DLC Dilemma

So here we are. It's 2012. About ten years this console war has raged on. Nintendo obviously destroyed the competition very early on and left Microsoft and Sony to fight for second place. Everything feels so very different now. When I was a kid you could see the distinction between a game on it's platform but the line seems very blurred when Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 is concerned. In the 16-bit era you had a tough choice when choosing between Street Fighter II Turbo for the Super Nintendo or Street Fighter II Special Champion Edition for the Megadrive. The Super Nintendo game looked and sounded far better than it's Sega counterpart but the Megadrive six-button gamepad did really change the way we played the game. Nowadays it seems like it's more a choice or controller preference alone or where our friends are playing.

This is all a little off the topic I'm trying to talk about though. It's a little bit of a controversial subject but one I feel should be mentioned. From what I understand, DLC is supposed to be extra content added to the game to increase the length we stay involved in the game so game companies can help fund their next project. While I accept DLC, which would be more accurately called expansions are great. You had Shivering Isles with Oblivion as well as the Fallout 3 expansions. These large chunks of gameplay add enough to not only justify their purchase but also feel like it's something that was clearly developed after the game was launched or at best was only in the planning stage during development. Yes, those are great. I love playing game of the year level content but that is clearly the minority of DLC out there today.

Next you have the cosmetic DLC. These are annoying but mostly harmless to the person who does not want to dish out cash for the post game DLC or the special edition for all the day one crap we see. The main problem with this type of DLC is that it really adds nothing to the game experience so developers make these as a cheap way to cash in on those with a disposable income. The other problem is the fact that most of it is release with either a special edition or in the market place on day one. This means that the content was developed by the time the game was ready to launch. You could argue that it was developed in the time it took for the game to be shipped and put on store shelved but this is not the case, clearly not for DLC that comes with a new game or special edition.

The third type of DLC is added quests. This is mostly the same as the above but unfortunately it does add something, even if it's little and mostly pointless. The problem is that I find it hard to justify paying as much as 800 Microsoft points for what is basically ten minutes to a half an hour quest. As such I'm left feeling as if my game is incomplete. Of course this feeling will vary from person to person. I still like to blow into a Super Nintendo cart every now and again and play some Super Metroid or whatever the game may be. If Nintendo took away a power up from the game back then and I didn't buy it...I sure as hell can't now. That's me without screw attack for the rest of my life. Maybe I'm taking this all too seriously but that's how it comes across to me.

Now for the worst offender. When a game is designed in such a way that DLC was in mind from the start. This means that developers have to take out content which they otherwise would of put in the final game. Or at least they could of with the fact they made it anyway. Capcom are a big culprit in this area. God knows I love most of their games (when they don't shelve them to die. I still miss Breath of Fire and I'm still trying to get over Megaman) but the fact is that Capcom more often than not develop a game from scratch with the idea of making money from the DLC. At least it's the impression they give me. I wont bore people with Street Fighter X Tekken as you can type that into google and you'll probably find more about the locked content before you find anything about the actual game. So this time I'll talk about what I reviewed last time. Yes and I promise I'll let it go after this but for now you're going to sit there and listen to me complain.

Asura's Wrath is arguably the worst practice behind game development I have seen in so many years as a gamer. The content is not locked on the disk but it's worse than Street Fighter X Tekken could ever of been. Don't believe me? Okay well at least hear me out. I might just be going crazy with all the DLC talk. Some of the DLC released for this game has already been released as of writing this post. It serves as a chapter between chapter 11 and 12. This would not be quite so bad if it was not for the fact that the content was clearly something that was “missing” from the game. Later on they plan to release a chapter between 15 and 16. Same deal again here. The worst thing is the ending which I have already mentioned. Some argue that this is only an epilogue however this suggests that the final climatic battle has already happened but no. The way the game ends is with a twist and then being greeted with “To be continued” Now I really want to avoid going on a tangent about this as I've pretty much said all I have to say. There is some Ryu/Akuma crossover content but that doesn't matter at this point.

I'm not actually that angry about the game as a single offence. Yes it did completely ruin the game for me but the main worry I have is that, like with the online pass. People will start to see it as good practice and copy it. Namco Bandai have already started turning the tales series into a massive DLC festival with downloadable costumes. That would be fine if not for the fact Tales always had the costume content there for free but now it changes. This is proof that they do these things because they can and not because they need to. What does the future hold for the industry...Who knows...I fear that it's getting worse however.

Thanks for putting up with my lengthy post this time. If you agree or disagree. Feel free to let me know. I'm not really saying this as a fact but more my impression of the industry. It is true however that it's getting worse in some shape or form. I just figured it would be an interesting subject between reviews. Also feel free to suggest something else for me to talk about and if I'm “qualified” then I'll sure give it a go.

Asura's Wrath Review

It's sometimes hard to understand how some games get localized and others not. Don't get me wrong. Asura's Wrath is a very interesting game but it's a wonder how Capcom think that the game will sell better than a Megaman title. I honestly think the Japan sales alone of the Blue Bomber will surpass the global sales of Asura's Wrath. The game can be best described as having three styles of gameplay. Two button brawler, On rails shooter and QTE. The brawler parts of the game easily involve you the most in even if it's pretty repetitive feeling. The general idea is to keep hitting your enemies with normal attacks and to fill up the burst gauge to continue the story. You also have a heavy attack with cooldown. There is a state you can transform into which gives you infinite heavy attacks for a limited time but it doesn't really change the outcome of the battle very often.

The second part of the game is an On rails shooter. I regret that this mode is also pretty dull with very little to do but chain up attacks and shoot enemies to fill up the burst gauge so you can continue the story. It's pretty hard to get killed here and it really only serves to pad out the gameplay. Why it could not be like panzer dragoon I do not know. The final element to the game is the QTE parts. These can pop up at more or less any cutscene in the game and pretty much serve to give you a slightly different cutscene depending on if you fail or succeed. There is no way to die from QTE's in what I played of the game and the only purpose for it to be there is to keep you alert during the story. Shenmue pulled of QTE's fairly well as the pacing was better for it. Asura's Wrath is already an insane ride that adding QTE's just cheapen the experience.

So there you have it. From a gameplay point of view. The game is utterly terrible. I do not think I've played anything quite so bland and boring in my entire life. I really do not know how they cyberconnect2 screwed up the gameplay so much. Solatorobo had awesome gameplay and even the .hack series had interesting elements to the gameplay. It is good then that the story is good right?

Well yes actually, it's a pretty awesome story which taps heavily into Hinduism with an absurdly over the top anime flair. It's clear the game was created with anime in mind. You have fight scenes that feel like they've been pulled from a shounen anime like dragon ball. Mix in a massive revenge story and strength which seems to stem from the philosophy of rage solves everything.

If you like that kind of story then you're in for a massive treat with the game...If you're not...Then I cannot really see any redeeming feature to this game for you.

Before I finish this up though I'd like to point out that this is a Capcom game and while I was going to rate it well on the story alone. They even screw that up. What I mean is that you should not expect to see the ending. Even the special secret ending greets you with a cliffhanger and “to be continued” at the end. This is because Capcom have obviously seen fit to make us pay for the ending via DLC. Capcom cannot say that they did not have an ending planned already so this cheap cash-in is really not acceptable and one of the most detestable attempts at emptying our wallets I have ever seen. So unless you are planning to shell out £11.50 for the DLC I would honestly not bother and wait for Jet Set Radio or something.

My Score: Boring gameplay with a pretty awesome story which is held ransom as DLC. 4/10

The People: I don't really see people enjoying this game even if we didn't get ripped off out of DLC but I've surprisingly heard little complaints from people about it so I'll give it the same score. 4/10