The first noticeable difference in BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger is having only three different attack buttons and a ‘Drive’ button, instead of Street Fighter’s six button kick / punch configuration.  Most fighting games these days also seem to have a character roster as long as both your arms but we’re left to make do with only twelve here.  That’s certainly no bad thing in this case, with every character being as diverse and imaginative as you’d expect from the makers of Guilty Gear.  Having got some serious time into the game I’m still only just feeling my way into the characters abilities and the fighting system, as the title just feels so very different to Street Fighter, and yet so similar in others.

The game offers up various modes of play: Story Mode, Vs and Online being staple choices, but with no tutorials offering up information as to the way all of these moves can be chained together, notes on strategies for the double jump, or how the various gauges work, it really does take a leap of faith and a large hammer to try and get behind this impenetrable wall of fighting mechanics.

So why keep playing a game that seems to offer up so little in the way of rewards? Because it’s so much fun, that’s why.  BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger looks absolutely gorgeous and it’s very easy to fall into the ‘one more go’ mentality when playing, gently caressing your senses with a combination of beauty and wonder that never seems to bleed into frustration like so many other fighting games.  It has a far superior online mode to Street Fighter 4 to boot – a true marvel of the modern fighting era.

If you like fighting games, then stop waiting for Super Street Fighter 4 and go out and buy BlazBlue.  Give it time and you may just be given a glimpse into the future of 2D fighting games.

MLG Rating: 9/10

Platform: Xbox 360 (Playstation 3, PC)  Release Date: 02/04/2010

Disclosure: Midlife Gamer were provided a physical copy of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger for review purposes by the publisher. The title was reviewed over the course of 10 days on an Xbox 360. For more information on what our scores mean, plus details of our reviews policy, click here.

There were about twenty five of us waiting in the lobby ready to get our hands on the game, but first we had to be introduced to the game by Capcom’s UK PR Manager, Leo Tan.

He did a wonderful job of explaining the whole Monster Hunter experience to us, and for anyone who doesn’t know about the Monster Hunter phenomenon, here’s the basic premise.

It’s a skill based, third person action role playing game with elements of a massively multiplayer online game intertwined within it. You hunt and kill massive monsters, carve them up and use parts of their bodies to create stronger weapons and armour to be able to kill larger and more dangerous monsters.  It really does take the best elements from a lot of games and combine them to make something quite unique with hundreds of hours of gameplay. In Japan it has sold well over one million copies in just four months from release.

The new ecology system in the game in one of the main upgrades from previous games.  Large creatures hunting smaller ones for food, packs of smaller creatures ganging up on larger ones, all striving in the quest for survival.  It really makes it feel like a living and breathing organic world that you’re part of.

Swimming and underwater creatures are also a new addition in Monster Hunter Tri, and although Leo assured us how great it was, I had my reservations.  Underwater sections in games are rarely fun, but he had done a impressive job of convincing me otherwise and anyway, I was to be playing it very shortly so I would see for myself.

One of the things I really like about the franchise is that your character class is determined by which weapon you have selected to use, not by selecting a class at the start of the game, for which you are stuck with.  You don’t like getting up close and dirty with a huge sword? Select one of the bows from your item chest and get back out onto the plains as a ranged class fighter, keeping your distance and fighting from a slightly safer perspective!  They have removed some of the weapons from Freedom Unite, but have added an awesome new weapon.  The Switch Axe.  It transforms from a large axe into an even bigger sword.  A very powerful weapon indeed, but only if you use it correctly.

The Main Hall

After the short presentation, we were let loose onto the main floor, and whilst I took a few photographs of our surroundings everybody else lept onto the single player machines.  That left the remaining few of us to man up, introduce ouselves to each other and head out onto the plains in a four player co-op game.

Qurupeco

Three creatures were available to hunt on one level in the demo that we played. The ‘easiest’ monster, ‘Qurupeco’ was first on our list to hunt and kill and with a fifteen minute time limit it wasn’t going to be easy.  All the machines were set up with the new ‘Classic Pro Controllers’ which felt excellent in the hands, if a little light, being slightly larger than the original ‘Classic Controller’ for the Wii.  It’s very comparable to the Playstation 3 controller, although the dual anaolgue sticks are slightly further apart.

You would normally receive fifty minutes to complete a quest, but as we had a reduced time limit, the monster’s location was already revealed to us on the map so after getting used to the controls we were heading straight for him.

As we entered his area and started attacking, we could tell it was going to take some time.  The other three players were using hand held weapons which meant they had to be up close and personal.  I was staying a fair distance away with my bow but was able to switch my ammo at will from the poison that I was using on the creature, to a medicine ammo to be able to heal other memebers of my party.  I was seriously revelling in my new found medic role, keeping my team at full strength as they were being bitten and stamped upon by our foe.

Rathian

Every now and again the Qurupeco would fly straight up in the air and hover, letting out huge screams of terror, which I thought were from the blows raining down on him from my bow, but he was actually calling for backup.  Within moments a massive ‘Rathian’ type dragon creature was upon us, splitting up the party and generally getting in the way.  Not wanting to fight them both, we let a few dung bombs off at our targets and made our escape to another area to take stock and to come up with another plan.

Eventually we ran out of time.  Our fifteen minutes were up and we were returning to base empty handed.  We didn’t even need to look at each other, we just started the demo again and were straight back in the hunt, tracking our foe again.  This time we were successful and let out a massive cry of joy as he finally slumped to the floor.

Next we tackled the second creature ‘Barroth’ and were again successful after a second attempt.  Although we were in the same level as the previous fight, the smaller monsters on the plains had changed, and we were getting to explore the environment a little more.

Full exploration of the map was complete with the third and final Monster challenge, ‘Lagiacrus’.  A huge underwater reptile like creature with a long neck and a huge tail.  As we approached the edge of the water, our onscreen charaters took a little jump then dived into the murky depths.  Leo was absolutely correct.  The swimming was awesome and more akin to flying in a three dimensional space.  Holding down the ‘run’ button acheived a faster swimming pace and pressing the button that would normally ‘quick roll’ you from danger produced an even faster ‘barrel roll’ that would help you evade danger, and not an air meter in sight. We were in awe just watching the creature swimming and moving through its natural habitat. The game really does look stunning.

This was my first outing with Monster Hunter multiplayer and it adds so much to the game it’s going to be hard not to play multiplayer straight away, although you do have a new companion to take with you on single player quests.  Nearly two hours had passed in what seemed like the blink of an eye.

Capcom have also managed to elimate the need for the dreaded 16 digit friend codes that Nintendo has adopted for its online service.  You’ll just have to register your character’s name with Capcom’s servers and you’ll be able to find your friends online very easily, in the way that Xbox Live or the Playstation Network service is used.  Voice chat is also available through the ‘Wii Speak’  periphiral, which is basically just a microphone which picks up anyone in the room which will add to the fun.

The game will be available by itself, bundled with the classic controller pro, or in a Monster Hunter Exclusive Edition which includes the new pro controller and the Wii Speak microphone.  I know which one my money is on and I can’t remember a game that I’ve been looking forward to this much. Serious, serious fun.

Monster Hunter Tri is released in the UK on the 23rd April 2010.

I do remember though, back in the very early nineties, spending whole weekends in front of my TV, exploring uncharted worlds, fully immersing myself in the holy land of video games.

Those were the days.  The days of my youth, and how I remember them fondly.  Never to be repeated, now that I’ve got myself tangled up in real life.

Yet it has happened again, and with an almost clinical addiction, I continue to explore Bioware’s Mass Effect universe, wondering whether two or even three playthroughs, is going to satiate my need for this wonderful science fiction realm, and that was before I had even played Mass Effect 2!

I wasn’t hooked instantly.  I was slowly drawn in.  Drip-fed information to keep me interested as the main players and plotlines took to the stage, and what a magnificent stage it is.  A place where John Shepard will rise to the challenge, and become a man of the Galaxy, for the Galaxy.  The savior of all known organic life.

The story of the first game plays out beautifully, yet leaves me wanting so much more of Bioware’s baby.  I don’t even mind everything that people criticized the first game for.  The Mako expeditions, the long elevator rides.  I loved them all and I am a little sad to see them go in the second installment.

They’ve taken all of my favourite aspects of Star Wars and Star Trek, and played me a Sci-Fi song so sweet, that I may even forgive George Lucas for the wicked rape and murder of his most famous work.

Yes, the Mass Effect lore has gripped me completely.  It’s one of the only games I’ve ever started playing again as soon as I’d finished it.  It’s a testament to the wonderful Universe that has been created, because as soon as I finish it again with the same character, I can see myself playing it again with another character class.  At the moment I’m almost watching it like a film.  I’m picking the same conversation flow that I did the first time, even though I have some new choices due to my character’s heightened charm abilities.

This definitely is the first time that I have bought a book regarding the characters.  I have bought both Mass Effect: Revelations, detailing David Anderson’s prequel mission with Saren, and Mass Effect: Ascension, detailing the continuing story into the Mass Effect 2 Universe.

These books and games are going to keep me occupied for months, and although I may live to regret it, at the moment, I have to say that this is the most engaging and detailed game that I’ve ever played.  Especially with decisions I’ve made from the first game carrying on into the second.  Nothing else seems to come close.  Will I finally be leaving Ocarina of Time as my best game of all time?  Will I be embracing Mass Effect as the saviour and bench mark of our modern times?  Only time will tell…

I must be one of the only people never to have played Final Fantasy VII, so when Sony announced that it would be coming to the Playstation Store, I knew I would be an early adopter.

My initial response was to download it to my PS3, then play remotely on my PSP whenever the TV was in use.  A ‘Win Win’ situation if you will.  The fact is, I hadn’t entirely thought it through.  I had no idea how great a game Final Fantasy VII really is, even after twelve years, and how much I would become absorbed in the world and the characters.  I’m sure anyone who has played it will lay testament to that.

My ‘Win Win’ situation suddenly turned into a big fat ‘LOSE’.

What if I want to play FFVII when I’m not tethered to a wireless internet connection?

There was only one thing for it.  I would have to pay another £7.99 and download the game directly onto the PSP.

Luckily, the good men and women at Sony are already one step ahead of me, and boy, have they got this one right…

After logging into my PSN account on my PSP, I realised that I had already paid for it once.  I could download it effectively for free, because the rights were tied into my account, not to my PS3.  Absolute genius, and the way that ‘Steam’, ‘Xbox Live’ and ‘iTunes’ work.  Sony are always being touted as the ‘poor cousin’ when it comes to their online department, but they’re rapidly taking steps to catch up, and must be applauded when they do so.

So now I have the game on my PS3 and PSP, but my save game file resides on my PS3 hard drive.  Would I have to start the game from the beginning, or could it really be as simple as plugging my PSP into the PS3 via USB and transferring the save file across?

Yep, more excellent work from the chaps at Sony.  Seconds after connecting the two devices via cable, I had the seven hour save file on my PSP.  I couldn’t believe how easy it was.

I can now play FFVII, wherever my legs (and battery) take me, and having just left Midgar, I feel like the journey is only just beginning.

Sony, I salute you.

There has been a fair amount written about the high expectations for Resident Evil 5, and of course, the way the game controls.  I remember looking forward to Resident Evil 4 so much, even though I hadn’t played any of the earlier games in the series.  I had tried the first Resident Evil, but couldn’t get passed the first hour of gameplay.  To thumbs that were raised on pure Nintendo goodness, the borked controls were just too much like hard work.  Then came Resident Evil 4.

In my opinion, Resident Evil 4 was the best game on the Gamecube.  With the shift of the camera perspective and the move/shoot movement contained to one or the other, as the controller only had one analogue stick,  it was one of the few games of the generation, where playing it through twice had its own rewards and benefits.

A truly great game.

How could Resident Evil 5 fail?

Like many others, I have recently downloaded the demo from Xbox Live for Resident Evil 5, and was disappointed to find that I couldn’t get to grips with the controls.  Clumsy, inadequate and frustrating are some words that immediately sprang to mind.  Not being able to move and shoot seems so antiquated among the glut of ‘free moving’ third person shooters that we have been playing recently, like Gears of War 2 and the excellent Uncharted.

Disheartened, I almost gave up, but in the true Shayler spirit, I needed one more try before I resigned myself to defeat.

I fired up the demo, and started to play the level ‘Shanty Town’, and while I was walking down the alley to the first door, something magical happened.  I had completely forgotten about my control issues.  I was just worried about what may be behind the door.  It had become autonomic -  I was Chris Redfield.  I was running, popping heads, doing smooth 180° spins before leaping through windows and sinking my knife into my assailants.  Leon Kennedy would be so proud.  Damn this is fun!

For a game that isn’t even out, it’s already been a rollercoaster of emotion.  From the heights of expectation, to the letdown of the initial controls, back to the summit of the wave as I realised the game’s potential in my head as well as my heart.

Now I cannot wait to play this game, and with the online co-op, there’s room for one more.  So if you’re having difficulties, I’d be more than happy to take you with me!

Who’s in?

A games platform will always live or die by the software that is available to it, so what is to become of my beloved Playstation Portable.  I recently read a statistic that claimed that Sony’s portable multi-media device only had 100 games developed for it this year, whereas it’s closest rival, the Nintendo DS, gets 100 games every few months. The PS3 sold fewer units this holiday season than they did last year and a standalone Blu-Ray player is now only £150.  These are worrying times for Sony, as well as for me.

I was not an early adopter of the PSP.  Its weak battery life, large size and ridiculous disc based media (the Universal Media Disc or UMD), made it a laughable entry into the portable gaming market.  I could never deny that it was an amazing piece of technology, but just not suited to my needs.  Watch films, listen to music, access to the internet and play games.  It sounds like a dream come true, but when I have other devices that do the same things, only better, why would I need a PSP?

So when, and why, did I have the change of heart?

Great Software

There will always be a piece of software, the killer application, that will sell systems.  Games were coming out for the PSP, but none I was really interested in.  Loco Roco looked good but I wasn’t about buy a new system to play it.  Most other games coming out were just ports, or upgrades, of old PS2 titles.

It wasn’t until February of 2008 that an original game inspired me to purchase a PSP.  Patapon – part rhythm game, part real time strategy and part resource management with intriguing graphics and involving gameplay.  I just had to play it.

Not long afterwards, God of War: Chains of Olympus was released for the system.  I had never played God of War on the PS2, but with a free demo available on the PC PSP shop, I had nothing to lose.  Minutes later I was in the shop making a retail purchase.  The game is absolutely incredible in every way.  Graphics, sound and playability, all second to none and I can quite honestly say that it will be a long time before I play another game that impresses as much as this on a portable system.

I have now picked up a few classic games like Lumines, Loco Roco and Final Fantasy Tactics.  All great games and fantastic additions to anyone’s collection.

Remote Play

I already had a PS3, so connecting the PSP to it remotely seemed like the next logical step.  It’s a service that wasn’t made available at launch, but after a few firmware updates, it was all ready to go.

After pairing the PSP and the PS3 together, I was ready to rock.  So now when I activate the remote play option on my PSP, it turns on my PS3 via the wireless network (at home or away) and basically streams the audio and video content of my PS3 onto my PSP.  I can listen to any music, or watch any films (or television programmes with Play TV) stored on my PS3 hard drive.  I can even play some of the games.  Pixeljunk are doing a wonderful job with their collection of games, as I can play both Monsters and Eden on my PSP remotely.

It really is a wonderful, and underused feature, and who doesn’t want to add to their ‘Monsters’ trophy collection whilst lying in bed at night, without disturbing the girlfriend!

Movies

After the death of the UMD as a movie format, and the reduction in cost of memory cards, it is now a viable option to transfer films from DVD to the PSP.  The PSP does utilise one of the best screens on a handheld, and it’d be a shame to never watch any movies on it.  It still takes longer than it should, but with free software like PSP Video 9 and DVD Decrypter, it is possible to store quite a few films on a card.  It certainly helps save on battery life, not having to spin the disc.  I currently have a 4GB card with four full length films, music, podcasts and game demos on it.  I’m just waiting for the price to drop on the 16 GB card, then my options will really open up.  There’s nothing quite like lying in bed after a hard day and watching half an hour of Aliens to relax me.

Music

Of course, I would never listen to music outside on my PSP.  I have my iPod for that, but thanks to a recent update, the PSP now has a sleep timer on it.  I can listen to a podcast, or some music, while I’m drifting off to sleep, safe in the knowledge that it will turn itself off, again saving my precious battery for more use tomorrow.  Even the Internet Radio function, which streams over 50 radio stations wirelessly, gets more use than I’d ever have thought!

With so much going on, my PSP truly has become a tool that I use daily.  Perhaps it’s not the ‘outdoor’ portable powerhouse that was once envisaged, but as an indoor appliance it has become one that I would find hard to live without.

The Future

So what is the future of the PSP, now that I am fully in on the act?

Sony stated in January 2008, that Blu-Ray films played on a PS3 would be able to transfer an optimised file of the film onto the PSP.  This was awesome news, but has not made its way into reality yet.  Perhaps Blu-Ray is not selling as Sony had expected, but it cannot be that hard to implement and would surely help sales of all their products.  It is certainly a feature I am waiting for, but will it ever happen?

There is also the very real threat from the iPhone.  Games are much cheaper to produce and the install base will not take long to reach the current 40 million worldwide sales of the PSP.

I cannot see myself playing games on the iPhone.  For a start, it doesn’t have any buttons, but for the growing number of casual gamers, that is a plus point.  The music and movies from iTunes are all within easy reach of even the hardiest technophobes too.  It does look like a great casual platform and we all know what happened with the Wii!

It all looks to me like the PSP will be going the way of the Gamecube and the Dreamcast, but how I do like to champion the underdog.

Come on Sony, pull something out of the bag, and lets not make 2009 the year that the PSP dies, which is a very real fear in my heart.

These days, it is widely accepted that Nintendo has a licence to print money, but that hasn’t always been the case.  Even they couldn’t have been this optimistic with their sales forecasts for the Wii and DS.  After the Gamecube ‘failure’ of the last generation, which was a machine that I loved, I would want to wish them every success in this generation’s campaign.

Except they don’t need my good wishes.  They don’t need me to add to my massive collection of Gameboys, in every iteration.

In sales figures alone they have chewed up the opposition, spat them out and left them to survive on scraps by the wayside, and we may be approaching the third Christmas in a row with Wii shortages.  That amount of dominance is unheard of.  If anyone does deserves it though, it is my beloved Nintendo.  We have been through so much together.

So why do  I feel so down about it?

Nintendo has captured the market of the casual gamer that Sony started to create with some of their games on the PS2.  PC flash games have been a factor as well, but Sony really started the ball rolling.  They never forgot about the gamers that bought into the PlayStation brand in the first place though.

I think that’s my real problem.  Nintendo has forgotten that I exist, and now Sony and Microsoft are re-thinking their strategies to take a bite of that ‘casual cash cow’.  We all have our reservations about Microsoft’s New Xbox Experience, which is designed with the casual gamer in mind, but agree that there are some excellent features in there.  Namely the ‘Party System’, which can have you and seven of your friends chatting together, regardless of which games you are playing.

Now, Sony have let me, and everyone else, into the open beta of Home.

Do I want a Second Life clone on my PS3?

Not really.

Do I want to purchase ‘virtual’ items for my ‘virtual’ space with my hard earned, real world cash?

No.  I just want to play some games, like we used to, in the olden days.

It may be fun for a while, to dance around with my avatar, but my real problem with this situation is, it is a beta.  It’s not the final polished product.  Why would Sony want to subject the masses to an unfinished product?  It has taken them a long time to get it to this stage, but I’m willing to wait a little while longer for a decent product.

Then it all boils down to the casual gamer ruining my pleasure.  I’m not a true hardcore gamer but enough is enough.  The big N’s philosophy is bleeding into all areas of my gaming life, and I don’t like it one bit.  Even the franchises that I love are being re-issued and toned down for an audience that has never played them before.  Can you hear me Mario Kart?  My heart bleeds…

I’ve got my roast beef sandwiches and my flask of tea, and I’m going to sit here like Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead, fighting off the torrent of mini games, waiting for Nintendo to give ME something.  One game a year just doesn’t cut it.

Nintendo, I always thought I’d miss you
Nintendo I thought that we’d always be friends
We said our love would last forever
So how did it come to this bitter end?

I hope that Sony and Microsoft will continue to do what they do well, and will not give in to this tide of casual interest.  Then one day, Nintendo may remember me, and remember what we once had.

For today though, the wait goes on, with a gentle tear in my eye.

So this is Christmas…and how many of us still look forward to it, with the same anticipation that we had when we were eight or nine?

How many just look forward to a few days away from work or school, before the celebrations of the New Year are upon us?

Then, without hardly enough time to catch our breath from all the retail craziness, we’re thrown headlong, back into the swirling mire of the New Year antics. No-one has time to consider true meaning of Christmas anymore – well, not the true meaning of a Midlife Gamers Christmas anyway!

There are a handful of dates in everyone’s life, that are burned into the memory of us all. Our first day at school, our first kiss or the day we pass our driving test all spring to mind, but some of my great memories always come round about Christmas time….

My Atari 2600 came with Pac-Man, making my ninth Christmas of 1982, an especially memorable occasion. It was my obsession with Pac-Man that convinced my parents to buy me a black and white portable television for my birthday.A joyous event in my life!

The winter of 1985 was another great year. Playing Rambo on my ZX Spectrum+ with my father has to be one of my fondest memories of the mid eighties. I think they paid £140 for the 48k black plastic machine. It was released for £180 back in ’84, but had come down a bit by the time I got mine. £300 for a PS3 – it suddenly doesn’t seem that expensive!

It would take another two years for my video game love to develop and mature into a fully blossoming relationship. I had already spent much of September and October of 1987 round my friend Paul’s house. His parents had bought him a NES and given him their old television from the living room. The television took ten minutes to come on, when the valves had warmed up and it made a strange high pitched noise, but we didn’t mind. Super Mario Bros. on a massive TV was the greatest gift that had ever been given to mankind. We spent hours everyday perfecting our skills. Reading every magazine to find every last secret the game had to offer. Life just couldn’t get any better, or so we thought.

November 1987

We had heard, through the pages of the gaming press, and the whispers of the playground, of a game called The Legend of Zelda. It came on a gold cartridge and had battery back up.

“A gold cartridge, it must be bloody brilliant!” Paul mused.

“But £45 for a game? I’m going to have to get another paper round!” I added

How wrong we were!

Christmas 1987

Paul became the lucky owner of one of the best Christmas presents that a boy could ever ask for.

“You can keep your fancy ten-speed racing bike Mum. I just want Zelda”

Neither of us were prepared for the amount of our lives that we were about to sink into this game. It got hold of us by the throat and wouldn’t let go. For three whole days we played. I’d get up in the morning, wash, grab my board and skate over to Paul’s for more Zelda and turkey sandwiches, before heading home that evening to do the same thing again the next day.

Finding our way around Hyrule, travelling through the Lost Woods, collecting items and destroying bosses had become our reason for living. The only purpose for our existence was to get to Death Mountain and face Ganon head on. Never had a game been so ambitious, so playable and so absolutely charming. Twenty-one years later, and I can still picture Paul, cheering me on, as we traversed that final dungeon.

It was one of those moments that will never leave me. Completing the game, Paul and I were completely ecstatic, and even more so when we realised that you could play through again, but this time the dungeons were in different locations. You just can’t put that kind of joy into words. Like a little slice of heaven in a gold plastic case.

It has been released since, on the Virtual Console for the Wii, but I wouldn’t be able to sleep properly without knowing where my hard copy is. It’s sitting in my NES, in its box, at the bottom of my wardrobe and it will be making another appearance this holiday.

Where is your little slice of Christmas heaven?