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The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
To be a game(s) writer.
ANTVGM64
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hi again, so, after the wonderful advice I received about game-testing, I figured I'd put my supplemental career efforts into something I have bit more experience with; games writing.
I currently review video games for Hollywoodchicago.com, and have been writing there for almost a year now, getting paid, essentially in free Xbox360 games. I really like the gig, my editor is pretty cool, and I've learned a lot by having a really steady stream of content to review and post. I'll include a couple of my reviews below so if you're so inclined you can read and levy brutal criticism at my talent or lack-there-of.
I also used to review IOS games for a website I won't name, and was paid about 10 dollars a review (plus the free game apps). Ideally, I'd like to be paid for my reviews, and reach an audience. I lost the "paid" gig after my editor said I had to give the app he created a five star review and say it was roughly the best sports game on the app-store, so I refused, and am down to one writing gig with Hollywood Chicago.
Of all the things I've done in my life: Movie Reviewing (worked for the late Roger Ebert), tech support, video-editing, video-production, copy-writing, and so on, *THIS* is the one thing I know for a fact I could happily do for the rest of my life. It's something I'm incredibly passionate about, and I want to take the next step.
I've applied to IGN, and got a Facebook message of all things from one of their employees that unfortunately went to my "Other" folder and I missed a message saying I should re-apply. I've applied to other sites, but often times they wouldn't have their stuff together, or they'd be start ups. I know it's weird, but I'd rather be a small cog in a big machine in this cage, versus one of the cogs that started it all.
So, anyway, below are a list of questions, and thanks again.
1. When it comes to applying to "known" game sites (Giant Bomb, IGN, Gamespot,) etc, are there typically free-lance, hourly, salaried positions, or is it more a one-size-fits-all mentality?
2. When typing an introduction, I often feel like I have (oh my god I can't believe I'm saying this) too much to offer. I have a degree in writing and producing, references, a resume with A+ and Net+ certifications, a video reel, and tons of reviews that I can show to a potential employer/editor. I know in writing that cover-letters are typically longer but is it better to hold back and focus EXCLUSIVELY on the writing I want to do, or should I include job history along with links to other skills and work I've done.
3. How open is this sort of thing among websites, and am I looking like an amateur when I contact sites asking if they're looking for writers via their "Contact us" box?
4. What is the going rate for game reviews in general, I imagine IOS reviews are paid less then full console releases, and for that matter, is it good to establish a rate I want to be paid in introductory e-mails, or wait for an employer to make an offer.
5. How do I get an employer to make an offer.
6. Press lists. I currently write for a blog "Scott's Blog of Doom" that gets a really good amount of traffic. When I was a movie critic their used to be one publicity agency in town, you'd e-mail them, tell them your outlet, and you'd get on the press list for screenings, etc. Is there a similar process with console games, and would it seem a bit back-handed to contact a developer directly about a game they're releasing to the app-store, then if I don't like it, give it a bad review?
7. How *hard* is it to get into this market? I know the rule is expect to be paid less and work longer for any job related to games that you can do for some other format, but I guess my question is, what are the odds of a guy who currently makes 35k a year being able to match that sort of income in an editorial position?
8. Does anyone know of a way to record video from an iPad or iPhone screen? I've googled and found some results, but if I ever wanted to get into video-review content, being able to record my IOS device's output is probably imperative.
Anyway, those are my questions, and my reviews are below for you to take a gander at and let me know if I'm barking up the wrong tree, here.
Thanks again, this is honestly the last one of these I'll post until I want to join the circus or something.
Dead Island: Rip Tide pulls you under
Much to the chagrin of practically everyone I know, the idea of “relaxing” is a bit...underwhelming (which is probably the point). Even with the crash of the waves, warm sand, girls in bikinis, surfing, snorkeling, and the ability to re-enact those Corona beer commercials, well, not to sound ungrateful to the Barbadoses and Bermudas of the world, I’d be bored in 10 minutes. But if you give me an arcade, or a golf course, or a football, and or, well, thousands of undead zombies, as is the case in “Dead Island: Riptide” suddenly we have ourselves a ball game.
“Dead Island: Riptide” is the sequel / expansion / upgrade to 2011’s “Dead Island”; a game that was the Frank Abagnale of a game’s mouth writing checks it’s ass couldn’t cash. By now most gamers know the story: an incredible trailer was released, played in reverse, featuring the destruction of a nice family (and their little girl), at the hands of the undead. It was touching, brutal, heart-wrenching, went viral, and was completely computer generated - featuring zero gameplay. There was absolutely no way the game would live up to it. And it didn’t. Instead you got a pulpy, open-world, skyrim-esque zombie adventure that was received lukewarmly by folks whom the trailer had interested. However, this time, “Dead Island: Riptide” seems a little under-hyped and under the radar, giving it a chance to meet, or exceed, tempered expectations.
However, first impressions are not great. After selecting one of a half dozen characters with special attributes, the game opens with a serviceable Sega light-gun-shooter-esque cut-scene with hammy narration and characterization explaining the plot of the first game, before locking you in an tanker, introducing you to a couple of evil military and business types, then challenging you to escape it before it sinks. Comparisons to “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare”’s opening mission notwithstanding, this sequence serves as a decent tutorial, and a terrible introduction to “Dead Island: Riptide”’s appeal, as you meander down corridors stopping every few seconds to backtrack long enough to thwack a zombie with some ridiculously low-powered crow-bar or police baton. The mission goes on quite a while too, and once you make it to daylight, thinking there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, it goes on for another ten minutes. Worse, once you complete this tutorial mission, you wash up onshore with literally none of the equipment you took time looting on the tanker - the game literally tricking you into wasting your time.
But fret not, following the loot-stealing shipwreck, “Dead Island: Riptide” starts to build steam from these initial missteps. For starters, you’re presented a relatively massive open world, teeming with weapons, items, vehicles, survivors, nooks, crannies, houses, trailers, caves, tree houses, and the walking dead. The zombies themselves are mostly of the 2004 “Dawn of the Dead” variety; fast, vicious creatures that hiss and ominously gargle on unseen Listerine as they try to feast on your brain. Killing these zombies is immensely satisfying, if not a little embarrassing due the carnage on display. Playing in my living room, surrounded by family members, I couldn’t help but notice the look on my mom’s face as she watched her college educated, gainfully employed, 27 year old son stomp yet another zombie’s skull into chiclets with carnal joy. Of course, my mother didn’t understand how frustrating gruesome death at the hands of the undead horde could be, and that the nature of the combat made those skull stomps the survival horror equivalent of NFL touchdown dances.
And what nature is that? An unforgiving one. Combat requires a good amount of precision, as backing away from enemy attacks and moving in, just in time to connect with a well placed jab or stab is the name of the game. Running in, weapons swinging, screaming at the top of your figurative lungs can net you some success, but tactical choices are encouraged, especially when it comes to managing your stamina bar that depletes with each swing, swipe, or stab in the face of a lot of enemies. Besides weaponry, “Dead Rising: Riptide” gives you a couple of fairly intuitive ways to combat enemies. Right trigger is your standard attack, sure, but supplementing this is the left bumper, which allows you to give enemies a quick boot that knocks them back, or stuns them. In moments of desperation, you can also hurl weapons at enemies using a combination of the left and right triggers. Using these skills in unison is imperative to success in “Dead Island: Riptide” when facing literally hordes upon hordes of zombies in the most difficult missions. It’s a blast, too. I realized combat had a bit more than meets the eye during a heartwarming side mission that tasked me with scoring coke from a zombified drug dealer. After dying at least seven times, throwing every weapon I had at the guy, I started to dodge his attacks, move in, stab, move back, dodge, move in, stab, and I eventually killed...well, re-killed, the undead menace - it was at this point that “Dead Island: Riptide” sunk its teeth into me - I was, officially, a fan.
Beyond the combat, “Dead Island: Riptide” is essentially an open world action-RPG in the style of Bethesda's “Elder Scrolls” series, minus the pretentious nature and massive development budget. You’ll accept a ton of quests from cardboard cutouts, journey through the island, kill monsters, complete side quests, level up, rinse, repeat, over and over and over again. It’s actually pretty entertaining, and for the right kind of gamer, “Dead Island: Riptide” is probably more appealing than “Skyrim” anyway, due to the change in setting, visceral combat and emphasis on multiplayer features.
Multiplayer features that missed an incredibly huge opportunity by not supporting same system co-op, by the by. Online, I completed several missions with a buddy over a bizarro combination of Xbox Live, Skype, and Facebook chatting, and it certainly added to the enjoyment of an already very enjoyable game, and horde mode is always good for some high-stress moments. The online multiplayer focus is welcome and seamless, as even when playing single player, random folks can join your game to help you complete missions, kill zombies, or insult your mother over headset. But still, the inability to sit next to someone in real space, and get my zombie smashing on, socially, is sort of unforgivable, considering “Borderlands”, “Call of Duty”, and even “Portal 2” contained same-system multiplayer features. Thus, a PS3 owning buddy of mine and myself ended up taking turns in the single player, lamenting how much fun we’d be having if we played together, system limitations be damned.
While I’m feeling sour, there are a few other negatives I’d like to address, Deep Silver. The game’s economy makes absolutely zero sense, as the tropical island you live on apparently has the world’s only supply of coin-operated workbenches. A big part of “Dead Island: Riptide” involves upgrading and crafting new weapons, which is neat, but the idea that you somehow have to pay money to repair and build things is a little silly, especially when something as simple as a Machete takes an upwards of two thousand dollars to repair. I understand why it’s in the game, to add another RPG element to the action / rpg formula, and to give space for some creativity, but as it stands, the economy makes zero sense. Additionally, of this writing, I haven’t really experienced any of the glitches I’d been promised by gaming message boards and chats with fellow owners of the game - but I’ve heard they’re there. My friend claimed that he’d be swinging away with one weapon, then suddenly be fighting with his bare fists for no reason, but that was something I couldn’t personally duplicate. My other complaints are more issues with this style of game, somewhat copy-pasted looking environments, cardboard characters, lots of back-tracking, inventory management, irksome weapon selection screens, and so on are present in most games in this genre, not just “Dead Island: Riptide” specifically.
What is specific to “Dead Island: Riptide” is its B-movie personality, relatively unique combat mechanics, and how well they combine to make for a surprisingly compelling experience. While ultimately derivative, I think certain gamers will find much joy in this software. In much the same way some people prefer “Mass Effect” over “Dragon Age” due to the Sci-fi setting, I prefer “Dead Island: Riptide” to “Skyrim” because zombies and sickles and tropical islands are more appealing to me than ogres and wizards and dwarves (oh my!). To be honest, as a journalist, I try to approach games with an open mind, but as an avid gamer, fan of the industry, and a media sponge fully aware of how overdone zombies are, I fully expected to hate “Dead Island: Riptide”. Instead, I kind of loved it in that, feet-up, brain-off, Corona-on-the-beach, sort of way.
Four Stars.
Sacred Citadel: A Retro Refuge
I like to think most everyone fondly remembers the golden age (roughly 1987 - 1991) of arcade-y side-scrolling beat em’ ups. “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, “The Simpsons”, “X-Men”, “Golden Axe”, “Double Dragon”, “Streets of Rage”, “Maximum Carnage”, and about a half dozen other games had the nation’s youth punching, kicking, jumping, and special attacking through quarter after quarter in the arcade, and continue after continue on their home consoles. As game technology blossomed (and Street Fighter II came out) these games eventually became fondly reflected upon relics. But, unless you’re, say, 7 again, or in an actual arcade, generally speaking side scrolling beat em’ ups aren’t particularly...good. The XBLA port of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” was lackluster at best. Missing was both the challenge of seeing how far you could get on your limited, parent funded quarter supply and the magic of discovering the world of videogames, one harrowing boss battle at a time. But, as I was soon to learn, there is always hope; This past Friday I booted up the relatively under-the-radar beat em’ up “Sacred Citadel” after haranguing my buddy Mary into playing it with me, literally minutes after the capture of the second marathon Bomber. And call me schmaltzy, but there couldn’t have been a more perfect time for some big, dumb, mindless, cathartic, fantasy-inspired cartoony violence.
“Sacred Citadel” makes a great first impression, especially in the A/V department. The menu music is addicting and up-tempo, the thumping baseline is completely different from the kind of thing you’d expect in a fantasy game, and there’s an interesting water-color-esque aesthetic that’s colorful and unique and harkens back to that golden age I was talking about before where bright colorful graphics reigned supreme. There are a few options like a brightness/volume adjustment slider, and the ability to turn blood on and off, but unfortunately you can’t re-bind the controls and there doesn’t appear to be multiple difficulty settings, either. Once the game begins proper (after selecting a character class: Mage, Shaman, Warrior, Ranger) you’re treated to a fully narrated introduction that kicks in some of that epic “Lord of The Rings” esque music that the menu smartly avoided. The narration is well acted, and while probably a bit of overkill for a silly beat-em-up game, I appreciated the effort SouthEnd studios devoted to immersing players in a world they normally wouldn’t have thought twice about.
The gameplay has heavy roots in the “Golden Axe” franchise, including the ability to ride mounts, drink potions, and activate special abilities to turn the tide against your foes that run the standard fantasy gambit from ogres to goblins to minotaurs and giant angry mutant boars. Combinations of X and Y will lead to several special attacks like uppercuts, bow strikes, and some class specific skills, as well, to add some depth to the button mashing. The real treat here is the inclusion of some quality RPG elements and a D&D subtext -you have a “character sheet” and everything.
When I reviewed the pretty terrible “Capcom Arcade Cabinet” I mentioned the best game in that collection was “Black Tiger” which took standard platforming tropes and added RPG elements like loot, mana, and a few other goodies to turn that game in a pretty unique experience. Similar features are present in “Sacred Citadel”. You earn both XP and gold from enemies, and they also occasionally drop weapons as well. Leveling up grants you new combos, while new weapons, armor, and secondary attacks become available for purchase as the game goes on. There’s also the ability to “enter town” after a level to purchase supplies, and an elemental, uh, element, exists where weapons can either freeze enemies, electrocute, or set them on fire. There’s a surprising, and quite frankly welcome amount of depth to “Sacred Citadel” and it’s those sort of elements that can make the beat em up’ genre relevant again.
But it kind of sucks that the game is equal parts easy and frustrating sometimes. In my research for the game I realized that I was having such success at it simply because whenever you hit an enemy, they become “stun locked” and can’t attack until you decide to stop mashing the X button or one of the other dozen enemies on screen get up in your face and damage you. Meanwhile, the boss fights are exercises in horrible frustration, and you’ll find yourself dying time and time again until you’re finally able to kill one. There are a few other hiccups, sometimes you’ll have a hard time figuring out if you’re on the correct plane to attack a bad-guy properly, there’s no friendly fire, and the lack of a modifiable difficulty setting is disappointing to say the least.
But, hoo-boy is this game *fun*. Fun in the old-school way, too. Fun in the “We almost got him! His health is halfway gone!”, “Quick! run away from him! Distract him!” sort of way, too I had brief subconscious notion to dig a quarter out of my pocket ahead of time just in case I ran out of lives. There’s a ton of levels spread across five acts, tons of weapons, tons of spells, tons of enemies, and, well, tons of fun. I know saying a game “makes you feel young again” is a silly thing to say when you’re only 27 years old and still can’t grow a proper beard, but it does. “Sacred Citadel” manages to evoke nostalgia by ignoring it - taking itself and it’s universe fairly seriously, and isn’t afraid to play around with the formula in order to keep things compelling for gamers who may never have stepped in an arcade in the first place (speaking of feeling old...). Me and my friend played it for quite a while, kicking the crap out of ogres, checking out FB jokes about the captured bomber while giggling like school children who heard about a guy from nantucket for the first time.
For 1600 Microsoft points, or 80ish quarters, “Sacred Citadel” is absolutely a quality piece of software, especially if you have a friend or two (Up to three people can play ad-hoc on an Xbox) - and while your milage may vary, you could even rediscover a bit of that there beat em’ up magic that was all but lost when that arcade you loved (you know the one) closed down.
I currently review video games for Hollywoodchicago.com, and have been writing there for almost a year now, getting paid, essentially in free Xbox360 games. I really like the gig, my editor is pretty cool, and I've learned a lot by having a really steady stream of content to review and post. I'll include a couple of my reviews below so if you're so inclined you can read and levy brutal criticism at my talent or lack-there-of.
I also used to review IOS games for a website I won't name, and was paid about 10 dollars a review (plus the free game apps). Ideally, I'd like to be paid for my reviews, and reach an audience. I lost the "paid" gig after my editor said I had to give the app he created a five star review and say it was roughly the best sports game on the app-store, so I refused, and am down to one writing gig with Hollywood Chicago.
Of all the things I've done in my life: Movie Reviewing (worked for the late Roger Ebert), tech support, video-editing, video-production, copy-writing, and so on, *THIS* is the one thing I know for a fact I could happily do for the rest of my life. It's something I'm incredibly passionate about, and I want to take the next step.
I've applied to IGN, and got a Facebook message of all things from one of their employees that unfortunately went to my "Other" folder and I missed a message saying I should re-apply. I've applied to other sites, but often times they wouldn't have their stuff together, or they'd be start ups. I know it's weird, but I'd rather be a small cog in a big machine in this cage, versus one of the cogs that started it all.
So, anyway, below are a list of questions, and thanks again.
1. When it comes to applying to "known" game sites (Giant Bomb, IGN, Gamespot,) etc, are there typically free-lance, hourly, salaried positions, or is it more a one-size-fits-all mentality?
2. When typing an introduction, I often feel like I have (oh my god I can't believe I'm saying this) too much to offer. I have a degree in writing and producing, references, a resume with A+ and Net+ certifications, a video reel, and tons of reviews that I can show to a potential employer/editor. I know in writing that cover-letters are typically longer but is it better to hold back and focus EXCLUSIVELY on the writing I want to do, or should I include job history along with links to other skills and work I've done.
3. How open is this sort of thing among websites, and am I looking like an amateur when I contact sites asking if they're looking for writers via their "Contact us" box?
4. What is the going rate for game reviews in general, I imagine IOS reviews are paid less then full console releases, and for that matter, is it good to establish a rate I want to be paid in introductory e-mails, or wait for an employer to make an offer.
5. How do I get an employer to make an offer.
6. Press lists. I currently write for a blog "Scott's Blog of Doom" that gets a really good amount of traffic. When I was a movie critic their used to be one publicity agency in town, you'd e-mail them, tell them your outlet, and you'd get on the press list for screenings, etc. Is there a similar process with console games, and would it seem a bit back-handed to contact a developer directly about a game they're releasing to the app-store, then if I don't like it, give it a bad review?
7. How *hard* is it to get into this market? I know the rule is expect to be paid less and work longer for any job related to games that you can do for some other format, but I guess my question is, what are the odds of a guy who currently makes 35k a year being able to match that sort of income in an editorial position?
8. Does anyone know of a way to record video from an iPad or iPhone screen? I've googled and found some results, but if I ever wanted to get into video-review content, being able to record my IOS device's output is probably imperative.
Anyway, those are my questions, and my reviews are below for you to take a gander at and let me know if I'm barking up the wrong tree, here.
Thanks again, this is honestly the last one of these I'll post until I want to join the circus or something.
Dead Island: Rip Tide pulls you under
Much to the chagrin of practically everyone I know, the idea of “relaxing” is a bit...underwhelming (which is probably the point). Even with the crash of the waves, warm sand, girls in bikinis, surfing, snorkeling, and the ability to re-enact those Corona beer commercials, well, not to sound ungrateful to the Barbadoses and Bermudas of the world, I’d be bored in 10 minutes. But if you give me an arcade, or a golf course, or a football, and or, well, thousands of undead zombies, as is the case in “Dead Island: Riptide” suddenly we have ourselves a ball game.
“Dead Island: Riptide” is the sequel / expansion / upgrade to 2011’s “Dead Island”; a game that was the Frank Abagnale of a game’s mouth writing checks it’s ass couldn’t cash. By now most gamers know the story: an incredible trailer was released, played in reverse, featuring the destruction of a nice family (and their little girl), at the hands of the undead. It was touching, brutal, heart-wrenching, went viral, and was completely computer generated - featuring zero gameplay. There was absolutely no way the game would live up to it. And it didn’t. Instead you got a pulpy, open-world, skyrim-esque zombie adventure that was received lukewarmly by folks whom the trailer had interested. However, this time, “Dead Island: Riptide” seems a little under-hyped and under the radar, giving it a chance to meet, or exceed, tempered expectations.
However, first impressions are not great. After selecting one of a half dozen characters with special attributes, the game opens with a serviceable Sega light-gun-shooter-esque cut-scene with hammy narration and characterization explaining the plot of the first game, before locking you in an tanker, introducing you to a couple of evil military and business types, then challenging you to escape it before it sinks. Comparisons to “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare”’s opening mission notwithstanding, this sequence serves as a decent tutorial, and a terrible introduction to “Dead Island: Riptide”’s appeal, as you meander down corridors stopping every few seconds to backtrack long enough to thwack a zombie with some ridiculously low-powered crow-bar or police baton. The mission goes on quite a while too, and once you make it to daylight, thinking there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, it goes on for another ten minutes. Worse, once you complete this tutorial mission, you wash up onshore with literally none of the equipment you took time looting on the tanker - the game literally tricking you into wasting your time.
But fret not, following the loot-stealing shipwreck, “Dead Island: Riptide” starts to build steam from these initial missteps. For starters, you’re presented a relatively massive open world, teeming with weapons, items, vehicles, survivors, nooks, crannies, houses, trailers, caves, tree houses, and the walking dead. The zombies themselves are mostly of the 2004 “Dawn of the Dead” variety; fast, vicious creatures that hiss and ominously gargle on unseen Listerine as they try to feast on your brain. Killing these zombies is immensely satisfying, if not a little embarrassing due the carnage on display. Playing in my living room, surrounded by family members, I couldn’t help but notice the look on my mom’s face as she watched her college educated, gainfully employed, 27 year old son stomp yet another zombie’s skull into chiclets with carnal joy. Of course, my mother didn’t understand how frustrating gruesome death at the hands of the undead horde could be, and that the nature of the combat made those skull stomps the survival horror equivalent of NFL touchdown dances.
And what nature is that? An unforgiving one. Combat requires a good amount of precision, as backing away from enemy attacks and moving in, just in time to connect with a well placed jab or stab is the name of the game. Running in, weapons swinging, screaming at the top of your figurative lungs can net you some success, but tactical choices are encouraged, especially when it comes to managing your stamina bar that depletes with each swing, swipe, or stab in the face of a lot of enemies. Besides weaponry, “Dead Rising: Riptide” gives you a couple of fairly intuitive ways to combat enemies. Right trigger is your standard attack, sure, but supplementing this is the left bumper, which allows you to give enemies a quick boot that knocks them back, or stuns them. In moments of desperation, you can also hurl weapons at enemies using a combination of the left and right triggers. Using these skills in unison is imperative to success in “Dead Island: Riptide” when facing literally hordes upon hordes of zombies in the most difficult missions. It’s a blast, too. I realized combat had a bit more than meets the eye during a heartwarming side mission that tasked me with scoring coke from a zombified drug dealer. After dying at least seven times, throwing every weapon I had at the guy, I started to dodge his attacks, move in, stab, move back, dodge, move in, stab, and I eventually killed...well, re-killed, the undead menace - it was at this point that “Dead Island: Riptide” sunk its teeth into me - I was, officially, a fan.
Beyond the combat, “Dead Island: Riptide” is essentially an open world action-RPG in the style of Bethesda's “Elder Scrolls” series, minus the pretentious nature and massive development budget. You’ll accept a ton of quests from cardboard cutouts, journey through the island, kill monsters, complete side quests, level up, rinse, repeat, over and over and over again. It’s actually pretty entertaining, and for the right kind of gamer, “Dead Island: Riptide” is probably more appealing than “Skyrim” anyway, due to the change in setting, visceral combat and emphasis on multiplayer features.
Multiplayer features that missed an incredibly huge opportunity by not supporting same system co-op, by the by. Online, I completed several missions with a buddy over a bizarro combination of Xbox Live, Skype, and Facebook chatting, and it certainly added to the enjoyment of an already very enjoyable game, and horde mode is always good for some high-stress moments. The online multiplayer focus is welcome and seamless, as even when playing single player, random folks can join your game to help you complete missions, kill zombies, or insult your mother over headset. But still, the inability to sit next to someone in real space, and get my zombie smashing on, socially, is sort of unforgivable, considering “Borderlands”, “Call of Duty”, and even “Portal 2” contained same-system multiplayer features. Thus, a PS3 owning buddy of mine and myself ended up taking turns in the single player, lamenting how much fun we’d be having if we played together, system limitations be damned.
While I’m feeling sour, there are a few other negatives I’d like to address, Deep Silver. The game’s economy makes absolutely zero sense, as the tropical island you live on apparently has the world’s only supply of coin-operated workbenches. A big part of “Dead Island: Riptide” involves upgrading and crafting new weapons, which is neat, but the idea that you somehow have to pay money to repair and build things is a little silly, especially when something as simple as a Machete takes an upwards of two thousand dollars to repair. I understand why it’s in the game, to add another RPG element to the action / rpg formula, and to give space for some creativity, but as it stands, the economy makes zero sense. Additionally, of this writing, I haven’t really experienced any of the glitches I’d been promised by gaming message boards and chats with fellow owners of the game - but I’ve heard they’re there. My friend claimed that he’d be swinging away with one weapon, then suddenly be fighting with his bare fists for no reason, but that was something I couldn’t personally duplicate. My other complaints are more issues with this style of game, somewhat copy-pasted looking environments, cardboard characters, lots of back-tracking, inventory management, irksome weapon selection screens, and so on are present in most games in this genre, not just “Dead Island: Riptide” specifically.
What is specific to “Dead Island: Riptide” is its B-movie personality, relatively unique combat mechanics, and how well they combine to make for a surprisingly compelling experience. While ultimately derivative, I think certain gamers will find much joy in this software. In much the same way some people prefer “Mass Effect” over “Dragon Age” due to the Sci-fi setting, I prefer “Dead Island: Riptide” to “Skyrim” because zombies and sickles and tropical islands are more appealing to me than ogres and wizards and dwarves (oh my!). To be honest, as a journalist, I try to approach games with an open mind, but as an avid gamer, fan of the industry, and a media sponge fully aware of how overdone zombies are, I fully expected to hate “Dead Island: Riptide”. Instead, I kind of loved it in that, feet-up, brain-off, Corona-on-the-beach, sort of way.
Four Stars.
Sacred Citadel: A Retro Refuge
I like to think most everyone fondly remembers the golden age (roughly 1987 - 1991) of arcade-y side-scrolling beat em’ ups. “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, “The Simpsons”, “X-Men”, “Golden Axe”, “Double Dragon”, “Streets of Rage”, “Maximum Carnage”, and about a half dozen other games had the nation’s youth punching, kicking, jumping, and special attacking through quarter after quarter in the arcade, and continue after continue on their home consoles. As game technology blossomed (and Street Fighter II came out) these games eventually became fondly reflected upon relics. But, unless you’re, say, 7 again, or in an actual arcade, generally speaking side scrolling beat em’ ups aren’t particularly...good. The XBLA port of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” was lackluster at best. Missing was both the challenge of seeing how far you could get on your limited, parent funded quarter supply and the magic of discovering the world of videogames, one harrowing boss battle at a time. But, as I was soon to learn, there is always hope; This past Friday I booted up the relatively under-the-radar beat em’ up “Sacred Citadel” after haranguing my buddy Mary into playing it with me, literally minutes after the capture of the second marathon Bomber. And call me schmaltzy, but there couldn’t have been a more perfect time for some big, dumb, mindless, cathartic, fantasy-inspired cartoony violence.
“Sacred Citadel” makes a great first impression, especially in the A/V department. The menu music is addicting and up-tempo, the thumping baseline is completely different from the kind of thing you’d expect in a fantasy game, and there’s an interesting water-color-esque aesthetic that’s colorful and unique and harkens back to that golden age I was talking about before where bright colorful graphics reigned supreme. There are a few options like a brightness/volume adjustment slider, and the ability to turn blood on and off, but unfortunately you can’t re-bind the controls and there doesn’t appear to be multiple difficulty settings, either. Once the game begins proper (after selecting a character class: Mage, Shaman, Warrior, Ranger) you’re treated to a fully narrated introduction that kicks in some of that epic “Lord of The Rings” esque music that the menu smartly avoided. The narration is well acted, and while probably a bit of overkill for a silly beat-em-up game, I appreciated the effort SouthEnd studios devoted to immersing players in a world they normally wouldn’t have thought twice about.
The gameplay has heavy roots in the “Golden Axe” franchise, including the ability to ride mounts, drink potions, and activate special abilities to turn the tide against your foes that run the standard fantasy gambit from ogres to goblins to minotaurs and giant angry mutant boars. Combinations of X and Y will lead to several special attacks like uppercuts, bow strikes, and some class specific skills, as well, to add some depth to the button mashing. The real treat here is the inclusion of some quality RPG elements and a D&D subtext -you have a “character sheet” and everything.
When I reviewed the pretty terrible “Capcom Arcade Cabinet” I mentioned the best game in that collection was “Black Tiger” which took standard platforming tropes and added RPG elements like loot, mana, and a few other goodies to turn that game in a pretty unique experience. Similar features are present in “Sacred Citadel”. You earn both XP and gold from enemies, and they also occasionally drop weapons as well. Leveling up grants you new combos, while new weapons, armor, and secondary attacks become available for purchase as the game goes on. There’s also the ability to “enter town” after a level to purchase supplies, and an elemental, uh, element, exists where weapons can either freeze enemies, electrocute, or set them on fire. There’s a surprising, and quite frankly welcome amount of depth to “Sacred Citadel” and it’s those sort of elements that can make the beat em up’ genre relevant again.
But it kind of sucks that the game is equal parts easy and frustrating sometimes. In my research for the game I realized that I was having such success at it simply because whenever you hit an enemy, they become “stun locked” and can’t attack until you decide to stop mashing the X button or one of the other dozen enemies on screen get up in your face and damage you. Meanwhile, the boss fights are exercises in horrible frustration, and you’ll find yourself dying time and time again until you’re finally able to kill one. There are a few other hiccups, sometimes you’ll have a hard time figuring out if you’re on the correct plane to attack a bad-guy properly, there’s no friendly fire, and the lack of a modifiable difficulty setting is disappointing to say the least.
But, hoo-boy is this game *fun*. Fun in the old-school way, too. Fun in the “We almost got him! His health is halfway gone!”, “Quick! run away from him! Distract him!” sort of way, too I had brief subconscious notion to dig a quarter out of my pocket ahead of time just in case I ran out of lives. There’s a ton of levels spread across five acts, tons of weapons, tons of spells, tons of enemies, and, well, tons of fun. I know saying a game “makes you feel young again” is a silly thing to say when you’re only 27 years old and still can’t grow a proper beard, but it does. “Sacred Citadel” manages to evoke nostalgia by ignoring it - taking itself and it’s universe fairly seriously, and isn’t afraid to play around with the formula in order to keep things compelling for gamers who may never have stepped in an arcade in the first place (speaking of feeling old...). Me and my friend played it for quite a while, kicking the crap out of ogres, checking out FB jokes about the captured bomber while giggling like school children who heard about a guy from nantucket for the first time.
For 1600 Microsoft points, or 80ish quarters, “Sacred Citadel” is absolutely a quality piece of software, especially if you have a friend or two (Up to three people can play ad-hoc on an Xbox) - and while your milage may vary, you could even rediscover a bit of that there beat em’ up magic that was all but lost when that arcade you loved (you know the one) closed down.
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Stuff I can at least try to answer from stuff I've read in the past that has stuck around in my brain:
2) Include what you would want to see if you were hiring for the job. Basically, mention your most impressive portfolio pieces, things that demonstrate you can work on a deadline, and things that demonstrate your range (but only within the range that the job would requier).
3) It's probably better to know people but if the alternatives are "nothing" and "Contact Us," then, go for it I say.
4) From what I understand, it starts at jack shit for shitty websites and goes up from t here.
7) Let me put it this way: I've got literally hundreds of pages of amazing game writing bookmarked to read at some point (a list that keeps growing) and most of it was done for free on blogs, so you're entering a highly oversaturated market. But on the other hand I see absolute shit published on a daily basis by huge gaming sites.
Facebook: MeekinOnMovies
Twitter: Twitter.com/MeekinOnMovies
My 10 commandments of game reviewing
7 Great Games Playing Watch_Dogs will remind you of/url]
Far Cry 4: 10 Essential Features it Must Have
10 Videogames Ruined By The Hype
Good luck