Shulk Revealed for SSB4

Haven't I seen you before? Very recently, actually...

Shulk, the protagonist of the Wii title,  "Xenoblade Chronicles," was confirmed Friday on the Miiverse as a playable character. This comes in the wake of a huge string of leaks that sprang up over the internet at the beginning of the week.

The video released by Smash Bros. director, Masahiro Sakurai, is titled "Looks like we don't have a choice," which may allude to the leaks existence, but no official confirmation has been announced. The swordsman's moveset does match what was showcased in the videos as he uses a ground whirlwind attack and his weapon, the Monado, has a beam that extends beyond the blade's normal length.

Japanese smashers will be ahead of the crowd as usual as the game is slated for release Sep. 13 in the land of the rising sun. With this, smashers across the globe will await spoilers of the game's final roster shortly after the its debut and official validation of the recent leaked videos can finally be put to bed.

Complete with pink sword and underwear alt. costume!

SSB4: The Leaky Road to Release

Uh-oh! Someone's gettin' sued!

Since video games' strong presence on the internet, the Super Smash Bros. series has always been the target of endless rumors and a few legitimate leaks. The often delicate stream of prerelease information supplied by the game's director, Masahiro Sakurai, creates an interesting love/hate relationship with series' fans as they hope for the most amount of information without spoiling "too much" before the game's release. After all, everyone and their grandmothers want their favorite Nintendo representatives in, and if they don't see them, they're pissed. Because if Smash Bros. isn't about the characters... what is it about?

Up until a few days ago, information on the series' fourth installment, "Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS and Wii U" (yes, that really the name) has been served in nice, little bite-sized portions on the Wii U's Miiverse. Monday though Friday, Sakurai has given reveals that range from a trophy of Dr. Wily to the return of veteran fighters Ike and Meta Knight. There has also been a Nintendo Direct and E3 trailers to give more than the recommended dose and create hype the likes of which haven't been seen since the rivalry fights between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Hype creates speculation, trash talking, hope and everything in between on the internet and has people rushing to YouTube, reddit and twitter to give their opinions on the latest bit of news. It truly is a spectacle to behold in the gaming world.

But for some people it just isn't enough. 

Over the past week, a string of leaks have appeared on Reddit, 4chan and gaming information hub, NeoGAF, that might have revealed most, if not the entirety of, the game's release roster. Xenoblade Chronicles protagonist Shulk, Bowser Jr., Dark Pit and one of Nintendo's oldest dogs, Duck Hunt Dog have all been shown as newcomers in a screenshot of the game's 3DS version. Video footage was also leaked in the form of five clips, but few remain since Nintendo hastily removed most of the YouTube uploads. 

Not the best footage but one of the few videos still out there.

The leaks are said to come from multiple sources, but leakers indicate the information stems from the same source, an ESRB member who received a video copy of gameplay and stills. The leak also shows the return of veterans Ness, Ganondorf, Wario, Mr.Game & Watch, R.O.B, Jigglyppuff and Doctor Mario, a fighter who was removed after his Melee debut. 

Although the roster made for a colossal reveal, one leak may have trumped it. One text leak stated more characters would be made available as DLC, a move uncharacteristic of Nintendo until the recently shown "Mario Kart 8" DLC packages. The packages will be released at separate times and include both characters, karts and tracks. The Mario Kart announcement is an official statement by Nintendo and supports the possibility of a similar fate for Smash Bros., but in light of all these unofficial leaks, there has been a whirlwind of mixed emotions from gamers across the web. 

The doctor and dark angel. Silly me thought Sakurai was avoiding clones!

Some have taken the leak as fact and either commended or condemned the roster, some vehemently oppose all of the commotion and some have used the information rush as a chance to formulate personal theories about characters, stages and the possibility of DLC. In the spectrum of all that, I fall somewhere in the category of "what the hell just happened?!" and "could this really be?!"

To give some perspective, I must admit that my relationship with Smash Bros. has been filled with overwhelming joy, passionate addiction and an unquenchable thirst for victory- sooo... the usual. I fell in love with the series in the days where Nintendo 64 rained supreme with its fresh take on "realistic" graphics. After seeing the first commercial where Mario, Pikachu, Donkey Kong and Yoshi demolished each other to the whimsical song "Happy Together," I had to have it. Following that, it was nonstop playing until Melee where I became competitive and strove to perfect my skills- because after all, who doesn't think they're the best at Smash? Brawl released and was almost immediately hated by the competitive player I had become with its floaty physics and *gasp* tripping. However, I played Brawl throughout college and my hardened expectation of the game faded. Then, I saw the Megaman trailer...

No arguments here.

I was back in the good ol' Nintendo 64 days all over again! With each character and every hype-filled trailer I found myself 10-years-old again, but like most, I craved more. Flash forward more than a year later, move past countless leaks and here we are.

Less than a month before SSB4's Japanese debut, we get a bombshell complete with video footage. We never get video footage! Usually just a crappy photoshop job that reeks of trollishness or fanboy desire. The roster might be a secret no longer, the Duck Hunt dog has people even more eager and my seemingly endless appetite for everything Smash Bros. is subduing, but a strange feeling now lingers. It's one that I can only liken to the month of December. More accurately, the week or two before Christmas when your excitement reaches Super Saiyan levels and your curiosity leads you to that closet in the basement, you know, the one people only use when they're trying to hide something. But when the Game Boy Color comes out of the box and the sense of wonder wrapped in a cloud of hope dissipates, there's nothing left but the wait for Christmas. A wait filled with regret and self disappointment.

A wait that I believe many who have seen the leak are experiencing now, and this really made me wonder. I can't think of one other game that gets people this batshit crazy- this absolutely, overwhelmingly pumped up for release. A title that commands this much attention is powerful and Sakurai knows it, and despite the haters that say Sakurai is sick and tired of this franchise, he puts a lot of time and effort giving fans just the right amount of information. After all, we're just little kids waiting for their Game Boy Colors, hyper from the sugary sweet reveal trailers and overly eager for the hours of entertainment surely to be had. 

It's in this that I kind of hate the internet and my Super Smash addicted sickness. The game might be the cheese at the end of the maze, but with all journeys it's not only the end that matters but also the journey taken to get there. Unfortunately, if the leaks are true, a whole lot of fans' journeys may have been cut short this week. 

Admittedly, there is a chance that the videos were a product of a mod such as Project M, a SSBB modified game that sports the competitive Smash Bros. quickness and hit stun. Shulk's moveset did resemble that of Marth's, but Bowser Jr. seemed to have quite a unique moveset that might prove difficult for even some of the best modders to produce. On the other hand, the stages shown in the clips were available in Brawl, so a mod might not be completely out of the question. Without a doubt, there is a much to be questioned right now.

Despite the leak's outcome, though, there's no denying the power this beloved brawler has over the gaming population. It can get people to make countless prediction videos that could result in nothing and leave forum members flaming each other in the wake of opinion-filled rants about how Ridley would or wouldn't be a viable character. It can even bring you back to a simpler time in life. A time where we were much younger and far more impatient. 

So to all of my fellow smashers out there I give you a nod of understanding. If the leaks prove false and we can all wait long enough for the game to come out in Japan, we might be pleasantly surprised with what we find. After all, I wouldn't be shocked if the leak was a clever ruse engineered by Sakurai, the Smash Bros. troll himself. A trick to end all tricks if you will. Heck, if people are able to turn a blind eye to Smash until a release in their countries they might be able to discover all the game's ins and outs by themselves- a blast from the Nintendo 64 past. 

Release is coming...

Let's be honest though, when the game's out in Japan, we'll be looking up spoilers for days. But at least we made it to release!  

Tell me what you guys think about the leak and it's validity. If you could pick, what Nintendo characters would you put in the game. What 3rd party characters would you have? Why? Tell me about your Smash Bros saga!  Let me hear it all and more! Happy smashing until the game's Oct. 3 US 3DS release! 

   

Garden Warfare gives same PvZ personality with different packaging

The flowers and flesh eaters are at it again, but this time they're packing a bit more heat. PopCap Games' tower defense series, Plants vs. Zombies, is fairly well known among the gaming community with releases on PCs, phones and everything in between. The point of the game is to plant as many flowers as you can and strategically place them in positions advantageous to complete zombie annihilation. It's a fun little game that has you playing for hours with its upgrades and addictive zombie slaying antics(is it just me, or are most zombie killing games pretty sweet?).

The series received a sequel, "Plants Vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time," which offered much the same as the first but was still well received, scoring an 8.6 on Metacritic. A Plants vs. Zombies game was even released on Facebook and Apple chose "Plants vs. Zombies 2" as the runner-up 2013 iPhone game of the year. So what happens when you take a popular game combine it with and amazingly popular genre and put the result on next gen systems? Well, it goes a little something like this.

And if plants and zombies wasn't enough, they throw in a yeti for good measure.

"Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare" combines the fun-loving, joke-filled personality of the PvZ series and throws in guns. It's pretty much as easy as that. Despite the overly simplified analysis, that's not to say this makes for a terrible experience. As a matter of fact, there's loads of fun to be had with friends as far as Garden Warfare goes, and I think that's what PopCap really strived for here. There are so many shooters out there that take themselves too seriously, and "PvZ: Garden Warfare" doesn't fall into that trend as a third-person shooter filled with smiley sunflowers and jackhammer-riding zombies.

The gameplay will instantly feel familiar to anybody who's played a shooter before and the hit detection is pretty accurate(something that developers who specialize in shooters can even mess up). Both the plants and zombies will have four base units they can deploy into battle and each of those units will have subclasses with unique attributes; so even if you're technically playing the same class as someone else, the way each subclass plays keeps the mayhem fresh. PvZ fans will have a permanent grin as they play the series'  most memorable characters that have made the transition from stationary guards to fully mobile soldiers.

Your starting lineup. At point guard, we have Sunflower!

However, it's not all run-and-gun as each unit has a set of three cooldown abilities to spice up their strategy. For example, the game's heavy hitter, the chomper, has the burrow, goop and snare ability. The goop slows enemies, the snare holds them in place and the burrow allows the chomper to move underground and possibly gobble up an unsuspecting enemy. These actions all compliment the Chomper's namesake attack, the chomp. Not only are the abilities fun and fluid for the most part, but they neatly fit the personalities of the characters PopCap has made popular in PvZ, a fact both players new and old to the PvZ series will love.

The multiplayer is where "Garden Warfare" shines its brightest as both local and online play will keep players entranced for hours. Two people can team up locally to defend their garden against zombies for as many waves possible. The longer you stay alive, the more coins you get and the more coins you get the more you can unlock in the game. On this premise, players will be at it for hours trying to unlock every last character, item, and skin mod. Stickers can also be used to purchase potted plants in the defend your garden mode. Potted plants help you mow down your zombie foes and make the overall experience more enjoyable as a nod to the original game.

Unfortunately, only one player can take part in the online play. It seems like a missed opportunity considering the local play is a blast, but the upside is that both plants and zombies are playable in this mode. This is the first time where players can use the zombies which adds a whole new lineup of characters to choose from. There are plenty of modes to choose from including a capture the flag style game, team deathmatch and classic deathmatch where only the base units in the game are playable, creating a level playing ground for first time players and seasoned veterans. Matches go by fairly quickly and the lobby system is both simple yet effective as players can view battle statistics, chat and buy stickers in between matches.

Casey Jones makes an appearance as a zombie!

Levels are randomly selected and range from a pirate ship to a mining town with a train running through the middle. Although the maps aren't anything to write home about and the selection could be better, they do exude the PvZ mood with vibrant colors, a playful and goofy messages that add personality to the play, and that's what "Garden Warfare" is all about.

At the end of the day, this smirk-inducing, third-person shooter is a hell of a lot of fun. Silly, laid back, more addictive than crack-fun. But that's about it. There's no story(which, I mean, what would you expect anyways?), local play desperately needs to be upgraded to four players and more maps would be nice, but for $40 ($30 on the PS3) there's not much to complain about. Despite it's February release on the Xbox consoles, there should be plenty of Sony fans happy to see "Garden Warfare" finally make it's transition to PlayStation. So, if you like fun, plants, zombies, guns or any combination of the bunch, pick this up. It'll be a nice little appetizer until titles like "Evolve," "Destiny" and "Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain" can subdue our hunger. Plus, when's the next time you'll be able to say you killed a member of the undead with a potato? Well... besides "Dead Rising."

"Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare" gets an 8 out of 10 on the sweetness scale.

Sims 4 Create-a-Sims thoughts

Austin: You know, I haven't extensively played the Sims games, but I have dabbled so I was no stranger to making a new character. The first aspect about the Sims character creator or "Create-a-Sims" demo as developers, Electronic Arts, have so "creatively" named it is the amount of minor tweaks you can make to the characters. I tinkered with my avatar for a good 30 minutes and I still felt like I could do more to improve what I had. Not only does the program come with presets, but after a player chooses a face or body type he/she likes they can click on minor features like the cheeks or hips to enlarge or minimize the selected area. It was a nice little touch that seemed to give more control to gamer's who are all about making that picture perfect avatar(you know who you are!). Beyond that there is an option for facial hair, clothes, tattoos and much more. After my 30 minutes of work this is what I came up with.

Ignore the pink haired girl in the middle! 

My friend Josh, who has very limited play time with the Sims, also decided to try his hand at making a mini him. The experience was fairly entertaining and as you can probably tell *sigh* we didn't use source material for these characters. The demo also came with the option to personalize your Sims walk, hobbies, personalities and life goals. Even if I didn't care much for the creator itself, the character abilities dictated by a Sims' personality made me curious as to how they will translate to actual gameplay.

Although I'm not sure this was enough to ignite a burning passion inside me for "Sims 4," I absolutely didn't hate the experience. So to put it into perspective... I might not go out of my way to buy this game, but if a buddy asks me if I want to try out their copy, I wouldn't turn my nose up to it.

"Guardians" low profile paved way for positive reviews

By now, it's probably no big secret to anybody that the newest Marvel flick "Guardians of the Galaxy" has received a whole lot of praise from critics and fans alike. Metacritic scores it at 76 with a user score of 8.6 and box office figures report the fun filled space adventure complete with talking tree and wise-cracking raccoon generated more than $41 million. That's a nice little chunk of change for a franchise that most non-comic book readers have never even heard of. Heck, a lot of the comic nerds out there that I know don't have much to say about the Guardians, but somehow Marvel found a way to make us care, but how?

Sure, superhero movies tend to dominate the summer box offices. Just look up figures on the new TMNT movie and you'll see just how easy it is to rake in the cash, even with a film that didn't score half as well on Metacritic(34 out of 100 if you were wondering)! But the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have a colossal fan base when compared to Starlord and friends. So what made this formula so successful? Well, in this case, the low profile of the Guardians may have done more to set reasonable expectations for moviegoers rather than alienating them from the experience all together. 

Think about it, if people weren't sure about the wacky cast of characters that make up the five-man space brigade, they expect less from it than say a movie like, oh, I don't know, "The Avengers." With a movie like that, comic book fans as well as fans of the previous films were practically trampling over each other to get their tickets. Why? Well, in the case of the Avengers, it's almost an impossible question to answer. Some people wanted to see Thor. Some came to see Captain America. Others just wanted to see Robert Downey Jr.  Either way, expectations were high and rightfully so. A lot of people's favorites were out there alongside other heroes of legendary status and fans wanted nothing less than perfection. This wasn't a hurdle the Guardians had to overcome. 

Green chick, check. Raccoon with attitude, check. Space ent, double check.

Instead, I think the biggest problem "Guardians" looked to solve was getting people to care. After all, not everyone wants to watch a two-hour movie about some rocket-wielding raccoon, even though deep down I kind of wish they did. What better way to make Marvel fans care that than throw in Thanos, one of the biggest bad guys from the respective universe. By doing this, people who saw the Thanos teaser at the end of the Avengers wanted in on the action. 

To top it off, this film just looked like it was going to be stupid, silly fun wrapped up in a neat little package of ass kickery and a bit of mystery. There's humor, everybody loves Chris Pratt, there's action, everybody loves Chris Pratt and the movie is set in space. Who the hell doesn't want to watch a superhero movie set in outer space... with Chris Pratt? Add in a few more aliens, one strong and stupid, one sexy and smart and you have yourself some interest to say the least- but only interest. Not the overwhelming urge to say "this is going to be the best thing ever." 

Why do they call him Rocket? Oh... right. 

The trailers got butts into seats and those butts turned into bucks quickly. But at the end of the day, the movie was actually good- really good. It wasn't perfect and I had a few small qualms with with pacing, but nothing big enough to take away from the overall experience. Everything the trailers promised, the movie delivered it but better, and the best part is nobody even expected it, and that's what made it so memorable. It took people by surprise. That and unlike "The Avengers" the majority of the film wasn't spent getting all of the guardians to "play nice" together. 

The moral of the story here is that sometimes less is more and in the case of Guradians and peoples' knowledge of the franchise, less expectations turned into more enjoyment. I just want to see how the next "Guardians" entry measures up in the eyes of audience now that there's an established fan base. 

I wrote this with the intent of reviewing "Guardians," but at this point there's just been so much positive feedback that you all know what you'd be getting into. But if you haven't seen it you should stop reading this and be on your way to the theater now. Unless, of course, you want to go check out Michael Bay's latest attempt at mass childhood ruination. I'll just be here writing about games and patiently waiting for Guardians 2.

Concursion meshes multiple genres, misses a beautiful whole

Indie developer, Puuba Games', may have created a title worlds apart from any other with it PC game Concursion. Five worlds apart to be exact, as this "multigenre" game does its best to keep players on their toes with five different heroes who will do their best to do what? That's right... save the princess.

Ryu Hayabusa, Mario, Fox McCloud and Pac-Man all rolled up into one! Sort of...

So the story line is one we've seen more times than there are Madden releases, but the point of Concursion isn't an engaging plot that will keep you guessing what's next, but the intertwining forms of gameplay that propels your curiosity to the game's finale. That is, if the art style and clunky controls don't chase you off first. We'll get back to that later though.

In Concursion, players will take control of a hero who assumes multiple identities in order to track down and save a princess from the lizard king "Biganbad." The different heroes include a boy with a horned helmet in a Mario-esque world, a masked ninja in a world the same vain as Ninja Gaiden, a space pilot in a Defender-like universe, a hero in a Pac-Man setting and a rocket pack hero whose only form of travel is performed in midair. These are all extremely familiar game styles to most people, but the magic of this title comes from the combination of these worlds, not the stand alone titles they represent.

For example, during one of the game's levels, a space rift will float in the air and lead to one of the Concursion's gem collectibles. In order to obtain the gem, the horned boy must do a dash jump into the rift, which turns him into the ninja. For this brief period of time, the boy will seamlessly transform into the ninja and be granted the ninja's abilities. Namely the midair jump which will give him enough height to grab the crystal. It's problem solving like this that will have players wanting to conquer puzzle after puzzle as it is both very engaging and equally as rewarding. This is nice as it will give the most avid gamers a title that will feel unlike anything they've played before, even though, at its core, the gameplay mechanics are created using familiar concepts.

Waka Waka Waka

Unfortunately, this is one of the few aspects Concursion does well. As you can tell from the screenshots, this title isn't the prettiest out there. Not even close as a matter of fact. The animation is akin to a flash game from the early 2000's and the colors don't help to create a specific feel for the environment. It was at least a change from the pixelated pieces we see from many indie developers, but it wasn't a successful change. From beginning to end, the visuals leave a bad taste in players' mouth and have them begging for characters and levels with more personality, something the game's dialogue does manage to achieve with its use of playful banter and tongue-in-cheek humor.

While Concursion does borrow elements from many well-known titles, it does innocently poke fun at some of video games' most recognizable franchises. One boss fight has the player battling a team of warriors consisting of a black mage, white mage and warrior. The three fight on a turn-based system while the hero is free to walk up and damage them whenever he's able to. This seems to be a smart jab at the impracticality of waiting one's turn to attack an enemy, a trait the beloved Final Fantasy series has become well known for. These little quirks keep the game laid back and fun, a nice way to take notice away from Concursion's lack luster art direction.

This has to be my favorite fight in the game.

Another plus for the game is the soundtrack. It might not be the biggest accomplishment, but it manages to add to the already fun feel of the dialogue while setting a distinct tone for each hero and the world they inhabit. One level might use a piano and high-pitched instruments to create a whimsical feel, but when the hero transforms the same tune might be played with a guitar and drums to convey a sense of urgency. It's a unique choice and lends itself well to the constant genre switching the game is built around.

However, although the change from each hero is a fluid process, the controls each genre are anything but. It seems that the visuals aren't the only aspect of the game that is taken directly from the long forgotten flash games of old. The way the game controls also leaves much to be desired as running, jumping, flying and more all feel just a little too sensitive. This presents an unnecessary challenge that many will write off as a programming problem rather than one of true difficulty. A small issue, but one that becomes more and more frustrating as the game progresses. The ability to use a third party controller is a nice option for those of us more used to console gaming(that's me!) and requires no set up on the part of the player.

As a whole, this game does a great job of combining genres and their different methods of play, which appears to be the main goal of this title. It's a great accomplishment and will hopefully inspire more developers to try their hand at something similar. But the problem doesn't come from the seemingly difficult task of uniting multiple games into one, but rather the small details that create Concursion. The bland story(with a somewhat interesting conclusion), the spotty controls and the uninspired art take too much away from the experience. There's a decent amount of content to obtain, an online mode that will have gamers racing for the best stage times and a fairly long story, but few people will want to invest that much time into a title that could have been so much better with a few minor improvements.

As per gaming tradition, spikes absolutely kill the hero in one hit.

It's a charming title that leaves me wanting more from Puuba Games only if they put more time into the aspects of Concursion that desperately needed improvement. I found myself intrigued with the gameplay enough to venture forward but bothered with the art style and controls to the point where I constantly questioned why.

This space/time bending title gets a 6 out of 10 and leaves me hopeful for the future of multigenre games.