Gamer Interview- Chris Brittain

REVIEW ME: Chris Brittain

Question #1: When were you first introduced to games and what game was it?
Answer: I'd have to say the classic Super Mario Bros. I used to play it but I wasn't even that good. I didn't really have the awareness for the game play. I inherited the system after that.

Question #2: What's your fondest memory of gaming as a child or ever?
Answer: I don't know about one moment in specific in my life, but it's that moment in gaming when you finally figure something out by yourself or you realize how to complete a puzzle and then you do it. Like in Final Fantasy 3 when you realize you don't have to fight Phantom Train because you can just one shot him with a Phoenix Down. That's why I hate strategy guides because they just ruin moments like that for people.

Question #3: Would you consider gaming a hobby of yours, or more of a lifestyle?
Answer: It's becoming more popular and socially acceptable to make it a lifestyle to be a video game player. If not I'd say it's one of my core hobbies. You're drawing a fine line here when you say lifestyle choice though. You can't say it's an addiction, that's a cop out because it's not affecting my life detrimentally but it's definitely a big part of my routine.

Question#4: Favorite thing about gaming right now?
Answer: My favorite thing in gaming is the excitement and intensity of competitive play. You can always tell the video game players who play casually in comparison to the people who play competitively by the way they react to a loss. When a competitive player loses he has a back up plan he has a way to adapt and make him or herself win the next round. A competitive player is flexible in what they do.

Question #5: Least favorite thing about gaming right now?
Answer: It's all about the players who play the top tier characters just to win. It's fun for nobody. They don't take any risks and that's lame. They just take the safe choice to secure a win. It takes the fun out of the game even from a spectator's position.

Question #6: Favorite genre of video game and why?
Answer: Its always been RPG's for me. I played Halo, what can I tell you about Master Chief? Nothing at all. After I played Chrono Trigger I could write a detailed report on each character and I still can. That's what I love. I love character development and there's no better genre for that than RPG's. I think in Super Mario RPG is when I started feeling bad for Bowser. It developed him and his story so much and it was only fully possible with the help of RPG story telling elements. I like characters I care about and I like a good villain. Some of my favorite would be Bowser, Kefka and Magus.

Question #7: What's your favorite RPG and why?
Answer: It's absolutely Chrono Trigger. I've thought about this thoroughly and it's hands down Chrono Trigger. For its time it was incredibly innovative and and progressive with things ranging from the battle system to its story line to its character development. There's like 13 or 14 different endings and the course of the game changes and the world changes depending on how you progress, that game came out over 10 years ago. That sort of game play is still being heavily implemented now, it's a staple now. Back then was completely unheard of. What else? The villain was incredible and I actually gave a shit about him and cared about his back story. I haven't had that to the same extent since. The music is more than just impressive and really everything about the game is incredibly solid.

I love fighting games because they make you play to your strengths and they challenge you to be the best and they drive you, but with RPG's you care about the actual game, the piece of work in front of you and not so much how well you do but how the characters you're playing as progress through their lives.

Question #8: Explain your love of and history for Super Smash Bros. Melee? How many hours have you put in?
Answer: They say to master anything you need 10,000 hours of practice. On my console alone I have 6,000 hours all together? Shit, I'd probably say abot 7,000 to 8,000 hours. I started playing Smash Bros. 64 in my buddies basement back in the day. It was Donkey Kong versus Pikachu and we played 99 stocks and saw who could do 99 back throws first. When it came to Melee my friend Angelo played the game to the fullest and immersed himself completely and he dragged me in with him. I got pretty serious with the game when I saw some technical players play and I honed my skills the best I could from videos on the internet and I played Luigi. Eventually, Angelo stopped playing and I took up the mantle of Captain Falcon. It wasn't until 2009 that I participated in my first tournament called "Show Me Your Moves" and I thought I had no chance. I played for a few rounds and I did well and then finally I came up against a player called "Nesn00b". I lost, but that was a good thing. It made me want to get that much better at the game and it really drove me further to become a solid player and from there I really did get much better and gained knowledge I wouldn't have if I continued to think I was the best because I beat this one random guy at this tournament. Because of that I realized how fast the game was, how I could best take advantage of certain situations and how I could ultimately become a better all around player. I took on more tournaments and started doing better. But before all of the tournaments there was Brawl.... which really made me appreciate how good and fleshed out Melee really is. Brawl has a skill cap in comparison to Melee. Players are more rewarded for playing defensively and safe than how good they actually are. I'm not saying there's no skill involved, but it's definitely toned down drastically. It was the sequel that no one liked.

Question #9: Explain the Smash community to me.
Answer: It's a huge group of people from all around the world that want to pick up the game. It's very popular among college kids or high school kids. Just people who have some extra time on their hands and want to pick up a pretty expansive game. I mean, there are some married people who play too and there are some girls who play, but usually they don't get quite as good. I don't mean to be sexist but generally they don't commit the time to their games like guys do. It could be a sex thing it could be how we're raised but for some reason you don't see many really good female players. Smashboards.com is the central hub for Smash Bros. because it shows beginners how the game works, it shows other players where tournaments are and it really just brings everyone who shows or has interest for the game together. I met so many people through this community.

Chris Brittain is a gamer who primarily spends his free time playing Super Smash Bros. Melee and Project Melee. He doesn't consider himself a pro although he does compete with the likes of some well known players such as Armada, Taj, Darkrain, Hax, Kage. Videos for all of these players can be found on youtube. Some of the people he has played in Melee are from Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, California, Texas, Nevada, Arizona, Sweden and Israel to name a few and remember this game has no online. He has played in many Midwest states in California and hopes to continue playing for years to come. If I could give any piece of advice to a person trying to become good at a game don't just become as good as you need to be be as good as you possibly can be. Also, if you want to win, by all means, play the top tier characters, but if you want to have fun stick with the character you love and deal with their flaws. It makes for a better understanding of the game and an all around more enjoyable experience for everybody.

Give me some videos that best sum you up:

Robo's Theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOWf_T0jdgQ
Kefka Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=395kZApqb_M

Chris vs. Armada: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nosNfmhljSQ
Chris vs. Taj: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0_FdNfdG3A
Chris vs. Ripple in Project M: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHhPy7EPEuM

Chrono Trigger vs. Magus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtC5RNaguzo

Captain Falcon guide by Scar: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=227344
Frame Data guid by Angelo Bangelo: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=222781

Hope you all enjoyed the interview. Until next time... SEICHUSAN GODANZUKI!

Borderlands 2 Preview- Why Fix it If It Ain't Broke?

After watching one of the many gameplay videos for Borderlands 2 I have come to the conclusion that this is going to be very similar to the first one. If you don't believe me see for yourself in this video. See? Told you, jackass. Now, the real question is and will always be whether or not this is a good thing. For the betterment of gaming, this is terrible, for fans of the series who wanted a straight up sequel... well let's just say there's a lot of people creamin' their pants right now.

The story revolves around something or whatever and the main character needs to kill bad people. Easy enough. I remember playing Borderlands and loving the gameplay, but by the end I wasn't really sure why I was so happy that I won. It was just... "Yay, I won.". That's ok, I loved the gameplay so it made up for it, but for people who disliked the first game because of the forgettable storyline you might want to steer clear of this one.

As far as the gameplay goes it looks like the face-shooting, leveling up goodness is all still intact. Players still have a skill tree they can put experience points into and gain new abilities as their character grows. Vehicles are still present in the game and now come equipped with four seats instead of the two from the first game. The last game had one billion ka-jillion different guns... THIS ONE HAS TWO BILLION KA-JILLION GUNS. My point is everything from the first game is still there and it's more fleshed out in most cases, but there aren't too many new gameplay mechanics I've seen besides having a trade menu instead of having to manually drop weapons and having your partner manually pick them up. Nice additions, but nothing tremendous. Also, graphics are pretty much the same. No upgrades really, but for a game like this who cares. It's not Final Fantasy or Halo where that shit's pretty much expected.

I'm most likely going to pick this game up. I have a friend who'll sit there and share the experience with so hell I could probably just wait for him to get it and write something based on that, but I'm not by any means expecting this game to blow me away and quite frankly I'll be surprised if it's much better than the first one, but hey, this industry is based around sticking to formulas that work so what's the point of even complaining about one that does that once? I also know a game like this will have plenty of DLC's, one of which will include an additional character, so I'm not worried about a lack of content here either.

Overall, I expect this game to be pretty well received by critics and will most likely get scores that range from 8 to 9.5. If you loved the first "role-playing shooter" you're most likely gonna love this. Here's a couple of videos to hold you over until its release:

1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW7qO_wpfvk
2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U7nYb3ts7w
3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d91Zvujs5g
4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvHqocIPn2s

If you don't care about Borderlands 2 I don't understand why you're still reading but here's something for you too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuFF_6bg4T4&feature=fvst
Ha... now you're gay.

Check out the new kid on the block!

So I guess I'm inspiring people all over the world with this little blog! Well, that may be a steaming pile of bullshit, but, a friend of mine did start a blog on game reviews and I'd like to think I'm at least partially responsible for that. Anyways, this guy's a smart ass and I pretty much enjoy anything he has to say about games so I strongly suggest you to check out what he's writing and I guarantee you'll love his backhanded remarks about everything games by the time you're done reading.  The name of his blog is brutalgamereview.blogspot.com so get over there and check out his commentary on Darksiders 2 and an overall commentary on the gaming industry as a whole. Warning: Do not read if you take games too seriously and have major crushes on certain franchises. He will bash them and you will be butt hurt. Other than that enjoy the sarcastic insight this guy has to offer!

Guest Reviewer- Daniel Culligan

Guild Wars 2 Review: Part 1

By: Dan Culligan

                If you are any type of PC gamer, chances are you’ve heard of Guild Wars 2. It’s a game that has been pegged with tons of hype from media and gamers alike, and it was to the point that a lot of people were worried it wouldn’t be able to live up to its foretold grandeur. I was one of those people who thought it could only disappoint with all the excitement about it, but it not only lives up to the hype, it exceeds what I thought it could be.

                When you first start up the game you are asked to choose between 5 different races: the Sylvari (Plant people born from a tree), Charr (Cat people-esque creatures), Asura (Think dobby from Harry Potter), Norn (Nordic people), and of course your average human. Each race has certain racial abilities but they are not designed to give any certain race a distinct advantage over the other. These abilities can range from being condition removals all the way up to letting you summon creatures to help you in the heat of battle. The powers are nice but they truly give no one race an advantage over the other, and this is a good thing as other MMOs have had many people upset with balance issues in the past. 

After choosing your race you are asked to choose from one of eight different professions: Warrior, Guardian, Elementalist, Engineer, Ranger, Necromancer, Theif, and Mesmer. Warrior being your average choose a weapon and hit people with it, Guardians are kind of like warriors with magic, Elementalist uses the elements to win fights (as per the name), Engineer uses turrets, traps, and bombs to take on their enemies, Ranger gets a pet companion and is mostly a projectile profession, Necromancer can summon creatures and place curses, Thief is a more sneaky, stabby type of profession, and Mesmer can project images of themselves to distract enemies and players alike. Now, people will be tempted to tag a specific role to each of these professions, but a big point of this game is that there are no defined roles to a profession. This means that there is no tank, healer, or DPS specific profession. In fact, the game has done away with these roles completely and the abilities you use will be based on the weapon you are carrying. For instance, a warrior carrying a mace and a shield will have more defensive abilities built around preventing incoming damage and keeping himself alive, while a warrior carrying a great sword is purely offense and is concentrated on pumping out damage.

This weapon system is something that is brand new to MMOs and it seems to be working out quite well. As you use a weapon you will start out with only an auto attack, but the more you use it, the more skills you unlock. The way the abilities are set up in the interface are the first three corresponding to your main hand and the last two corresponding to your off hand, unless you are using a two handed weapon, which will take up all five weapon skills. Now this system is great if you have a class that can use a lot of weapons, but if you are a class more limited to what weapons you can use, it can seem like you don’t have much to look forward to once you have unlocked all the abilities for the weapons you are using. With all the other stuff to do in the game, though, you won’t have to worry much about being entertained by your weapon.

This brings me to my next point. This game is loaded with content. I can’t speak for the end game but I’ve never had so much to do while I’ve been leveling. Between the vistas (viewpoints that you have to find a way to climb up to), the dynamic events and renown hearts you will never be bored while playing this game. Oh and by the way, you get experience for everything you do in this game, even for just gathering stuff that you need for crafting. This helps the game never feel like a grind, which is a big deal when it comes to MMOs. Most games try to hide grind but don’t really accomplish it, but this game really succeeds in doing so with the way the questing system is set up. It removes quest givers and instead gives you empty golden hearts on your map that when you enter the area around them it gives you a list of things you can do and gives you a bar that fills up as you do them. Not knowing that you have to collect a certain amount of a things keeps it from feeling like you are doing the same thing over and over.

The last thing I want to cover in part 1 of this review is how beautiful this game is. It is the best looking MMO I have ever played. I have gotten entertainment from just walking around and looking at the scenery that the game presents to you. The vistas really help show this off and they also allow you to get a little experience on the side as a little extra incentive. I’ve never seen this much attention to the environment in an MMO in my long time playing them and it is a very refreshing thing to have in a game.

Well, that’s it for now. I’ve still got a lot to get through in this game so I can give you guys my final grade on it. So far, it’s pretty incredible and I expect it to stay that way. In my next part I will go in depth with the dynamic events as well as give you my impressions on the zones that I have been working through on my Norn Warrior and even get into a little on the PvP side of things. Keep checking back for more.

This article was written by Daniel Culligan, a good friend of mine and man who has played many different games. Personally, I've seen him play the likes of Batman: Arkham City, Resident Evil 4, NCAA Football 12, the Mass Effect series, the Uncharted series and Battlefield 3 just to name a few. He is from Louisville, Kentucky and is currently a junior studying creative writing. If you have any questions or comments feel free to email me at aflynn@dailyegyptian.com and I will send the message to Dan. Hope you enjoyed the article and keep your eyes out for the second Guild Wars 2 review by Dan coming soon.