Monday Impressions: Video Game Reboots Trending...

Do you feel it? The sudden shift of reboots being released and announced more frequently? Believe it or not, this is a good thing. Just like other entertainment media such as music and movies, this is inevitable, and some franchise or series must be repackaged for the current generation. Some are turned out really bad, but the recent ones show way more promise than their originals. This is a risk worth investing now. We are slowly moving to the next generation, and more reboots will actually help the industry in the long run...will it?

it's good to see reboots happen now in this industry. If you talked reboots 10 years ago, everybody would laugh at the idea since it seemed a bit early. Now, it's about right. We have crazy famous titles going past the number 5 mark already, and we have titles that come out yearly now like Assassin's Creed or Call of Duty. It's not a long wait anymore for the next release of your favorite title. It's a different time, and some games actually fall behind because publishers consider it a risk to release a new one, because again, its a different time. That's why reboots are now essential to bring great franchises back into the spotlight, with a fresh new coat of paint of course.

For the past 6 months, we get the taste of how effective reboots are right now. One example - XCOM, a game completely out of many gamer's comfort zone caught them by surprise how a turn-based strategy that punishes you with a single mistake could be fun. The 1994 original was a cult hit and I consider the old XCOM: Enemy Unknown to be one of the founding fathers of great turn-based strategy games. Thanks to efforts at Firaxis, a franchise was reborn.

But not all reboots are performed well. You wish for an example you say? Syndicate is the one game that only comes into mind. If you want to reboot something, the worst thing you can do, in my book, is change how it's played completely. The original Syndicate was  actually a Real Time Strategy game, but thanks to EA being...EA, it converted a beloved title in the most generic form of gaming today, an FPS shooter. Was it a forgettable experience? Yea. sadly, it was. It had great potential, but it was poorly executed, and the push to convert it to FPS was the worst idea I've heard. What's the point of rebooting if you won't stay true to the original? Yes?

Reboots can be tricky, especially with a strong fan base. Let's put Tomb Raider at the spotlight shall we? Tomb Raider, which was released just last month got a lot of praise, but prior to the release of the game, everybody was nervous on how they would react to the final product. Even the developers were anxious to see if their years of commitment didn't just destroy the most iconic female protagonist in gaming history. It was bold of them to take a project like this, and the end result is quite impressive(working on the review right now, just bearing the MP). One way to notice if a reboot has succeeded is not by the sales, but if both the old and new fans are happy with the new version of the game, and Crystal Dynamics I believe hit that.

Tomb Raider is actually the best example of how a reboot should be. Mostly familiar, but updated in terms of mechanics and visual appearance. The classic Tomb Raider games were great in its time, but were restricted in really bring that Indiana Jones adventure. Now, rebooting the series since it's now possible just makes a lot of sense, and making an orgins story made it much sweeter. Thanks to Uncharted showing us that third person adventures can be just as big as a hollywood movie, their timing in bringing back Lara Croft was perfect. Of course, we all know Tomb Raider was actually the original Uncharted and that the Uncharted series was inspired by it, so it's kind of fitting for Lara to go through all those hollywood-like action scenes. Even though she was way more punished compared to Nathan Drake.

Another great reboot that showed up recently is the reboot to Devil May Cry called DmC" Devil May Cry(still have no idea why its called that). It got a bit of heat because of Ninja Theory's and Capcom's decision to make Dante more... emo.. But if you shake off the new look and just play the game, you'll quickly notice everything that makes Devil May Cry is intact. A bit more simplified, but definitely still fun to great to experiment different combos with Dante's arsenal. thanks to the whole look, I think I can say they created a divide, with people preferring the old to the new, which is not the best position Capcom was hoping for sure. Regardless, at least gameplay isn't messed.

Reboots are trending from the looks of things, and we will see more of them. If they do, they came at the right time since it's the right time for some franchises to get the recycle treatment. You shouldn't consider reboots a sign of the industry running out of idea, but consider it as keeping iconic franchises alive and providing different variations for the old and current generation. All forms of media do it, and the fact that we see more in video games means that the industry is moving forward. There's still a lot of series' that deserve a reboot, and I'm pretty excited what shows up in the future. Will this trend turn out good in the long run? Well, anything can happen but its off to a good start.

Since were talking reboots, got anything in mind?

Monday Impressions: DmC Devil May Cry

Now we've all heard about how this isn't a true Devil May Cry game or how Capcom made a mistake of outsourcing the development to Ninja Theory and how the new Dante looks like an emo mess. But answer me this, can you truly say that you agree with those statements? Is a game more about cosmetics than substance?

Developer: Ninja Theory Publisher: Capcom Release Date: January 15, 2013

This new iteration of Devil May Cry is a full on reboot of the series. Be that as it may, not a whole lot has changed. Dante may not be 80's pizza eating Ninja Turtles cool but is still the type of demon slaying badass as he was only a bit younger. He may have an emo look but Ninja Theory's portrayal of the new Dante is far from it. He's more of a bad mouthed angsty teen with a heart of gold.

The game runs on the Unreal Engine which still runs the curse of texture popping and frame drops. Still, the game looks great. The real world looks dull and grey as it should be since man-kind has been dumbed down by the bad guys while Limbo looks like a twisted version of it. Parts of buildings and roads burst out, floating in mid-air. Unknown black smudges that sometimes try to claw at you creep on the sides and corners of everything. I'd say Ninja Theory pulled off the exact kind of hell-on-Earth look that they were going for. Color tones are clear and prominent in every level. The real world is usually a dark grey and sometimes blue while Limbo is the exact opposite with bright vibrant colors.

What really hooked me on to this game was the combat. I love me some action games and I'm usually a fan of making your own combos. The older DMC games tickled my fancy and Bayonetta's combat system is one of the reasons why I love that game. The combat system in this new game is actually easier than previous DMCs. You can literally combo anything into anything. A one button launch is always ok in my book and switching between weapons are done by simple holding either the L2/LT or R2/RT buttons. Once you get newer weapons, you can switch to them on the fly via the D-pad. What I don't like about the combat is a lack of a controllable lock-on mechanic. You could me hitting one enemy but end up yanking or latching onto the wrong one mid battle which could mess up your style rank if you're going for that kind of stuff.

While all this talk about stylish combat is done against the regular goons, boss fights are another story. Boss fights are more about the visual aspect rather than combat finesse. Find the pattern, do damage, rinse and repeat. They do look hella fancy though and I'm sure some of them offer a better challenge on the higher difficulties.

Is it worth a try?

I have to admit, I wasn't negative about the visual changes that they made but I was still a bit skeptical about the gameplay itself as I was worried that it might fall to the modern game curse that it's all flash and no fun. After getting a taste of the combat when I tried the public demo, it convinced me that DmC Devil May Cry was going to be my first game purchase of 2013. I even ended up pre-ordering the game even though I wasn't really sold on the DLC bonuses that came with it. Though I have to say that I am diggin' the look of the Osiris bone skin and I do appreciate the orb magnet and the three free upgrade points.

I'll do a full playthrough of DmC Devil May Cry on a harder difficulty once I beat the game for the first time so that I have all the weapons and powers-ups. Had issues when I tried to upload videos of it the first time around, hopefully my second attempt will push through.

Recent Buys: Episode 18 - Pre-Ordered DmC

From the title, you obviously know what the meat and bones of this post is. I pre-ordered DmC: Devil May Cry from Datablitz. As simple as that may sound, there is a little story and reasoning behind it.

Here are the bonuses that come with DmC: Devil May Cry if you chose to pre-order it at Datablitz:

Pre-order bonuses include the following: Limited edition DMC shirt *Cellphone case (Iphone 5, Galaxy S3, or Galaxy Note II) 3 DLCs (Gold, Bone, and Samurai packs) Poster (while supplies last)

*Limited stocks for each case*

So I pre-ordered DmC at Datablitz. But, I pre-ordered the game on the last day of the pre-order which was 1/15/2013, a day before the shipment of DmC arrives. I wasn't really impressed with what the pre-order had to offer. Three forgettable DLCs, a thin white shirt with a nastily done print, a phone case for a phone that I don't even have, and a poster with the words "while supplies last" on the Datablitz Facebook post.

I do enjoy videogame posters so that motivated me to get the game on release. As for the phone case, I picked the Samsung Galaxy S3 case because I thought it had the best design out of all of them, plus it's also a phone that I secretly desire. But I don't own the said phone, I might sell it. Any buyers? The DLC, I redeemed it but I don't think I'll use them.

Here's the final product for this Recent Buys post, I got a crystal case for my PSP-3000. Just a little thing that I found in Japan Home Centre. It doesn't fit perfectly with the PSP but it does it's job. It also has a little stand behind the disc tray cover so that's cool.

Out this week: DmC, Borderlands 2: Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt

This week marks the start of the New Year for gaming. First big title to be released is Ninja Theory's DmC. Also, if you need one more reason to revisit Pandora, the next DLC for Borderlands 2 is set to be released this week.

DmC: Devil May Cry

DmC is set in a parallel universe in the Devil May Cry series, but in short, this is a reboot. A reboot with a new look for Dante but with the good old gameplay seen in previous titles. The hack and slash beat 'em up is out on January 15 for NA, and january 17 for Japan, but for us? We get it on Wednesday. Datablitz announced via their Facebook page that DmC will be available on January 16.

Pre-ordering the game through Datablitz is still available, but the offer only lasts until the 15th. If you pre-order, you get a Dante shirt, a cellphone case for your iPhone, Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note II (What?), and three DLC packs.

These DLC packs are the Bone Pack, Gold Pack, and Samurai Pack:

The Samurai Pack gives a new samurai weapon skin for Dante's axe, scythe , and shotgun. You even get additional orbs to use at the start of the game to upgrade or purchase items or skills.

The Bone pack is another skin set that transforms Dante's weapons in crafted bone weapons. You also get an Orb Harvester character ability that allows the player to gather orbs faster.

Last but not least, the gold pack. It gives yet another skin that turns Dante's axe, scythe, and shotgun into gold. You will also earn the item finder character perk that assists players in finding hidden items.

Datablitz has not given the price for DmC, but they did give a price range from P1,900 - P2100. The game will be released on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 (region-free), with the PC version to be released on a later date.

Borderlands 2: Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt

The third DLC for Borderlands 2 is Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt. This is a campaign add-on which Gearbox highly suggest players to tackle once they finished the game or hit level 30. Included in the DLC will be new missions, new zone, new skins, new enemies, and of course more loot. It will cost you $9.99/ 800 MS points, or free if you purchased the season pass. It will be available for download on January 15.

Oh, and just in case you missed it...

Anarchy Reigns

The online multiplayer beat 'em up is now available in the Philippines. The game is priced at P1,395 for both PS3 and Xbox360 at Datablitz. Thanks to this game coming out in Japan months ago, we have quite a cheap game that's considered "new" to most gamers.

If you want to see what else is coming in the coming weeks, check out our Q1 2013 post that lists all the big titles coming in the first three months of the year.

Recent Buys: Episode 16 - Adam Park is Everywhere

Johnny Yong Bosch (who plays Adam Park, the black power ranger), aside from fighting evil with his Mighty Morphin powers is also an established voice actor and does voices in a lot of shows, movies and video games.

Why am I telling you this? Because he did the motion capture and voice acting of one of the main characters in the new (old) video game that I just bought. That game is Devil May Cry 4. An unplanned purchase to be sure since I initially went to Datablitz to get a $20 PSN card. "For what?" you say? I don't know either. So that didn't happen as I came across a copy of Sonic Generations that went for 750php. While looking through the game racks some more, I found a copy of Devil May Cry 4 which is apparently part of the "PlayStation 3 the Best" series. I thought that was already the purpose of their "Platinum: The Best of Playstation 3" series, oh well.

I chose to get this over Sonic Generations because I did just try out the demo of the upcoming DmC game with "new" Dante and liked it. I've also heard a lot of good things about DMC4 which I did try to play on PC before but for it to run smoothy, I had to bring the settings all the way down to ridiculously low levels. I popped in the game just to try things out and didn't notice that an hour had already passed. You might think that an hour of straight gaming is nothing to write home about but because of a little experiment that I'm doing, I time my gameplay sessions and I usually only get around to 30 mins before stopping and doing whatever it is that I have to do that makes me stop playing. I don't think I've had a really long game session since college so obviously, me hitting an hour of straight gameplay easy is something.

I'm thinking of recording my playthrough of DMC4 but I think I should go and finish the other games that I started like Hitman: Absolution. Oh, and if you didn't notice, Datablitz is using Christmas themed giftbags when you buy stuff from them now which are pretty cool. They even have a tag on em. So if you're planning to give a game to someone this holiday season, you don't need to wrap it.