuing slimes, for example, all he needs to do is catch them on his head, then chuck them onto a rolling platform to transport them back to town. Simple enough, but fun none the less.

When it comes to the main battles, however, Rocket needs a bit more firepower, and that’s where his “Monster Tank” comes in. His Schlieman Tank can fire just about any item Rocket finds for ammo, and these battles to bring down the enemy tank’s HP are both strategic and fun as you decide which items to shoot from which cannon. You can either choose to knock way the opposing tanks attacks, or concentrate or strikes of your own with your heavier artillery. Any item you find in your travels can be send back home and used for ammo, so it makes the exploration all the more fun.

The POKEMON aspect comes into play even more when trying to find your blobby buddies. There are 100 lost slimy souls in the game, and as you find them, they each reward you with and item that can be used for ammo or help you clear up the mess back home. The game is VERY tongue in cheek, as there are numerous goofy slime references, and even references to other Square Enix games (such as the tank ‘Chrono Twigger”). There’s even some multiplayer, where friends with the game can link up and do battle with tanks outfitted with whatever best ammo you’ve found in the game.

Surprisingly deep and amazingly fun, ROCKET SLIME is goofy, yet full of heart. While the creatures you meet on your travels won’t be much of a challenge thanks to your cool “elasto blast”, the tank fights are where the real skill lies. However, for a DS game, I was surprised that there was absolutely NO touch screen support, even when stretching out Rocket to send him bouncing around in battle. Ah well, it’s still more fun than I ever expected, so I can’t complain too much.

One Gamer’s Opinion:

VIDEO GAMES 101 – SPY HUNTER

Back in 1983, a game hit the arcades with a unique gameplay style for racing fans and shooting fans alike to get into. With its top-down view and twitch action, SPY HUNTER became a quarter muncher almost from the start, and the Peter Gunn theme became instantly droned into gamer’s brains. As the series has progressed through the ages, it has changed and expanded from that simple arcade title. This week, we’re looking at the series over time, culminating with it’s newest entry, SPY HUNTER: NOWHERE TO RUN and see how the series has evolved from just driving and shooting into much more.

SPY HUNTER – ARCADE – 1983

It began with a car. The Interceptor. Folks would plunk down their 25 cents and drive the coolest car imaginable. Outfitted with guns, missile launchers, oil slicks and more, this car would make James Bond soil his tux. With the top-down view gamers would pilot this vehicle of ultimate craftsmanship against the evil BADGUYS that roamed the land, and shoot them down without hesitation, all while the Peter Gunn theme played endlessly in the background.

Yeah, gaming was simpler then. Enemy approaches, shoot it down. But the fast action and twitch gameplay proved to be a challenge as the onslaught of enemies never seemed to let up. The corners became sharper, the supply vans fewer and overall the sense of speed and urgency became greater. While your hero character had no name or face (we never saw who drove the car in the game) you almost empathized with him. I mean, here he is, just driving around when he has to unload his guns on every vehicle that crosses his path. Well, Californians can empathize at least.

With home versions on Atari 800, 2600, the NES, Commodore 64 and more, the game’s legacy had been saturated into gaming history pretty much from the start. Often imitated but never quite duplicated, it was the definitive driving/shooting game, and it was a blast to play on almost any console. Now gamers can experience it again in the collection MIDWAY ARCADE TREASURES VOLUME 1 on PS2, Gamecube and Xbox.

One Gamer’s Opinion:

SPY HUNTER II – ARCADE – 1987

For the arcade-only sequel, the angle of the screen dropped a little bit, but the style didn’t change much at all. Using two screen, it became a multiplayer event, with two players battling it out co-operatively to see who could rack up the most points, each using their own screen for the action. The camera was now positioned a bit behind the car, so enemies seemed to be approachable rather than approaching. In the single player game, the second screen tallied your score, showing you bonuses for defeating specific foes.

While it never made it to the home consoles until recently (with MIDWAY ARCADE TREASURES VOLUME 2 on PS2 and Xbox) it’s still a monument to gaming, as the tradition of the series continued in fine fashion. The weapons were better, the cars seemed faster, and the graphics improved greatly over the original. Still, we could sue some music other than the Peter Gunn theme endlessly. Kind of getting tired of that.

One Gamer’s Opinion:

SUPER SPY HUNTER – NES – 1992

This seldom seen sequel the game jumps to the future…and even introduces more of a plot. According to the game’s manual, in the year 2525, an international terrorist by the name of ”X” is building an all-powerful war weapon threatening worldwide chaos. The UN sends out several men to try and stop X, but without success. They then send their best agent Rachel (?) in to try and stop X. She fails as well. In one last attempt, they send a rookie, code-named ”Super Spy Hunter” or ”S.S.H”. Contrived, yes, but this was still the early 90’s and gaming hasn’t gotten to the Hollywood levels it is today. Futuristic terrorism was all we had.

From there on, it was pretty much business as usual. The car seemed a bit more supped up, but beyond that, there didn’t seem to be many innovations. The weapons upgrades were different, but it was starting to feel same-y at this point, which explains why not many know about this title, which was released near the end of the NES’s lifespan. If you’re looking to complete you SPY HUNTER collection it’s worth tracking down, and doesn’t cost much, but only get it if you feel you need to complete the collection, as the gameplay doesn’t change much from what we’ve known. That’s not really a bad thing, as the action here once again doesn’t let up, but it doesn’t offer anything new either.

One Gamer’s Opinion:

SPY HUNTER – PS2, GAMECUBE, XBOX, GBA – 2001

With nearly ten years behind the last game’s release, MIDWAY decided to relaunch the series in 3D with the current generation of systems. Now SPY HUNTER has stepped into the new millenium and has gotten much more than a prettier facelift. The game now pits you as an IES agent trying to stop a terrorist group known as NOSTRA (no longer the generic BADGUYS) from attacking from space with a giant EMP. How? By driving and shooting, of course! While the game gets a major cosmetic makeover, the core gameplay remains, and it’s as awesome as ever. The Interceptor now has many more upgrades and weapons, which the player can cycle through using the shoulder buttons. Also, the vehicle can change forms, depending on the situation. Jump in the water and the car becomes a boat. Sustain too much damage, and the hull of the car breaks off and it becomes a motorcycle. Finally, the series shows some innovation.

Control wise, the series had never been better. With it’s step into 3D, the environments, challenges and skill needed to best these have all been amplified, and the game controls well throughout. Of course, the Peter Gunn theme is back, but redone numerous ways so it’s not a s grating as before, with modern rock band Saliva adding it’s own touch to it (with two remakes, and even one with lyrics about the game!). All in all, this iteration showed just how remakes should be done, and once again brought the name SPY HUNTER back into home consoles for millions to enjoy (even with offering the original SPY HUNTER as an unlockable).

One Gamer’s Opinion:

SPY HUNTER 2 – PS2, XBOX – 2003

Picking up where the last game left off, you once again battle the forces of NOSTRA in your Interceptor car, only this is the next model number, featuring more upgrades and weapons, including a turret and better armor. While the graphics and control have improved once again, the gameplay has taken a turn for the worse.

Sure, there are upgrades galore and more weapons to collect and shooting to be done, but now the difficulty has taken a strange turn. Each upgrade you get is vital to your progress, as it virtually renders the last weapon obsolete, thereby making it more about collecting the next upgrade AS WELL as defeating the foes. The difficulty is just amped way beyond what we’re used to, and while it still enjoyable, seems to take away from the core gameplay. Still, it’s SPY HUNTER at its heart, and that’s what we truly need: mindless shooting and explosions. The first remake is better, but overall, the series has come a long way.

One Gamer’s Opinion:

SPY HUNTER: NOWHERE TO RUN – PS2, XBOX – 2006

Now, with the series newest iteration, we finally get to see who’s been DRIVING the damn car. And apparently, he looks and sounds a lot like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Actually, for this game, The Rock has not only provided the voice, but the likeness and even did the motion capture for the driver’s moves. The driver even has a name, Alex Decker, and a history. As a former test pilot for the CIA he’s joined the IES to rid the world of international terrorist group NOSTRA. The game is actually the basis for an upcoming film starring The Rock, and is the first time an actor has been hired to play a character in the game BEFORE the film.

So, what’s new with this title? Well, not only are there missions outside of the Interceptor, but there’s close quarters combat as well as gunplay. Alex has a variety of moves, though strangely they all resemble wrestling moves. Alex can stun punch an enemy, then chokeslam, body slam or suplex them down for the count. Yeah, ok. Or, he can dispatch them the way most spies do, by picking up a gun and shooting them. Sadly, the controls for these sections is difficult, with the targeting reticule difficult to aim and most foes picking you off from afar.

Still, what the game does best is the driving sections. This version of the Interceptor I feel is the best yet, with weapons galore and switching from form to form as the situation calls. Oil spills, land mines, spikes on the wheels, missiles, rocket launchers and more, this thing is the Swiss Army Knife of cars. In the levels that feature the core gameplay you’ll have the most fun, guaranteed.

Sadly, they’re broken up by some basic third person shooting missions. While these levels offer either own challenges, most are from trying to mess with the poor targeting system. While Alex is strong enough to take on the foes with his punches and slams, he’s really just not very good with guns. Still, it’s nice to see the series try something wholly new (for them anyway).

It’ll be interesting to see how the movie performs based on this game. The driver of the car hasn’t even had a name until now, let alone the interesting backstory they’ve given him here. While the Rock is certainly charming enough and able to fill the action hero shoes, in the game his wrestling moves seem strangely out of place. Still, all in all it’s a cool effort for the aging series to try and tackle. With some adjustments to the targeting outside of the car, it could truly be as great as it was by trying something new for the series.

One Gamer’s Opinion:

ALBUM REVIEW – ‘WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC: “STRAIGHT OUTTA LYNWOOD”

Alright, you’ll have to indulge me here for a second. When the opportunity arose for me to check out and review the newest CD from the prince of parodies, I couldn’t turn it down. I’ve been a ‘Weird Al” fan for almost 20 years, and every new CD from him is an event in my household. This time around, the polka master has found himself with a newest batch of parodies and originals, spanning many different musical styles. While many of the parodies are going for a decidedly more “urban” feel than previous albums, the comedy still hits head on, and there’s lots for fans of all types of music to enjoy here.

The original single was to be a parody of James Blunt’s sappy ballad “You’re Beautiful”, to which Blunt gave permission for Al to do (Al always asks, despite it no longer being copyright infringement for an artist to parody another’s song). However, Atlantic Records (Blunt’s label) stepped in, claiming Al would have to pay royalties to THEM as well as Blunt in order to do the parody. Seeing as they weren’t entitled (only Al and Blunt were as the original and parody songwriters) and not wanting to strain the relationship between Blunt and his record label, Al instead took it off the album and placed it on his website (http://www.weirdal.com) as a free download. This set the album’s release back from July to next week (September 26th) as Al now had to find a new hot song to parody. (In the meantime, sine the song wasn’t to be featured on an upcoming album, and therefore wouldn’t have a video, I took matters into my own hands.)

Now, Al’s album is completed and set to be unleashed upon the world with dead-on parodies of artists like Usher, American Idol’s Taylor Hicks, Green Day, and a lead single parodying Chamillionaire’s “Ridin’” as “White and Nerdy”, a song that I’m sure at least half of my readership can identify with. Al’s rhymes match the original artist’s with such skill and flow that one is amazed that he’s as white as he claims. The video is even better, featuring Al looking much the same way he did in high school, offering cameos with Seth Green, Donny Osmond and Chamillionaire himself. The standout parody, however, would have to be ‘Trapped in the Drive-Thru”, a rip on R. Kelly’s unintentionally funny epic “Trapped In The Closet”. Not to spoil anything, but I hope this 10 minute epic is broken into at least three videos to match R. Kelly’s video opus. It is probably the single funniest song I’ve ever heard, and even if you’ve only heard snippets of the original, you’ll find it quite hilarious.

Actually, that was one thing I was worried about with this release. Many of the artists that Al is parodying this time around, I’m not familiar with their singles. This is no fault of Al’s but rather a fault of mine, as I don’t keep up with pop music the way he does, selecting the most popular songs of the day to satire. Still, despite having never heard of Chamillionaire, or Usher’s “Confessions Part II”, Al’s versions still elicit a chuckle, and are just as catchy as the original, while still containing his trademark outlandish humor.

The originals are no slouch either. Many folks forget that Al and his band are extremely talented musicians, tackling many style of music in each album. Sometimes, while a song may not be a direct parody of an artist’s song, it will ape the style of that artist’s catalogue. These are called ‘style parodies” and in the past Al has managed to sound like Nine Inch Nails, Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, The Beastie Boys, Elvis Costello and more. This time around, the focus of his emulation ranges from the mainstream like Rage Against the Machine (“I’ll Sue Ya”) to obscure 70’s pop band Sparks (“Virus Alert”). My favorite original, however, would have to be the love song “Close, But No Cigar”, done in the style of the band Cake. Not only does Al and his band (Steve Jay on bass, Jim West on Guitar, Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz on drums) perfectly capture the sound and feel of a Cake song, but they do it with such ease that you’d almost think Al was performing WITH Cake. Copying John McCrea’s vocal nuances perfectly, he even does that thing where he agrees and disagrees with himself in a song (“aw yeah…oh, no”).

The album is actually being offered as a dual disc, with one side of the disc being the album on CD, and the flipside offering DVD features. For this release, Al has gone all out, including animated music video for all 6 original songs on the album, as well as the entire album in 5.1 digital surround sound and even karaoke mixes of the entire CD. The animated videos feature some of the best talent around, from Bill Plympton (“I Married A Strange Person”), John Kricfalusi (of “Ren & Stimpy” fame) and the crew of the Cartoon Network Adult Swim show “Robot Chicken” (who will feature their video for “Weasel Stomping Day’ on their show this weekend).

While this may not be my favorite Al album, it certainly offers a great deal of stuff for fans to enjoy, and newcomers to get into. The parodies may not be instantly recognizable if you don’t spend 24 hours watching MTV or listening to the Top 40 stations, but the comedy is where the action is and the satire is dead on. Listening to the album (and watching the brief “making of the album” video on the DVD side) will show folks that Al isn’t just a comedian with a band, but a talented musician himself, a dedicated producer, and a man with a group of talented individuals with him. Al and his band have been together and performing for almost 27 years, way longer than any of the artists he’s emulated or parodied. It’s that kind of longevity that showcases what an amazing talent he is, only amplified by the quality of his writing and his music.

One Gamer’s Opinion:

Well, that’s it for another week, kids. Hope you enjoyed it, and thank you for allowing me my brief step into comedy nerdiness. See you next time.

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