FINISH HIM!!! by Marcus Brown

My days as an elementary gamer consisted of twice as many SNES games as I could play. My decisions to own games (all funded by my parents’ money, of course) was based off of what seemed cool and hip, even if I barely played more than an hour of the game itself. You know how it is when you’re a kid. You have to get that one toy that looks awesome, especially if you saw it on TV. That is, until the next new toy came out that was even cooler than the last. Well, that’s how I was with games. Own 30, beaten 5.

Anyways, one series of games that I made sure to play to the best of my childhood ability was Mortal Kombat. I owned so many of those titles, and I don’t even remember why I did. Something about the brutal fighting of the characters and the somewhat consistent story kept me going. As I grew older, and my gaming tastes matured, I grew out of love with the combat franchise. However, I was watching the Legacy series on YouTube earlier today, and it got me thinking about my days with Liu Kang and Sub Zero. I wondered to myself, “Is Mortal Kombat on its deathbed?”

For me, it all started with the OG, the first title, created with somewhat live-action characters on a basic background. I recognize that Street Fighter came first in the fighting game genre, but Mortal Kombat was a new breed. Lots of blood, fatalities, and fast combos gave new life to the fighting game, and I loved every second of it. I’m pretty sure I beat the first one, and maybe the second one two. I remember the games becoming increasingly more difficult with each new iteration. MK3 was the title that brought in the insane combos and eclectic finishers. (Babality? And don’t forget animalities.) It was here that I started dialing back a little on my interest into Midway’s golden child.

Then came the movies. Man, I remember being so excited to see the first Mortal Kombat film. I must have seen it about 10 times at least. The sequel kind of kept my interest, though I have this issue with sequels not retaining hardly any of the cast from the previous film. But, I let that slide and watched a live-action attempt at Liu Kang becoming a dragon and Johnny Cage dying in the first 3 minutes. I should mention at this point that I watched the original film a few months ago. Hated it. About as much as I hate the George Clooney Batman film, and that’s saying something. However, I can’t completely knock the films now, seeing as how they were so much fun for me to experience as a child.

Once I got my Playstation, my interest was rejuvenated in one of my first games I ever owned: Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub Zero. If you never heard of this game, it’s not surprising. It wasn’t exactly well-known when I was a kid. But basically, it’s a 2D side scrolling game about Sub Zero’s journey into the original MK tournament. It was pretty cool too. You leveled up, got better special attacks, and the cinemas were acted about by live actors instead of animation. This was around the same time that Mortal Kombat 4 was released, so Mythologies contained some of those characters too. I loved it.

After all that, I feel like the series just fell out of touch with me. I know that there were many other titles made after that, but I just lost interest. There wasn’t enough to keep me interested. Now, this isn’t just reserved for Mortal Kombat. I generally lose interest in all fighting games after a short while, unless they have ways to keep me vested. MK just seemed to kinda fade away in the tide of new and exciting games. I do know that I can definitely find these games on the PSN, but I wonder if they would have the same feeling of brutal combat or if I would just be hit with a brief feeling of nostalgia and nothing more.

This is one reason why I’m excited to play Injustice: Gods Among Us. I’ve done a little of the Vs. mode and seen more gameplay on it, but I haven’t had a chance to do any story mode with it, though I’m definitely doing so next week. Made by the team behind Mortal Kombat, Injustice seems to have that hard-hitting combat and atmosphere that I wanted all along in a bloody fighting game. And who knows, maybe I’ll finally master a finishing move without looking like an idiot jumping all over the place and randomly punching the air as I did so frequently in older MK games.

By the way: make sure you check out the Mortal Kombat: Legacy videos on YouTube if you haven’t already. They are an amazing imagining of how the universe of these games should have been.

Also, if you want an entertaining mod watch of Street Fighter vs. Mortal Kombat, watch this.

Play Smart: Unhealthy Competition

A post about the state of competitive gameplay and how rough it gets.

5 Things I Look For in a Game by Marcus Brown

The thing about the video game industry is that, like movies, there are many different types to choose from. With the industry being close to the $11 billion range*, many different companies have found their niche in in creating games of certain genres for players. Take EA Sports, the athletic division of EA Games. They have released a new sports game for football, soccer, basketball and other sports almost every year like clockwork. They have to; their consumer demands it. Another company, Ubisoft, has pooled many offices together to be able to release a new Assassin’s Creed game every year. These companies know what their customer wants and continue to provide.

The joy of battle

Where Did That Adventure Run Off To?

When I was a kid, I had two different types of video game experiences: the console games I had in my room, and the games that I shared with my mother on the old IBM we had in the study. Everything that I played on the computer was a whole new breed from what was controlled on a D-pad and geometrically-signed buttons. We played adventures on it; moving tales that brought you the story at your pace and made your mind work. I suppose my question to the world now is, Where have these games gone?

Playing Smart: Are You A Gamer?

Wanted to post a little discussion starter on the idea of what a gamer really is

Indie Games: The Unsung Heroes of Console Options by Marcus Brown

What’s the last game you played that didn’t come from a disc or online version of a disc game? For some, that’s an easy question to others. But, if you’re like me, then you may have to think for a bit. It’s very easy to get caught up in the AAA games that headline review and news websites. However, sometimes a player needs to take a step back, or rather deeper, into the network marketplaces of their consoles to find some real treasures of games.

Gaming Gossip 10/7/13

Latest news in the gaming world.

Be sure to follow the on screen link or the one posted below to help me out with Extra Life, if you can!!!

Would The Last of Us Really Be The End of Us?

by Marcus Brown

Human civilization is characterized by order. We wake up each day assuming that life will act more or less like it did yesterday. So, when something crazy happens, it throws us out of sync, and we react in such extreme ways, whether we act out or we shut down. Take a second to stop reading and and think about how you would react to any kind of major change in your life, if you haven’t already experienced something similar already. Imagine what you would do then, if this certain event happened to everyone at the same time. Do you think society would find a way to exist, or is it really every man for themselves? You may think you know the answer to this, but perhaps an in-depth thought process on the matter would surprise you.

A Thinker’s Guide to Metal Gear: Part 7-Peace by Force

by Marcus Brown

Title screen

Theodore Roosevelt coined the phrase “Walk softly, carry a big stick.” A small phrase with large implications. In a way, this is a statement about deterrence. In a more modern sense, deterrence against warfare is paired with nuclear weapons. Mutually assured destruction was one of the main forms of keeping the world from destroying each other. Hideo Kojima uses this theme of peace by force in his most recent iteration of the Metal Gear series, Peace Walker.

Peace Walker was released in 2010 on the Playstation Portable and later on the PS3 for the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection. While matching some aspects of the previous PSP title Portable Ops, this game added a whole new element to the mix. The game was no longer about straight espionage and accomplishing missions single-handedly, but rather about

Gameplay

creating the Outer Heaven that Big Boss is destined to run. Players can recruit enemy soldiers and volunteers to grow their teams and base. The bigger the base, the more weapons and items the players is capable of making, as well as a strong base for sending soldiers out. This game has a strong RPG element to it which makes for an interesting play. Read up on the story of the game here.

This game focuses heavily on two major plot points: what some people believe it takes to create true peace in the world, and Naked Snake’s continued journey to understand the motives of his mentor, the Boss.

First, the climate and setting of Peace Walker set the perfect stage for the discussion of peace. The Cold War is trailing to an end, but enemy forces in the game are still trying to drag it on longer. In order to create a worldwide peace, the antagonists in this game are trying to create the biggest stick to fight with. What’s worse is that the deterrent, a prototype form of Metal Gear, is supposed to be a defense that’s completely run by an artificial intelligence, thereby taking out the human decision in deciding whether or not to retaliate. The idea of MAD, or mutually assured destruction, relies on the idea that fear of being destroyed by a retaliatory strike is what keeps the world from creating a nuclear winter. However, an unmanned nuclear tank that will automatically strike back at any oppressor does two things: it removes the possibility of someone going back on their word of striking back, and it completely solidifies MAD even more. Peace through incredible fear and strength is a certain type of peace; one that may not necessarily be the best.

Besides having to deal with potential nuclear destruction, Big Boss has to try and sort out why someone he knew almost all his life would betray him and everything she used to believe in. Big Boss struggles deep down with trying to figure out the Boss would defect to the Soviet Union and do a mission that requires her death. It isn’t until the very end that he begins to learn a whole new side to the Boss. In this, the player finally sees the transformation from Snake to Big Boss, though the perspective of the player concerning Big Boss’ choices may have changed since first fighting him in Metal Gear.

Peace Walker is a whole different type of game compared to the other titles in the saga. Though the game is on a portable device, a fact that sometimes make other portable titles unimportant to console gamers, it is still a very important game to play, especially with the next numbered title, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, is coming within a year. Make sure you check out this game on the Metal Gear Solid Legacy Collection and the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection.

Source used:
http://metalgear.wikia.com/wiki/Metal_Gear_Solid:_Peace_Walker

 

Help Me Play For the Kids!!

Hey everyone. This video is my sort of commercial to explain the charity event I’m doing for Children’s Miracle Network, known as Extra Life. I hope you’ll watch this video and help me out if you can!!

Listed below is the link to my fundraising page. Please help me!!

http://bit.ly/17qudwp