Games Cheats and Reviews

Following last year’s release of ‘The Ocarina Of Rhyme,’ a remix album featuring beats from Nintendo’s seminal game franchise, Team Teamwork has given Square’s long running role playing series the same treatment with this week’s release of ‘Vinyl Fantasy 7.’ Taking original musical compositions from Final Fantasy 7 and remixing them with a who’s who of hip hop (and even Tom Waits),  Team Teamwork continues to impress with infectious takes on tunes which hold such nostalgia for many gamers. I recently was able to catch up with the man behind the curtain, Timothy Jacques, and ask a few questions about the new disc.

Eric: From your work on the Ocarina of Rhyme album, is there anything you learned and improved upon in the time between it’s release and that of Vinyl Fantasy 7?

Tim: I’ve learned a lot since last March about what makes for an interesting beat. More importantly, I’ve learned a substantial amount about what to listen for when mixing a track. As a result,VF7 sounds a lot more cohesive and consistent than Ocarina.

Eric: Is there any difference or difficulties that are associated with making remixes from game music as opposed to those on The Good-Ass Remixes (Team Teamwork’s ‘Traditional Remix’ Album)?

Tim: Working with a limited amount of tracks makes it easier to get stuff done because it’s more of a “make it work” mentality, but it’s also easier to get frustrated with the constraints of such a small set of sounds.

Eric: Was it harder narrowing down the specific musical choices from Final Fantasy 7’s expansive soundtrack or picking the songs featured from Ocarina of Time?

Tim: Holy crap, yes. With Ocarina, I only cut 2 demos from the final. With VF7, I ended up deleting more songs than I used. Something like 16 tracks that I put together didn’t make the album.

Eric: Being that I am one of your followers on Twitter (which has it’s advantages, such as an early copy of Vinyl Fantasy 7), I noticed that the tracks were re-ordered for the final release, can you tell me the reasoning behind this?

Tim: The tracks, in their final order, are almost entirely chronological to where they appear in the game. The exception is the last track, Save Me Dear. [SPOILER] Aeris dies (the sample in track 12) way before you fight Sephiroth (the sample in track 11). I wanted Save Me Dear to be the last track because it’s my favorite.

Eric: Seeing that Danger Mouse got his big break from remixing Jay-Z’s Black Album with the Beatles White Album, to form the Grey Album, do you have ambitions to become a full time musician?

Tim: It’s still just a fun hobby. But I don’t see myself quitting any time soon.

Eric: Follow up Question: If you could form a Duo, much like Danger Mouse has done with Ceelo (Gnarls Barkley) and James Mercer (Broken Bells), who would it be with, and what style of music would you make?

Tim: That’s a really hard question. I really like working solo because, unless I have a deadline, there is no stress at all. But If I had to think of one off the top of my head, I’d do a Madvillain/Soul Position-style team with Bun B or a Broken Bells-style team with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.

Eric: I know you have found recognition on the Internet from the success of Ocarina of Rhyme, but have any artists or other celebrities commented on the remixes (If it hasn’t the inclusion of self proclaimed video game enthusiast Murs on Vinyl Fantasy 7 may change that)?

Tim:Drug Rug and Mum, two great bands that I sampled on Good-ass Vol. 1, responded very positively to the remixes I made that sampled them, and one of my favorite comedians, Aziz Ansari, blogged about Ocarina. That was pretty astounding.

Eric: You’ve stated that your future musical ambitions include remixes from Capcom’s Megaman series, since up to this point you have been remixing synthesized orchestral music with Ocarina of Time and Final Fantasy 7, do you think it’ll be a challenge to work with the chiptune melodies of the NES?

Tim: I don’t think it’ll be any more of a challenge. It still has a melody, bass-line and drum part. If anything, it might be easier, since there are MIDI files set up with the notes easily editable But if that ever comes to fruition, it’ll be a long time from now.

Eric: What are your thoughts on the nerd-core sub-genre of Hip Hop ie. MC Frontalot, MC Chris etc.

Tim: It’s okay. I like MC Chris. But as nerdy as I am, I’m not all that familiar with the genre.

Eric: Any game soundtracks or hip hop albums from the past year that you thought stood above the rest?

Tim: For hip hop albums: Freddie Gibbs’s Midwestgangstaboxframecadillacmuzik mixtape is really excellent; Edan’s Echo Party;  Diplo and Benzi’s Fear and Loathing in Huntsvegas mixtape; Oh No’s Ethiopium; and of course J Dilla’s Jay Stay Paid. As for video game soundtracks: the score for Borderlands set the mood of the game pretty well. But none really stood out to me.

Eric: Finally, If you could perform one track from either Ocarina of Rhyme or Vinyl Fantasy 7 live with the MC’s featured in the remix, which would you choose?

Tim: Knockin’ Doors Down (Hyrule Field) by Pimp C, Lil Keke and P.O.P. because in order for that to happen, Pimp C would have to be brought back to life.

Thanks to Tim aka Team Teamwork for taking the time to discuss his third full length album with me. The full album can be downloaded at Team Teamwork’s website (for free), but if you dig it, throw a couple bucks his way, because I really want that Megaman remix album…right now, seriously. I think vast sums of money could go a long way in speeding up the creative process — amirite?

If your fondest arcade memories are of playing gratuitously violent games without your parents knowing, then Microsoft’s Game Room probably won’t give you the sense of nostalgia you’re looking for. According to a Microsoft representative, there are no plans to carry Mature or even Teen rated titles in the feature.

“Games available for download within ‘Game Room’ will carry either E or E10+ ratings,” this representative said to GamerBytes (via Kotaku). “We currently have no plans to feature titles of those [higher Teen and Mature] ratings.”

The reasoning behind this is where things get a little tricky, though. Originally, GamerBytes reported that Microsoft elected to get an ESRB rating for the Game Room feature itself, rather than have to rate every title that will launch within it. As such, they limited themselves to E and E10+ games only, and will have to continue to do so for every new game released for Game Room. The logic here is this will save Microsoft tons of money in ESRB rating fees since they supposedly wouldn’t have to rate future games for the service.

Game: Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond
Developer: Vicious Cycle Software
Genre: Side-scrolling Shooter
Verdict: A hilarious arcade shooter that satisfies the nostalgia for a great old-school side scroller.
Pros: Hilarious dialogue and one liners, awesome parodies of other video games, good game mechanics.
Cons: Hard, hard as hell,and hell gave up playing on the highest difficulty, no online co-op.
Acquired: Developer Provided
Price: 1200 Microsoft Points ($14.99)/$14.99 on Playstation Network

Matt Hazard is back, and he’s better than ever – if you call being reverted to 2D better. Thanks to the folks at Vicious Cycle Software, the world is once again graced with a tale of everyone’s favorite self-aware video game character, Matt Hazard, and once again, his very existence is in danger.

Bu-du-bu-bu-du-bu…bu

In Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond, Matt’s old nemesis, General Neutronov, has hatched a new scheme to rid himself of Matt. Rather than face Matt head on, Neutronov has gone back in time and kidnapped the old…errrr…younger 8-bit version of Matt.  As Matt chases Neutronov through the server in order to rescue himself…his self…hisself…feh, nevermind, he must traverse the worlds of his fellow heros. These parodied worlds include those of Super Mario Bros., Mirror’s Edge, Team Fortress, Portal, Bioshock, and many more.

Matt, being the self-aware character that he is, is quick to throw out a witty comment on almost everything he encounters. In one boss encounter, Matt faces a Johnny-5 style robot (Short Circuit, circa 1986. If you’ve never seen this film, walk away from this review and go watch it. I’ll be here when you get back) aptly named Juliette-5. During the battle, Matt quips aloud, wondering if Juliette-5 is still alive (again, a reference to the movie that you should have now watched). Matt’s good buddy and all around voice-in-his-head, Quentin, has his share of funny moments too. When Matt heroically faces off with a gargantuan boss that is a mix between an elephant, a hippopotamus, and a rhino, Quentin asks what one calls such a mix – brace yourselves…get ready for it…a h-eleph-ino. Ha, get it. A hell if I know. That’s funny…right? Fine. Don’t laugh. I thought it was hilarious.

H-elep-ino!

All joking aside (ok, most joking aside), Blood Bath and Beyond is a very well done game. The shooting mechanics are very much like Shadow Complex, while the level design and power ups are reminiscent of Contra. Enemies are appropriate to the level in which they reside, and they are plentiful. By far, in this writer’s opinion at least, the best enemy type in the game is the Mountie-driven moose-head tank in the Canadian level. That’s aboot…about as funny as it gets. The bosses are also fun, becoming more outlandishly awesome as the game progresses.

One cannot talk about this game without mentioning the difficultly level. I started the game on “Damn, this is hard”, which would normally be considered the “normal” difficulty. This difficultly level gives you five continues to use throughout the game. I would never claim that I am the best gamer around, but I’m not a neophyte either. On this setting, I was dead and out of continues by the fourth world. It is not often that I have to drop down to casual, “Wussy” in this game, to give myself infinite continues. To be honest, “Wussy” was challenging, but doable. I’m sure that “Damn, this is hard” is doable as well, but I did not have the time to continue to mess with it. The hardest difficulty level is called “Fuck this shit,” and I surmise that it was implemented just so the developer’s can laugh their asses off each time they hear a story of someone attempting it. If anyone has beat an substantial part of this game on this difficulty, get it one video and post it on YouTube. You will be considered a video-game god.

It's Doc. He's alive.

Graphically, this game is beautiful. It has the expected high-definition sheen, though it only runs as high as 720p. The character’s are well done, and the environments are gorgeous at times. It also has a pseudo-3D element, which allows some enemies to be in the background and allows Matt Hazard to shoot into the background. Though the game is pretty to look at, the developers poke fun of themselves by describing certain events between scenes with text similar to, “and the lab exploded in a monstrous explosion that would have been way out of budget for us to put into a cut scene.”

Sound is also well done in Blood Bath and Beyond. It is not stellar, but it is good. The sound effects are what you would generally expect from a shooters (explosions, guys groaning in death, etc.). The level music is very reminiscent of a good ’80s side-scroller, complete with an intensity change in the songs during the boss fights. There is nothing bad to say about the sound in this game, but there’s nothing great to say either. It was well done, but that is all.

Honestly, Blood Bath and Beyond is one of the better Arcade games that I have played. It clocks in at about four hours of gameplay, and for $14.99, that is definitely worth it. It does incorporate a co-op element that I did not have a chance to try during my review period, but that just gives me an excuse to replay the game on a harder difficulty level. Unfortunately, the co-op gameplay is onscreen only; no online guys. Sorry. If you like parody games and like the feel of Contra and Shadow Complex, go grab Blood Bath and Beyond. If you’re not sure that you want to drop $15 on chance, then go grab the demo, which is available on both Xbox Live and the Playstation Store. Whatever you do, don’t think that you’ll be able repeat one of the one-liners from the game to your wife and she’ll laugh as hard as you did. I tried; it didn’t work.

Sharing: It’s Win/Win

TPG writes: "With a name like Doom, how could you go wrong? Lets face it folks, this is one of those classics that not only defined a genre, it marked a cultural milestone that is looked back upon by gamers with reverence and politicians with ire. No longer was gaming something that was "just for kids." For the first time, parents had to genuinely be concerned about what their babysitter of choice was teaching their children. Simultaneously, the responsive controls and groundbreaking perspective cemented the first person shooter as the genre of choice for an entire generation of impressionable youth. In short, Doom kicked off a revolution in the world of gaming. The question is, can Doom Classic bring about a similar insurrection on the iPhone, or is this nothing more than vacant nostalgia?"

Koku Gamer writes: "The Sega Genesis is a venerable piece of equipment in my house. Like many though, my system and its games often rest in a sealed plastic container to keep it free from dust and other threats. Even though contemporary games garner most of the attention of consumers these days, rightly or not, it is always a thrill go back to the games that you grew up on. From time to time, I set up the Genesis and play a few games with my brother and it brings back great memories. While the emulation of these games on programs like GENS or Kega Fusion would suffice and roms are plentiful, they do not give the full experience – the original controller in your hands and a mind numbingly dull Sanyo television bolster the experience immensely. Nostalgia for the console has gotten to such a level that new games on cartridges have even come out in the last few years. The following games are such fun that they force me to turn on the Genesis regularly because they stand the test of time."

Portable Gamer writes: "This game reminds me of my favorite RPG: Skies of Arcadia. The characters are similar and, of course, there’s the presence of airships. However, this story isn’t like most of the others I’ve seen. Though there isn’t a lot of replayability here, but the combination of new storyline and familiar controls makes for a great game that you can jump into and enjoy immediately. Kids will enjoy this game as well, and with everything I’ve mentioned about ease of control, you can rest assured that they won’t be asking you every 5 seconds for help. With the world map that is true in placement and relation between destinations, coupled with destinations that actually exist, they may even learn something. So sit back, relax, and allow yourself to enjoy this guilty pleasure. Don’t worry, we won’t tell them it’s not real-time fighting."

GamingUnion.net writes, "Rewind the clock some 120 odd years, turn history on its head by way of airships and magic, and you’ll have the ground work for Ignition Entertainment’s latest Nintendo DS RPG, Nostalgia. Developed by a lot of the same folk behind Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV for the DS, Nostalgia is a fully 3D adventure staring Edward "Eddie" Brown as he searches the world for his lost father. With strong titles under the development team’s belt, one would imagine innovation and refined quality would lie within their latest foray, but a tale of adventure is bound to be full of surprises."

This week’s Evil Bits Review is of Namco’s Burger Time Deluxe. It’s good for a bit of nostalgia but you might want to try before you buy.

Nostalgia, the classic RPG from Red and Tecmo is coming to NA. Although it has been delayed, Ignition has plenty of medias to show us about it.

District 9 was a sci-fi film that featured the debut of director Neil Blomkamp produced by Peter Jackson. They dropped production of the upcoming Halo movie and worked together to churn out District 9. Half-Life 2, like District 9, is both technically brilliant, emotionally wrenching, and is an action packed adventure that leaves your jaw on the floor when after all is done. This piece is in no way intending that Neil Blomkamp blatantly copied Half-Life 2 for in the creation of District 9. This is just merely for fun.