Hippies? Check. Weapons and psychic powers with which to beat them? Double check.

In the heyday of the Super Nintendo, there were many games that surfaced with the status of a “triple A” title. While there was still a lot of shovel-ware on Nintendo’s second try at a true system it was not to the extent that we have now with the Wii and had with the Gamecube. This also meant, with so many great games coming out so quickly, that if a game was not marketed correctly it would immediately get looked over and tossed into the junk category.

Earthbound truly was one of those poorly marketed games that came and went as a thief in the night. Those who were lucky enough to snag a copy of this gem (and the still foul-smelling Earthbound “Scratch-n-Sniff” strategy guide) were rewarded with a quirky adventure, memorable characters, and oddball humor that just wouldn’t stop. Earthbound was a role playing game for those who wanted something different than the traditional fantasy setting and it delivered in wave after goofy wave.

Released the same year as Chrono Trigger (Squaresoft’s crowned king of RPG goodness that is still to this day usually at the top of almost everyone’s favorite RPG lists), Super Mario World 2, Donkey Kong Country 2, and Killer Instinct. Earthbound ,which in Japan was already a top-selling game series with its first iteration that came out years before on the NES being one of the most popular games on the system, had a lot to compete with. Within the states the game was released by a company that was more known for its adventure games than for RPGs within North America (HAL Laboratory, which is famously known for the creation of the Kirby and Adventures of Lolo) and also with very little marketing behind it. The game was released with little gusto and fell towards the wayside, selling less than half a million copies worldwide (in comparison, Chrono Trigger sold over three million copies).

The story revolves around Ness who, after being warned by a powerful fly from the future named Buzz Buzz that the world is in danger, begins a journey that will take him all across the world in an attempt to stop a hostile alien, Giygas, from taking over and dominating the future. Throughout the game you’ll encounter blues brother lookalikes, geeky inventors named after fruit, and a cult completely obsessed with the color blue, all while forging friendships and developing your psychic powers in order to save the day.

The battle system is a traditional Dragon Quest first-person experience while the rest of the game is played as a birds-eye view. The graphics, while slightly dated now, worked wonderfully for their day and gave the game a quirky, modern feel to it that is wonderfully strange yet appealing to the eyes. A well-written storyline and constant humor keep the pace of the game lively and will keep you wondering what will come next throughout an adventure full of NPCs and enemies that will keep you entertained and coming back for more.

That Earthbound has built up a cult following that, to this day, is still fervently loyal to it is a testament to how good the game actually is. At its release it received high scores from multiple gaming publications within North America but the multiple re-releases and the sequel have still not reached the states. Many people have devoted years of their time to translating the sequel for English-speaking audiences and even constantly petitioning Nintendo of America for an official release here to no avail. Also in the June and July 2008 issues of Nintendo Power, it was voted as the #1 most requested game for the Wii’s Virtual Console (with the original game that was never released here close behind in the #4 and #2 spots consecutively).

This game is definitely one that should be on anyone’s list who is looking for a good RPG and is definitely worth the effort to find a copy. The game could have had such a better success in the past if not released the same year as one of the most highly anticipated titles on the system as it was one of the diamonds in the rough of the mid-nineties. Poor marketing and bad release time both went hand in hand to doom this game and its sequel from never seeing a stateside release again and frankly, the American gaming world is a slightly more blue place without it.

Terminal Reality, a company with very few hits under its belt, recently released Ghostbusters: The Video Game on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC systems (Red Fly Studios, a different company, produces the game for the rest of the consoles). The game is an entirely new story line written by none other than the original team of Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd who had been working on and penning an idea for a new Ghostbusters movie already and decided to merge the two ideas.

The story follows the Ghostbusters two years after the events of the second movie. The player takes on the role of a man simply known as “Rookie”; a new recruit added to the team as an experimental weapons tester. With this role comes certain hazardous duties and so as to not garner any type of affection for you, the team never refers to you by your real name. Because of your job title though, you’ll receive upgrades to the trusty proton pack that would make even the statue of liberty dance to an upbeat 80’s tune: a stasis beam that allows you to freeze or slow down your enemies, a Meson Collider that allows for homing shots and a rocket-launcher like expulsion of energy towards your ghostly antagonists, and a slime weapon that allows for the dispersal of positively-charged slime and a “slime-tether” system that can be used to trap ghosts or fix broken landscapes. Throughout the game as you receive these you’ll be able to upgrade each weapon type (as well as your proton pack itself which is the standard weapon) a total of four times each upgrading cool down, damage, rate of fire and the like to make your ghost busting that much more enjoyable. Throughout the game’s events, you’ll also be given some more insight into the franchise’s two previous story lines, further fleshing out the characters (both bad and good) from the previous two stories.

There are a number of things to talk about with this game. I am a huge fan of the franchise and so this game, which honestly is one of the first good Ghostbusters games, does hold a bit of a special place in my heart. Almost the entire original cast is there in all of its voicing glory (minus Louis Tully, the accountant played by Rick Moranis) and the characters sound spot on. Its what I would imagine the ghostbusters would sound like after their claim to fame especially Venkman (voiced by Bill Murray) who sounds more like a pompous ass than ever.

The game also looks and plays great with only a few minor exceptions. While the PKE meter (the item you use to find hidden ghosts, cursed artifacts (the collectible in the game), and sometimes even just your way around the map) works well it’s almost slightly annoying how it does work. While it will track items and enemies sometimes it does so a bit too well especially with the often hard to find cursed artifacts throughout the game. Half the time when it said there was supposed to be an artifact right at my feet I could still never find it. Another small problem came with the HUD, or at least the lack of one. All of your energy and your life bars lie along the right side of your proton pack and while it worked in a game like Dead Space (where your health was seen on your spinal chord in a big bright blue bar) to me it just seems to be a bit too small and lost while you’re concentrating on so much going on around you in fights. These two complaints are small in comparison to the dreaded loading screen you will experience if you don’t install this game. While hearing the theme song and seeing some of the franchise’s classic items is cool, hearing it every time you die for a few minutes a piece can become painfully annoying and if you plan on playing on a difficulty above normal (which in this game is Professional) prepare to have the song stuck in your head for weeks on end because you’re going to be hearing it a lot.

These are really the only three complaints I’ve had about the game. It looks great and the weapon effects on the landscape look wonderful. There’s nothing better than running your proton pack through a room and seeing the char marks along the walls and ceiling, as well as the destroyed items within. That’s right, the majority of the landscapes throughout the game are quite destructible and on the PS3 and 360 versions you’re awarded for either being completely destructive or attempting to be as careful as possible (the destructive being slightly difficult, with the conservative path being insanely hard). The pacing is what you would expect from such great writers and works well with the story, mixing humor and seriousness throughout your ghost wrangling career to deliver a great experience that will be worth playing even for those not familiar with the movies. The multiplayer also works great, intermixing cooperative ghost hunts with a survival mode that is a lot like horde mode in Gears of War or Nazi Zombies in Call of Duty: World at War.

While the 360, PS3, Wii, and PS2 titles all have the same story, the latter two consoles drop the realism and instead go for a more cartoon look to them. Looking a lot more like the Ghostbusters cartoon that came out years back, they also have replaced the proton pack life/energy system for an actual HUD that sits at the top left of your screen. They also dropped the upgrade system for the proton pack and instead Egon just gives you the new weapons (with no chance to upgrade those weapons later on). The animated games look great even without the realism and the Wii even boasts (on top of its usual motion control offering) two-player co-op on the same system.

While the story line is fairly short (8 – 10 hours) the multiplayer and co-op (depending on which system you get it for) definitely make this game a purchase if not at least a rental. Now don your proton pack, jump in the Ecto and remember, when someone asks you if you’re a god, you say yes!

Cooperative is definitely the way to go with this game but even in single player mode I’m still enjoying it and feel as if it gives the game more challenge since you have to manage both inventories (which means giving each character health, weapons, and adequate ammo) and you have to struggle to keep her alive (as well as yourself since the game is tailored to two people) through the game. This then gives you more things to think about and forces you to make some tougher decisions on how you want Chris and Sheva to act.

I think the problem is that games like Dead Space and Gears of War have spoiled me on the whole third-person shooter concept. I’ve gotten so used to being able to run and shoot at the same time that I find that I have to force myself not to try in Resident Evil. Dead Space just proved that you don’t have to be a slow game to keep it scary and that is constantly running through the back of my mind. I mean, the main character of Resident Evil is a hardened military soldier who has been through these situations time and time again but can’t aim accurately while moving any more than he could in 1996 while an engineer wearing a massive metal suit in space can without even flinching? The numbers and the reality of the situations don’t add up. Of course, we are talking about killing zombies in Haiti and hellspawn in space so reality doesn’t really have precedence here.

The storyline, as stated earlier, seems to be really stale so far. I can’t decide on if it’s because I’m slowly getting tired hearing about Umbrella and all of its evil deeds or because it just doesn’t seem to have the same flair that previous installments did. It doesn’t make the game unplayable but can make it painful to hear the conversations between all the characters. That could change since I’m only about halfway through but if it sounds and looks like a bad storyline halfway through the game chances are the second half will be just as cliche. I look at it like a horror movie; you can’t expect award-winning performances and seeing the heads pop off of zombies always brings a smile to my face so it’s a fair compromise.

These articles will come from time to time as there, frankly, becomes less and less to write about. The blog section, which I had thought to reserve for my own personal reflections on life, on the world around us, or on the general going-on around the world, will still serve those purposes but maybe in a different way. I think that they may just end up becoming updates on what’s going on with the website in general and why, as I begin this experiment, it seems to be the wrong time to begin a videogame review website and why this home for my thoughts may need to evolve into something more.

In the spring comes a strange time in the gaming world that I’ve come to call the “yearly video-game recession”. It seems to be a time when developers decide that video games, on a whole, should not be released unless they’re minor releases or you don’t really care if they do well or not. Some companies break this tradition and even this year we see it happening with releases like Resident Evil 5, Street Fighter 4, F.E.A.R 2, Halo Wars, and Ghostbusters: The Game as well as a few RPG’s that may or may not get released on time (I’m looking at you Star Ocean: a new hope!) though some of the games that are being released in the Spring were originally meant for a fall release and have just been pushed back into the spring because of unforeseen circumstances.

As a gamer and as a general lover of entertainment I’ve never been surprised that games are purposefully held and worked on to have fall release schedules. The holidays mean that people are spending money and undoubtedly buying video games as presents for others as well as themselves. It is a season that screams “buy things!” as those with salaries get holiday bonuses and the poor college kid has a long enough break to hold a seasonal job and make some extra scratch to afford that Collector’s edition. Stores also know this plan and have more sales during the holidays than any other time of the year (Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Day after Christmas sales, New Year’s Sales, etc. . .). It is the last chance for retailers and corporations to make the final few dollars to meet those income predictions and they push the envelope in order to do so.

This also means that spring has the perpetual “Christmas syndrome” going for it. Fall and winter are gone and you have a ton of new things to play around with but in the back of your mind you know that rationing that entertainment is necessary because fall and winter won’t be back for an entire 12 months. This means that for people who are not in the gaming industry but who work around the industry, such as reviewers and video game retail stores, experience a major slow down and must attempt to keep content and keep people interested. They may have run out of delicious cheese but they’re hoping and praying that the tiny pieces of sub-par cheese that they have (let’s say like a Kraft American slice instead of usually feeding them Gouda) will be enough keep the mice interested long enough to stay around and wait for the Good stuff to return.

This is where the horrors of review sites (and many other websites) come in: Top (Insert #, insert topic) lists. Though some become entertaining they are, to this writer at least, the lowest form of opinion that there is because it is usually completely and utterly nothing more than that: someone’s opinion on a topic. This brings about a massive chain reaction of people arguing that “No way!! Knights of the Old Republic is not on a “Best 10 RPG’s of all time” list? Blasphemy Zomgs!!!1.” This is called a clash of opinion and when you have at least half of the clash being performed by someone who can hide behind an anonymous username and given the freedom to say anything and everything they want it usually ends up making people, well, idiotic (especially if the person was already an idiot to begin with).  None of these lists can truly be backed with any type of fact (with the exception of maybe a “Top 10 most popular or least popular (insert item here)” list, since sales numbers and percentages could possibly be used as fact).

So as you read this one may be wondering “Okay, so where is he going with this”? This article is at most an apology for the coming days within the review website world and a promise that, unless provoked, this website will NEVER have top 10 lists. Yes there may be points when a list is given of let’s say “Under-rated games of (insert year here)” or “RPG’s that you’ve never played but probably should” but these are not, in my opinion, the same types of lists. These lists are instead mini-reviews of games that I could never take the time to fully review because of time constraints or because this website just wasn’t up when these games were out. The times will become slow and in order to keep readers interested, I’ve just got to throw a little bit of Kraft your way, because I’m all out of bacon-smoked Gouda.

Now I think it’s time to go make a grilled-cheese sandwich, don’t you?