A New Tomb Raider Tomb Raider was, by a large margin, the game I was most looking forward to this year. So, of course, I expected the series reboot to be terrible. That’s just how it works with me; if … Continue reading Review from a Gaming Expert: Tomb Raider
Devil May Cry is the best game of 2012. I realize that it’s 2013 now, and that acknowledgement doesn’t really mean anything. But it does. Out of all the games released last year, Capcom’s reimagining of their over-the-top action franchise … Continue reading Review From a Gaming Expert – DmC: Devil May Cry (5)
Today’s review: New York Post columnist Linda Stasi’s review of Lena Dunham’s hit HBO series “Girls”! Continue reading NEW YORK POST “GIRLS SEASON 2” REVIEW: Reviewed by Ebert & Armond
The Persona 4 anime’s greatest achievement is how it manages to be the same as the game while still bringing something new to the table. I know, I’m a little bit behind the times right now. Some folks watched this … Continue reading Review: Persona 4 The Animation
There’s a decent chance that Super Mario Kart is the game I’ve played most my entire life. It sounds a little strange to put it that way, but it’s true. When my dad bought me a Super Nintendo, the first … Continue reading Music to My Ears: Super Mario Kart
Lost Odyssey was one of those games that kinda flew under the radar. Even though it was released at a time when the 360 and PS3 were still relatively new and lacking in the RPG department, I’m not sure it got the attention it deserved.
LO was a solid, if unspectacular, game. It featured an engaging turn-based battle system with timed attacks to help keep the player engaged. The skill learning techniques were fun, but it also limited your party — when your immortal members could learn so many skills and your mortal folks were stuck with just two or three from equipment, it wasn’t a tough choice picking who to bring along. The story was decent, but where the game really excelled was in its side storytelling: a series of vignettes called “A Thousand Years of Dreams” that chronicled Kaim’s heartbreaking immortal existence.
Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi was the driving force behind Lost Odyssey, and in putting together the soundtrack for the game, he brought along a familiar face: Nobuo Uematsu. Uematsu, of course, was the mastermind behind every Final Fantasy OST through X, 
and he’s contributed a handful of other tracks to the series since then. More importantly, Uematsu is one of the best composers in video game history, and arguably the most recognizable.
Uematsu’s music in LO represented something of a change of pace. Limited by the technology of 8- and 16-bit video game systems, his earlier productions were much more based on melodies and ambiance, milking every last note he could out of bleeps and bloops. Fast forward 20 years, and Uematsu found himself with a full orchestra and advanced synthesizers to work with. The result is a strange hybrid of symphonic and progressive rock tracks with some piano and techno thrown in for good measure.
All of that added up to a 56-track, two-disc compilation featuring what might be Uematsu’s best work, even if it didn’t get the attention or accolades that many soundtracks from Final Fantasy did (and don’t worry, this feature will get to those eventually).
As usual with MtME, let’s take a look at five of my favorite tracks with commentary on each. Continue reading “Music to My Ears: Lost Odyssey”
NOTE: “Music to My Ears” is a recurring installment based on Chris’s (not so) secret obsession: the music of video games. His Tales of Graces review will be up next week.
In my review for Street Fighter x Tekken, I mentioned how Street Fighter II was one of the big introductions to the world of video game music for me. Ryu’s stage music in particular was one of the driving forces in doing things like getting homework done. And since computers were not a mainstream thing when I was 8 (not to mention mp3 players, iTunes and YouTube), the only way to listen to it was to toss in the cartridge, head to the Sound Test menu and let it rip.
Those foundations laid the groundwork for other tunes that I loved as a kid, like the Castle theme from Super Mario World or Mute City from F-Zero. But the next big landmark was in high school, when I finally got to play what some would call the best RPG of all-time. Continue reading “Music to My Ears: Chrono Trigger”
On November 13, the strangely titled Super Mario 3D Land comes out on the Nintendo 3DS.
In case you needed a refresher on the realm of insanity that is the Mario series, I’ve compiled an A-Z guide covering everything on the mustachioed Olympian kart racing partying doctor plumber.
First introduced in Super Mario Bros. 3, the airships replaced the castles of the original Mario game with floating fortresses filled to the brim with death. Cannon balls, wrenches, and every other painful object you could think of fly through the air as the screen slowly scrolls over, forcing gamers to constantly stay on their toes. At the end, Mario faces off with one of Bowser’s children before falling a thousand feet to safety. Continue reading “An A to Z guide to Mario”
My love-hate relationship with the “Tales of” video game series goes back almost a decade now. Don’t get me wrong — there’s a lot more love than hate. But sometimes those emotions are two sides of the same coin, after all.
I was introduced to the series through a ROM of the Super Nintendo’s Tales of Phantasia back in high school. At the time, I was impressed by the idea of a fighting-game-like battle system in an RPG — it seemed like a nice change of pace from turn-based, menu-heavy systems.
That game was decent, but I wasn’t really a huge fan until the summer of 2004, when Tales of Symphonia hit the GameCube and redefined my view of the series and RPGs forever. Continue reading “Tales of Disappointment”
Gray Areas 