InFamous 2: ReBoot of Combat

I'm exhausted right now, so I'll make this quick.

On IGN.com, there is a video showcasing InFamous 2's combat features. It seems melee is now a major part of the InFamous mechanic. This is a good thing, since the basic three button melee from the first game, while amusing to use on bystanders and fallen but not dead enemies, played little role in actual combat.

This addition to the gameplay should be as no surprise, given that Cole now sports a giant cattle-prod and such things aren't good from any range but shockingly close (boo). The actual combat itself is rather fluid, consisting of punches and kicks interspersed with the electric powers. The ice powers should also add an interesting twist to the way you deal with your enemies. The game itself is probably still in the early alpha stages, so combat will see major tweaking as development continues. One thing I want to see in the end though, is the closing distance mechanic that came in Zone of the Enders: 2nd Runner.

Here's what I mean. You take in your tough baddie close, rough him up and shoot him into a building from a hundred feet away. You then use the electrical powers to somehow bend space around you to appear in front of him and continue your assault. This will have to be a late in the game ability, since by the time it's usable the big enemies should have the ability to counter or recover from damage. They are super baddies, after all.

Since we know that the Beast, the super-super-super powered villain introduced in the last game is making an appearance, he too should have this power, but it should be far more developed and evolved. The attacks should come quicker and fiercer, leaving little time for Cole to wrest his way out of the onslaught.

All this, however, obviously leads to the idea of just spamming that one attack at the expense of all others, and the Beast could be really annoying if the attack is too powerful. Balance issues in InFamous 1 were fairly well done, seeing as all attacks had a limit and the ultimate attack was a one shot before recharge.

Back on the topic of overall combat, I want to also see chaining of attacks. Seamless chaining, no less. A lightning bolt to the head followed by an electric grapple to throw into far away building to warp melee is something that would not only wow audiences but would be incredibly satisfying to pull off. InFamous is a super hero game, and SuckerPunch brought us the powers in the first game. What needs to happen now is bring in the cinematic combat, the fast paced, explosive, huge scale asskickery that you see in the best superhero movies.

That's it for now,
Xiant

Metal Gear Rising (also, my birthday)

Let's get this out of the way. Today (I'm on Eastern time, so it's just after midnight) I turn 21. So yay for me, I guess. Before I go any further, no I don't plan on plastering myself to the floor today or any other day. I can't stand beer and I have little tolerance for alcohol. I also know when to stop. That's done, on with the games.

Metal Gear Rising, the upcoming Metal Gear game from Kojima Productions, follows the blond wimp (former) from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty Raiden. For those who never played that game, do so now. Stop reading and buy it, then play it, and do it twice. Then play MGS3: Snake Eater. It's even better. That done, go back to basics and borrow the original from someone or buy it off the PlayStation network (I think you can get it there). Then finally watch (as that's mostly what you do) MGS4: Guns of the Patriots. It is at this point, and at this point only, that Rising would make any real sense, or have any relevancy.

Backing up a bit, though, why I call Raiden a wimp? Again, if you know the Metal Gear series, you know how much a hard boiled badass Solid Snake really is and how exchanging him for some scrawny little punk with major emotional issues (bordering on the emo) seems like a giant slap in the face from Kojima and company. Granted, the kid knows his way around a gun, but the drama that he brought to the Metal Gear series sans any real testosterone grated at every Metal Gear fan's nerves. I'm not really being fair here, since the point is to explain it how you'd hear it from the internet hate machine (minus the profanity and lackluster use of the English grammatical structure).

But since I don't write to be like the internet but to be intelligent and as unbiased as possible, I'll put up why I think Raiden had a place in MGS2 and why he deserves the now apparent two games Kojima plans to make for him. First, we saw Snake's more human side in the first game, the conflict within him and his past (which, to that point, we knew little about). Second, the sudden shift from Snake to Raiden (call sign snake at first) put us on edge given that the opening sequence very neatly mirrored the intro from MGS. This excludes the section where you played Snake at the beginning. Third, and perhaps most importantly, if you listened until the end of the credits in the first Metal Gear Solid, a small sound clip hinted at something much bigger that Snake alone may not have been able to handle. To that end, a new player in the game that would become the grand conspiracy became necessary. However, Snake must not be that player, because in the first game he was essentially led around by the nose. So now it's Raiden's turn. And again, in introducing Raiden, a fresh-faced new recruit with connections wholly outside of Snake's sphere of influence, the other half of the picture, and its major players, could be brought into focus.

All that, and Kojima didn't want a battle hardened Snake being preached to about how to hold a gun and go prone (since new players certainly wouldn't know).

After the horrid fan reaction to Raiden's character, Kojima wisely left the timeline of the first two MGS games and focused on the man who started it all. Play the game to find out who. When he came back to the present and near future in MGS4, things were very different, Raiden had all but disappeared and the puzzle pieces slowly fell into place. Raiden did not, of course, become playable for any period of time during MGS4, as it was really Snake' story that mattered, he did play a pivotal cinematic role in the game's endgame. What is interesting, however, is that Kojima not only completely redesign his character but also disposed of most of his body and personality, making them robotic and quite cold. Rising and its sequel, are to answer the questions of how this happened.

Snake has a near and dear place in my heart as possibly the best spy action hero ass kicking guy to ever live (next to his "dad" and his mentor, of course), and I really want to see more of him, but I know his story is over, and there is nothing left to say. I was, however, very intrigued about Raiden, far more than I was in the days of MGS2. The new game mechanics Kojima plans to implement, i.e. destructible environments, gore and dismemberment, ninja style sword play and an unknown story telling device allow him to break ground in a way he hasn't since the first MGS. There's a part of me that wishes he'd stop with MGS4 and let the Snakes finally rest, but I know that the fans would never stand for that, and a man like Kojima always has ideas spinning in his head. Plus, Kojima Productions in a successful business, unimaginably so, and so he wants to profit from it (still).

When ever the game is going to come out, I want to wait and sit on my thoughts, hear what both the critics and the populace has to say. I'll make my decision then, and I honestly hope I'm not disappointed. Honestly, I don't think I will be. Heck, if I can sit through the hour long cinematic at the end of MGS4 and enjoy the game for what it is and more, I'll be able to handle a little emo drama from its best Kojima produced purveyor.

Thanks for reading,
Xiant