On a very special seventy-fourth episode of the video game podcast “Barrel Roll!”, the guys witness history in the making as Scissor-Man scores a million goal-points to win the World Cup for team ScissorMans.

We also talk about video games.

Returning junior editor Russ “the Bus” Walsh attempt to tell us about Crackdown 2 , but his spirits become too crushed to continue on. Adam has finally joined us in 2005 and picked up an Xbox 360, so he has mostly been playing older XBLA titles like Shadow Complex and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

Jonah had a chance to try out the co-op mode in Sin and Punishment: Star Successor. He also picked up the new Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge. Meanwhile, Jesse has fired up the space jams with Mass Effect 2.

In the news, we talk about NBA Jam possibly coming to XBLA and PSN, the upcoming “Summer of Arcade” games, Dragon Age 2 and much more.

There is even time for a “Friday Old Games” discussion of Goonies 2.

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

When I first heard about XBLA, and the kind of games you would be able to buy, I was a little skeptical of any real quality coming from it. Geometry Wars was neat, but I was really expecting it to be a medium used to foist Bejeweled clones upon us. I never expected to get something quite like “Shadow Complex”.

Shadow Complex is Chair Entertainments’ second shot at an XBLA game. While their first game, Undertow, wasn’t especially strong, they have come back this time around with renewed vigor. Shadow Complex is a breath of fresh air for the downloadable games market, and makes me reconsider what the platform is capable of.

The game takes place in a not too distant future of America, in which increasing tensions between the Right and Left turn into all out civil war. Enter Jason Fleming, a man backpacking through Washington with his girlfriend, who gets caught up in a whole conflict he never knew existed. The story of the game is based off of the novel Empire, by Orson Scott Card, and manages to be one of the more interesting stories in recent games I’ve seen. I especially enjoyed the Cobra Commander style enemies. One of the nice things about this game is that it keeps the story minimalistic, offering chunks of it between upgrades and new areas, and leaves the gameplay sections uninterrupted.

Graphically, the game is pretty stunning. The whole game, while done in a 2D perspective, is fully rendered with 3D graphics, and these are shown off in full detail during the cutscenes. However, they use this trait to full effect when you come across turrets, which take the game into a behind the back perspective in which you can aim at all corners of the room. These parts break up the gameplay with fresh action, but they also manage to give you real appreciation for larger rooms, and let you see how beautifully designed the rooms are.

Character models are great looking. The enemies are decked out in snazzy uniforms, and have enough variation to make it seem like you’re actually facing different ranks of soldiers. The outdoors areas look especially nice, and traversing the lake is one of the more memorable moments for me. The game is rendered with the Unreal 3 Engine, and the characters do have that “action figure” look because of it, but it actually works for most of the characters. I especially enjoy the character design of Jason Fleming upon getting all of the upgrades for his suit.

The voice acting in the game is surprisingly good, especially the conversations between the soldiers. Whispered fears between men of an intruder, the stern commands of the men in charge, and the maniacal leader makes the army you’re fighting feel much more real, if not a little ineffectual. Nolan North does a passable job as protagonist Jason Fleming, but he uses the exact same voice he used in Prince of Persia and Uncharted, and it’s starting to become jarring.

Done in the now familiar “Metroidvania” fashion, Shadow Complex is a sidescrolling platformer that offers free movement throughout the game world, and encourages backtracking and exploration. As you progress through the game, you obtain tools that allow you to access new areas via increased mobility and more powerful weapons. However, there are also many hidden items throughout the game’s world, and it will take vigorous exploration and creative use of your tools to get them all.

One thing that I especially enjoyed about this game is the flashlight. The flashlight shows you, when swept around, if something is breakable, and what is needed to break it. While I initially thought this would ruin the exploration and discovery aspect of the Metroidvania games, it actually just erases any complaints I had with the formula initially. As you unlock new weapons, you feel exponentially more and more powerful, and each new weapon uncovered feels more glorious than the last. By the end of the game, you feel like a creature wrought from pure devastation. You really feel as though you’re taking on an army single-handedly. The controls are tight, and the aiming always feels as though it knows what you are aiming for. The reticule moves with precision, and I was rarely frustrated with the controls.

I enjoyed most of the designs of the enemies, and the bosses look truly fearsome. That is why it is unfortunate that most of the bosses in the game are actually quite weak, and tend to turn into a strategy of “Just keep throwing grenades.” I feel like they missed a solid opportunity with the boss fights., especially since the game lacks anything of a strong “Final Boss”. The whole game is fairly easy, but it provides 4 difficulty modes to go through,  extra challenge levels, and some extra challenging Achievements, so there is plenty to do.

At only 15 dollars, Shadow Complex provides the entertainment and replayability that many games four times the cost do not provide. There is much to do, the story is entertaining, and everything about it screams quality. Is it Super Metroid or Symphony of the Night? No, but in its own way, that’s a plus. It even surpasses those games in some respects. It is an homage without feeling like a ripoff.

It redefined what I thought was possible though XBLA, and I am now excited to see what else may come.

Whats this? A new Barrel Roll!? But we just HAD one! Well, loyal super fans, we here at WingDamage are going to fatten you up with an extra helping of podcast fixins. It’s our way of making sure you stay entertained since the upcoming PAX-stravaganza could potentially upset our schedules.

That being said, this bonus episode gives us a chance to discuss what games we’ve been playing since next episode will be too full of PAX related tales of whimsy. Everybody shares a little more love for Shadow Complex, Jesse relives the euphoria that is Metroid Prime with the Trilogy that released on Wii, Brittany uses her noggin’ to solve puzzles with Professor Layton, Jonah plays the Dreamcast while pouring out a fourty, and Wesley passes his travel time with various iPhone games.

There’s also a music discussion including updates on the Mega Man 9 Remix Project and a glowing recommendation of the new Armcannon album: Return of the Attack of the Legend of Pizzor. All this and even a tiny snippet of gaming news on this short bonus edition of Barrel Roll!

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Outro Music – “Fortuna (Star Fox)” by The OneUps
Mega Man 9 Remix Project
Armcannon
Penny Arcade Expo (PAX)

"Can YOU Find Him?"

On a very special episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, Jesse has gone camping, leaving this twenty-ninth installment in the hands of Wesley and Jonah.

We cover Shadow Complex, some iPhone games, and the news. Even though Jesse is gone, he has left us plenty of Campcom (and other) related stories to discuss.

In “Let’s Talk About Stuff” we revisit our Piles of Shame talk and the fact that you can currently vote on which game you want Jonah to play through next. Voting ends Friday, so get yours in ASAP!

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Outro Music – “Fortuna (Star Fox)” by The OneUps
Servbot Keychains at PAX
Better Than I (The Robot Song)

"Memories..."

“Castlevania: Symphony of the Night”, “Super Metroid”, “Contra”, and “Super Mario Bros.”  What do these games have in common? Well, besides being some of the best selling and most critically acclaimed games of all time, they were all in glorious 2-D.

These relics of the past still hold up remarkably well, even alongside today’s Unreal 3 powered behemoths. The reason is simple; 2-D games are able to capture a part of gaming that today’s games simply cannot match.

Blame the PS1 and N64 for killing 2-D games. Everyone was clamoring for the new fancy polygons and poor little 2-D games, with their simple little sprites, felt out of date. There are even rumors circulating that, early in the Playstation era, Sony refused to approve any games that were not 3-D. What is interesting when looking at the games of yesteryear is that those early 3-D games look terrible, while the few 2-D games from the same era still look good.

As awesome as 3-D games are, there are simply some gameplay styles that work better in two dimensions. Any type of game that throws thousands of bullets at you at once really only works in two dimensions. There is no way that a three dimensional game can recreate the experience of something like “Ikaruga” or “Metal Slug”. Any game that tried would become a terrible, unplayable mess.

The Sonic games are another perfect example of a series that works better in two dimensions. Sonic in 2-D was a gaming icon. Since his switch to 3-D, he is on the verge of irrelevance. His modern games simply cannot compete with the elegance and perfection of his early adventures.

What was once blazing fast and fun is now confusing and uncontrollable. Imagine if Sega were to give Sonic the same treatment that Nintendo gave to Mario in “New Super Mario Bros”. A new Sonic game with old-school gameplay, but with all the modern graphical bells and whistles that would blow people away. The game would control like the original Sonic games, but with new 3-D models rendered into 2-D gameplay. When Sonic goes through corkscrews and loops, the camera could pan around to show off the new graphics engine. This makes so much sense that it causes me, honest to goodness, physical pain that it hasn’t happened. Instead we are treated to Sonic as a werewolf.

A werewolf.

Not even an awesome teen wolf.

For further proof, ask anyone who has played any of the Castlevania games on the DS. They can attest to how great they look on a system as underpowered as the DS. Now imagine a new 2-D Castlevania on the PS3 or Xbox 360. Just think about how amazingly detailed the artists and designers could get when they don’t have to worry about rendering everything in 3-D. That extra processing power could be used for cool particle effects that would make everything pop even more. With the type of artists that Konami has on hand, the results would be breathtaking.

At some point, the gaming gods will bestow upon us updated 2-D versions of our favorite games. Until then, we are left to wait and ponder on what could be.

I am not saying that developers should abandon 3-D games. That would be dumb. I am saying that with the current power levels of modern day consoles, a lovingly crafted 2-D game that truly harnessed that power would be awe-inspiring.  Anyone who has played the two recent Bionic Commando games could tell you the 2-D remake was a gajillion times better than the new 3-D version. I just think that we have been overly quick to abandon a play style that works really well.

There have been some signs lately that the tide might be turning. Games like Street Fighter IV or the upcoming Shadow Complex are reminding people why 2-D is still amazing. Developers are starting to realize that there is still a lot of life left in the second dimension. The best way to support these types of games is to buy them and get all your friends to buy them.

What do you think? Would you like to see some sweet new big budget 2-D games?