Monday, November 28, 2011

Gaming for the Holidays

Hello gang didn't you miss me? I know I didn't. Anyway I'm back here with another blog entry about gaming for these holidays. Its only November, but I already have a ton of gaming related crap to get caught up on (even in Skryim and I've done alot with that already!) My next two gaming conquest will probably be the much anticipated Zelda: Skyward Sword, and Saints Row  The Third. I am bound to play a mainstream Zelda console release no matter what, and I just have to see how wacky and all out they went with Saints Row 3 . I was a big fan of SR2 because it was a sandbox game that let you do what everyone wanted to do, and of course that is run around and cause needless chaos in everything from hot dog trucks, to flying saucers.  The game also does not take itself seriously, which is a somewhat rarity in the sandbox crime games these days.  Oddly enough I already know exactly what to expect with Zelda. ( Running around in dungeons one of which will be fire themed, a forest themed one, and probably a water one among others)yet I'm going to play it anyway, and I will most definitely enjoy it(my face when it overtakes Ocarina of Time (cue trollface.jpg)).

As an aside now that the semester is winding down and free time will start popping up sporadically I've been getting into several oldschool CPS2 fighters lately, which started with me and my old internet pal in crime Sabin playing some Street Fighter 3 online(which is yes I know a CPS3 game). One CPS2 game I'd love to see get an all new non rehash entry is Darkstalkers, as it seems as of late the only real attention it has gotten was that PSP version a few years ago.

Either way until  I get my hands on Skyward Sword, and Saints Row I'll be hitting up the excellent Skryim and some more Castlevania HD.

DO YOU VISIT THE CLOUD DISTRICT OFTEN? WHAT AM I SAYING OF COURSE YOU DON'T. 

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Skryim First Impressions

So in my quest to thwart Microsoft and play Skyrim I had a curious idea to use a friend's xbox to put the game on my hard drive and play it from that. No doubt when I swap the systems back out I'll be greeted with my old pal the E66 screen, but either way this morning gave me a little time  to try out Skyrim and see what its like for myself. 

Right away players will notice that the game world feels much much more alive than Oblivion. While Oblivion had a good bit of stuff going on, Skyrim blows it out of the water. Characters look a lot sharper and more refined, a far cry from the pudgy sometimes puppet like characters of Oblivion. Everyone's favorite beast races have also undergone several aesthetic changes, which will make them much more pleasing to the eye, and more fun to play. Now granted I am only 3 hours into this game (and pretty much just on the main quest), but in that time I've done everything from fight dragons and bandits, to see a ram get ambushed by a bear(which promptly turned its sights on me). The gameplay is all there so far, and the mechanics have been improved as well. So far I've been unable to find a hotkey system for spells, which so far is my only complaint. Oh yeah improvements. For one thing the HUD has been minimized to show only what you need at the moment. It really gives more of an epic feel to pop the game into 3rd person and see your character in his armor of choice scaling a mountain on an epic adventure to wherever you want to go! I'm sure I'll have more to say once I get my Xbox situation situated which will hopefully mean a new model in the coming weeks. I almost hate to buy a new one but with the holiday season coming I know they will be on sale SOMEWHERE.  This time I'm buying new. Never again will I buy a used console that I don't know the owner of. Its just screwed me too many times.  The new gneration of consoles has brought us so much but look at all the pitfalls. Never did I ever have to worry about picking up a new NES or Gameboy and getting home to find my console won't play it. It was just never an issue, but now for all our technology and big  business's concern for getting every dollar we quickly might be screwing ourselves out of the gaming of the old days.

You are Gamerborn! The legend says you can play games and complain about them on the internet!

Sunday, November 13, 2011

How Microsoft stole Skyrim.

Hello gang its your pal Torentsu here with another tale of disappoint me. So I pretty much have the best girlfriend ever. She got me a copy of Skyrim for my birthday and gave it to me early because she knew how much I wanted to play it. Anyway I got home just a few hours ago and excitedly turned it on to be slapped with the E66 error I had been previously given a few weeks ago. You see my Xbox is used, so whoever had it last obviously had a disk read error and the idiot (probably Microsoft) swapped the disk drive out without flashing it to the correct checksum. Thus when the new disk upgrade update came out I got slapped with an Error 66 and accused of being a software modder/pirate by the smug moron on the other end of the Xbox help line.  Thus they refuse to fix my xbox, and I couldn't get online cause of the stupid update.

Flash foward a few weeks my two roommates and I start messing around with the Xbox hardware. One roomate had an old red ringed xbox so we decided to swap the disk drives and see what would happen. Sure enough I was able to successfully install the update. I'd have left that drive in but for some reason the old one refuses to actually play games, only DVDs. Either way I was back in business. Fast foward several months to the release of Skyrim. If Skyrim is in my Xbox it instantly red rings with E66. I'm not going to bother calling them, I know what they are going to say. Essentially my only option is to get a new Xbox. This may just be what I get for buying used, but at the same time its utter BS. I've been googling around and this same error is happening to some people who are using an out of the box Xbox. Despite this there seems to be no help coming from MS. They are much too worried about combating the small percent of people pirating Xbox games (vs the amount they are losing from used game sales ) . Either way I can safely say Sony will be getting my purchase when the next generation of consoles has come out. I'll most likely pay a bit more down front, but considering al lthe crap I had to get for my xbox, the fees to play online, and the poor poor treatment from customer service I will gladly skip taco bell a few weeks and pick up a PS3 instead.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Some Spooky Suggestions

Hey gang, its Halloween and that means its time for some scary gaming suggestions to all of you looking to be actually scared I have to suggest playing the Resident Evil Remake and the prequel Resident Evil Zero, both of which were originally released on the Nintendo Gamecube.  These games are challenging, and alot of fun to play, especially the first time through. I've never really been scared while playing a game except for the first time I played through the Remake on Gamecube, granted I was younger then but the game's atmosphere and pacing is just excellent. Couple the never ending supply of hungry monsters with the scarce ammo, and mind stretching puzzles, and you've got quite the experience.

The prequel Resident Evil Zero can also provide you with a few scares, but you might have to wait till night and play in the dark, as it doesn't quite give you that same feel as the RE Remake does. Add in the sometimes awkward switching system and the even more scarce ammo and you may find yourself a bit more frustrated than scared at times.

For those a bit more faint of heart who just want a scary good time without actually being scared, I recommend picking up an entry in the Castlevania series and hacking through some classic monsters. Which Castlevania you play however is up to you since the series spans over 20 years worth of titles all in varying genres.  If you like a challenging side scroller pick up one of the original NES series and give that a go. Dungeon Crawler fans might like the PS2 games, and of course for those Metroid type gamers any of the new entries or Symphony of the Night on the PS1 might just be the game for you. The price has also dropped on the very new age Castlevania Lords of Shadow which is a new take on the Castlevania universe, and does some interesting new things with some of the classic themes.  Finally if you've got friends pick up Castlevania Harmony of Despair on XBL and PSN and go on a hunt for the best items with all your online buddies

And for someone who wants a more philosophical sort of terrifying I suggest picking up Silent Hill 2 and being terrified that way.  The main character's odd yet familiar predicament, as well as the supporting characters, monsters , and storyline twist will leave you more than a bit frightened. Its all the scary of Resident Evil without the sometimes overdone bio weapons dun it plot.

Monday, October 24, 2011

DLC : Greed or Fair Business Model?

I got a text from an old friend Saturday, that said he had purchased Castlevania Harmony of Despair and that we should play it together sometime. After playing it a bit I realized that we couldn't use all the same characters together as I had some DLC he didn't have and vice versa.  This got me to thinking about the whole DLC conundrum going on nowadays. I always understood that  Downloadable Content was something that was released after a game had been out awhile to supplement the already there game features, fix problems in the release, and increase the fun offered by the base product. Now however, it seems like alot of the time you hear about companies  (like Capcom in MVC3) putting in content on a disc and then essentially making you pay for "DLC" to unlock the content.  Many have cried fowl on the issue saying that you're just making us pay for what's already there, but is it? One could argue that they are just streamlining it so you could get the content faster......but I just don't see it that way. The DLC I like to see is DLC that is made by developers post development and created to address problems/unfinished threads from the original game. Despite part of Skarlet being on the disc I really enjoyed the MK9 DLC. The characters were completely optional to the main game, but they found a way so that those who didn't care to purchase them could still play with those who did.

But back to the discussion at hand. Is it fair to put stuff on the disc and make people pay for unlock? To be honest game companies have every right to do so, but it just seems bad as far as how you are treating your customers. All the game companies make and sell games to turn a profit I understand this, but what happened to treating the customer right? Don't even get me started on these online "passes" as a way to make people who bought a game used pay for the online. Is it legitimate business? Absolutely. Is it somewhat rotten? Kinda so I think, but it is true that used game sales cost the game companies more than piracy. I only hope that at some point they won't start charging stores to sell used copies of their games and thus revving  up those prices for the standard consumer. Games are already expensive and us gamers have picked an expensive hobby (with consoles, games, peripherals replacement controllers after anger fits etc).

Anyway I hope companies continue to make add on content for their games, but I also hope they keep the customer in mind, and do the right thing.  Being that cool company that tosses a free DLC every now and then can cost you initially but I think the return from loyal fans willing to pay for content down the road  will more than pay for itself.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

The Gaming Drought

Hey gang, I've been a bit sparse on the updates, and that's because I don't seem to have alot going on on the gaming front right now. I've still been playing alot of Mortal Kombat and Dungeon Fighter Online lately, but that's about it. I took a quick glance to see what was due out for the rest of this month for the 3 current mainstays, but I really didn't see anything that was of interest to me. I suppose FPS guys might be looking forward to Battlefield 3, but sorry gang I'm just not that much of a fan of the modern day FPS. I can appreciate Halo and Modern Warefare for the decent game they are, but I just can't see how they are "revolutionizing" the FPS genre.  The FPS of yesteryear like Perfect Dark will always be my favorite type of FPS.

My apologies for the short entry.  If any readers want to hear about something in particular that's gaming related use your gmail account and drop me a line. There's also trentchaolan@gmail.com

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Games I'm looking forward to: Skyrim

It was really late to the latest generation of gaming consoles... well not late but all I had was a Wii. That may seem like a harsh statement but unfortunately all I've really enjoyed on the Wii this generation has been the first party titles.  The Wii is a great console and I salute Nintendo for not bowing to the powers that be and wanting to have the most powerful console. Nintendo focused on fun, and all their first party games have all been a blast. Unfortunately developers don't seem to be as on board as most of the big name third party titles these days are coming out for the PS3 and 360. When I finally got my own 360 3 or 4 years ago (probably less actually) I felt like an entire generation of previously unknown games were opened to me.  I've become a big fan of games that let you choose your own path (namely Oblivion), and titles such as Oblivion, Fallout 3 and New Vegas, as well as Saints Row 2 and Mass Effect have become a large part of my gaming nowadays.  So that I don't get too hyped and waiting becomes torture I've purposefully not looked at much stuff about Skyrim, but its definitely on my list of most looked forward to games.  Oblivion was a huge time sink for me, so I can only imagine what Skyrim will do to my free time (and probably some time that I don't have to spend).  I'm excited to see the kind of changes they are making to the leveling system, and also interested to see how the new perks system will work. To me it looks like a unique blend of rpg leveling, and Fallout 3's perk system. Although very similar, Fallout and Oblivion had a very different feel. I hope that they maintain that Elder Scrolls feel in Skyrim and that I don't feel like I'm playing medieval Fallout.  Atmosphere is something that can easily make or break a game. There are tons of games that have more features than say Zelda Ocarina of Time, but why is it OOT is the only game I've sat down to beat in one night? (As far as games that take a long time to beat). OOT's atmosphere was a product of the game's freshness and innovation at the time, and the game itself. Nothing can really surpass that....not yet anyway. I look forward to the day a new classic can be created. Regardless I feel like this has gotten off topic.  The current game I'm waiting on is Skyrim. What's yours?

Skyrim character idea:

Argonian warrior named Sucks-at-Spells

Thursday, September 29, 2011

The Content Retail Forgot

Did you ever watch a DVD and afterwords check out the special features? Among them were probably several deleted scenes. Scenes that contributed to the movie, but were cut from the final for one reason or another. Perhaps they didn't fit the time constraints of the movie, or they just fit in too awkwardly. Either way movies go through a lengthy design and development process including numerous cuts, and revisions, and games are no different. Games through Alpha, and Beta design stages, and just like in movies there is often alot of content that doesn't make the final cut.

While this should come as no surprise considering the long development schedules games these days go through did you know there is a ton of people out there who study this stuff extensively? You'd be surprised to see what was cut from your favorite game. Even games as old as the 80s carry Beta and Cut content. Did you know for instance, that Centipede has an unused enemy, the grasshopper. You can find the sprite for the grasshopper enemy in the final game by viewing the game's internal test menu. Check the below link. In the bottom right hand corner on the other side of the Scorpion you can see the unused grasshopper enemy's sprite.
http://tcrf.net/images/7/7a/Centipede_grasshopper.gif


Sites like The Cutting Room Floor http://tcrf.net/The_Cutting_Room_Floor and The Lost Levels discuss not only unreleased content found in games, but games that never got released as well. Thanks to generous collectors, and those dedicated to preserving the work of game devs everywhere even completely unreleased games can still be made available and preserved. I don't want to go on too much about this stuff, because if its interesting you'll read more on your own. Here's some links below to some really popular games that have tons of unused content that are great to read about.

The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time - http://tcrf.net/Ocarina_of_Time

Goldeneye 64 - http://tcrf.net/Goldeneye_007

Banjo- Kazooie -http://tcrf.net/Banjo-Kazooie

Super Mario World http://tcrf.net/Super_Mario_World

Grand Theft Auto 3 - http://tcrf.net/Grand_Theft_Auto_III

Search your favorite game  at : http://tcrf.net/

One of my old Castlevania Beta articles from Unseen 64 http://www.unseen64.net/articles/castlevania-64-beta-analysis/

Monday, September 26, 2011

America vs Japan : Censorship

Growing up in the 90s I usually took my video games for what they were. We all knew that games were released in other regions, especially Japan, and we for the most part assumed they were all the same just with a different language.

Enter the internet. Suddenly thousands of semi isolated gamers are able to be in contact with each other and share their knowledge of games they played at home and abroad, and more. Pretty soon it becomes clear that there were more differences with the games they loved at home and abroad than we had originally imagined.  I remember going on a site called The Odyessey Of Hyrule and reading about all the Triforce rumors. One I remember specifically was that in the Japanese version of the game you could obtain the triforce and there was a whole new ending where Link really defeated Ganondorf for good and you went to the Temple of Light, or something like that.  With what I know now about the game region conversion process I know that doesn't make any sense. Why would they go through all the trouble of programming all that stuff and take it out of the American version (that's not to say stuff like that hasn't happened, but its growing more and more unlikely. ) ?  In reality the majority of missed content here in the west is due to censorship.  During the 90s we all know about Nintendo's very very strict censorship policies which blocked anything with the slightest hint of sexuality, as well as extreme violence.  Why is it then that the Japanese version of so many games has such content that is deleted by the people who port these games?  Why do Japanese companies allow it in Japan but not here?

Its all just cultural differences in my opinion, it seems to me that America's big no- no thing was sexuality, where as in Japan they feel similar (but not exactly the same) about violence. If you look at alot of old Japanese animes they have tons of violence ( Hokuto No Ken), that would rival even American gore classics (say MK2). Despite this the Japanese version of Mortal Kombat 2 has greyed out fatalities and green blood. Ok so no violence for Japan, and no sex for American gamers right? Well its not that simple. If you look at a game like Super Castlevania 4 it had naked statues that got censored in America, but not in Japan, and in the dungeon level the "acid" was actually blood that got turned green for American gamers. Having studied the Japanese culture and its language for almost 5 years now I'm willing to say it has to do with the tastefulness of the violence.  Games likes MK put video game violence in the spotlight for a while in the 90s, but all that has seemed to fade. Often times we are seeing western games getting censored for Japan! Anyway as I was saying its about tastefulness in violence. Contradictory huh? We see animes where people get cut in half and blood spews from them, but the violence in say Mortal Kombat or Resident Evil 4 gets censored? Perhaps Japan sees this as just needless. MK was always about violence for violence sake (even though it admittedly doesn't take itself THAT serious). Perhaps the Japanese see some violence as necessary and artistic etc the classic samurai cut in half slash, Hokuto No Ken's exploding but not blood color violence. Games like Mad World, and Mortal Kombat that glorify violence and head choppingoffisms might just seem off color to the Japanese.

Either way each culture has its interesting quirks. I didn't talk more about sexual censorship in America, because more than likely you already know the story.  Both sides are starting to even out now however, and I feel like developers are getting more artistic freedom than ever in their creations.

- Torentsu

The ending to this entry originally featured me being sawed in half, but it was censored for the American release to just show me closing the entry instead.
 

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Numbers Online

I remember 2006 as the year I first had semi frequent access to non dial up internet, and with this a whole new slew of gaming options. The first MMO-ish game I played was a little 3D Shooter by the name of Gunz The Duel . Even with what was a "fast" connection at that time the download still took forever, but that night it finally finished and I found myself connected to thousands of other online users in a duel to the death.  Running and gunning each other down, gathering experience points, ever looking for new gear, and levels. Interacting with other plays like this was a new type of gaming for me. Here was constant multiplayer , with an untold myriad of adventures to be had. The feeling was awesome, and I'll never forget those first nights playing Gunz The Duel until early in the morning.  Pretty soon though, it was back to dial-up, and it was another few years before I finally had internet worth playing an MMO on again.  Not being one to pay for PC games most of my early MMO excursions were F2P(that's free to play) MMOS, and most of them were of the notoriously grindy Korean bunch. The first one I remember spending tons of time in was Acclaim's 9 Dragons.  I reached level 40 in this game before pretty much dropping it completely. The first few months were again, amazing. The experience of an online game, competing against other players to be the best, and a big open world was fascinating to me. Unfortunately, the more I played the more a sort of gnawing feeling grew at the back of my head- The feeling that I was simply doing the same thing over and over again.  Sure I was gaining a new level here and there, but the quests were all "fetch me x amount of this" or "Go kill X Amount of these." Sure I joined a clan, but what was that besides a few skills identical to all the other clans's skills, and a title by my username?  After dropping 9 Dragons I played several other MMOs such as Silkroad, Knight Online, and even some other MMO that was so similar that I can't remember the name. I even remember hearing about Requiem: Bloodymare which was supposed to be the new dark MMO to set the standard.....NOT. It was just a grind fest. It was a bloody grindfest, but a grindfest all the same. Its like every F2P MMO came from a same mold and just added in some sort of new "twist" that was supposed to revolutionize the market. Whether it be a night and days system, martial arts, violence, or a new type of economy system, they are all rather cookie cutter and the same. They all brag about a massive open world, but there's really nothing in it. Sure you can go explore the rolling fields and mountains of 9 Dragons, but there's really nothing there (except maybe some really nasty mobs that will destroy you). I mean I get it you can't place a rare treasure in a cave somewhere because then everyone will just camp it right? MMO mechanics have hurt MMOs I think. I pretty much quit them all together.
                                                                                                                          
Then came college, some people down the hall had some WoW installation disk and asked me to try playing it for a bit. Ok I said. WoW is a P2P MMO. Surely the extra cost will be befitting of some new features that will save my dying idea of an MMO! Nah, it was the same thing. Fetch me this, kill this. Oh but there are two sides you can play on! So what they are both doing the same types of quest, and the end games with its glorious “intense raids” are really just all about numbers. Get our stats to this so we can beat this to get gear that makes our numbers go up enough to do this and repeat.

Now I'm not bashing the MMO market. Its a great market for the gaming economy and MMOs can provide several hours of enjoyment, my problem is just isn't there SOME way to do online besides this cookie cutter niche the market has fallen into.  There's just go to be some kind of way to make a game fair without having everyone just click n' kill.  Amidst the sea of MMOs there are some that I have found to actually do things in a way that makes them different, and a lot of fun. 

Guild Wars - Probably the most traditional of the MMOs I'll talk about but its just fun to play. GW boasts an epic (and long) story spread out across instance based missions, as well as mini quest you can undertake along the way.  With the level cap at 20 players spend time playing the game having fun with missions and better characters, not because they have to grind just to get to the next part of the game.

Dungeon Fighter Online - This one is of Korean creation, but it is significantly less grindy than its counterparts.  DFO harkens back to the arcade beatem up action of yesteryear's arcades.  Players choose from a set of characters with abilities that actually have quite significant differences, and set off as "Dungeon Fighters" to battle their way through several different levels.  It’s an elegant blend of MMO style leveling and statistics, with a real time movement scheme that will give skillful players an advantage, because of their ability and not just because of  the numbers they have put up on the My Stats menu.

Phantasy Star Online - If you can find a way to play this one (especially on an online server) do it because it’s a blast.  There are 2 types of characters (human or android) and they divide up into other sets of classes that divide up into more types of classes.  There are story missions, but the real fun is hacking your way through dungeons with a party of your friends. 

- Torentsu

Those darn goblins have attacked the village again! What will we do! You have to help us stop them! Defeat 15 of them that should be enough!

Defeat 15 Goblin(s)
Accept  Decline

Monday, September 19, 2011

Torentsu lately

Hey gang I bet you thought this blog was dead didn't you? Well not unfortunately its not and I've returned once more to take my revenge on the gaming  community.  Lately the only things I've been playing are the new Mortal Kombat and Dungeon Fighter Online. Let me tell you why I think the new Mortal Kombat gets it right.


Its not that the whole slew of 3D MK games released post MK4 were bad( ok so maybe they kinda were), but they just lacked the MK spirit.  Several fans felt that MK4 was as sort of downhill turn, and honestly I can see why. MK4 is what introduced weapons as a serious factor in matches, and when they made the transition to a full 3D fighter MK4's weak weapon system became a large part of the game for 3 iterations. I could forgive Deadly Alliance because it was the first of the new fresh hip hop mad crazy straight up yo dog 3D MK's that were to follow. It did a few things right , but it failed to capture that MK feel, at least to me anyway.  Later on, they take the better part of  DA and churn out MK Deception, and of all the 3D MKs I'd have to say that Deception is my favorite. Its conquest mode was a great deal of  fun (albeit a bit barebones in its execution as a free roam game), and they brought back the characters that MK fans wanted to see, including Liu Kang whom they had just previously oh-by-the-way killed in the opening cut-scene of the previous game (spoilers lol). I really enjoyed Deception despite its flaws (one of which being how the characters looked like they were looking at a forty five degree angle rather than at their opponent).  Armageddon is honestly the MK I can't forgive. Despite having every character, a konquest mode, a kart mode, and create a fighter. All of the features are nice, but it feels like they didn't spend much time on any of them. Also to accommodate the large variety of fighters they have to cut fighting styles down to 2 per character . This would be acceptable except that for the most part they just shuffled the fighting styles of previous 3D MK Kharacters into all the other characters, with some characters being left with a random style that really doesn't flow well by itself.  Also don't get me started on character endings which are just text with a character doing a kata. These look extremely stupid when you have a giant character like Onaga dancing around like Daniel from the Karate Kid.  They also decided to make Blaze(a bonus half done character from DA) the penultimate boss of the current MK Story arc, and as a final blow from the laziness side of the ring they made Blaze nothing more than a reskin of Onaga with a few new moves (including such new and exciting moves as the roll!). He even has the same death animation.

Well forget all that garbage because the new MK tosses all that out and goes back to 2D in what feels like the true successor to MK3.  MK9 is a retelling of the first 3 MK games with the added twist of being in an alternate reality to the first games .  3D MK's rather quickly done Konquest Mode is replaced with a story mode that lets you see exactly how the new 3 tournaments play out. As if that wasn't enough they've even given us classic ladder mode with endings for every character (DLC crew included) . Even with all the features of a next gen MK Game (and more) game play is really what it comes down to, and this MK does not disappoint.  The 3D graphics actually translate very well into the old style type of MK game play. Keep in mind when I say old style I'm referring to the 2D nature of the earlier MK games.  MK9's gameplay is in 2D but it actually takes what was left of the 3D MK games and puts it to good use. The most basic combo commands work like they did in the newer 3D bunch, but the more advanced combos will force you to think in MK3/MK2 mode. Throws are still streamlined to one button like in the 3D games but it works pretty well actually. The team even took a page from Tekken (a series that Ed Boon is known to be fond of ) and made it so that you can escape throws with a certain combination depending on whether they are a forward throw or a backward throw.

With mechanics down-pat the team no doubt sought to capture that violent feel of the old series that at the same time didn't take itself too seriously. There's decapitations, blood sprays and survivable blows that should be  fatal yes, but babalities and other quirks that gave early MK a sense of humor have also returned. Its always been amazing to me how MK maintained its level of violence and the seriousness of Earth-realm's situation without being losing a certain of humor . Who couldn't love MK favorites like Toasty! , Aww Man (from the dead pool), and "Its official, you suck?"

I'm purposefully leaving out several features that you'll find in the new MK because you really need to play it to get a feel for it.  If you want to play me online and embarrass me add me on XBL as Torentsu2. Torentsu is also me but I don't play on that account anymore. Long story.

I wrote this with Sheena Easton's 9-5 stuck in my head, and also no I didn't proofread it out of respect for descriptivism.