The Gamer Studio

The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction

Often times license character games are horrible. Maybe the fact that the developers have to follow strict guidelines, or maybe it is the fact that they are often rushed leads to the complacency. Whatever the reason, it is rare that anyone comes across a game featuring characters we all know that is worth the play time.

One exception to the rule happens to be “The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction”. Developed by Radical Entertainment, this free world gem takes what an unpopular character (lets face it, outside of the comic world, The Hulk has taken some tremendous losses) and turns The Hulk into what a game featuring the green giant should be, resulting in total destruction and a little piece inside of you screaming “Hulk Smash” every so often.

The free roaming world that you encounter doesn’t really seem to get old. You’re The Hulk, and after an intro mission, you’re unleashed in an unsuspecting city. You are able to do just about anything you want, from throwing citizens into buildings up to destroying the buildings themselves. There are also side missions for you to take care of, as well as check on how much destruction you can cause before the man comes down on you.

Yes, you are able to do that from the beginning of the game, but there is also a nice story waiting in the wings. Your mission is to find a cure to save yourself from…yourself. Evil Hulk is about to unleash himself on the world. Seems quite simple right? Wrong, as there are more than enough people around to try to interrupt Bruce Banner’s quest for inner peace. The Hulk is still being chased by the military, and there are some other elements that are out to destroy everything The Hulk may stand for.

Not the perfect game by any means, there are segments that feel kind of boring. There is the move set, which while robust, eventually whittles you into using the same moves. These moves make the game incredibly easy at times. Also some missions can just feel like you’re doing busy work until the boss battles. The enemies tend to be limited as well, which makes the game feel redundant.

No matter to those flaws though, this fame was an important stepping stone for Radical Entertainment and provided The Hulk with something that is actually playable. If improved upon, their latest, Prototype should have some GOTY buzz in a year of heavyweights such as Metal Gear Solid 4, Call of Duty 5, Mario Kart Wii, Grand Theft Auto 4 and Super Smash Brothers Brawl. If you have it, go enjoy and if not, I am sure it’s available for cheap at your local shop.

Prototype Trailer:

Ninjas Rule

Alright folks, it’s time to put down the Dual Shocks and Wiimotes, as well as those 360 controllers. Let’s turn back the clocks to 1987 and look at a little game known as The Last Ninja for the Commodore 64, developed by System 3. While browsing on a gaming forum, I came across a thread that had all sorts of C64 titles. Naturally, The Last Ninja sounded the coolest so I looked it up on www.youtube.com. Holy shit, for 1987, this game was pretty bad ass. The gameplay is classic and the sound is amazing for 1987. The music rocks, it sounds better than most Sega Genesis games! Nah, just kidding…But in all seriousness this game was ahead of its time. There is no C64 gamer that has not heard of Last Ninja. There are 3 games in The Last Ninja series. I encourage you to check them out. You can see how this game laid down the foundation for future ninja-like games and even some RPGs.

The Last Ninja - Part 1/2

The Last Ninja - Part 2/2

Like what you saw? Here's the sequel.
The Last Ninja 2 Part 1/2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCNMcUzQ3Ws&feature=related
The Last Ninja 2 Part 2/2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm-kEH1d8zM&feature=related

Grandia - To the End of the World and back

   

A kid named Justin walks around a bustling city, looking for 4 legendary items that would decide the fate of his childhood friend, Sue. If he can find them, then she wont have to proceed down the path of evil and join evil gangster Gantz. Your pulse races as you run around and find...pots and pans?

Yes, to those who are aware of the a gem that was released in 1999 for Playstation, the above blurb will invite them to chuckle.Grandia had that sort of appeal. I know when I popped in the game, I was annoyed by that first quest. The city was large and confusing ( I had not discovered the magic of the select button) and I almost gave up on the entire game becuase my patience was running severly thin. I eventually found the items and luckily, continued on to play one of the greatest RPG's I ever experienced.

I knew it from the first time I entered the world map, I was going to enjoy the next few days of play. The first thing I noticed,being a heavy Final Fantasy player, was the lack of random battles. The mystery was gone, and I couldn't be happier. That was until I actually got into my first battle. It took my breath away.

To say it frankly, the Battle System was ground breaking. An exceptional mix of timing and strategy, it took away all the usual random battle elements of a usual RPG, and replaced them with a bar that had everything laid out in front of you, a feature called the IP bar that would show the time between your choice, the charging between the actual combat, and the cooldown period, giving the feeling of reason towards every rhyme. The field was reprecented in a dynamic fashion, where stance and placement were key. This all played into the combat phase, where you could choose to hit your opponent a set number of times ( depending on the items in you pocession) or taking a chance and ruining your opponents turn by hitting him with a critical. If your character is placed to far away, you would end up to far from your selected enemy, and waste a trun running towards him. If placed right, you would find yourself close enough to land a hit(s). Again, timing was key, becuase the IP bar was running whenever the combat started, and the critical, while powerful used correctly, was almost useless if used incorrectly. Your magic (divided into elements) and specials came with status effects and didnt care your spacing. They also always hit, but with that comes a different gauge of success. They deemed the character inactive for a set amount of time, so they had to make thier mark. Combining these were key, and when mastered, gave me the feeling of a Battlefield General.

The two disc epic had its fill of twists and plot shifts that left you feeling satisfied once you finished the final boss. The characters are developed fully, which makes you care what happens to them. The dialouge is wonderful, as even the towns people have something that is useful to you, and if nto, something interesting or funny to state. They make it worth your time to go around the town and talk to peoplle. Its good that the usual " Good Morning" or another boring filler message is given, becuase it adds another layer of depth.

It was the normal story sandwhich that had a once normal kid save the world. But the differences in the meat, such as the dialouge and the battle system that make this RPG a gem. Its a game that I dont mind revisiting every so often, and thats something I don't say often about RPG's. For those who havent had the fun of use this column as an excuse to experience it. You won't be dissapointed.