Meanwhile, on a very special seventieth episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, the Rainbow Suspenders of Justice Friends meet at the Hall of Justice to take down Lex Luthor and his cohorts in the Hall of Doom. Will their fashion sense be enough to save the world?

In our “Games We Played This Week” segment, Jonah and Jesse tell tales of an actual LAN party (using computers and everything!) with Rainbow Six Vegas 2. Jonah has been trying his best to finish Saints Row 2 before the show (but failed), has put a little more time into Blue Dragon: Awakened Shadow and it’s finally starting to click. He also spent time with DJ Hero thanks to the recent price drops and sales.

Jesse has been playing Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, which may just be the best PSP game he has played. He also picked up Mega Man Zero: Collection, despite owning all the games on GBA. Wesley has been spending all his time on with Assassin’s Creed 2 and it’s DLC missions.

In the news, we nerd out about Telltale’s announcement of a Back to the Future game. There is a lot of talk about what we would like to see in DJ Hero 2 and which Dreamcast games we’d like to see hit XBLA and PSN.

Finally, we are contractually obligated to make our E3 predictions. All this and more on the latest episode of the Barrel Roll Showcast.

Download

RSS

iTunes

Show Links:

Outro Music – “Fortuna (Star Fox)” by The OneUps

Telltale Announces Partnership with Universal

Kindom Hearts Re-Coded

Dreamcast Games Coming to XBLA & PSN

Necromachina

The new Fire Emblem

We all have those games that we miss the first time around. With the busy release schedule of modern gaming, no one has time to play everything. That is why we at WingDamage present to you “Fashionably Late Reviews“. This is our series on games from the current generation of consoles that we may have missed on their initial release, but have gone back to experience now.

Ever since Grand Theft Auto 3, people have been trying to outdo the precedents established by Rockstar. They have had to go bigger and more over-the-top crazy with each game to keep things interesting. With GTA4, Rockstar tried to scale things back and make it a little more serious.

Thank goodness Volition didn’t do the same thing. 2008′s Saints Row 2 continues the tradition of open world games that provide a huge, goofy action experience where the world is your playground; a playground filled with fast cars, giant explosions, and rival gangs to take down. It marks the first time I have stuck with an open world game long enough to finish its story mode.

When I first booted up the game, I was very happy to see that Saints Row 2 lets you create your own character to play with in its virtual sandbox. It makes so much sense, yet it is one of the only open world games to have this feature.

"The character creator allows for... variety."

The character creator is one of the best I’ve seen in any game to date. If you choose, you can make someone that looks like she/he belongs in the Saints gang. If you are like me, you have a little more fun with it. I started with an obese redhead. The subsequent tough talking he did was made all the more hilarious when it would show closeups of his misshapen face.

To make it even better, you aren’t stuck with the character you created at the start, since you can always hit up the in-game plastic surgeon to tweak or completely change your character. I played Saints Row 2 off and on over the course of several months, and changed my character several times. At one point, my character was an Asian woman. For the entire second half through to the end, I based him off of Jason Lee in “My Name is Earl“.

"You know the kind of guy that walks down the street with a rocket launcher? That was me."

What I like about Saints Row 2 is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It is a tale of rival gangs, corrupt corporations, and cops being bought off left and right by the highest bidder. But the guys that made it realized that many players just want to run around the city, steal cars, buy new clothes and weapons for their character, and cause as much destruction as possible. On that front, there is plenty to have fun with.

The actual mission structure works in the standard way of most open world games. There are points on the map that trigger quests that deal with a given story line. You can go after the three rival gangs in any order. You don’t even have to focus on one at a time. Unlike most open world games, the entire city is unlocked right from the start.

Most of the missions have pretty generous checkpoints. This is something that was hugely lacking in every open world game I had played up until Saints Row 2. You should never have to start completely over when you just spent five minutes driving across town for the second part of a quest. That is just bad design.

The drawback to the mission structure is that you have to build up your rep to take new missions. At the start of the game, this can take a while.

Rep is gained by doing stunts in cars (driving in the wrong lane, narrowly missing other cars, etc.) or much more quickly by playing the games many “activities”. Activities are mini side-missions that you can take at any time. Each of these has six levels of difficulty, which will give you more money and more rep the higher up you get into them. They also unlock permanent bonuses for your character.

For example, if you compete in the Fight Club activity, you can permanently increase your melee damage. If you beat the destruction derby, you not only get to keep the cars you used, but you also get discounts from the mechanics. There are also races, crowd control (keeping fans from rushing celebrities as they walk the red carpet), and chop shop lists (specific cars to steal and return to the chop shop) to name a few.

As you buy new clothes, cars, and bling for yourself, you will also increase your style. This gives you extra rep when completing activities. This makes filling your rep meter to go to the next main story mission a lot quicker.

"Alec Mason really let himself go."

The city of Stilwater is broken up into forty-five territories, which are owned by the various gangs. As you complete missions, you will take over a section of the city. All of the businesses within that section can then be purchased. The territories and businesses you own payout protection money on a daily basis (the in-game clock being approximately one hour for every minute played). Because of this mechanic, you may be extremely poor when you first start playing, but by the end you will have too much money to know what to do with. I had a lot of fun just running around buying up everything in Stilwater. When the character would randomly yell “I own this town!” I would mentally add “No, seriously. I just bought out this entire neighborhood. You damn kids get off my lawn!”

Like all open world games, Saints Row 2 has its bugs. Occasionally, I would see a random pedestrian stuck up to their waist in the concrete. Sometimes, especially with my overweight character, certain clothing pieces would clip through other parts of my character and the environment. There were also times when I would get stuck on a story mission and want to give up. But there was something about how much fun it was just to mess around in Stilwater that kept me coming back.

Saints Row 2 has been out for a couple of years now, and Saints Row 3 has been announced (one of the reasons I wanted to finally finish this game). If you have even a passing interest in open world games, it is an easy recommendation to make, especially now that it’s only a $20 game. You can even play the entire game co-op with a friend and their own horrible abomination of a character.

"Our #1: The Blue Footed Bubi"

On a very special sixty-second episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, we discuss our Top 10 Birds of the Year (thus far). Sure, the goldfinch may have other outlets’ votes sealed up, but with their wingspan getting them solid 9′s across the board, the Blue Footed Bubi is putting up quite the show.

In what we’ve been playing, we discuss the new Sam & Max from Telltale, Saints Row 2, Lost Planet 2, and Final Fantasy XIII among others.

In the news, we talk about the re-imagined X-Com and why it’s a bad idea, the second Silent Hill remake going to a different studio than Shattered Memories, more Monster Hunter crossovers and much more.

Join us, and let us know what your favorite bird is!

Download

RSS

iTunes

Show Links:

Middle Song – “Dreams of Another Shore – Bordering Another World (Chrono Cross)” by Yasunori Mitsuda [Performed by Eminence Symphony Orchestra]

Outro Music – “Fortuna (Star Fox)” by The OneUps

"No Photoshopping Required"

On a very special thirteenth episode of “Barrel Roll! – A Video Game Podcast” (spooky!), we talk a lot about Star Trek. Sadly, most of that had to be cut.

The good news is, we end up talking about the new movie version of Star Trek in our movie segment in the last part of the show.

But before that, there is plenty to keep you occupied. Sir Togsef, for a start. Also known as “Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier” is discussed, in depth.  Put on your nerd glasses for that one. Moving on, Jesse gets into R-Type Delta, the PS1 Classic available for download to your PS3 and/or PSP via the PSN Store.

Luke has been playing a lot more Farcry 2, and has some good things to say about it. Brittany has been on a Conan kick lately, having started collecting the Dark Horse run of the comic. Jonah hasn’t been playing much of anything, the slacker.

Also, the news and a brand new giveaway.

Download

RSS

iTunes

Show Links:
The Gregory Brothers
Street Fighter 4 PC w/Fightpad
What Sequels Does Japan Want?
Space Quest Retrospective Part 1
Jesse on the JPAG

Giveaway!

We have a brand new copy of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith for the Xbox 360 that we are giving away. You just have to make a comment here in this thread posting your favorite Star Trek reference. Any reference at all. We will pick a winner on an upcoming episode of the show. Remember, even if you make multiple posts, you are only entered once. Also, use a real email address when you comment, or we won’t be able to contact you if you win.

"This Is the City..."

In popular entertainment, one aspect many look for is immersion. Feeling sucked in by a good book or movie makes you really feel like you are part of the action. They can transport you to another time and place, and whole new world (cue the song from Aladdin).

One style of game that excels at this for many gamers are “Open World”, or “Sandbox” games. While they do have an over-arcing plot, most of them allow you to play at your leisure. Often there are a lot of mini-games and side-quests to keep you occupied. If they are well designed, many players spend hours just exploring.

Here are a few good open world games with brief overviews.

Bully (PS2, Xbox 360, Wii)

You play as Jimmy Hopkins, a teenager with a bad attitude. Between attending classes and trying to get girls to make out with you, there is a quest progression that leads to your eventual take over of the schools’ many factions. You can explore the school grounds and the surrounding town, but if you miss classes or are out past curfew, the cops and the school prefects will come after you. While this is a sandbox game, it is a much more focused experience than most.

Crackdown (Xbox 360)

You take on the roll of one of Pacific Cities’ super powered cops. You start with enhanced strength, stamina and jumping ability, all of which you can level up. The plot is to take down the city gangs by killing off various mob bosses. The most fun I had came from leaping from rooftop to rooftop as I upgraded my agility, allowing me to get to even greater heights. This is done through the collection of agility orbs hidden throughout the city. Crackdown, over any other sandbox game I have played, gave me a sense that I could go anywhere and do anything.

Grand Theft Auto 4 (PS3, Xbox 360)

In Liberty City, Niko Bellic has just arrived from Eastern Europe to live the American Dream. What he finds is a land of gangs and corruption that he is immediately caught up in. As in previous GTA games, you have the option to randomly wander the city and explore, or complete missions that lead you along in the plot. This was Rockstar’s attempt to give the GTA series a more serious twist. I actually found this to be distracting from the random destruction and mayhem that normally goes on in the GTA universe.

Saints Row 2 (PS3, Xbox 360)

Unique to the Saints Row series (at least in the sandbox games that I have played) you are an anonymous protagonist who you create at the outset. There are tons of customization options used to make your character. Once you escape from the prison hospital, you and your “homies” in the 3rd Street Saints undertake the task of regaining control of the city. Not only are the cops after you, but so are all the rival gangs. You can steal and customize your gang outfits, graffiti, vehicles and hideouts. Unlike GTA 4, Saints Row 2 does not try to be serious on any level. The sheer ridiculous nature of the game make it a lot of fun to wander around causing random havoc.

Dead Rising (Xbox 360, Wii)

In Dead Rising, you take on the roll of Frank West, a photojournalist (he’s covered wars, ya know) who is trapped in a shopping mall swarming with zombies. This is another sandbox game where your character levels up as you play. It even encourages multiple play-throughs since you get to keep all your special abilities and weapons. The main plot is also very hectic to try and make it through in a single playthrough. If you choose, you can ignore the story and just try to survive in the mall for three days (game time) until the rescue helecoptor arrives. One of the coolest parts of Dead Rising is the ability to pick up and use anything you can get your hands on as a weapon (there is even a hidden Mega Man costume and blaster). There are multiple endings and even an infinite mode, where you see how many days you can survive without being eaten or dieing of hunger yourself. It is an early 360 game (I have not yet played the Wii port “Chop Till You Drop”) and does have some bugs, leading many to refer to the game as “The Best Bad Game on the 360″.