Disposable Nature

Every scene sticks in my mind.

Maybe I'm getting old but I'm starting to notice a trend in the games industry lately. It seems that even though online gaming is at it's biggest ever, the longevity of of those experiences are weakening. I've been thinking about how to kill time until the UK release of the latest Fire Emblem game and I thought back to Chrono Trigger. “Maybe I could go grab some of those endings that I missed” Then I thought about my memories of the game. Mini-games at the millennial fair, punishment based on your subtle and not so subtle actions at the court case, seeing the depressing state of the future, learning how everything ties together. Chrono Trigger really stuck with me and it was just one of many games.

Persona 3 was a great example of game I always like looking back on.

Flash forward to the current generation. I played a few of the earlier Call of Duty games and despite the hate it gets, is actually a solid shooter. The problem is that it has left me with nothing. I don't remember the story much or what I was fighting for, something to do with guns I’m sure. Okay fine, It's an online game...I can dig it. Problem is...I don't remember much about my experiences with the online either. I got stressed more than a few times and I got some cool head shots but I don’t really “remember” them. The next version of Call of Duty made the last mostly obsolete. Call of Duty was a game that you were supposed to dispose of when you were done..

I think this is from Modern Warfare 2?

This is not to say that all games in recent memory have been this way. Some of the most striking games have come from this gen. Bioshock, Journey, Dark Souls, Ni No Kuni. That being said, there is a alarming increase in throw away games and it just kind of makes me sad. I don't want my games to just be time sponges, I want them to be experiences that I really take in. Maybe it's a change in business model, maybe it's changed according to the needs of majority of gamers. Maybe games have always been something to whittle away their free time with.

I dare say there are plenty of throw away games from earlier generations. Fighting games are probably the most guilty offender here. Why own Street Fighter II when Turbo is out? In their defence, this was also a method to perfect the game itself but the end result is the same. Sell Street Fighter II because Turbo is better in every possible way. Most people have learnt their lesson with fighting games (myself excluded) in that it's best to wait for the Hyper Rainbow Super Turbo Remix EX Alpha GOTY edition. It is however harder to draw the line with the next Battlefield or Call of Duty, exactly when you should jump into a new game.

No Super Bars Yet.

Maybe I'm wrong and I missed something, maybe most gamers prefer to move on with their games. As long as there is space enough for both mindsets, I'm fine with it, if it's what people want. It might be too strong a word that the industry is evolving but there is no doubt that it's changing.

Street Fighter X Tekken

Being I've not had my hands on the game for long I'll be mainly giving my first impressions of the game. I am also no expert on the more subtle elements of fighting games but I'll give it a go. Street Fighter X Tekken does surprisingly well with the character roster in this game. The complaints about the on disc DLC are well founded on principle but there still is a massive cast of characters regardless. This, however does not excuse Capcom as the game takes a clear stance that it's being built from the ground up to extend the game by releasing Characters, Costume Packs, Costume Colours (possibly) and Gems.

Back to the characters though. Most of who I've used play really well and the Tekken characters make the transition as well as I'd hoped. While the Street Fighter characters play mostly the same on a basic level as their SFIV counterparts, they do have some minor changes for the most part. As always the Street Fighter characters focus mainly on special moves where Tekken puts their focus in Unique Attacks which serve as their trademark “Combo” moves. Hitting LP,LK,MP,LP and MK as Jin for example will execute a string of pre-made moves that link together. Whereas the Street Fighter characters would literally attack using the standard same strength moves in that order. I probably explained that poorly but in short the Tekken characters are quite easy to get a high combo from with little practice but there is no doubt a learning curve for Tekken players moving to the SFXT engine.

The game really rewards tagging out often in the game as it opens up many juggle chances and keeps your partners damage minimized as the first KO ends the round. I'm personally in half a mind about the Gem system. While it seems very interesting for personalized play it does add a pay to win aspect to the game. Also it means being familiar with a character is even harder because having power gems for example will make a character more powerful than he is. It would be nice if online play could turn the gems off but at this point I have not found such an option.

The online plays well as so far I've had little to no lag, even on the PS3 but one major problem is that pretty much all the sounds cut out when playing online. This is terribly annoying as it can do as much as throw off your rhythm when trying to string a large combo together. They should fix it soon but there is no way they didn't notice before launch. Game patches have ended up being a massive crutch for developers and now look where we are. Arcade mode is the usual deal. Nothing really worth mentioning. It's short but fun. You pretty much have the same modes as you've seen in SFIV already. Trials can absorb a decent amount of your time but otherwise you'll be waiting to play online or locally with friends. This is one of the reasons why the incomplete online is such a blow but in due time I'm sure it'll be fine.

On one last note. The framerate is great throughout. I never noticed a single dropped frame to my eyes and you get vsync, so no nasty cuts in the screen while it pans. The art style is great, just like SFIV was and the cartoon like look is pulled off well for the tekken characters. A few people like Law looks strange but it's overall a good job. It may be too early to tell if SFXT will be ruined by DLC in the future or that it'll be written off as a poor feeling game like MVC3 (though I feel like this game has plenty of substance compared to MVC3) but I personally think it's pretty good so far. Maybe not a replacement for 3^rd Strike or even SFIV maybe but time will tell.