Moba + Madden = Perfection?

Overwatch has me thinking a lot lately. It has made me become introspective about the type of gamer I am and frankly why I can’t get into these type of games. I played the Overwatch Beta, Smite, Battleborn, and I have dabbled in a few other of these types of games before (and before you say it, I know all 3 of those games are different but they fall into a similar play experience for me).

These games on paper, Overwatch especially, should be perfect me. I like shooters, I love sports games, I like fighting games, and competitive play. Hell, Battleborn even has a single player mode and I LOVE that. What happens though, is when I start playing these games I am lost. There are clocks ticking, a million characters doing things I can’t do. My character just feels lost and in the way. I tell myself, just keep playing and things will make sense.

I recently started playing Splatoon and it made sense immediately! Paint the world, kill the squids. There is nothing intuitive about Overwatch for me. I understand the goals of a given match, protect the thing or destroy the thing and be good. The nuance of getting there is lost on me.

On the Giant Beastcast this morning they gave me a striking idea. Vinny starting talking about having a system to suggest to new players who to use to be most useful during a match. I like this idea but I think I would want to see it fleshed out more. Hence the title of this post, Moba + Madden, I want to see plays you can pick as a team before a match and the play overlay onto the play field ALA every NBA game on the market. You can still deviate from the play but it gives somebody new a framework to follow. It also allows people who don’t use voice chat to still be able to work together in a unified way. Maybe have a play creator for the hardcore.

So here is the Vision– We will call it “Overborn Sportswatch!”- THE NEWEST MOBA FROM EA SPORTS! You watch a snazzy intro cinema and then press the menu button because the start button died for no reason. There is a campaign mode where you can choose a character and play through their career in the Overborn leagues. This mode teaches you the character abilities and lets you learn team plays. These team plays are available to every character and every group of characters. It’s like a smart driving line in a racing game, it tells you when to go, points where you can go, and keeps all the players in sync to complete the goal of this play (in this game to destroy the other teams Sportswatch tower in the touchdown zone!!!!).

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Now you go to an on-line match. You choose Jim Brown-bot, a balanced character with a special ability to become invincible for a short period of time. Your team votes and selects the play, “Agresive Run 5”. You spawn on the map and there is a line telling you where to go, your teammates are seeing a different line telling them where they need to be. The entire time, the other team is trying to execute their play too and this smart line is telling what the next “best” or most logical move is. As a new player, you know exactly where to go and how to best utilize your character.   

I think that is what I need. The strategy and fun can come from when a play falls apart or when you are good enough to make your own magic on the fly. As a new player, I want more direction if this game is going to be so complex. I don’t have the time to earn 30 characters and counters and stages. I never will. This is my dream folks. Peace.

Final Fantasy Explorers (3DS)-Monster Hunter Arcade

Monster Hunter. I tried to play a Monster Hunter game for Wii once. I was extremely excited. The idea of a boss rush, that involves hunting and updating gear was awesome. The thought of utilizing on-line co-op was even better. I imagined myself hunting with my friends, taking huge monsters and being awesome.

Sigh…. that was the dream. The reality was a boring slog of a game that had me doing bull shit side quest for hours while it tried it’s very hardest to not teach me the rules. I want to battle bass ass bosses, Monster Hunter has me swatting flies……for hours. Fetch quests…for hours…I quit. It was awful.

If Monster and myself had a first date, it would be considered a disaster. Luckily, Final Fantasy Explorers took me out to dinner and then put out after the salad! I will describe my first hour in FF Explorers. I create my guy (suuuppeerrr black, lots of choices, nicely done), I pick a “job”, buy weapons and gear. Do 3 or 4 tutorial quests that take no time. Go to main quests and then immediately start fighting HUGE Beautiful bosses from the Final Fantasy Universe!!!!

This game lacks all of the nuance that Monster Hunter has but it makes up for it by giving me what I want in spades. With all that said, here is the review!

Graphics- It is abundantly clear that is an older 3DS game (2014 in Japan). The environments look detailed and good enough. The character models….work. The art style is great and when the Eidolons (the main monsters, based on summons from previous Final Fantasy games) are highlighted it is pure magic.

Gameplay- This is an action RPG(!?) but without the deep story and character progressions come from gear instead of leveling. This game is set up like Monster Hunter. There is a hub world, you pick a mission and you embark on a quest to kill monsters. You can choose jobs that effect which magic and weapons you can use. Each Job feels unique and the game really wants you to try different things. There is no penalty for trying new gear and jobs. The combat is not deep in the same way a monster hunter is, Monster Hunter is more about pattern recognition and understanding how to time you strikes. FF Explorers is more about using your buffs and spells and mashing those buttons as best you can. It’s engaging.

Story- There is a story about finding crystals and beating monsters. It is not very entrenched in the gameplay but it keeps things moving moving forward.

UI- The menu system is such a call back to older Final Fantasy games and I love it. The look of the menus is great and they are not super convoluted. The only thin I find tough is using potions in battle, that menu and process is not well thought out (press Y I think, and then just scroll through the potions and items….in battle….).

Multiplayer- Perfect. It is so easy and seamless to create a room and find a room. I have had no problems connecting. This game is the dream for me. I would never have local friends to play this game but finding randoms on-line is easy and great. The only issue online is that 4 people shutter the frame rate at times in a big way.

Intangibles- It should be a grind, and it should be boring. It shouldn’t hold my attention. The entire game comes together in this really fun way. This game falls somewhere between an old school beat em’ up like Street of Rages and Monster Hunter. It’s so forgiving, it just wants you to play it and have fun!

Use of Final Fantasy License- I have been wanting to get back into Final Fantasy for years but have not played a game proper since FF7. This game gives me all of the Final Fantasy I want without the JRPG game I haven’t been into lately.

Social Justice- This game has a surprising amount of diversity. The character creation screen has an unreal amount of shades for brown. Very nice. I also feel like they had hair styles that a black person could have (an anime black person…). The game also allows to turn into old Final Fantasy characters such as Cloud, Lightning, and Yuna. There is something really cool about being a male character that becomes immensely stronger when turning into a female.

Final Thoughts- Try it. It’s not Monster Hunter. It’s not Phantasy Star Online. It’s a cool take on a tired genre. I love Gods Eater Burst and this game probably has more legs for me. Gods Eater Burst had a better story but it lacks the charm and freedom that this game gives. I would recommend it. Peace

 

Thanksgiving Special- Black Characters I am Thankful For: Roland (Borderlands)

Halloween is dead and now it’s time to revel in another holiday about death and slaughter…Thanksgiving! Does this holiday memorialize a massive genocide? Who knows…but I what I do know is I love Turkey and Football! And black people!

I want to highlight some black characters in games I am thankful for. These characters may not be the star of the franchise but their existence makes me feel better about gaming. We are in a gaming space where games still come out that won’t give you the option to change skin color (Need for Speed 2015…) even when all it would do is make players feel more engaged. When games have black characters, especially when the game isn’t showcasing them, it’s special.

This is my confession. I loved Borderlands 1. Playing as Roland was awesome. I hated Borderlands 2 (at first) because I didn’t have a black option and Roland was not playable. Roland exist in a weird place in the Borderlands world. He was playable in the first game but he was little more than an avatar that happened to be black (talk black?), but when he becomes unplayable in the 2nd game and Pre-Sequel you realize that they give him so much story and personality and in the process made Roland one of the most positive black characters I have seen in years.

Roland goes from vault hunter to revolutionary. When you reach the second game you realize the profound impact and leader that Roland has become. It’s a really cool moment when you are doing missions for him and his group. Roland helped form the Crimson Raiders, a group of radicals fighting the Hyperion Corporation. He was killed in the line of duty, and died a hero.

Roland was also in an interracial relationship with Lilith.

Roland was nothing more than a “boo-yah” spewing stereotype in Borderlands 1 but becomes an integral player in the plot for the rest of the series. Roland bucks stereotypes. He’s more than just a violent avatar. He is a leader. On some level he is fighting for civil rights on Pandora and beyond. The chaos is better than being under Hyperion’s thumb. Roland is multi-dimensional. He’s shown to be a soldier, a leader, and a lover. His relationship matters and the other characters (especially Tiny Tina) mourned his loss greatly. It’s awesome. I am thankful for Roland! GOBBLE GOBBLE

E3 Thoughts! TRANSFORMERS!!!!!!

TRANSFOOOORRRMMMMMERRRSSS!

This will be a quick round up of my thoughts from various E3 news in bullet point format.

• Transformers Devastation– Platinum games is making it, this is my dream game. I don’t preorder games….but I did this one

• New Metroid– Lame

• Mario Maker– I am a Wii U and no way. Games that require the community to make content a risky investment and the online community on the Wii U is too small for me to risk it

• FF7 Remake– yawwwnnn
• New Star Fox– Yes! Star Fox 64 3D superstar remix is my favorite 3DS game, so I am super hype for this

• HoloLens– Seems….neat

• Occulus RIft– Seems…pricey

• Xbox One backwards Compatibility– A gift from THE GODS!
• Forza 6- Too Soon. BUT RAIN!

• Rare Collection for Xbox One– It has RC Pro Am. It has my wallet.

• Shenmue 3 as PS4 Exclusive– I love me some Shenmue, and this is great!

• Last Guardian– Yawn

• Terra byte Hard Drives in Consoles– Why not?
• PS Vita!- always forgotten, so sad….what a missed opportunity

• UBISOFT coming correct with the black women! Angel Bassett! and continued use of Aisha Tyler as a host!

Those were my quick impressions of E3 and the things that caught my attention this week. This has been a really fun E3. My wallet is not reeling as much as I thought it would be. Transformers Devastation is enough.

The Awards Show! Game of the Year, and other Black Gamer Awards!

2014 was a wild year of gaming. So many highs and so many lows but let us take some time to focus on what J3 the black gamer really loved. Full disclosure, remembering what games I played that actually came out this year turned out to be harder than I thought. 12 months is a really long time and I know I gamed during January but I can’t really tell you what I played….This will be in list format. Merry Christmas! Kwayzee Kwanzaa, and Happy Hanuka to you all (and anything else you may or may not celebrate!)!

1) Best use of black people in gaming- This one is tough, the year brought us lots of opportunities to be a brotha but I am choosing the wild card here…. POKEMON TCG ONLINE! Pokemon the card game on-line gives the player a full player avatar creator with multiple shades of black. My character looks just like me. It’s cool on so many levels, the game doesn’t assume the only people playing are young or nerdy or white, the game says “everybody loves Pokemon”. I love it!

2) Biggest Lack of Black Option in Gaming- This was easy. Forza Horizon 2. I drive using the in car dash view and all you can see are arms. White arms. Why? Just give me the option to make my driver have brown arms. I love to loose myself in driving games and every time I saw those white arms it took me out of the game in a weird way. It’s 2014, do better.

3) Most relevant game tackling a real issue award- Shape up! with an honorable mention to Watch Dogs. Shape Up may seem like an odd choice since it is a fitness game, but that’s the point. It is a true fitness GAME. It literally makes the player feel like they part of an awesome 8-bit world and fitness is just a side product of playing this awesome game. Obesity and being overweight is a real problem in this country. Anything that provides a fun way to keep the Xbox on lose weight is great. Childhood obesity is a real issue and this game is a fun step in the right direction for giving fun options to lose weight and game. Losing weight is hard, in this country almost impossible so any game that is trying to make that fun is worthwhile. Watch Dogs….. the government…..they see you. Check this link for some cool infographics about childhood obesity.

4) Coolest Black Guy in Gaming Award 2014- CCCCOMBO BREAKER! TJ COMBO from Killer Instinct Season 2. He rocks a high top fade, is tough as nails, and is the best Balrog impersonator on the planet. Is he problematic as a reinforcement of the violent black man archetype? Maybe, but he’s one of the good guys in this game (I think). TJ Combo has a great move set, and the unlockable outfits make him look like 90’s Kid and Play. He’s cool.

5) Best use of Culture in a Game award- Never Alone. The Cook Inlet Tribal Council funded a videogame company and made a beautiful puzzle platformer that gives players an intimate look at their culture and beliefs. This is how you change the industry and avoid cultural appropriation. You have indigenous people tell their stories using the medium.

Side note- Cultural appropriation is the adoption of elements of one culture by members of a different cultural group, specifically the use by cultural outsiders of a minority, oppressed culture’s symbols or other cultural elements.

“Nico Lang, a guest blogger for the Los Angeles Times, pointed out in a post that cultural appropriation highlights the power imbalance that remains between those in power and those who’ve been historically marginalized. As such, a member of a dominant group can assume the traditional dress of a minority group for a Halloween party, a music performance and so on. Yet, they remain blissfully unaware of the roots of such dress and the challenges those who originated have faced in Western culture.”

Source 

6) Best Portable Game (console)- This is an award that means a lot to me. I love to game on the go. Xeodrifter is such a pleasant surprise. It’s a neat Metroid-ish clone. You start with limited skills and can only advance as you improve your character skill set. The pacing is amazing, the music is great, and the boss fights are a lot of fun.

7) Best portable Game (tablet)- Asphalt Overdrive. This game is essentially an endless runner with cars but it harkens back to the 80’s both overtly in it’s style but also in that it reminds of Outrun.

Outrun is one of my favorite games of all time, taking a Ferrari Testarossa out and just driving is awesome. This game lets you take a super car and run from the cops in Miami Vice 80’s era Miami. All you really do is swipe left and right but it takes laser focus to win the chases. It is free to play, but if you have a little patience you can be successful for free. This game looks stunning. It’s amazing how good tablet games look now.

8) Best PC Game- Freedom Planet. I already reviewed this one but if you miss Sonic’s 16 bit days then you owe it to yourself to play this game.

9) Best Racing Game- I love racing games, and the Xbox One’s vibrating controller triggers really adds a lot to them. Every terrain change flows from left to right on the controller in a way that almost mimics force feedback. That said, I got a racing wheel for Christmas with Force feedback. Forza Horizon 2 is amazing. It’s the car love from Forza 5 but set in a playground. A European playground to be exact. You are basically unleashed in Europe with whatever car you can imagine reliving and create your own Test Drive (BBC not US) fantasies. The graphics are amazing and the rain is so amazing. Driving through a windy road through Greece with the rain pouring down is just magic.

10) Game I can’t put down– I love football. I love videogames. I love Jena. Sadly, I love the the Browns. That said, I can not for the life of my put down Madden 15. Madden Ultimate Team, to be exact. This mode has me coming back weekly to do the weekly challenges and keep up with the updates. They added almost 300 new challenges mid-year and just keep giving me reason to come back. When the game play gets stale, the modes and new content keep it fresh. Well played Madden….BOOM TOUGH ACTIN TENACTIN!

11) Game I will never pick up again- Sonic Boom. I tried. I wanted to like this game. The TV show is great and this game is mediocre at best. And absolute gutter trash at worst. I still love you Sonic….

12) Best Sports Game- Madden 15 (with a nod to NBA Live). I already talked about why I love Madden 15 but man I am so proud and impressed with NBA Live 15. They recently updated the game that balanced shooting percentages and made defenses and AI better. The game feels great. They are adding content to Ultimate Team at a great clip. NBA Live, keep doing you baby!

13) Best game from last year I played this year- Shadowrun Returns for PC. I am hooked to this game. The story is awesome, and the atmosphere is really cool. It’s a steampunk CRPG that was kickstarted into existence. I am looking forward to finishing my tale and delving into more content. Graphically, this game is nothing special but the art work is awesome. This game gets the details right. Every character exudes personality and life. I love it.

14) Best multiplayer Experience- Madden 15 (nod to Titanfall tower defense mode). I played Madden Seasons online in Ultimate Team a lot. I made it to All-Pro Second String, which is the top 2-4% of Xbox One players on-line in that mode. I rocked a 70 win to 30 loss record. I spent a lot of time stressing and loving this online experience. The wins were amazing and the losses were crushing. After every loss I wanted to play online and get better cards. It was a lot of fun.

15) Game of the year!!!!!!!- Madden 15 MUT(nod to Bayonetta 2, Killer Instinct season 2, Azure Striker Gunvolt, Kirby Triple Deluxe for 3ds). It feels odd to choose a yearly sports franchise that is constantly maligned  but Madden 15’s staying power is too strong to ignore. Bayonetta 2 is great, Killer Instinct Season 2 brought Riptor and TJ COMBO! Fantastic additions. They also added a deeper story mode to KI. A lot of great games came out this year but Madden 15 stole my heart in a big way.

16) Worst/Most Disappointing Game- Sonic Boom for Wii U. Fuck you Sonic Boom. Lost World, Generations, and Colors broke the cycle yet here we are….

17) Best Publisher- Sega. Google it. It’s nuts. Trust me. Or don’t.

Thank you so much for reading and following my blog and podcast this year. I have received a lot of positive support and feedback. This blog helps me engage in topics I love (videogames, social justice, race) but it also helps me cope with things I can’t control like racism. This is my way of trying to do more than just sit back and think, thank you for your support!

Peace

Black Characters in Gaming- Nilin (Remember Me- PC, XBOX 360, PS3)

Nillin in Remember Me is a mixed bag for me. On one hand I love this character. She’s a strong Halle Berry look-a-like who kicks ass and takes names. On the other hand, she reaffirms many of the negative tropes that female characters fall into. Before we delve too much into this, lets learn more about who Nillin is.

Yeah…. not Halle Berry right?

Nillin is the protagonist (kind of) of Remember Me. She is a bi-racial woman who is an amnesiac. She is working for a terrorist organization seemingly working to bring the class oppressed Neo-Paris down and give the poor a new hope.  The game is a third-person action game involving melee combat and some special moves. The twist is that Nillin has the ability to erase people’s memory and kill them by manipulating special technology that erases people’s unhappy memories. This Sensen technology is problematic because it erases people’s pain and the company that makes this tech is too powerful leading to a surveillance state (think 1984)(the book, not the year)(well think NSA, year 2014).

In my world, Nillin is awesome because she is a strong woman who is the only person able to save the day. This is a rare thing for videogames. I love that she is black or bi-racial. Her mother was black and father was white. I also love that her black mom ran a large corporation (even if it was problematic at times). This game has so many successful black people and they don’t even act like it’s a big deal. There are people in this game and they happen to be minorities. They don’t act like stereotypes, they never pat themselves on the back about it. It is really well done.

This game touches on the importance of relationships and family issues in pathology. Nillin’s mental health issues are seemingly a result of unresolved issues with her parents. Alfred Adler would be so proud of this game. Watching Nillin work through her family issues and come to the realization that people need to embrace their bad memories instead of running from them is so impactful. The moral of this game is that you cannot run away from problems and repress feelings, you must deal with them. It’s so profound, I love it.

Is Nillin a problematic character in games?

She ain’t perfect. Aesthetically, she conforms to white standards of beauty. If her skin wasn’t dark you wouldn’t know she was a minority. This is frustrating. Our people are never represented in games in our natural beautiful state. Why can’t she have braids or an afro? Why can’t she have a different body type? And my biggest pet peeve is why couldn’t they get a black woman to voice her. I’ll chalk it up to baby steps….

Stereotype: Overly emotional woman

There is this idea that women are more emotional than men. A lot of women you know probably reinforce that. Remember that gender is a social construct. In reality, small boys are much more emotionally unconstrained than girls but we socialize men to repress those emotions and allow women to express their full emotional range more. Nillin is constantly emoting in this game, in a way that a male protagonist never would. That is problematic because it reinforces the idea that all women are overly emotional. Nillin is constantly in contact with a “rational” male who “keeps her under control” while going through her terrorist missions.

Stereotype: Black person as criminal

I have spoken on this a lot. She causes tons of civilian death and is at times as bad as the government she is trying to stop.

Stereotype: Damsel in Distress

This is interesting and this point seemingly contradicts my earlier statement that Nillin is a strong female protagonist. Nillin has no memory and is not in full control of her destiny and actions until the end of the game. Most of the game is spent with Nillin working for a terrorist cell with the hopes of getting her memory back and gaining some context for her existence. Most of the game she is a damsel trying to find safety and is led by a man. She is being used at first, avoiding spoilers,  but she does have a paradigm shift where she takes control and it is awesome. I’ll let Feminist Frequency educate you more on the Damsel in Distress trope.

Stereotype: White savior complex

Nillin is blindly following a white man to find sanctity from her amnesic struggles. While the game does not focus on the race of the people involved, it is frustrating that it has to be a white man calling the shots. A man who has Nillin do terrible things for “the cause”. Normally the white savior complex plays out with a white person entering an all black school and they save these misguided ghetto children (sarcasm) with their superior white intellect and problem solving. This time, the school is Nillin’s mind and the savior is a white man named Edge.

It would have been such a cool story to see Nillin come to conclusions on her own.

Stereotype: Angry Black Woman (Nillin’s mom-Scylla Cartier-Wells)

Black women are constantly being portrayed as angry. The angry black women is a stereotype that black woman have been dealing with for years. If a black women doesn’t smile people assume she’s mad, if a white woman doesn’t smile she just isn’t smiling. On television this trope plays out with the neck wagging, finger snapping black woman who can’t be pleased. Reality TV has run with this on shows like Real Housewives of Atlanta and Bad Girls Club. This is problematic because it puts black women at a disadvantage in social interactions. People assume black women are mad before they even know you, if your actions are framed with anger you will always seem angry. In reality, black women have a lot to be mad about! But that doesn’t mean that they are angry all the time. Everybody has emotions, and anger is one of them. To attribute that emotion more to one group is problematic. Nillin’s mother is a heartless boss who is angry (the game gives you the backstory to why). Because Scylla is one of the few black women we see in gaming, making her an angry character (at first) is problematic. 

What does all this mean? It means this is a step in the right direction. Nillin has 2 comic books and had a great web-site dedicated to the game. A black woman being a protagonist in different mediums is awesome. She will hopefully be a role model and hero for somebody. I had black male super heroes to admire growing up and I hope Nillin can be that for some young people too. We have to start hiring more diversity at these companies if we ever want to truly make characters that are real and representative. While Nillin is not perfect, she is a refreshing change from Nathan Drake. Thanks for reading!