Nom Nom Nom: the MMO Part I

So, last night here I was reading some High School of the Dead (cool manga courtesy of One Manga), half-listening to my room mate talk when all of a sudden, my eyes glazed over, something deep inside clicked, and I asked, "I wonder why no one has ever made a zombie apocalypse MMORPG?"

Which is a good damn question. The closest there ever was, was Resident Evil: Outbreak, which was a single player survival horror, with online multi-player, but that's not an MMO. That is not a persisting world where players get to finally live through that geeky conversation we've all had at some point..."What would I do if it actually happened?" So we kicked the idea around, and actually came up with some nice elements.

For example, one of the main themes that the development team would have to try and capture is the feeling that there's no hope in the world, that what they're 'living through' is really the end, extinction. After all, zombie parody games aside (which is what one would normally expect from this type of project), it would be a survival horror game. This means that there would have to be a limited amount of in-game resources to go around. As in, one of the driving forces of PvP would probably be to steal ammo/weapons/equipment/vehicles. Of course, there would be many instances where players would HAVE to team up. After all, safety in numbers; especially when you're battling a legion of undead.

Also, to continue with the theme of hopelessness, there could be no permanent safe haven. A zombie apocalypse just doesn't work that way. However, places for players to meet, and purchase supplies is crucial to MMOs, so we came up with a solution. Perhaps scattered about the city and other places there would be buildings, that if fortified for a certain amount of time would become a temporary safe haven. NPCs would spawn and set up shop. Survivors in the area could flock to the building to rest up and help the cause. Of course, where there's warm meat, so come the zombies. Perhaps every 30 minutes or so a horde of zombies would attack the defenses, forcing the players to work together to drive them back. Should the zombies get through, then they swarm the building, attacking whoever is closest, but preferring the npcs as to give the player enough time to run. So a haven falls, and the apocalypse continues.

One of the problems that would come from this type of game, however, is diversity in enemies. There are a few solutions to this, one being to make it a PvP-focused game where Zombies are really more of a plot device. I personally would not find this a fun game-focus as it detracts from the whole point of the game, zombies. I personally feel that the solution comes with a combination of two: zombie animals, and mutating zombies.

Let's say that the outbreak was caused by an alien virus brought here by a comet ala the original Night of the Living Dead. Now this virus infects all life forms with a central nervous system, and mutates the host body the longer it remains. This doesn't means monsters running around like Resident Evil or Doom, rather, it means zombies get faster, smarter, more athletic. Two of such zombies that occured to me were "crawler zombies" that could crawl across walls, and "smart zombies" that could use weapons, vehicles, and the like. Of course, good old zombie dogs, elephants and sharks also make fantastic additions to the beastary.


Another aspect of such a game that occurred to me was, scope. Where should the game take place, a city, an island, a backwater town, an entire world? I'd say that a city is too small, and doesn't offer the unique situations that would accompany the wilderness, and suburbia. On the other hand, an entire planet may be TOO big. This game would require a pretty comprehensive system of interlocking areas with persistent enemies that rarely if ever are cleared from an area, as the player must always have the feeling that they're not safe. A world would just be too expensive and slightly excessive. I think that a country, or state would be sufficient as it would include several different environments, and would allow for future expansions of other countries/states.

I'd like to share more, but for the time being, I'm spent. There are more aspects of the Nom Nom Nom MMO that I need to share. I just need some time to gather my thoughts once more. So, more to come...

Super Smash Brothers Wishlist

Hey there, so I was at work today chatting with my co-worker on who we would want to be the new characters added to the Super Smash Brothers lineup. Just so you know, I've owned all of the games, and adore the series. Brawl was the best of them; just simply fantastic. However, I was partially disappointed by some of the lineup choices they made. So, on top of all currently active Brawl lineup, and excluding third party publisher characters, here's my wish list for the next Super Smash Brothers:

Ridley
We got to see this violet villain in the opening of Melee, and got to fight two versions of him in Brawl, but I'm still waiting for the chance to play him! Ridley, is one of the primary Nintendo villains, as demonstrated by his roles in the Brawl storyline. Also, as the opening of Melee shows, not all of his iterations (as there are many in the Metroid story) are so gigantic. It would be easy and sweet see a smaller version in the game as a playable villain.





King K. Rool
Honestly, I don't know why King K. Rool wasn't in Brawl. After all, how can you have a set of Nintendo villains without the primary antagonist of the Donkey Kong Country games. Sure, it's obvious he'd be one more heavyweight villain, but he'd be much more humorous than the others, and all the more reason to have a faster moving Ridley in the same lineup.







Zant
Though a minor Nintendo villain, and a second Zelda, I think Zant would be a great addition to the villains lineup. For one, he's quite the badass in his mask, but also an entertaining psycho without it. In Twilight Princess, there was a distinct contrast in his personality with and without his mask. This could perhaps be a crucial point to his move set, giving him two styles a la Samus/Zero Suit Samus, or Zelda/Shiek.









Vaati
If Zant was acceptable despite his minor villain status, Vaati wouldn't be a bad addition either. He's quite powerful as the second most prevalent LoZ villain, and judging by his abilities as a sorcerer, he could probably make a fantastic ranged character. Now, this is obviously accepting that he'd be of proper size and not that of his original Minish self. Also, like Ganondorf, Vaati has an all-powerful "demon form" which would make for a great final smash.






Pious Augustus
Now I suppose many of you are going WTF!? Well, here's the explanation. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem was this lost little gem for the gamecube. It was a creative psychological horror a la the Cthulhu Mythos, and though developed by Silicon Knights, was Published by Nintendo. Furthermore, Eternal Darkness, was listed in Brawl as one of the many Nintendo games released by the company over the years.

That said, Pious Augustus is the PERFECT new villain character to add because of his degree of dark, badassery. Pious, is an undead sorcerer who serves an eldritch master, seeking to bring his benefactor into the world of the living. He's imbued with all sorts of magical powers and is armed with a staff made from human bones (namely the spine, ribs, and pelvic bones.) Also, if another clone character is needed, before he was a sorcerer, Pious was a gladius wielding Roman General.

Mewtwo
(My turn...) Seriously, WTF? Who the hell's idea was it to get rid of Mewtwo. I don't care what loser came up with the Smash Bros. "Tier System" but Mewtwo was a unique, and powerful member of the lineup. He was taken out after Melee, and replaced in Brawl by Lucario which, though not a clone, is eerily similar to his predecessor. Seriously, bring Mewtwo back. Three good reasons why. 1. To complete the set of Nintendo villains. 2. There was no good reason to remove him in the first place. 3. He'd make a fantastic tag team partner for Lucario.




Blaziken
In light of Lucario, yet another fighting pokemon that would be well placed in the lineup is this avian fighter. Blaziken would bring back the fire fighting style that we lost when Roy was dropped. Not to mention, she would add to the female characters as well.







Krystal
Though we need another Fox clone like we all need another hole in the head, how about a Star Fox character that was designed to have a game all her own? Unlike Fox, Falco, and Wolf, Krystal would actually REQUIRE a unique moveset as she's outfited with fantasy gear instead of sci-fi. Another reason she'd be good is she'd add to the cast of Nintendo females which no one would complain about.






Geno
Many people were quite disappointed to see Geno missing from the Brawl lineup. I myself was that that heart broken but I cannot deny that he is a cool character with a a large array of attacks to draw from in Super Marion RPG.












Kat and Ana
The Ice Climbers are a very innovative idea, but let's face it, lame. Kat and Ana from Wario Ware would be the answer to that. This pair of ninja twins would be able to put some real power and speed behind the idea. This is plainly illustrated in Brawl with the devastation these little girls cause as their assist trophy. Just imagine what they could do as full blown characters.

Portacular

So, my room mate just recently got his hands on the Orange Box, which allowed me to finally play the game I'd been hearing so much about, Portal. After playing through it I must say that I am thoroughly impressed. Though I suppose that's not very big of a statement as EVERYONE and their grandmother were heralding the game as groundbreaking. I admit I was late to the party, as often seems to be the case with some games (such as Jade Empire, but more on that in a later post.) So, where to begin on my review?


SPOILERS WARNING!
What really impressed me about Portal was it's masterful use of thematic elements. The wall scrawlings, little snippits of info from GLaDoS the abandoned observation rooms, and even the little clip boards in those empty rooms. All presented a great amount of minutia that the play could use to draw the bigger picture. The story is short and simple with a single twist, get through the tests--GLaDoS is trying to kill you--Escape and avenge your companion cube if you get the chance. However, its the presence of all this optional information presented to the player thematically, that truly gives the story depth. For those interested in this information and explore it, they're all to likely to come to amazing revelations about the back story, such as I did several times. For example, I kept wondering about the author of the wall scrawlings, and what she was like. Then in the final battle with GLaDoS, the A.I. mentions that she has your brainscan on file, so she can reproduce you should you die. Of course, she strikes it from her database during this conflict, but that means that the author of the wall scrawlings was likely not another person at all. That all other inhabitants of Aperture have long since died. That GLaDoS has been repeatedly cloning your and running you through the tests to give her purpose (also why the test chambers are so pristine to everywhere else). Yet, like you, your former selves have tried to escape. You're just the first to succeed. Then again...or are you?

It's just little tid-bits like that that make the themes of Portal so amazing. Of course there's the revolutionary concepts of a fast paced first person shooter where you solve puzzles without firing a single leathal weapon. This has been most heralded by everyone in the video game media. As it deserves. It really was as innovative as the gravity gun was in Half-Life 2. However, I just feel that the real achievement of this game was in it's setting and themes. They were just perfect. It was just so creepy walking through that empty facility with all those tid-bits I saw, wondering if I was really human (as one of the clip boards shows a failed test subject that was anything but) and around any corner could be a gun-android forced to try and kill me by an insane A.I. overlord.

On top of this, the game was also had quite a bit of symbolism in it. Whether Valve intended it or not, the entire final confrontation with GLaDoS, and her song during the credits just made me think that it's also a sort of allegory for the mother of a broken home. Though, I suppose, if she'd been cloning you, giving life to you repeatedly, she might start to see herself as a mother, hence some of her dialogs. Still, if you look at the game progression it makes sense. She leads you through the test rooms giving you all you need to know to progress, just like childhood. She "tests" how you'll do with the real world by seeing how you handle the fire pit. Then when she see's you running through the facility on your own, she panics and tries everything she can to coax you back into the womb, if you will. Then you're brought to the final chamber where your will clashes with her. You lay down the way things are going to be from now on (admittedly by shutting her down), and in the end, once you're free from her influence, she not only accepts it, but feels happy for you because you're "all grown up." Valve could have intended it to look that way, but even if they didn't, I was impressed to see that sort of theme in a video game.

I would touch upon how superb the game mechanics were, but as SO many people before me have already analyzed this part of the game endlessly, putting it up on the latest pedestal, I will refrain. All I will say is that I was impressed at how there were multiple ways one could solve these intricate puzzles. As, watching my room mate play through it, I refrained from telling him how I did the puzzles only to watch him do them in completely different ways. (Was also a bit frustrating, I'll admit.)

I'll also say that, I never got onto the bandwagon with Half-Life. I've played it here and there. The mechanics and gameplay are great, but I find the story frustrating. The actual story arc of the game is fine, but the back story is quite confusing to me. It's not that I don't understand it, it's that certain elements don't make sense yet remain unexplained, not as mysterious things you want to find our as the story progresses, but more like elements that approach contradiction. My main beef being the G Man, but that's for another time. The point I'm getting at is that even if I wasn't a Half-Life fan before, I'm definitely a Portal fan now. Valve can be expecting me to be in line for Portal 2 and following that continuity closely. (And yes I'm aware both Half-Life and Portal are in the same universe. After all, who in video games hasn't heard of Black Mesa yet?)

All in all I'd give Portal five companion cubes out of five.