Dead Space 3 Review

Dead Space 3 Review:

How does a great and modern franchise fall?

Dead Space 3 is the latest entry up to this date on the Dead Space franchise. It has already been a while since it's release and I was avoiding it because of the critics it received and overall poor feedback from friends of mine who loved the franchise as much as I did, if not more. I don't mean to say Dead Space as a whole is doomed and may never see the light of day again, but I do believe they attempted to turn an otherwise excellent franchise in a horrible, thorn riddled direction. In this review I would also like to draw some parallel lines between this last installment and the 2 previous ones so you guys can see which aspects I believe were lost and which were gained during this series's evolution.

I decided to make this review even though Dead Space 3 was released back in February because I brought myself to play its campaign with a friend in the famous co-op mode this entry brought to the table. So without further explanations to give and no desire to drag this around any longer here's what Dead Space 3 is all about.

this is what I've been doing on holidays, am I not the most social human being there is, playing co-op dead space 3

Summary: The Dead Space franchise WAS (past tense) a horror and survival game oriented series, they take place in the eerie, terrifying setting that is well, as it's name would imply, outer space. You play as Isaac Clarke, a space engineer haunted by nightmares and horrible experiences that must save humanity from a zombie-like alien infection. In the first entry you find yourself in the creepiest place in all of the series, the Ishimura, a mining space shuttle and ship that just never ceased to run chills down your spine. Almost every nook and cranny had an unpleasant surprise for you and its confined hallways warrantied nervous breakdowns when you saw yourself crammed in them with a bunch of necromorphs (the alien zombie things). On the 2nd entry you saw yourself roaming around the city of Sprawl. a space colony that is a bit more open and comfy to Isaac, but still filled with unnerving new enemies and a couple of places that beat the Ishimura's butt in terms of sheer creepiness. Finally you see yourself in a city in a moon that located well, umm... somewhere (shit's too wacky and not explained well so I don't quite remember) and you are tossed around by this group of half terrorists half rebels that want to gather an alien artifact that you've already dealt with a couple of times, so that makes you the right guy for the job.

So, let's talk positives first, in this particular entry, you can play the whole story with a friend! And if you do so, you even get some extra hours of gameplay! So that is pretty cool, the only downside to this feature that I couldn't quite understand is that you need 2 copies of the game to do so. What I mean to say is: It's not local, in order to play the co-op version of the campaign you need 2 consoles or computers each one with a working copy of the game. This baffled me. Why wouldn't you just make a split-screen mode!?

I know this game was terrible but the split-screen was a welcome feature, cmon EA stop trying to empty our pockets

Another kind of cool feature is the revamped crafting system which lets you basically pack 2 weapons into one and give secondary effects to its sight or its bullets. There is one problem with it though, when you reach about 60% completion if you've been paying attention, gathering blueprints and pieces, you can make some overpowered weapons that will practically make 9 out of 10 encounters a walk in the park. (I beat the game on hard mode, I know it isn't hardcore but it was still very very easy)

Now for negatives and boy o' boy are there a bunch of them this time around. First of all, the game changed genre's and just to be clear, I saw this coming since Dead Space 2's release only DS2 didn't make it so obvious. Dead Space 3 is a 3rd person shooter action game. All of its survival elements are gone and the horror is barely even there, a few jump scares that aren't even that well employed are the only things that make you nervous, at most. The story this time around is so convoluted and unbelievably disengaging that it is a miracle I could even understand half of what was going on. (I've got a short attention span don't judge me) Finally the setting this time around varies a bit more than in previous games which is nice but none of these places make you feel frightened, which to be honest is the whole point of a setting in a self-proclaimed survival horror game.

Explosions, yes, you'll be seeing a lot of them here, no more dark creepy hallways, just, well.. BOOM for you ;D

What bothers me the most about this entry is not a valid reason to give it a low score. It's just personal preference, but for a healthy mind's sake and more happy readers let me elaborate:

-On the first Dead Space, Isaac Clarke was a mute and even a faceless man for the vast majority of the game and that let me empathize with him, he wasn't speaking over radio transmissions every 2 seconds he was just grunting when he stomped item boxes and grunting even louder when apprehended by a necromorph. since DS2 he's been given a voice and not just for cutscenes, entire sequences are riddled with dialogues of him chatting over the radio with his allies and enemies and the constant speeches don't make you feel alone and helpless. You feel completely safe and the horror aspect of the game is broken to me, this only intensifies in Dead Space 3. Not only are you joined by a friend if you play co-op you also spend about 80% of the game in a conversation with someone which is just dumb, it completely kills the mood this series was known for back when Dead Space made its debut in back in 2008.

conversations, conversations everywhere

-The plot of the whole franchise has never been it's major strength, it isn't bad by any means but it's nothing to write home about if we're really honest. Some minor sub-plots though are very interesting and bring the story to life, they motivate you and make you care for Isaac. Since DS2 Isaac has become an inconsistent character, he seems like a complex character with deep issues but throughout the games you evidence he's just troubled for a couple of minutes at the worst point of his adventure and then he always gets back on the horse, finds a new girl and kills some more necromorphs so to me he basically lost all that made him relate-able. He just looks like a COD character in my eyes, and I mean that as a bad thing.

-During my play-throughs for both DS and DS2 I didn't encounter a single bug, glitch or error whatsoever. But Dead Space 3 was a whole different deal, it was one after the other it basically turned the whole experience into an endurance test for my patience as a player who despises glitches in a game. Here's a quick list of all the errors me and my friend encountered:

I was browsing the webz like a cute internet cat for glitch to show you guys 

and the first I found was one that actually made the game scarier so it doesn't quite help my cause

a) Aim fixation, my friend who used the keyboard to play it, found himself locked in an "aimed down the sight" state through about 2 chapters of the game after which he decided it was ruining his experience and decided to look for a fix online. After a few minutes he found one, it consisted of mashing the TAB key over and over again and this, ladies and gentlemen, fixed the issue lightning fast. But it was still pretty annoying, resetting the game, re-hosting it, changing hosts, rebooting his PC, none of this fixed it so that is one annoying problem to encounter if you ask me.

b) Out of sync cut scenes, this happened to us twice: One happened in a cut scene in which Isaac and his friend are captured by some human enemies and this was apparently followed by a shootout, only it wasn't followed. It happened at the same time, the NPCs were just standing there when we arrived at the scene and the cut scene suddenly triggered, some of the dialogue was past us and the other enemies were shooting at us while it happened. So there we were, listening to a menacing speech from the bad guy while we were being shot at. Want to know how I figured this was a mistake? well an NPC was grabbing me by the neck with his stump of an arm he just lost during the cut scene. Yes, the enemies shot their own friend's arm off and he was using a phantom limb to hold me down, the NPC that brought my friend into submission lacked a head by the end of the cut scene and we took a lot of shots too, they didn't kill us but our full health bar was nearly depleted when the cut scene ended and the real shootout began. The other time was just goofy and it won't be mentioned.

c) Invincibility, this sounds cool right? Well it happened, it didn't last long, not because it was a one time deal but because my friend was terrible at climbing sections. At one point in the game he started using the Bench (or crafting table) to make himself some weapons and he was caught by a necromorph. He forced himself out of danger and afterwards he was immune to damage, ALL DAMAGE. He could be mangled by a necromorph in a combat cut scene and he would receive no damage whatsoever, the only way he would die was if he let the creature devour him, but even then he would re-spawn with invincibility. He managed to turn it off accidentally when a chunk of ice the size of a truck fell on him during a climbing sequence but if he was any better at climbing he would have carried me like dead weight for the rest of the journey.*

And these 3 things my friends are basically legacy breaking flaws in my book. When you lose complete sight of what your amazing game was in the beginning, you let it's spark extinguish and it's magic disappear. Many friends of mine and I believed Dead Space to be Resident Evil's true successor but they both went down the same path, making over the top, explosion filled set pieces and overall action games that forget their true essence.

This                                is scarier than                                   This

So there is a problem here

Visuals: The game looked very good, there was an occasional frame rate drop but I blame our slow internet connections for it. Most of the particles and scenery were astonishingly well designed and just a pleasure to watch. So no downside here, just nothing transcendent. 8/10

Gameplay: If you can ignore the multiple and frequent bugs. The gameplay and controls are tight, everything is responsive and just fun to play. Though not only the survival and horror parts of the game's genre are gone, the difficulty was kicked down a couple notches. It is no longer vital to aim at the limbs in order to win an encounter with the dreaded necropmorphs, with the many overpowered weapons at your disposal and overall weaker enemies than in the previous games you can just aim at the torso and maul your foes which feels great but offers no challenge for the player. 5/10

Story: I personally didn't like DS2's story at all. The whole shock of hearing Isaac speak that much for the first time just killed it for me, but I still think it's better paced and well driven than the one Dead Space 3 offers. This time around you're just tasked to do one thing after the other and you lose sight of your true objective every 2 minutes. I'd bet this wasn't a bad plot on paper, but it was executed poorly from my perspective. 6/10

Music: Just as good as the pieces you can find in the previous games, which are OK, nothing to write home about but they do help you feel the intensity of the action set pieces and the mystery of an abandoned space station. 7/10

Final Verdict:

Dead Space 3 dismembered it's franchise's genre like Isaac used to dismember necromorphs, by removing the games Horror and Survival aspects and making it one of the easiest 3rd person shooter games I've played to date. It basically dishonored the Dead Space family name. There is still fun to be had, you do not need to have played the previous ones to enjoy or understand this one, Hell! I played the previous ones and didn't comprehend a single thing of what was going on for more than 2 minutes at a time. So if you're a fan of big action set-pieces, sci fi shooters with spooky looking enemies and games that allow you to play the whole story in co-op mode, get this game when its on sale or something, you'll have your fun. To those of you who are Dead Space fans: If you are afraid that playing this game might ruin your experience with the series as a whole, well that depends on your tolerance level, it only hammered in the last nail on the coffin for me. But I do go by a couple of wise words my older brother once spoke to me: "Don't knock it, till you try it".

6.5/10

Bubbye!

*For those of you would like to know about the conditions in which the glitches and bugs were triggered, we played the Origin version of Dead Space 3 on PC.

**For the native english speakers, I apologize for the grammar errors. I'm still getting the hang of this language, it is in my best interest to write as adequately as possible but please do not let those mistakes take away from the article's meaning and objective.

Remember to follow me on Twitter at "@pegasus_boots" and my new Instagram account "pegasusbootsgb" hope you enjoyed the read!

Gone Home "peek/review"

Let's Take a Peek at: "Gone Home"

Gone Home is a first person "adventure" game with some of the best voice acting and overall setting there is on the market now. It was released on Steam on August 15th, 2013. It is highly acclaimed and it received "Best PC game" and "Best Independent game" in this year's VGX.

Despite the huge praise it's received and what the critics or media may say. I'm here to shed some light on the matter and explain to you as to why this game is good, some might even say outstanding, but it is far from being the best PC game this year or the best indie game for that matter.

I want to clarify that even though the title of this article is "Let's Take a Peek at:" it's more of a review. I usually do not make full reviews of short Steam games because most of them are targeted to a very specific audience and just because I did not enjoy the experience I had with a portion of it the game deserves either a good or bad score. Hence why I only recommend it for some and advice against a regrettable purchase for others, with that being said, let's talk positive firsts.

like how cool this 3D modeled snes cartridge looks

It's difficult to write about a game like this without risking to spoil something, it's not that the game's strong suit is it's story. The game's lungs, heart, brain and skeleton are it's plot and it's delivery so there's not much else to talk about. The story is excellent, but it isn't why I'm gonna sing the game's praises. The Fullbright Company managed to create and put the player into one of the most immersive and plausible settings you will ever encounter in a video game. 

To give you a small summary of what the game is about: You are a girl just coming back home from a long trip to Europe, you live with your mom, dad and sister in the U.S. When you get home, due to a sudden change in schedules you arrive to an empty house. Your sister leaves a note for you since she knows you're coming home, and the note welcomes you back but warns and asks of you not to look for clues or belongings related to her or where she currently is. From this point onward everything else is just exploration.

The game does a fine job making you feel like this place and these characters could totally exist, you are in the 90's and everything in this house fits in. There's no weird items that feel out of place, no home appliances, art or just furniture and decoration in general that seem unfitting. You get this sense of reward and curiosity by learning of the characters that are there for you to relate to even though you're completely alone. And by connecting the dots and taking a peek into your sister's interests and environment you ultimately hear and interact with a great story in a simple way.

for instance: you know you're in the 90's when a girl has a completely impractical locker in her room

 instead of using her Iphone as her teenage drama deposit

Now, the cons. This game is not the best game for PC or the best indie game, I cannot stress this enough. You might be mad at me if you have played it before, you might be disagreeing with what I'm saying but all I want is to state my opinion and offer some undeniable facts that make this game an overrated product, not bad, but extremely overrated. 

This is a game that costs 20 bucks at full price on Steam, and a game that I managed to beat in an hour and forty minutes. This isn't because I was speed running it, had played it before or because I didn't explore. I read every text I came across with and explored every room on the in-game map. Which is terrible too because there's almost no extra content, you MUST visit every room to beat the game and finish the story and once you beat it, there's no alternate story or collectibles, achievements, nothing. This is meant to be a story driven game, an art piece, a mix of literature, cinematography and voice acting but there is absolutely no video game related elements employed other than the fact that it "is" a game. Games like Portal, Journey or even mini games like The Company of Myself, have shown us in the past that a game doesn't have to be lengthy or overproduced to deliver an incredible experience but they are still games which involve the least bit of skill, intelligence or just general reflex and coordination but this game has absolutely zero of this. There are no cut-scenes, quick-time events or choices to make so unless you like hearing a really good story over and over again, this game's exact replay value is 1, you might want to hear it once again because maybe you missed something the first time or because you fell in love with the plot but that's it. It isn't even fun or exciting, all that keeps you going is the story and the setting, the whole "adventure" is a scavenge hunt in a place that isn't even that big and where things can be found easily, you'll go through the motions and reach the ending and there's your reward.

I probably sound like someone who is just whining too much, but I bought this game out of recommendation and praise and I feel so dissappointed. The game isn't bad, anyone out there into video games or not, looking to hear an interesting story, go ahead, this is for you. But you'll be paying 20$ for an interactive movie with no cutscenes or character appearances whatsoever, so you've been warned. Gone Home is ultimately a great story driven game that lasts less than 2 hours and brings absolutely no gameplay challenge/reward, no real innovation and no replay value whatsoever.

call me George Constanza if you like but I dont feel comfy paying 20 dollars for a movie I know I wont watch more than twice

*P.S: I only payed about 7 bucks for it during the autumn steam sale, and I would value this game at 5 dollars tops.

Here`s some contact info you might like to know in case you wanna add me up and play or just have a chat with me, I must not seem like it now and I don`t think I`ll seem like it any time soon, but I`m not a company, I`m a kid who enjoys playing video games and is very excited to share them with you guys.

Steam: Bombermanganzon

Diablo III: kiwicupcake (yeah, dont ask about that one)

League of Legends: Skyward Svvord

Guild Wars 2: Vitesong

If you are looking to see If I`m available in any other game or platform such as Miiverse by example, email me at: fastpegasusboots@gmail.com

Opinion: Super Smash Bros Analysis

Opinion

Nintendo's most powerful game. Has it lost it's strength or is it stronger than ever?

As many of you should know by now, the next big entry in the Super Smash series has already been announced, It's actually a 2 hit combo this time around, and their names are Super Smash Bros for Wii U and Super Smash Bros for 3DS but we'll call em "SSBW3" for short. Now, what should we be looking forward to? Well, aside from the fact that graphics and visuals have been improved, we have a very important addition to the roster who's announcement basically made the Earth itself tremble, Megaman or Rockman if you're a Japanese gal or guy. Yes, for any of you who didn't know by now The Blue Bomber joined the fray and his looks, skill set and animations are as classic and smooth as a Mozart's symphony. But we're not here to talk about internet rule 34 sensation Wii Fit trainer or "Condom over Mario's Head" Villager. We're here to talk about what exactly should we be excited about and what I think could be implemented in the new games that might freshen things up a bit. First, let's talk a little bit about what's been going in the franchise, the genre and its console, that way we can lay down a comfy, romantic, rose petal sprinkled bed of context for the incredibly provocative and luscious suggestions I'm gonna give Mr. Sakurai next. (For those of you unaware, Masahiro Sakurai is the SSB series director and the creator of Kirby)

I got this image from the Forbes magazine's website, that's how fucking epic the inclusion of Megaman is

According to the most handsome game developer of all time, SSB Melee for the Gamecube is still his baby boy, he claims it's the most balanced and well rounded entry in the series. Now, SSB Brawl actually had a bigger roster, a level editor, an amazing story mode in comparison to the previous ones and of course, revamped visuals, but many fans of the series still prefer Melee because it seemed more balanced. In Brawl, many characters were just clones of others and there were a couple of fighters who's skill set and moves either didn't work that well or dealt such a small amount of damage they just weren't viable. Let's cross our fingers and wait for the upcoming games to have less clones and a fully viable roster.

so much class and style, this man is 43 years old, 

you ladies wish chumps like Ryan Gosling or Zac Efron managed to have this silky smooth skin at their 40s

The genre itself is pretty unique in its own way, many new games have started to pop up and try to imitate it's style or put their own spin to it. Almost at the end of last year, Sony and PlayStation finally released their supposed SSB killer: Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale, a decent game in it's own right but ultimately a flop. The game was hyped up a lot soon after it's announcement and many Sony fans started chanting their victory anthem before the thing was even released. The trailer for the game on Youtube was constantly getting comments like: "STFU NINTENDRONES, PABR IS GONNA KICK SUPER FAG BROS A$$", "WHO WANTS TO PLAY WITH GANONDORK AND DONKEY DONG, RAIDEN AND COLE FTW" & "FAT PRINCESS IS SO MUCH SEXIER AND PRETTIER THAN PEACH OR ZELDA HAHAHA YEAH!" Well, ok, maybe not that last one, but that's pretty much how that shit went down yo! 

So where is PABR now? It's actually treated as an outcast, a disappointment like the children in Sparta who can't fend off 2 starving saber tooth tigers with a stick. The game was not only a financial failure but also a flawed production when it comes to the genre's demands, it tried to blend hardcore fighting mechanics and combos with an incredibly tedious and awkward way to defeat your opponents, aside from it's aesthetics and some of the most hilarious video game crossover encounters ever, the game landed on its belly after a 30 feet drop which led to it's paralysis, multiple rib fractures and almost absolute termination of a sequel. 

Everything hasn't been horrible though, behind this fake hero, many indie games like Gentlemen! and the upcoming JamSouls for Steam seem promising enough, so the rookies without sponsor might actually show the defeated giant a thing or two and help it get back on it's feet.

this is a screenshot of JamSouls, now awaiting its approval on Steam Greenlight, check it out!

To kind of wrap things up in this already pretty long prologue, let's talk about the consoles these twin titans are going to nest in. SSBW3 is actually holding either an amazing katana that can cut through steel and a crappy wooden shield OR a kitchen knife and a shield who can fend off death itself. What exactly do I mean with all my stupid rambling? Well, SSBW3 as it's name dictates is coming out on 2 platforms, the Wii U and the 3DS. So to start things right, let's talk about the magnificent Nintendo 3DS. This is the katana, the adamantium shield, the 3DS has had such an amazing run and many marvelous things to come, packed with a library unlike any other, features unparalleled in the industry and a price so low it's actually below sea level (this is actually a subliminal message carefully placed here so a proposition I'm gonna make later on doesn't make you go ape shit), this platform is fated to give SSB's debut into portables the show of a lifetime. As for the Nintendo Wii U goes,  things are a little bit shaky, Nintendo is treading on some thin ice here, the game pad has already proven itself a complete hindrance to some decent games. But! all hope is not lost, the Wii U could hit a home run if the ball is pitched the right way, It may not have the strongest arms or the most disgusting spit on the league but it's still powerful in it's own way.

Without further a do, It's time to put on the baby doll, dim down the lights and pop open the bottle of champagne because it's time to reeeally show our appreciation and flexibility to Super Smash:

I`m desperately trying to get your attention

Roster

Bomberman

Hudson and Konami's beloved IP, later tarnished by some crappy decisions that are only gonna make me mad if I talk about them. The White Bomber has had it's fair share of games on Nintendo platforms, so why not? If anything, the inclusion of Megaman sets the tone and lays down the foundation for this demolition project. Bomberman would be a blast! (pun, completely intended) He could even come with a skill that uses Pommy or have it join the roster itself, it's flexible enough, it can take many forms and fight in about a dozen different ways. Megaman has already delved deep into the whole "Grab and use the weapons of your enemies" deal. Bomberman could do the same with the Aqua Bomb, the Wind Bomb, the Light Bomb and so on. He can bring some cool items and propositions into the formula, he is in my opinion one of the most plausible additions to the roster. As far as design goes, I think both the Bomberman from Second Attack or the Generations one would fit in nicely.

Link (From Majora's Mask)

Now, we can all agree Toon Link is pretty cute and all but he's one of the cloniest clones in the series, even the storm troopers get jealous. So what do I propose? Link from Majora's Mask, "Isn't that the young link we saw in Melee? stfu PB!" now, gimme a second to explain pal, we still have 3 days until the moon falls on our heads. I think it would be amazing to see this Link join the roster as a variant to Pokemon Trainer, you read that right, Pokemon Trainer, BAM! He could start as a deku, goron or zora, whichever one you like and have the B-DOWN skill make him change masks, A catapult flower as a recovery for the deku, a fiery uppercut for the goron and a water twister for the zora, many skills can be adapted to work in the battlefield, the goron's roll, the zora's shield, the deku's bubble shot and so on. He could also turn into Fierce Deity Link for his Final Smash, the point is I can assure you he will make for a great fighter and maybe he's addition and success will finally convince Nintendo to remake Majora's Mask for the 3DS!

Paper Mario

What's interesting about this addition is it's remarkable difference to its possible aesthetic clone: Mario. Paper Mario is a beloved character and series of games, he is fun, hardworking and has a heart of gold, but unlike his 3 dimensional counterpart he is far more versatile. He's been joined in his adventures by such a wide array of characters that he's overcome the most difficult, bizarre and complex challenges in all of his series. With the help of his well rounded team of partners and equipped with his hammer, star powers, badges and stickers, he would have no troubling going at it against the best of the best.

Tails/Knuckles

I don't think we'll see them added this time, and I don't even think we'll ever see them both simultaneously because Mr. Sakurai already said that he doesn't want to have third party characters overwhelming the first party ones. But, either of The Blue Blur's best friends would make for a great unique character. Tails could enter the battlefield aboard the Cyclone and Knuckles could easily match Ike or Bowser's brute force. I would love for them to be included.

Ryu

I'm not talking about Ryu from Street Fighter I'm talking about the old classic Ryu Hayabusa from the first Ninja Gaiden or Shadow Warriors games if you're an European reader (who am I kidding, only my mom and my cat read this blog). These gems for the NES are really something I think Nintendo should pursue a bit more. He would be a great addition because of his astonishingly well developed move set and animations like the ones we saw in Ninja Gaiden Sigma and his potential to up the age demographic for the possible buyers. We all love Nintendo and its IPs and that's never gonna change but including some characters that are a bit more rough looking wouldn't hurt the series. Adding Big Daddy and Cole is out of the question, those are just not classic enough and they really do mess with the whole Smash formula, but we witnessed how well our pal Snake did on Brawl, let's not be afraid to pay homage to characters from the same era and with the same amount of awesome.

And now I'm gonna mention others that I believe would be good but not of the 

"AMAZINGOMFGYEAH" kind:

Chrom, Avatar (Fire Emblem Awakening), Geno, Mallow (Super Mario RPG: The legend of the Seven Stars), Chrono (Chrono Trigger), Lloyd Irving (Tales of Symphonia), Prince Fluff (Kirby's Epic Yarn), Little Mac (Punch-Out!), Kachi, Achi, Isa, Airan or Saki (Sin and Punishment).

Mechanics

Before we start, I want to make myself clear: I think the SSB has incredible combat mechanics, level design and stage layout overall. I still wish some things were added and others were changed though, and these are:

Streak Smashes

That's right, just like a predator missile but less stupid, I propose the Streak Smash, well, how does it work? If you manage to beat your opponents 3 times without dying you automatically get your Final Smash! How cool is that? It could be a feature that is configurable on the settings menu along with "stock" and items, you can even set up things like the amount of kills that will net you one or add conditions like: "Only if you kill the same person X amount of times without dying" or "Beating the same person 2 or more times in a row does not count towards the Streak Smash"

Am I the only one who thinks this is a stupid feature in a game that cod fanboys need stop bragging about?

No More Tripping

Brawl introduced tripping as a mechanic, and no, I don't mean tripping balls after you took LSD or had a party with Miley and Molly. Real falling and tripping while in combat, this happened randomly and under almost unpredictable circumstances, it left you vulnerable and just felt like you were taking a cheap hit afterwards. I propose adding an option to turn tripping ON or OFF so competitive players can have their fun and people who love tripping can do it without restraint.

yeah, umm we do not need this in Smash and yeah "We Can't Stop" making fun of you either Miley

Medal or Trinket

Nowadays companies just keep adding more and more buttons to their controllers. Half of them are not even used in some modern games and I am pretty sure they can fit another button for "Trinkets" on the next SSB. What is a "Trinket"? Well I would propose that before every match you select a sort of medal, call it Fire Emblem, Golden Banana, Gameboy Horror, whatever you like, but what these bad boys do is either have a very brief effect or boost up a stat, for example:

Palutena's Crown: Press the "X" button to set up a brief projectile shield that will block but not return any projectile damage for 2 seconds. It charges upon death, kill or every 1 minute. It can only hold 1 charge.

Link's Golden Gauntlets: Very slightly boosts your "A" moves's Knock-back.

Yoshi's Cookie: Use to recover 10% of damage received. It charges upon death, kill or every minute. It can hold up to 2 charges.

These of course are just things I pulled out the top of my head and they could be turned off in the setting menu but I do believe it would give a little bit more of customization when "maining" a character. This feature could be turned on or off and every character should add one, this way, there will be trinkets to unlock and they aren't all available from the get-go.

because I haven't seen one of this mofos since practice mode in SSB64

Underwater Combat

(this is it, the reason that subliminal message was planted inside your head like in Inception, so hang tight)

This is my weakest suggestion because I don't even know if it would work out but I would be thrilled to see stages where big bodies of water could be used as turfs of war too. in the water every attack changes ever so slightly, all recoveries can be set on course to any direction you want and knock back is reduced. I personally think it would be hard to make a new set of moves and animation for everyone underwater but I would be delighted to see people planning their strategies inside a shelter in a stage in which certain characters would excel and could find a way to turn the tide of battle (pun intended, again).

this is what pops up on google images if you type in "underwater combat"

 I am speechless I have no speech, speech is not something I possess

Features

And now, last but not least, changes in the game outside of combat. These features I'm gonna mention are in my humble opinion necessities and I hope you feel the same way.

No More Recolors!

I think we're all a bit tired of clones in SSB, in Brawl for instance we had Fox, Falco AND Wolf. You might be one of those Wolf players now all mad and flustered at me saying: "Wolf is nothing like Fox, I suck with Fox and I rock with Wolf" and I can say to you: "Well, you're not wrong  but you're not right, Wolf is different, his moves are similar but half the "B" moves change and its combos and overall speed change drastically so I'm with you bud." But if you're a Falco player and you say that shit to me, I'll tell you what the Fox says, the Fox doesn't say "Ring-e ding Ring ding a ding", he says he's identical to Falco except for the feathers and the stupid blaster. I know, I know there are some other differences but they are so insignificant when you look at the big picture. This is a game who's developer has already on numerous occasions stressed out how difficulty and mentally exhausting it is to fit in new characters and remove old ones, so your clone should be left out!

evidence, your honor

But! I'm here to offer an alternative, we've already seen Wii Fit Trainer (Male) is in the game but he wasn't announced as a new character, which means that there are skins  that actually change the character model! So what I propose is having this skin ordeal take over almost every character. Want to play as the last generation of Pokemon instead of the first? go ahead, Froakie, Quilladin and Delphox will be there instead of Squirtle, Ivysaur and Charizard. Would you prefer to use the Link from Skyward Sword instead of the Twilight Princess's one? be my guest. Do you dislike using Ike because spiky hair is no longer cool since we're not in the 90's anymore? Pick Chrom Instead.

more evidence your honor, in the 90s spiked hair was a thing indeed

This would completely freshen up the experience and solve most of the "I want my clone to be included" charade. This, ladies and gentlemen, would make us happy.

No More Story, What Now?

SSBW3 will probably lack a story mode, Nintendo and Sakurai already said in a bi-weekly column on the renown Japanese magazine Famitsu that things would go this way. This isn't bad, necessarily, as cool and exciting as the CG cut scenes on the Subspace Emissary (Brawl's Story Mode) were, It took away a big part of the disc's space and the development team's time. Let's be honest here, We all play the Smash games for its awesome gameplay and the opportunity to see King Dedede hit and fuse Samus and Captain Falcon using the force. So this shouldn't sting that much.

Oh you weren't buying it? well here it is chump

The suggestion here is quite ambiguous, I propose more game modes, VS or Co-op oriented ones. Here are a few examples:

Battle for Ylisse

Something like the "100 man melee" but maybe Fire Emblem themed, a mode in which 4 players try to fend of entire Plegian armies that try to invade Ylisse. The objective here is to find out how long you can manage to hold your ground. This could be turned into a competitive mode by splitting the screen and having items that buff your opponent's enemies, boost up your defenses or damage your opponent's fortress itself so the plegians manage to break his castle's doors and make him lose the match.

Bounty Hunters

A Co-op only experience in which the screen is split and every player has access to a mini-map similar to that of Super Metroid. The layout of the levels are just like the ones in the game and everyone must explore, find a number of keys equal to the number of players and head for the main boss's room where you will finish of Kraig or maybe Metroid Prime. The idea is to do it as fast as possible with a minimal amount of casualties. There could be 3 possible levels each with it's own boss and it is randomly selected each time you begin the hunt.

Pandora's Vengeance:

A VS only scenario in which  2 players battle at a coliseum while Pandora sends in her minions to invade the town. You can't deal damage directly to your opponent but you can kill and evade the minions the goddess of destruction is sending in, they are the only ones that can harm you. Your attacks to the other player will only fill a "stagger bar" that stuns your opponent if you manage to fill it up. Ballistas, spike traps, hot oil traps and the such can be triggered with the previously mentioned "Trinket" button if you're standing next to them and these can only hurt your opponent. (I know this mode seems like a stretch but I've seen worse ideas turn into something awesome)

Game Master

Now this is a new game mode but it is so different I would announce it as a completely new feature. It would be up to the the game devs to create a sort of arena in which many traps and contraptions could be triggered by a player using the game pad, he or she could also send in a boss at some point, maybe Ridley or K. Rool I believe this game mode is something Wii U users would have a blast with.

you guys want to see this funky guy join the fun too, admit it

Now I know this has been a very opinionated article, filled with a bunch of nonsense, it's almost like a  Baz Luhrmann movie, am I right? but I wanna end on a more serious note.

SSBW3 is not coming out anytime soon as far as we all know but there is a problem I'm having with it. I'm not getting excited enough, as soon as I heard of Brawl's announcement I went bananas, maybe it's because I've gotten older but It doesn't feel like that's the reason behind by limp situation. Believe me! I want to be excited, I want to go crazy in bed with this thing, but I just don't have that same eagerness I had when the Smash Dojo was live here on the internet. I've given it much thought and I believe it's lack of innovation that's holding these series back, the game is gonna be amazing no matter what, but I want it to be the game of the decade even when there will probably still be 6 more years until the decade ends upon it's release, So just like a Youtube celebrity would express himself: I approve this message. Wait, no. I want to ask you guys to really share what you thought about my article, my suggestions and add some suggestion and input of your own. Please go nuts in the comments section below.

I'm so good with the whole image puns and references, you've gotta admit that too

**For the native english speakers, I apologize for the grammar errors. I'm still getting the hang of this language, it is in my best interest to write as adequately as possible but please do not let those mistakes take away from the article's meaning and objective.

Remember to follow me on Twitter at "@pegasus_boots" and my new Instagram account "pegasusbootsgb" hope you enjoyed the read!

Guest Article! 5 Games From Last Gen That You Can't Miss!

A new challenger approaches!

In a "new challenger approaches" a new guest writer, publishes an article that I help him assemble and edit into the blog's format. the following article is written in a different style than mine, nonetheless it is a good read in my opinion. 

Psymon! and his: 5 games from last gen that will blow your mind!

Psymon is an acquaintance of mine, he wishes to become a movie critic at some point and maybe have his own blog on the matter. He is someone that I respect very much and someone who has been influenced by video games just for as long as I have. His major influences are Nintendo, Capcom, Early games by Activision and a tad bit of Ubisoft.

The new generation is here, and all the xbones and sonyfriends are pumped, to see the industry taking its next big step. The video game industry giants are battling again for your money and it is up to you to choose which one is better… (its the ps4 but dont tell anyone that).

Now the last gen was probably the best in the industry so far, it lasted over 7 freaking years, and spouted over billions and billions and billions of dollars… (Dont lie you read that using Carl Sagan’s voice). But besides what Biggie Smalls teaches us about ignoring wenches and acquiring currency, quality and heart are still poured into many modern games, some of them made, again, billions of dollars in revenue and scored awfully high on critic’s reviews. But most of them faded into the shadows like a one hit wonder. Thankfully you're reading this, so you will know about some of the true hidden gems, a few select group of amazing games you might have missed while playing call of black ops modern battlefield 2014. 

pictured above:  how to play mario party.

 L.A NOIRE  

No doubt, this is one of my favorite games and it holds one of my favorite soundtracks in all gaming but maybe that's just my musical taste. This game stands out because it forces you to think critically and not just mash buttons and shoot the bad guys, although there's plenty of that to go around in this game, its not the main focus. L.A Noire is set in L.A (insert retard sound, witty joke here) during the end of the 40's. America’s economy is booming, the soldiers have returned home, everything seems just peachy, but man, oh man is it the other way around (shit's actually going bonkers, yo!). 

You play as detective Cole Phelps in a sprawling open world divided in chapters, each corresponding to a different case. At first, you start as a normal cop, afterwards the traffic department in which you rise above your colleagues solving mysteries related from car accidents to car murders. Then you gain through homicide, vice, and arson department. Each case has a unique story and is rated on how well you solved it.  What is most enjoyable about this game is its gameplay. Instead of shooting thugs and running around flailing your firearms. It's based on detective work, each crime scene is riddled with clues that help you find out who the culprit is. Then there's the interrogating part and here is where your ability to think comes in. The game is not riddled with tedious puzzles or predictable outcomes that give away the solution. You are forced to interrogate, question and call bullshit on the suspects claims, if you do call B.S on them you have to use evidence, real evidence, and no "aliens did it" is not an answer. You must read the suspects facial expressions and study his alibi to see if it cracks under the scope, you must think long and hard (that's what she said) and most importantly rely on your wits and critical reasoning for solving each case. And that, my friends, is a rarely accomplished feat in a game. So if you want a game that tests your ability to argue, reason, and basically make you feel like a mythbuster but with far too many guns and a history of violence, look no further. This is truly one of the best games on the market that exploit your critical thinking skills and if it was very worth it's tag price at release you can be damn sure it's worth it's price now Boy-o!. 

(Faces me and my girlfriend make after sex. **left: gf right: me**))

SPEC OPS: THE LINE

In a sea of military shooters where every mission is about muricah’ and gun boners, it's refreshing to see how Yager games, developed one of the most intriguing and thought provoking third person shooter games this side of Metal Gear. This game's strong suit is its story, based on Joseph Conrad's: "The Heart of Darkness", and influenced heavily by one of the most acclaimed movies of all times "Toy Story 3" (ok, i know it's not toy story 3 but cmon that's a great movie), anyway the game is influenced by none other than the cult classic "Apocalypse Now", which delves deeply into the heart and mind of a soldier and what it takes to make the right, or wrong decision in times of war, and yeah I'm not talking "shall i shoot this guy and save muricah’ or should I kill this guy later and save muricah". I'm talking about deep moral quandaries here, the kind that Plato and Nietzsche would have a field day in the discussion of just one topic. The gameplay is solid as The Rock’s cooking (can you smell it?). And the A.I in this game is really smart, the enemies lob bombs at you when you find cover, they always try to flank you, change strategy as you move from cover to cover. Something to note is that there's a lot of enemy and weapons variety here to keep your gun erected penis going all night, and maybe a quickie before breakfast. It's only a matter of 40 minutes into the game where you make some hard hitting decisions that shape your character's development as well as your squads mindset during the story.

Very few games paint war as a truly hellish place, where not only physical injuries are rampant but emotional and deep psychological issues develop. This game proves that there is no such thing as unharmed soldiers.

Toy Story 3: Director’s cut

DRAGON’S DOGMA

Dragon's dogma is one of the few good things Capcom made before DmC (yes, dante is not a white haired vixen but that's Ninja Theory's deal not Capcam's and the game's good stop crying) and let me tell ya, its amazing. Its an RPG driven by squad based combat, much like monster hunter with friends, it has you slaying ghoulish fiends, mythical creatures, and overwhelming beings.

This game lacks in storytelling and the world feels a little bit drab but what it lacks in these aspects it more than makes up for it in quality gameplay. You take the role of the arisen, a special kind of person chosen to slay the dragon and save Hyrule, yay! I know it sounds a lot like Skyrim, and it borrowed some basic concepts but it's far from it. Mainly, it's difficult as all fuck, and like any great game should, it punishes you harshly for your mistakes and rewards you beautifully for your patience and hard work. 

Again, this game is hard, you can only save in big cities, and there is no quick travel system either, so you're bound to go on foot and explore old school. This makes each encounter really intense, and exploring so much more gratifying, each fight is literally a fight for survival, and when the day turns into night, you automatically shit your pants. First of all if you don't have a lamp, you're pretty much like Ray Charles in a boxing match, and not just any boxing match, because nighttime makes enemies a lot tougher. Its like fighting Mike Tyson at his prime, either you soil your pants, which you already did and run, or you stand there and get pummeled relentlessly and have him muncho on your sweet delicious ears until you gain enough skill to battle him again. 

dragon's dogma boss battles

It's gameplay is truly astounding being the best I've seen and played in an RPG, period. Yes, even better than Dark Souls (Come at bro). You can attack them at a distance, face them head on and you can even climb on the big ones to munch on their damn ears with your sword. Enemy variety is at it's best, each monster has its own unique weakness and strategic approach so you must think carefully before you act. And the last couple of hours of this game are a mix between Dragonforce's epic guitar shredding and contemplative jazz music. It doesn't mix very well, the ending is an edgy atheist wet dream, but its gameplay make it a must own for any action fan out there.

dragons dogma’s  ending

MOD NATION RACERS

Taking a break from all the hard and heavy stuff, this is a game developed by some dudes who partnered up with Media Molecule, (the guys who made Little Big Planet) so you know you're gonna have a jolly good time. This game is just pure fun with friends or online, not so much on your own.  

The developers focus on the player's imagination (its not a cardboard box for all those spongebob fans out there wondering). Your creative inner child blossoms in this game, you can make literally anyone a cute cartoon racer, Hitler VS Pee Pee Long-stockings?  Go ahead, Goku Super Saiyan Phase 4 VS Waluigi, why not? Your hot 16 year old neighbor VS your dick? Well probably not, unless you want to take a seat over there while Chris Hansen judges you in front of national TV. But aside from sexual acts with minors, everything is permitted.  

The controls are simple yet tight, (not a frauding slip) the racing intense and the story is pretty cute and funny. You can customize your character, your car and even make your own racing venue with an astonishing amount of details and tools to choose from. The racing is pretty much like Mario Kart, maybe even better, with one minor detail, you can collect energy by drifting or pushing people off their way, this energy serves as a boost or as a shield and it's an interesting addition, you either play it safe or go all out, also there are items and weapons you can throw at other racers, and yes the ultimate dick move, the dreaded blue shell of morbid death and destruction is back, to ruin friendships and make you punch your little brother in the gut (I’m sorry josh but god dammit you had it coming) this time in the form of missiles or thunder. This game provides you hours of creative skill development and playing it is just a blast. For a cute and fuzzy racing game it sure has a lot of things going for it, it's the Mario Kart of the PS3!.

courtesy of the blue shell.

CATHERINE

Wait, I know what your thinking, (Jon) it looks like those pervy “chinese cartoons” your parents warned you about when you were watching Toonami, or Adult Swim, and you're just waiting for some kind of tentacle rape scene to appear in this game but, (thankfully) it's far from that… It's anime style drawings and quirks make it an incredibly hard pill to swallow because it delves deep into your conscience. It's so refreshing to see a game where the main character is just like you, he’s not a dragoncommanderborn private detective universal soldier tasked with saving the world cuz only his special set of skills can do it. No, this game is about character development, especially the player's realization of who he truly is. 

This is one of the last generation gems that nearly no one has played, and its a dayum shame. The story is very simple, yet original and quite frankly awesome. You play as Vincent Brooks, a 32 year old guy who is just fine the way he’s life has played out, he adjusted to having a normal job and a good relationship with his long time girlfriend Katherine, but she wants something more, she wishes to get married, move in together with Vincent, have a family with him, and he’s just not sure about committing to something so serious, so he goes to a bar with his pals and gets a Little *ahem* well, shitfaced and meets Catherine with a C, the very opposite of what his current girlfriend is, she’s uber hot, has an outgoing personality and has the hots for Vincent. So he made one drunken mistake or did he? and woke up the next day with Catherine in his bed complementing him on how he is just ravenous in bed. Now a deeply conflicted Vincent has to choose in a span of 8 days how to get his shit together, all the while there’s some kind of curse that's killing men that cheat on relationships in their sleep. 

The gameplay is also original, divided in two parts: one is based on spatial puzzles that consist of climbing to the top of a block tower by moving it's blocks (obviously, duh), sounds simple right? WRONG, it's really hard and stressful cause you have a limited time to do that. The puzzle parts are in Vincent's dreams, where he battles his conscience  as he regrets deeply what he did to his gf. The other half of the game is made up of conversations you have with both C/K-atherines via text messages and hanging out with your friends at the local bar. You meet new people that seem to struggle with the same nightmares you have, so that's cool and intriguing. The game has multiple endings depending on your choices.  That trivial character interaction makes you care a lot more about other characters relevant to the story. It has multiplayer, but only when you finished the game. Catherine is driven by a profound story that hits every emotional chord, questioning deep moral issues about trust and what's right and what's wrong in a relationship.

pictured: nightmares, real ones

Thanks a lot for reading my article, to recap: a Detective game, a FPS, an RPG, a Racing game and a Puzzle game. I hope you have enjoyed the read and just keep in mind I recommend these games because I loved them and I think they deserve to be at least given the chance to shine. So go ahead give them a try and see for yourself!