Bayonetta 2

Played through the second game as well at it was pretty much the same as the first game. Still fun and quirky. Some improvements is that even though if you play on the easiest difficulty you still have control over the combos compared to the first one were it was automatic. How else are you gonna learn if the games does it for you? Other than that there isn't really much to say. Same characters plus some new ones, same voice actors and eerily similar story events. Takes place a couple of months after the first game and it's Christmas... which really has no impact since we are taken to some place in northern China with a holy mountain... but all the characters name is based on Norse mythology, like Aesir and Loki. Ok, so it doesn't make much sense, but it gets weirder. And this is gonna be *SPOILERS*... for both games I think.

So the basic is that the god of Chaos gave the humans free will, but in turn was divided into a good and a evil half who fights for control of the Eyes of the World. The Left Eye is currently with Bayonetta and the Right Eye was... I guess destroyed when we killed Balder in the last game (Balder being Bayonetta's father and a Lumen Sage). This caused Aesir to wake up and start his plan so you get that. Really, Bayonetta just gets wrapped up in this since her original goal was to find Jeanne in Hell since her soul was taken their after taking a blow for Bayonetta. So then the ending. Aesir deceived a time traveling Balder to get revenge for Bayonetta's mother, but are talked into helping Bayonetta. In order to defeat Aesir Balder traps Aesir soul within him and are brought back to his own time... where he start the path that lead him down to the end of Bayonetta 1? Which caused the events of Bayonetta 2? Damn time travel paradoxes, it doesn't make any sense. Or is it setting up a third game? Well, I've seen that it didn't do that well, but it didn't flop.

Forgot to mention last time another reason I bought this game was due to it being produced by the same company behind The Wonderful 101, which I loved. And I gotta say, they have much in common with layout of stages and how they shift the gameplay chapter after chapter. You fly a jet in one chapter and ride a exoskeleton suit in another between the normal enemy bashing chapters.

Super Smash Bros for 3DS

I wasn't gonna write about this game until I got all the characters and their trophies in the single player modes, but after a while I realized I would have to play a lot more than I can stomach. Really, I've felt burnt out by the series since Brawl. Could be that I more or less played through Brawl twice, once at my family version and then on my own (had I copied over the save I might not have this feeling). Really, Melee was probably more fun to play with since it actually was me and my three sisters playing it and therefore we weren't burned out getting characters as Ganondorf and such who needed several hundreds of melee battles. Cause really, there is nothing wrong with the game. It's fun and works mostly the same and have the same modes and even some new ones that have my interest... but I don't feel like play it that much and when I do, maybe 30 minutes at the most. Maybe the small screen tires me out.

And really, this is an appetizer for the Wii U version that comes out at the end of November. Hopefully the data I accumulate here can be transferred to the Wii U and unlock things so I don't have to put another 40 hours into basically the same game to gain the same characters. If it isn't I get the feeling that this series will loose me. Another reason I might not like playing it that much is all the talk about playing to hard might break the control stick, which at the moment I don't have the spare cash to replace... or at least wait until the New 3DS comes to Europe. And thirdly... so many other games that doesn't feel like a chore to play through.

Bayonetta

Another game I wasn't gonna buy. I'm not much for action button masher combos... since I'm so bad at them. But for some reason I decided to download the demo for the second game and test it out... and I didn't hate it, find the visuals interesting and since I got a notion that these games were gonna be the hardest to find physical copies for so I  bought them. And boy what a ride for the first game. The story, that everyone else seems to have problems with, I found rather interesting. I wanted to know more. Yes, it was incoherent, but if you have a 500+ year old witch who lost her memory, was trapped in a casket under a lake and only awakened 20 years ago, there's gonna be holes to fill. Of course time travel really messes with time perspective, but it made sense in the end... mostly. Why she becomes the left eye as she took the little girl back to her time I don't quite get. Maybe I was so distracted by.... uh... the fan-service. Well... I mean, who doesn't like women with glasses, long, dark hair and dressed in a skin-tight suit... made out of her hair... which goes away while fighting... No I should probably stop here before I dig my grave all to deep.

Really, it's just something fun about it being released on a Nintendo console with the amount of swearing, gore and sexual... well, it's not subtle. Hell, first scene is someone urinating on a tombstone with the directors name on it, Bayonetta dressed as a nun... and losing her clothes as well. Glad for the the off-TV play so no one else sees me play it.

Shovel Knight

 

I wasn't gonna buy this game when I first heard of it. Looked fine, but I'm not that good at platforms so I shoved it aside. That was until the reviews came from America. It intrigued me, the music enchanted me and suddenly I craved it so I awaited the release... and waited... and waited... 3-4 months later we finally got it in Europe. About time. And I had fun while playing it. The music was pumping, the levels challenging in a fair way... most of the time, the damn airship level can crash and burn for all I care. The story then. You are Shovel Knight, adventure extraordinaire who lost your best friend Shield Knight years ago and constantly have nightmares as she plunges toward the earth and you desperately try to catch her. You fight the Order of No Quarters to reach the Tower of Fate and confront the Enchantress who *SPOILERS* is Shield Knight, really as soon I saw the intro I knew she was it *END SPOILERS*. Awesome final battle and an emotional roller coaster for the good. 

The only bad thing I can think of is it's to short. Apparently they are gonna prolong it in the future with DLC. Hopefully we don't have to wait 3-4 months after America. Fun thing is that after playing the classic Mega Man Games I constantly tried to save state, but at the last second I remember that there ain't no such function here. I really am caught in the save state sickness, but I will not give that up due to be still quite bad at such games. What makes me not care that much in this game is the save mechanic with save points that you can destroy for easy money if you are good enough, but are forced to the beginning if you die. Also unlimited lives. In Mega man tough luck if your ammo goes out cause then the only way is to restart the level by dying all spare lives. Also, nearly no cheap deaths which make it, as I stated, more fair and therefore less frustrating.

Face To Face

So I finally got the season 2 of Mysterious Cities of Gold on DVD, English that is so I have to get used to the new voices again. I only watched the last DVD so I throw myself right into it and the only voice that is problematic for me is Esteban's, as someone put it, sounds more like a women than a boy. Well, did I miss anything by watching it in French? First of that the people in the Himalayan village is of on a pilgrimage, the kids are afraid of Ambrosius since red hair is the sign of a demon (FORESHADOWING), the Olmecian map showed the location of three cities of gold pointing us to Japan, the monks prophecy told us about someone betraying the kids at the mountain, the holograms was of the elders of Mu and Atlantis and awakening all cities of gold would restore all of them... somehow and finally the reason Mendoza stole the Pyramid of Mu was so that Esteban's father could find a cure for his radioactive poisoning from the solar reactor. Small details I missed the first time was that Ambrosius seemed to have swallowed some Orichalcum when escaping the city of gold explaining his coughing and such.

So the final episode? The kids reunite with Ambrosius at the village together with the monk and dog while Mendoza and his companions are walking the outskirts. Mendoza pulls Esteban out from the crowds and tell him about his father and how he have arranged a meeting. Ambrosius overhears and heads for his balloon while the monk follows him, distrusting him since he tried to kill him. They have a fight while Ambrosius is in his exoskeleton and the monk has the upper hand until Ambrosius flings a cocktail of sleep gas or such at him and then throws him out, flying of to spring his evil plan. The others reunite over a waterfall as Esteban's father appear on the Olmecian flying machine that he repaired himself. Tearful reunion ensues, although some of the dialog didn't make any sense. Esteban's father ask if it's true that he can summon the sun? Well, yes, you asked him to do the very same thing to activate the first city of gold? What is this, some bad translation? Anyway, Zares/Ambrosius appears, crash the party, kidnaps Esteban's father and forces our heroes to go to Japan. Said and done, the next day the team together with Ambrosius fly away with the monk stumbling around the forest seeing them, saying that he has done what he can (really? You are just gonna leave them to this maniac?) and then we flash towards Ambrosius airship and his secret compartment where Esteban's father is trapped in some healing chamber (since he is sick), banging on the glass while end credits follow. Cliffhanger... YAY!!!

Overall... decent. It at least capture some parts of the original and the story isn't that bad. The decision to introduce a season spanning villain as Zares is rather good, compared to the first season when it mixes between Spaniards, different native American tribes and then finishing with the Olmecs who becomes enemy mine for most time. He's also rather evil as well and ruthless. He was probably made to match the magnificent bastard that is Mendoza. Animation is better than the original, but I still think it looks wonky at times. The music isn't any surprise was better and more prominent in the original, but when they at least try it comes close to the feel of the original. Now I have to wait until next season comes out... 2015 or 2016 I believe. Will they find out about the treacherous Ambrosius? Actually, everything points towards him, but they still don't get it so they seemed a bit more stupid this time around. Betrayal near the mountain, he even confesses he threw the light that blew the monk down the mountain and they still don't get it, but will he be the final antagonist of the series? At the moment all he does is working for Charles the fifth so no. He's just a more competent Gomez from season 1 (or is he a more prominent Pizaro?). He need some devious goals to pull that of, otherwise I might suspect a resurrection of the Olmecs since they were hinted here and they might have tried finding the other cities. Also, with the revelation of all cities connected, what would awakening all of them mean? Being inspired by Japanese anime I would suspect that either the seventh city is either in space or launching all seven will call down an eight city from space that either will trigger the destruction of earth or that Ambrosius or the Olmecs will cause it to react that way. It's an animated cartoon after all. We just have to wait and see.

Mega Man Classic

 

So I've been playing the original mega man games on my Wii U and 3DS and maybe you want my thoughts on them. First off, I'm not good at these kind of games so I'm using the save state a lot... and I mean A LOT! Secondly, I've only played Mega Man 3 as a kid so there is hardly any nostalgia over this, so my favorites are not gonna be everyone's favorites. First game, many say it's the hardest. I would agree if I wasn't able to pull of the select button glitch (meaning pausing the game while firing the electric weapon causing much more damage than thought out, works well against the Yellow Devil). 

 

The second game, by many seen as the best of them all. Good music. Really, it's not much else to say about them. Same story, Dr Wily causing trouble so Dr Light (Right) sends out Mega Man to stop him. Really, I wouldn't say it is the best, mostly due to Quick Man's stage that feels like cheating with the insta-death beams.

 The third game, and to me the best of the bunch. Awesome intro and stage music and Rush. I don't know if it's due to me playing a lot more than the others, but it also feels like the easiest of the games and more enjoyable. Story is that Dr Wily has reformed so he and Dr Light creates Gamma to keep the peace, but they need some ores from different planets and the mining robots goes hay-wire so Mega Man is sent out to get the ore. Of course Dr Wily is behind it and you have to fight Gamma to get him.

Forth game. Some Dr Cossack attacks the world and Mega Man must stop him. Turns out he was black mailed by Dr Wily who kidnapped his daughter. First time playing I found it boring and hard. Maybe due to being fed up on Mega Man, but a second play through made it rather fun. Decent game that is.

Fifth game. Hardest game, damn robots have punishing patterns that makes it nearly impossible to avoid damage. Most hated are gravity and charge man. Story is that Proto Man has turned evil and caused havoc on the world and only Mega Man can stop him... turns out Dr Wiley used a fake Proto Man. Gotta say that the cut scenes are pretty nice.

Sixth game and never originally released in Europe. Some Mr X is having a tournament for robots and the eight winners starts attacking people so Mega Man must stop them. Turns out Mr X really was Dr Wily. Who knew. Some music tracks are really nice and the rush suits (or adapters) are really fun actually. Also introduced the thing that evenly spreads the energy to your weapons without having to change weapon all the time. Best mechanic ever.

Overall they are fun short distractions with often good music. Favorite one 3 due probably to nostalgia, but probably also due being the one that feels most thought out of the old ones. You have three different forms of Rush, you have the slide and the best stage music in Top, Spark, Snake and Hard Man. Magnet and Shadow Man are OK, but nothing special. After that it would be 4, 2, 6 and 1/5 sharing last place. Why 4 over 2? Slide and charge shot. Really, I'm so used to the slide it's aggravating playing the first two games.