An Audacity crash means the episode you’re hearing is the second stab at this, and so the hosts may be a bit loopy.  We talk this week about a number of stories and topics that are all tied together by how ludicrous they are.

Before that, though, we’ve got games to discuss.  Jonathan starts off by continuing a number of long-running trends.  Super Street Fighter IV finally makes an appearance from GameFly, and it cements his opinion about modern fighters.  Hyperdimension Neptunia also arrived from GameFly, and continues the trend of ridiculously Japanese games featuring disturbingly dressed little girls, though this one adds a twist that intrigues The Producer.  Finally, continuing the trend of word game mashups, Jonathan’s picked up Quarrel, which is like Scrabble crossed with Risk.

Sam has played some more Skyrim, but most of his time has been taken up with a game he doesn’t like very much called Moving Across Nevada.  It primarily involves filling, lugging, and then emptying boxes, which proves to be not the greatest of gameplay mechanics.

Alex has been getting his loot on (so has Jonathan) with the Epic Quest table for Pinball FX 2.  He’s also got mixed feelings about Asura’s Wrath: on the one hand, it does what it’s trying to do very well, but on the other, it’s a bit short to justify dropping full-price money on it.  Finally, Alex has picked up Syndicate, and is eager to get some hostile acquisitions underway.

Our topic for this episode has slowly ballooned as our week of planning has progressed.  Terrible, terrible things just seem to keep piling up.

1. Guinness names Call of Duty Black Ops the best ending ever.
2. Kingdoms of Amalur only has 70 hours of content?  Good news, or misleading?
3. Assassin’s Creed 3 is dropping in October.
4. The 1930′s called.  They want their misogyny back.

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Asura’s Wrath cuts corners. Some action adventures give you a world to explore, while others offer a dungeon-type environment with a series of kill rooms. Asura’s Wrath does neither. It doesn’t give you power-ups, level-ups or even an inventory. It delivers quick melees against massed enemies, multi-stage quicktime-heavy fights against brutal, over the top bosses and the sort of crazy mega-damage you’ve come to expect from anime such as Dragonball and Akira. However, an important part of Asura’s Wrath isn’t in the gameplay; it’s in the story. The tale in Asura’s Wrath serves an important purpose. It makes you give a damn about what you’re doing.

Normally I’m the first guy to forsake story for great gameplay. That’s not the case in Asura’s Wrath. The story and setting are simply awesome. It’s an anime-inspired sci-fi kung fu grindhouse revenge tale. When we meet Asura, he’s standing on the prow of a spaceship at the head of an armada headed towards a monster-infested Earth. In short order, he and his fellow generals proceed to take an enemy fleet out… with kung fu. Asura is already immensely powerful. He can shoot energy projectiles. He can rip apart gargantuan enemies with his bare hands. Asura is a demigod, and that’s made perfectly clear in the early stages of the game.

Asura is eventually betrayed by his allies. Much like The Bride in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Asura spends the rest of the game getting revenge on his former allies one by one. Asura’s main character trait is rage, and that rage manifests itself in many ways. First off, Asura is perpetually, and I mean CONSTANTLY, in a white-hot fury that makes Lewis Black look like the Vienna Boys Choir. That fury appropriately has a gameplay mechanic. The GUI in Asura’s Wrath has three gauges. One starts out full, and represents Asura’s hit points. One represents the damage that Asura has dished out. The last gauge is the most important; it measures Asura’s rage.

Asura can’t heal during a battle. Most battles only end when Asura’s rage meter gets full, and that’s a function of how much damage he’s received and how much damage he’s dished out. When that meter gets full, you’re instructed to hit the right trigger to end that stage with some sort of staggering feat of strength. That restores your hit points to full, which is especially important in multi-stage boss battles. The other meter that measures the damage you’ve inflicted fills up periodically during battle and enables you to do multiple strong attacks without the otherwise mandatory cooldown.

There are also quicktime events in many battles. When you’re fighting against minions or mid-bosses, the game will periodically slow down briefly just before an enemy attack in order to give you a chance to press a button to trigger a counter. During the end boss fights, you’ll occasionally be tasked with pressing the sticks one way or another or press a button to coincide with one (or several) of Asura’s punches. The better your timing, the more points you score at the end of the level. From time to time, I completely missed a prompt, and the game proceeded as if I had actually made the press. So it’s not like Dragon’s Lair, where if you miss a certain button press at a certain time it’s game over. The only real drawback I see is missing out on the points at the end of the stage.

In much of the game, Asura fights monsters called the Gohma. The Gohma look much like recognizable animals (gorillas, turtles, elephants and the like), but they’re black, violent and covered in red veins. However, the Gohma aren’t Asura’s only enemies. Asura will also fight Buddhist-inspired forces loyal to the generals who betrayed him.

The game’s anime influence extends to how it’s organized. Asura’s tale is split into TV-style parts and episodes. Each episode is about ten to fifteen minutes long, and is capped by a “coming up next on Asura’s Wrath…” preview of what’s to come next.

Much like Kill Bill, a good part of the game is told in flashbacks. The game constantly flashes back from “present” Asura to his more-chilled-out-but-still-damned-angry pre-betrayal self. You’ll learn the root of Asura’s rage, the extent of what he’s lost, and why he’s fighting.

It’s this backstory that provides most of the meat to the game. It’s rare that an action-adventure game presents a story this compelling. When Asura battles against generals who have betrayed him, I actually feel invested into what happens. I care about kicking this particular general’s butt, and that makes the battle all the more intense.

So the big question is, should you get Asura’s Wrath? That’s a tricky one to answer. Most of the time, when I choose to buy a game, I do so because the gameplay appeals to me. The gameplay in Asura’s Wrath does the job, but I don’t feel it’s on par with some of my favorite games. There is no mode in which you can just fool around and kill things just for the pleasure of experiencing the gameplay for its own sake. Asura’s Wrath is much like Alan Wake and other strong, story-driven games in that if you want to play the game, you HAVE to play the campaign. As good and involving as it is, I can’t see it being compelling upon completion unless you’re obsessed with getting the top ratings for skill, speed and synchronicity. If you’re like me and you value multiplayer games higher than single-player ones, I’d wait until Asura’s Wrath was down to $30 or less to pull the trigger.

The Producer and the Tlustos didn’t give the Syndicate co-op demo much love this week, but this wouldn’t be the first time a demo has failed to properly convey the potential of a game before (Kingdom of Amalur, say).  Of course, plenty of demoes also show exactly what the game ends up being all about (Bulletstorm), so who knows?

Also dropping this week: Asura’s Wrath, Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D and a little-known piece of new hardware.  Something from a company called Sony.  The Villa?  Vitamin?  Vita?  I doubt anybody’s excited about that, though.

So, whatchu got planned this week?

Did you know that a listing for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 recently appeared on Amazon’s French storefront?

Did you know that Activision got its panties in a twist and sent out requests that posts about the rumor be removed?

Did you know that Activision blacklisted a website because they refused to take down a post, since the information was witnessed first-hand, carefully-worded, and verified by multiple secondary sources?

Did you know that even though we’re a small website who won’t contribute much to the Streisand Effect, I still like to poke at monolithic corporations when I can?

Well, now you do.

First thing’s first, thanks to Jonathan’s new schedule, episodes will now be dropping on Fridays.  Now, on with the show!

Business this week: In theory, Sam will be moonlighting on another podcast, I Thought They Smelled Bad On The Outside.  That’s assuming, of course, that Scott doesn’t hear how Sam butchered his podcast’s name first and subsequently bans him from the show.

In games this week, Jonathan finished up his time in Skyrim and immediately began playing a game that feels an awful lot like Skyrim.  Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, though, has a much greater focus on gameplay and character progression than Skyrim, though, so the similarities only serve to highlight each games’ distinct qualities.

Alex doesn’t have much by way of games to talk about this week, but he has been reading a book that kind of has to do with games.  Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline, is about a the death of a billionaire, the contest to win all his money, and the video game full of the greatest hits from the 80′s that the billionaire built.  At least, that’s how Alex describes it.

Sam, meanwhile, continues to get his dance on in Dance Central 2, and is also still fully immersed in the world of Skyrim.  He’s gotten in some time lately on Space Marine, as well, and has been taking advantage of a service that probably only barely qualifies as a video game, GamesByEmail.com.  If you’d like to play copyright sterilized versions of some of Avalon Hill’s great strategy board games, just shoot us an email or hit us up on Twitter, and we’ll be happy to set something up.

We have two topics this week.  The first is inspired by Double Fine’s massive success with Kickstarter.  Is this the herald of a new age of video game development, or rare confluence of cult status fame and Internet savvy fans?

Our other topic revolves around a rumor about the 720, the NeXtBox, or whatever Microsoft ends up calling it.  Among wild tech speculation, the rumor also claims that the machine will include “some sort of anti-used game system.”  We have no idea what that means, but we sound off on what we’ll find acceptable or not, and also whether this is where the industry was destined to end up anyway.

Finally, we’ve got a bit of a twist on one of our games: Reverse Casting Call.  Instead of casting the movie of a game, we cast game characters in the roles of an awesome movie.  Sam and Alex cast the roles of Sarah Conner, Kyle Reese, and the Terminator from Terminator, and Jonathan gets some sweet revenge.

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The Epic Quest table for Pinball FX 2/Zen Pinball is another example of how Zen Studios is willing to push the envelope of what gamers can expect from video pinball. The brightly colored table has a storybook/puppet show motif, where our gallant — make that greedy — hero Max is ready to take on a menagerie of monsters in a quest for loot. Sure, there’s a princess to rescue, but Max doesn’t sound very interested in that at all. As your guide, he’s all bravado and bluster, alerting you to the presence of monsters and repeatedly making it clear that he wants whatever treasures they guard.

It doesn’t take long for Epic Quest to show how it’s different. If you hit the “Forest” bumpers enough or the “Cave” target to the far right multiple times, you’re offered a choice of monsters to fight. The monsters have HP and damage statistics, and so do you. Once the fight begins, you’ll have to make a variety of shots to inflict damage, shield yourself, parry, or even score a critical hit. A timer counts down to when the enemy’s blow will fall. It’s all about inflicting fatal damage on your opponent before your opponent does the same to you.

If you manage to defeat your opponent, you’ll have the chance to upgrade Max’s equipment. You might have a choice of bucklers, mail or a variety of weapons. Max will also get a bump in his XP and eventually level up, giving him a boost to his HP and you a healthy heap of points.

This is a pinball game, though, and your luck will eventually run dry. It’s only a matter of time until that last ball drains and you’ll have to enter your initials into the machine. That’s when Epic Quest pulls other trick out of its sleeve: you can start a new game with your leveled-up Max. Sure, your points reset to zero at the start of the game, but as far as Max is concerned, he’s still on a grand adventure.

As if Zen Studios’ pinball tables weren’t addictive enough. They’ve put a damned loot system into this one. Every time I boot up the table, Max is there, brandishing his new frost brand and proudly thumping his flame-resistant breastplate, just like I left him. Where are we going to go today, Max? What monsters will we destroy with repeated shots up the right ramp? Maybe we’ll try to grab some more of those elemental scrolls, who knows?

Epic Quest is an excellent and very accessible first crack at mixing RPGs and pinball. While I’m sure some players will point out that the RPG elements could be deeper, I think Zen Studios opted to err on the side of playability rather than weigh the table down with complexity. I’m looking forward to future tables in the same vein (Conan? Please?). Until then, Max and I have some adventuring to do.

Hey, it’s a normal-sized episode this week!  Of course, by skipping a week to talk about 2011, we end up with a lot of games to talk about and completely run out of time for our topic.  That said, we do talk about some great and interesting games in this episode.

PuzzleJuice:  Where Lexiv is a mash-up of Scrabble and SimCity, PuzzleJuice is a mash-up of Tetris and Boggle.  It breaks Sam’s brain just thinking about it, and Jonathan wishes it were just a bit less insane, but Alex has fallen deeply, madly in love.

Bulletstorm:  Sam got to the point where the game called him “dick-tits,” and knew that it was too juvenile even for him.  Jonathan got the game from GameFly, played for about half an hour, and confirmed every suspicion Sam ever had.

Dance Central 2 & UFC Personal Trainer:  Sam’s picked up a Kinect (leaving Jonathan the only holdout), and really enjoys getting his groove on (so long as no one is watching).  However, UFC Trainer doesn’t seem to do much actual training, much like Alex has already warned us.

Final Fantasy XIII-2:  Redundant cut scenes and hoochie clothes were Alex’s first impressions.  Moreover, the game seems to continue the trend of not really bothering to include any gameplay decisions for the player.  Despite all that, Alex is hooked.

Soul Calibur V:  Jonathan continues to confirm that the modern fighting genre isn’t for him.  SCV is very pretty, and probably very good, but it simply fails to inspire him to put in the time needed to actually play it well.

Syndicate Co-op Demo:  Sam has all kinds of issues with it.  Alex maintains a more neutral take.  Jonathan didn’t play it.

Kard Combat:  The exchange Jonathan and Alex have about this game may need to inspire a weekly column, “Correcting The Producer.”  Jonathan thinks the game makes for an interesting variation of Magic, while Alex believe there’s nothing to it but damaging and healing.

Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi:  Alex loves the way the game basically lets you direct epic anime battles.  Watching them in replay is like watching a fight from an episode of the show.  Unfortunately, every character plays exactly the same way.

And that’s it!  Next week, we’ll try to control our enthusiasm, and actually get into a topic.  There’s a rumor that the next Xbox will have some sort of used-game deterrent built in.  Do the hosts think such a move is inevitable, and will any of them support the console if it happens?

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There are a thousand complaints that could be leveled against Skyrim.  The combat, especially melee combat, feels repetitive.  The story is predictable and not very good.  There hundreds of NPCs share about four voice actors.  There’s no such thing as “choices” in the game, and what choices your asked to make are often ignored.  Follower AI borders on being infuriating.  There are bugs, tons and tons of bugs.

After 150 hours spent playing Skyrim, I have complained about all of these, but if you pass up Skyrim because of any (or even all) of these gripes, you’re missing out.  Skyrim isn’t about the combat, the story, or even your character.  Skyrim is about the world, and the incredible moments you stumble upon within it.  It’s about exploration and discovery.  It’s about climbing the highest mountain and trying to see your house (which, by the way, you can).  It’s about wandering across a dragon who’s attacking a group of bandits who just attacked a caravan.  It’s about stepping off a dwarven lift and stumbling into an enormous cavern filled with [redacted for spoilers].  The story and the combat are only there as a means to motivate these moments.

In any other game, the best bits would be scripted.  The developers would set it up so you go right where they want you to go and see right what they want you to see.  You’re along for the ride rather than inhabiting a world.  My favorite Skyrim moments have all come from setting my quests aside and just wandering the countryside.  Sure, my map is filled with a dozen arrows all telling me where to go and what to do, but I just climbed to the top of this hill and discovered a valley full of waterfalls and aqueducts and Foresworn, and after fighting my way to the top I’ve found a hundred foot drop with a pool of water at the bottom, and I wonder if I could survive the dive.

Sure.  All of that was designed and intentional, and perhaps I would have found a quest that sent me to that valley, with an arrow that read “Go ahead and jump,” but after 150 hours, I haven’t run across it yet.  As such, that moment is left feeling natural and organic, and Skyrim‘s world is rendered more vibrant and alive thanks to it.

The complaints and bugs are enough to keep Skyrim from earning a Classic grade from me.  Getting every little detail right is what makes a game Classic for me, and Skyrim gets a lot of the little details wrong, details that will probably keep me from coming back once I’ve moved on.  However, the artistry and care that went into crafting Skyrim‘s world, the jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring moments that have arisen from that world, and the sheer number of hours of entertainment you can get for your money are more than enough for me to recommend your set your reservations aside and grab a copy immediately.

Final Grade: Purchase

Kicking a Skyrim addiction by picking up Kingdom’s of Amalur is going to be a bit like replacing heroin with meth.  That said, I’m likely to do that.  I dig the art style, I dig the action-RPG combat, and I dig the leveling mechanics.  Of course, I’m as likely to finish KoA as I am to finish Skyrim, but with a main quest of 40-60 hours, and many hundreds of hours of side content, can you blame me?

Other major releases this week: The Darkness 2 (meh), Resident Evil: Revelations (no 3DS), the Jak & Daxter Collection (maybe someday), and Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition (meh again).  Anything else that should be on my radar?  Anything you’re planning on getting?

It’s finally here!  The WotGs!  In our 2011 retrospective episode, we harken back to the good old days of ridiculously long episodes.  Sorry about that, but 2011 was a big year in video games, and it needed a big episode to contain it all.  We’ll list the categories and the winners here in the show notes, though we’ve removed which hosts picked which games to maintain some modicum of suspense.

Before that, though, we want to send a big thanks to everyone who contributed voicemails to the episode!  Daryl, Holden, William, Tim, Tony, Andrew, and the guys at the Podge Cast, thanks a ton!  I don’t think we had a repeat pick among the lot of you.

Now, the list!  And it’s a doozy.

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