Tales of Resident Evil Revelations

Resident Evil Revelations, previously released on the Nintendo DS, was released for the consoles May 21, 2013. Revelations is a prequel, of sorts, to Resident Evil 6, where the player controls Jill Valentine as she explores an abandoned cruise ship. The game switches points of view sometimes, allowing the player to see the events being played out through the eyes of Chris Redfield, and new characters Parker Luciani and Quint Cetcham.

Revelations is the first Resident Evil to switch points of view, but also is the first to allow the player to upgrade their weapons. Back in Resident Evil 2, if a player found handgun parts as Leon, his handgun would then be a burst fire pistol. In Revelations you can increase the damage, mag capacity, stun, and more, that can change the outcome of any battle. Another new addition to the game is the Genesis, which is able to scan Jill's surroundings for ammo or even scan enemies to make herbs.

Aside from the single player game, there is also a multi-player mode where two players can explore the Queen Zenobia together with their own custom weapon load out, as well as pick their own agent and costume. This is the first Resident Evil to offer a co-op mode that doesn't involve wave after wave of monsters and a timer.In the appropriately named Raid Mode, the duo raids the Queen Zenobia through over twenty levels, unlocked by playing the single player campaign that offers a whole different experience.

One new addition to the game, while really good if you are going to play a chapter or two then put the game down, is a recap after every single chapter. It's a good facet for casual players, but it can get annoying for those playing through the game.. Thankfully, there is a way to skip the recaps allowing you to continue to enjoy your game until you are ready to put the game down.

While the game changes focus between characters every other chapter or so, the main story falls on Jill Valentine. Being dropped off on an abandoned ship with her partner, Parker Luciani, named SS Queen
Zenobia to find Chris and his new partner Jessica Sherawat. For the first time since Resident Evil 3, the player has to go through narrow corridors, dark areas of the ship and survive on small deposits of ammo. As the player delves into the ship and the history of the Queen Zenobia, more ferocious creatures appear.

Resident Evil Revelations brings the series back to its roots, which made a lot of players happy. The controls were hard to get used to at first, as they seemed stiff compared to Resident Evil 5 or 6. Some of the scares are cheesy, but it's good to have the old survival horror game back where ammo is scarce. The story itself can seem really convoluted as it seems to come out of nowhere, but it's interesting and not so cliche, filled with just the right amount of mystery and twists.

Resident Evil Revelations is a must have for any Resident Evil fan, especially those who want to go back to the times of the original three games. The stiff controls could scare players off, but I encourage you to try even still. Revelations is scary, fun, and addicting! Resident Evil Revelations walks away with a 9.5/10, finally Capcom did something marginally right! After the release of Resident Evil 6, as well as revealing that paid DLC was already on the disc and would still need to be paid for, a lot of players have been hating on Capcom.


That's it for this week's Tales of... tune in next Monday for another review by yours truly! Don't forget to subscribe as we will be doing something special for our subscribers, it also lets you know when we post new material. Be sure to comment below to let us know what you think or if you have a game you want us to review, specifically.

Way Back Wednesday: Legend of Dragoon

The Legend of Dragoon is a role-playing game, released for the PSX on June 11, 2000 and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. For the time in which the game was released, the graphics were still blocky but getting better. The music score is beautiful and still to this day, I can hear the music of certain instances playing in my head. The character development is also something that, I believe, is lacking in a vast majority of the games in this day and age.

The Legend of Dragoon centers around a fighter named Dart and his trials as he travels the world. The player is immediately brought into a bleak situation as Dart's hometown is on fire, set by the Sandoran army, and the hero finds himself being attacked by a giant green dragon. Dart is saved by a woman in black who mentions that Seles was attacked, causing the hero to run towards his hometown. Finding the city in ruins, the player is forced to battle their way to the captain and this is where it gets interesting!

The battle system for The Legend of Dragoon is absolutely unique. None of the characters can actually cast magic, and are forced to use weapons and items to defeat a lot of enemies. However, after a certain time, the characters can turn into Dragoon's which can then cast magic as well as attack differently. The first thing in combat a player will realize, when they attack, is a small white box in the center of the screen. Another box also comes in from outside the screen, shrinking until it disappears into the center of the smaller box as well. This is what makes or breaks a character. This box is what helps the player form 'Additions', or simply put, additional attacks leading into a stronger attack. When it comes to battle, attacking both in and out of Dragoon form as well as 'spell-like' items require accurate button pushing, making a unique feel to the game.

Once the battle in Seles is over, Dart learns that his childhood friend Shana was taken to Helena prison. Of course, Dart can't sit back and let the enemy have her. Entering Helena prison reveals more of the special mechanics of the game. When there is a ladder nearby or a small event that requires Dart to move, a yellow diamond shape with an exclamation mark will appear over his head. This tells the player to press the corresponding button in order to have Dart move.

Throughout the game. Dart meets new friends and old enemies. The tale of The Legend of Dragoon is told over four discs with more twists, turns, and agonizing losses on each disc. I highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys role-playing games as it's one of the best I've ever played. The Legend of Dragoon walks away with a 9.5/10, close to perfect again! The only real negative to The Legend of Dragoon is how hard it can be for players to adapt to the battle system. Apart from the difficult learning curve, the game itself is flawless.

That's it for this week's Way Back Wednesday, stay tuned for more. Don't forget to comment to let us know what games you would like to see, or what you think about a review, and subscribe to get updates every time we put new content up.

Tales of Metro: Last Light

Metro: Last Light is the direct sequel to Metro 2033, released on May 17, 2013, and was previously announced as Metro 2034. Last Light is a first person survival horror where ammo and money are limited. Money, in fact, is a rare type of bullet from the old age that the player can find on bodies or laying in a dark corner. Generic bullets for guns can be found easily. One of the most defining mechanics of the Metro games is going to the surface. Being that the the world above the metro is all radioactive, the player needs a mask and oxygen to survive.

The character Artyom is back in Last Light, being controlled by the player and taken through the world of Metro. For a lot of players, this game can get really frustrating as they don't exactly explain what happened in Metro 2033. Because of this, Metro: Last Light can be a huge turn off. There are monsters called Dark Ones, political wars, and other creatures that make up the NPCs and monsters.

One thing I wished either Metro game had, was the option to choose what Artyom says to the characters he interacts with. Without this, the main character is another mute with only a few phrases. The survival aspect of Last Light can also be frustrating as the game puts Artyom in, sometimes, inescapable danger.

The graphics of Last Light haven't improved since 2033 and the musical score, rather I should say lack of musical score, brings the rating down a lot. It was an interesting pick up, though the game doesn't tell you all of the controls and pretty much lets you flop around like a giant Magikarp waiting to learn an attack

Apart from all the negatives, once the player learns how to play and develops their own way of getting past enemies and moving through the metro, Last Light is a pretty fun game. The characters Artyom meets throughout the game give you a look on the inside of the dystopian world and what people will do for fame, fortune, or just to live.

Metro: Last Light walks away with a 7/10, not horrible but not amazing. It's worth a pick up if you are continuing the story of Artyom from Metro 2033, but outside players may be completely confused.

That's it for this week's Tales of... be sure to comment to let us know what you think as well as subscribe to get notifications every time we post new material.

Way Back Wednesday: Suikoden

Suikoden is a role playing game released by Konami, and is the first installment of the Suikoden series, in NA December 1996. Suikoden gives the player many things that games don't do these days, as well as being overbearing at the same time. In each game, there are 108 Stars, characters, that are able to be recruited and a castle that is built over time that increases in size as more characters are recruited.

Suikoden centers around a political struggle of the Scarlet Moon Empire, the story being led by a silent protagonist and son of a famous general, Teo McDohl. During the first few moments, Teo is called away to a battle leaving his son in the guardianship of his friends and servants. Among these servants is Young McDohl's best friend Ted, and possessor of the Soul Eater Rune.

Young McDohl is given a mission by a corrupt commander, Kraze, to seek out a Rune Seer named Leknaat, also being acompanied by a corrupt official named Kanaan. On this journey, Ted is forced to use his Soul Eater Rune to dispatch a strong beast. After returning to the capital, to report their accomplished mission, Ted is called into the capital by Windy, the Emperor's sorceress, and attacked. Ted manages to return home to Young McDohl, but is followed by the empire soldiers. Young McDohl is forced to retreat and leave Ted behind, but not before being bestowed with the Soul Eater Rune from Ted.

Young McDohl flees the empire, joining up with a resistance group headed by a woman named Odessa. To prove their loyalty to Odessa and her crew, Young McDohl and his team has to help bandits, Varkas and Syndonia to earn Odessa's trust. Later in the game, Young McDohl meets Odessa's brother Mathiu, a famed strategist, who helps Young McDohl acquire a castle and allows the player to start recruiting party members.

The game is rather lengthy, lasting fifty plus hours, depending on whether or not the player tries to recruit all characters or not. The graphics are pixel based on the World Map, drawn out more in battle and towns. The music in Suikoden is really important, able to set the mood perfectly. While the story seems overly cliche in this day and age, the story for when it was released was engaging and emotional.

Suikoden walks away with a 8/10 for the great character development, story, music, and unforgettable moments. Even with all of the good, there still is some bad. With 108 characters, it's really hard for some characters to get the spot light, and don't develop. Meanwhile there are a lot of characters that get developed the right way.

That's it for this week's Way back Wednesday, be sure to comment and subscribe!

Tales of Tekken Revolution

A new Tekken game has been released for the Playstation Network, Tekken Revolution. The last Tekken game was Tekken 6 released on the Xbox 360, PS3, and PSP. Revolution was released only on the Playstation Network as a free-to-play arcade game, on June 11. The game may be free-to-play but, like most "free" games these days, Revolution uses microtransactions for Premium Coins and Tickets, coins being used for Arcade and Tickets for Player vs Player matches.

There are several different modes to accommodate the players, Arcade, Ranked Match, and Player Match. Arcade takes the layer through a series of matches, best two out of three, until they defeat the boss character. Ranked match is exactly what it sounds like, players who battle to be the best and have the most points PSN. Player Match, same thing but without points, players combat each other to see who will reign supreme.

An interesting system that was implemented in Tekken Revolution is the ability to power up your favorite, or all, character(s). Earning money and points from Arcade Mode, a player is able to take said money and increase the strength of a character in either Power, Vigor, or Endurance. Power increases the character's overall strength and damage, Vigor increases critical chance and raises the chances of a character going into a rage, and Endurance increases the character's hit points. This way, any character can be improved and made stronger.


The biggest downfall to Tekken Revolution is their small cast. There are a few characters that can be unlocked, but not enough to consider Revolution over any other Tekken game. Revolution starts with eight characters already unlocked, and four that are locked but can be earned through playing and obtaining Gift Points.

While it's great to have a free-to-play arcade game at my command, I was let down by the cast. Being a veteran Tekken player, having played since the first one, I was expecting to see some other characters like Eddie, Jin, or some of their more silly characters like Gon. The battles are fast and the special attacks are easy to learn, points for that at least! Tekken Revolution walks away with a 5/10, good to play for a time but not a permanent fix for Tekken lovers or an Arcade Fighter.

The Last of Us... Oh! I Play this Game!

The Last of Us is one of the most amazing games I have played. It is a survival horror game developed by Naughty Dog, the studio that brought us Jak and Daxter, and Uncharted. Last of Us was released on June 14th, 2013 exclusively for the Playstation 3. Not only does it bring us a survival horror experience, but it also gives us a riveting story, good stealth mechanics, and a fun online multiplayer mode. I believe that this game will be the game of the year for 2013.

Story - 10

Twenty years prior to the story, a strange fungal infection began spreading through mankind. It was called "Cordyceps", because of its relation to the fungi genus. Cordyceps is a parasite that grows on the subject's brain, causing them to become highly aggressive and almost primal. Over time the fungus grows even further to mutate its host and imbue it with special abilities. Most of the human race has fallen prey to the infection. Those who survive must fight to survive. Some become cutthroat survivalists, scavenging the abandoned world for whatever they can find. Others stay behind the walls of the quarantine zone, safe from infection, but under the iron fist of a harsh martial government.

Infected Aren't the Only Thing to be Afraid of

You play most of the game as Joel, a man forced to take extreme measures to survive in this post apocalyptic world. To do so, he becomes a smuggler. After his supplies are taken from him in a deal gone wrong, Joel is forced to smuggle a young girl named Ellie outside of the quarantine zone. Not much is revealed about her, other than that the rebel group called the "Fireflies" want her safe. As you can imagine, there are many complications along the way, but I won't get into them at risk of spoiling anything. Trust me when I say that the story is fantastic, and really stands out as unique in many ways.

Audio - 10

The Last of Us does an amazing job putting together great, atmospheric music, eerie sound effects, and superb voice acting. Troy Baker (Bioshock Infinite, Arkham City) plays Joel, and Ashley Johnson plays Ellie. Though Ashley hasn't done much voice acting for video games in the past, her performance truly breathes life into Ellie. I was quite surprised to find Nolan North (Uncharted, Assassin's Creed) in the credits as well. he plays the side character, David, so keep your eyes open for him if you give the game a shot. The music and sound effects also really set the mood for the game. In some areas the music is evident, setting up a big fight or chase, while in others its nearly non-existent giving room for the strange sounds of the world to sink in and unsettle you.

Video - 10

A Hungry Clicker

The animation for Last of Us is really amazing. It is hard to tell whether you are in a scripted cutscene, or actually playing the game simply because the visuals don't really change much, and there is usually a seamless transition. Beyond graphics themselves, the character designs are fantastic. Each character's appearance gives them as much personality as the voice acting itself. The enemies are also very well designed are quite intimidating. The clicker is especially intimidating, as it makes eerie sounds, moves in unpredictable jerky motions, and has a creepy mutated face. You can check out one of the more recent trailers below.

Gameplay - 10

True survival horror is really hard to come by in today's age, but The Last of Us pulls it off quite well. That is not it's full focus though, it also provides strong stealth mechanics, has crafting features, and fun combat. It uses a shooting system similar to Uncharted, but adds a sway feature. That combined with ammo being hard to come by creates a unique and challenging first person shooter. While hand to hand combat is usually just mashing the square button, the animations for it are extremely dynamic and sleek. Another interesting feature is the crafting ability. There are very few things that you can actually craft, but they are all very useful. You can make nail bombs, molotov cocktails, shivs, smoke bombs and med kits. One thing I really like about The Last of Us, is that everything takes place in real time, so you have to plan ahead for every situation. It is quite a challenging game, even on normal difficulty.

Can You Survive The Last of Us Multiplayer?

The multiplayer features two game modes which are both quite fun. Each game mode features 4v4 combat. The first game type is "supply raid", this is a typical death match. There are a certain number of tickets, or lives for your team to spend, and the first team to lose all their lives loses. The second mode is called "survivors". Survivors is similar to to supply raid, but each player only has one life. When you die, you stay dead till the next round. Each round you gain a certain number of points to upgrade your equipment for the next round. Survivors reminds me of games like Counterstrike. Something that I find interesting about The Last of Us' multiplayer is the idea that you are the leader of a group of survivors. Each match you play gains supplies for your group, and the more supplies you get, the bigger your group grows. The bigger your group is, the more costumes and weapons you unlock. This adds interesting flavor to the usual experience and level system in online shooters.

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The Last of Us is a great game, and the first game that I actually give a perfect 10 to. It is a masterpiece, and a must own for any Playstation 3 owner. This is not a game for players under the age of 16. There is little to no sexual content, but very gruesome violence, and a lot of foul language. The plot also contains a lot of difficult, uncomfortable issues centering around what it takes to survive. I love this game, and really think that this is what modern zombie games should feel like. What did you think of Last of Us? Leave a comment below telling us what you liked about the game, try and keep it spoiler free though. Also, don't forget to subscribe, its a great way to show your support and interest in our posts, and in the coming months we'll be doing something special, exclusively for subscribers.

Breaking News: Xbox One80, Top Dogs at E3, Beta XIV

Microsoft hopes to be top dog again with their new changes, after the fans raged about the system's inability to allow borrowing of friend's games and a daily internet check. There will still be games that must be connected to the internet, much like the video game Mag, and the Kinect is also still a requirement. It seems like no matter how much of a backlash, the Xbox One will still be able to spy on you with it's ever open eye. The company announced on June 19th, 2013 the removal of these aspects, hoping to make their fans happy and to raise the sales of their already bombing system. The real question is, is it too late for Microsoft to regain the faith of their fans? The following links cover the announcement and an IGN article that shows the differences of the next gen consoles.

E3 reveals made a large splash with headline titles we haven't seen in a long time. Mirror's Edge is brought back, but with a prequel. Mirror's Edge has been a game of the past for close to five years, only to be brought back into the light at E3. Another forgotten title to hit the new consoles is Killer Instinct! Lost back in 1996 with it's last installment of Killer Instinct: Gold. Killer Instinct (2013) will be a free-to-play game, set to release with the Xbox One, with one character unlocked, and the rest to be bought with micro-transactions. Star Wars Battlefront is also back, after having been left behind four years ago on the Nintendo DS and Playstation Portable.

Square-Enix came out swinging at E3 with two titles nobody expected to see the light of day. Personally I have lost interest with the Kingdom Hearts series as every other Kingdom Hearts game requires you to buy a new system or handheld in order to play. Kingdom Hearts III was finally announced however at E3 to be released on both the Xbox One and the PS4.

Final Fantasy fans were ecstatic to hear that Final Fantasy Versus didn't die after being announced, originally, back in May 2006. As some fans were happy, others were confused. The game was named, to start, Final Fantasy XIII Versus and was supposed to be a part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis series. The title now, however, is Final Fantasy XV. The game, while extremely late, looks absolutely amazing, and brings the Final Fantasy fans a new taste of game play that's different from anything we have seen thus far.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn has also been stirring a lot of talk lately, as their relentless ads for beta testers have been plaguing the social networks lately. A lot of fans feel jaded as the game flopped hard during it's release. Since it's initial release the game has been taken down, destroyed, and remade. The game is still undergoing final touch-ups for it's future release in August, with the help of their faithful fans who signed up to become beta testers. Hopefully this time, Square-Enix learned from their mistakes and wont make a MMO that makes their fans think twice about every purchasing an online game from them.

That's it for this week's Breaking News. Comment to let us know what you think, and be sure to subscribe!

At My Limit: Ellie

I know I said that I would be doing a 3 part series on Anita Sarkeesian, but I encountered some problems with that. Mainly that for part two I would be reiterating a lot of what was said in the first part. So, I've decided to talk about something different, but still relevant to the original topic. The Last of Us is a game that came out a little less than a week ago, and received outstanding reviews. Though the main protagonist for most of the game is a middle aged man named Joel, his travelling companion Ellie is the character that stands out to me the most.

Ellie is a fourteen year old girl who spits in the face of all the tropes that are commonly used with female characters in video games. She is independent, foul mouthed, gritty, and can pretty well take care of herself. Through the first third of the game, she doesn't really do much. This is not for lack of trying, but rather because Joel believes that she shouldn't help. After all, she's just a fourteen year old girl, what can she do. In this portion of the game, she only does simple tasks such as crawling through air ducts to open locked doors, or being lifted up to help access other areas. However, after this, she becomes a full fledged AI companion.

The turning point comes when Ellie saves Joel from being drowned by shooting his attacker in the head. From now on, she has a gun, and helps you in combat. Previously, she only occasionally involved herself in combat. She would toss a bottle at an enemy, or yell at them to distract them. Now she carries firearms and helps you dispatch of those who are hostile to you. She saved my neck multiple times while playing it myself.

Over the year in the game, Joel and Ellie form a unique, father daughter like bond with each other. The two exchange witty banter, but also discuss many things about their own lives. During the course of the game, Ellie saves Joel more than he saves her. You even get to play as Ellie for a decent portion of the game, and she defies tropes left and right through the whole thing. She gets captured at one point, but instead of being a typical damsel, she engineers her own escape and kills her captor.

Ellie is definitely the star of The Last of Us. When Naughty Dog developed this game, they were right to put her on the front cover. She is actually a great example of a legitimate strong female character in storytelling as a whole. She does not mold to the helpful damsel, or ice queen archetypes, but instead keeps her own individuality and grows through out the game. I would even go so far to say that her personality is more interesting than Joel's. Ellie is definitely one of my favorite characters in any video game. Next week I'll be giving a full review of The Last of Us, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Way Back Wednesday - Halo:Combat Evolved

Back in 2001 Bungie studios, in conjunction with Microsoft released one of the most revolutionary First Person Shooters in the history of video gaming: Halo. Halo brought a new feel to the First Person Shooting industry with both a compelling story, and arcade style multiplayer online combat. Originally released for the PC and Xbox console, the Halo franchise has seen 5 new titles, a spin off anime series, several books, and other merchandise released since its successful debut. But what exactly makes this game such a classic? Let's walk down the long road of memories and find out.

Concept art for the alien "Covenant Elites

Halo: Combat Evolved took the general design behind the First Person Shooter genre and turned it into a spectacular visual display for it's time. Bungie created lush environments, from enemy ships, to rolling hills, and even desolate swamps, the game was beautiful. But not only did they introduce an interesting environment, but realistic representations of mankind, and interestingly obscure aliens. There is also a wide array of new technology seen in Halo, which all has very a very convincing appearance. Alien vehicles and weapons have a sleek design, while human weapons and vehicles look like futuristic versions of our own. Overall, the game has great visual appeal for its time, and is even passable in today's age.

The soundtrack for a game is a very important selling point. Background music helps set the mood for the various situations a player will encounter while playing a game. Halo's mood is perfectly punctuated by it's soundtrack. I remember back to when the game was first released, before I had even played it. My friends and I were on our way to the local laser tag arena and someone put the soundtrack for the game on in the car. Immediately I knew the game was going to be an amazing experience.

On the topic of voice acting, there are no big names in the line up. Though a few experienced voice actors such as David Scully, and Jen Taylor are in the cast, there very few voice actors who have done any other games or animations. However, this does not subtract from the quality in the least.

Master Chief is an experimental super soldier who, in an attempt to divert the Covenant attack force, inadvertently discovers a space station called Halo. To provide some clarification, the Covenant is an allien alliance who despises the human race and seeks to exterminate it. They also revere the Halo as a religious artifact. Halo, is a station with an artificial environment, and is of unknown origin. A covenant ship follows Master Chief and attacks the ship he is on, causing it to crash land on Halo. Master Chief must now locate the survivors and attempt to escape, while uncovering Halo's dark secret.

It is a fairly basic plot for any normal video game, but when you make the player experience it through the eyes of Master Chief it turns this basic plot into an intense fight for survival. This story continues in the following Halo 2 and 3, and will continue in the upcoming Halo 4. Halo: Combat Evolved provides a good setting for the following games, and also succeeds at standing independently of the continuing plot.

Halo: Combat Evolved provides many different ways to play. You can play through the single player campaign alone, or split screen with a friend on the Xbox. Or you can play in many different multiplayer modes online on the PC, ranging from free for all death match, to team capture the flag. You do not have access to online multiplayer if you are playing on the Xbox console, however you can play with up to 4 players on one console, or up to 16 with a Local Area Network or LAN. The gamplay does not stand out from modern First Person Shooters but it released many features that are used frequently today, such damage absorbing shield that recharges when you are no longer taking enemy fire. Halo bridged the gap between story driven FPSs like Medal of Honor, and Quake or Unreal Tournament which were multiplayer driven. It set the bar for all shooting games to have both single player and multiplayer game options to succeed, and its influence can be seen in many games today.

The Halo franchise has been successful since its beginnings, and though people may disagree on the overall quality of the recent games, most can agree that the first installment was thoroughly enjoyable. The game's overall quality rating for it's time would be about an 8.75. Personally, I really enjoyed playing Halo: Combat Evolved with friends before the recent games, and even going back and playing it now, so I would give it aa 9.5.

I hope you enjoyed this review even though it isn't really relevant to todays day and age. It's just my overall experience and opinions of older games. What's your fondest Halo memory? What games do you play today that you can see Halo's influence in? Do you think Halo: Combat Evolved should be considered a modern classic of the video game industry? Please leave me your answers, questions, comments, suggestions, or even complaints. And don't forget to subscribe via email for constant updates! I'll see you over the weekend for the next installment of "Oh! I play this game."

Animal Crossings New Leaf... Oh! I Play This Game!

Animal Crossings has always been one of those games that draws me in, and keeps me hooked. It is a simple game with little to no plot, very little in game content, and a very small world. The game seems to rely solely on its charm, which it has in abundance. In previous games you would participate in the world, but not fully influence it. You could meet your neighbors and make friends, but you really couldn't do much to the world itself. Now, in New Leaf, you are the mayor, and you get to decide exactly how to build things in your town. New Leaf was released on November 9th 2012 in Japan. The North American version was not released until June 9th. It was developed solely for the Nintendo 3DS, and is a life simulation game.

Story - 6

Your Inauguration as Mayor

The story for this game is definitely its weak point. It is overly simplified, and not really the focus of the game in the first place, which makes it weaker. Basically, you are an average Joe, looking to move to a new town. You get there and are showered with confetti and applause. As it turns out, the townsfolk have all been expecting their new Mayor to arrive today, but he ditched his duties and pinned them on you. So now its you're job to help the town flourish, and create a comfortable lifestyle for both you and your fellow townsfolk. Oh, did I mention everyone in your town besides you are bipedal, talking animals? Not many characters within the game itself have much of a story either. This is the main flaw in Animal Crossings New Leaf.

Audio - 8

New Leaf doesn't really have voice acting. When you talk to people they speak in sped up, slurred gibberish at various tones depending on gender or personality. This doesn't really take away from the game, however. In fact, I think it adds to the overall charm. The music for the game, is very calming and relaxing. It helps provide an almost therapeutic stress relief experience for the player. Most of the sound effects have a similar effect, from the sound of the tide coming in, to the sound of a gentle breeze. The only thing I can complain about is the lack of sound sometimes. In some areas, especially at night, there is absolutely nothing going on.

Video - 9

Animal Crossings, like the last 3DS game I reviewed, has excellent graphics for a hand held. Even the characters are well designed and each unique. However, there are some characters whose mouths seem to just a picture on their face that moves. Whenever they're around I tend to focus on their mouth and it kinda makes me chuckle. I really do enjoy the various character models, because it adds a lot of diversity to the game. You also have the ability to customize your character with various clothes and accessories, or if you so desire, you can design your own.

Gameplay - 10

This is what Animal Crossings New Leaf is about and it nails its goal right on the head. The gameplay is simple, and easy to pick up, which makes the game enjoyable for anyone at any age. You can do various things for your town, like plant trees and flowers, or build bridges, parks and campsites. You can also fish, catch bugs, and participate in various other minigames. There are numerous collectibles for you to find. Some you can put on display in the museum, but most you can display in your house. Overall your goal in New Leaf is to pay for the various construction work you are doing in your town, and expand your house to hold more stuff. The one great aspect about the game is the random events that occur. Every day someone new may come visit your town. Sometimes your town will hold celebrations or competitions of their own. This past Saturday, my town held a bug catching competition. Animal Crossings New Leaf has very simple gameplay, but manages to keep you entertained and relaxed.

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Overall, I think thank New Leaf is a great game, and a lot of fun to play. I am quite addicted to it and usually play for at least an hour every day. I give Animal Crossings an 8.2, which is not far off from my personal evaluation of 8.5. Animal Crossings New Leaf is a great game for gamers of all ages. I'd recommend it for ages 5+, because it relies heavily on your ability to read. All in all, its a great game to own on the Nintendo 3DS.

I would like to apologize for failing to release content last week. I got bogged down with a lot of stuff, and was quite busy. I don't mean this as an excuse, merely an explanation. I will do my best to prevent this from happening again in the future. Be sure to subscribe, because in a few months we're going to be having a special surprise for all our subscribers. Also, don't forget to come check us out more this week for Way Back Wednesday, and Part 2 of Gamers vs Anita Sarkeesian.

Tales of Dead Island: Riptide

Dead Island was the first, most realistic, zombie game to hit the consoles. While this may seem like a saving grace, it did have a lot of issues as well. I personally was getting so tired of the Left 4 Dead series, a handful of survivors going through set scenarios where guns were just laying around. Dead Island brought gamers what they wanted, but with a bit of added disappointment.

Weapons were plenty in Dead Island, but instead of guns the players had to use wooden boards, kitchen
knives or find a bunch of every day materials to mod a weapon. This aspect of the game was absolutely amazing, not to mention the more the weapon was used the more it wore down and eventually broke. The disappointing parts of Dead Island were the shoddy graphics and the cliché story to go along with it, along with a slightly open world that the gamer really had no reason to explore the majority of. Also, skill trees to give a false sense of RPG FPS and only four pre-made characters to pick from. Dead Island sold well enough to have a sequel, Dead Island: Riptide, which is what this review is ultimately about.

Dead Island: Riptide was released in April 2013 for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 developed by Techland and published by Deep Silver. Most sequels bring something new to the table that the original didn't have. Aside from a few new zombies and one new survivor, Riptide didn't bring anything worth while to the table. Don't get me wrong, it's good for a once through but Riptide has zero replay value.

The game picks up directly where Dead Island left off with the four survivors, a native and a prisoner in a helicopter, sounds like the start of a bad joke. The helicopter lands on a ship, which the survivors think is to be their salvation. The army instead detains the player(s) and throws them into a cell so they can experiment on them. In the cell, the four original cast members meet John, the new character, but the native they saved is now gone.

Of course, the game can't possibly end this way or take place completely on a boat so something goes wrong and zombies end up on the boat. The player has to fight their way to the helm, only for the ship to crash and they end up on another island, Palanai. Following the story, the player meets up with other survivors who aren't immune and helps them move through the island, looking for safety and a way off of the island.

The biggest twist in Dead Island: Riptide was that the immune characters, when having been exposed to chemicals, go into a prolonged fury. This mutagen has a negative effect on any of the immune characters, turning them into monsters or worse. The player's character manages to get a grasp on reality and doesn't convert into some insane monster hell bent on killing everything in sight however.

Ultimately, Dead Island: Riptide should have just been released with it's predecessor and made into one game instead of two. Riptide didn't last long, as far as hours go, and seemed to just end abruptly with another bad cliff hanger, leaving the player to wonder what happened.

The graphics remained the same, which while they weren't bad they weren't amazing either for a current gen console. The music remained the same, including some rap “hits” by the character Sam B. The monsters received a massive increase in strength, and the addition of a few new zombies keeps the player on their toes, but not much else. The added mods seemed forced and half done, as there were 5 mods that had the same exact effect on weapons.

I enjoyed my play through of Dead Island: Riptide, but I think the game itself could have been done better. Riptide walks away with a 6/10, and while a part of me hopes for a sequel just to put an end to the series, another part is weary about another Dead Island game. If a sequel emerges from the ashes, hopefully they will change the game enough to make it different and for players to want to play through more than once.

Way Back Wednesday: Revelations

Revelations: Persona is the first part of the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona series, originally produced by Atlus and released in North America on October 25, 1997. The game was then re-released in North America on October 1, 2009. While the game underwent a massive facelift from it's first release, the game itself remained the same.

Persona has a large cast of characters, including the cliché silent protagonist that the player controls. Based on the player's actions, different characters can be recruited each time the game is played. Revelations: Persona was the first of the series. to implement a first person view of the dungeon or area the player was walking through at the time.

While I enjoy most of the games in the Persona series, the original Persona as well as bits of Persona 2 really confused me. The combat was lacking as there wasn't a concrete tutorial on how a player should contact demons and obtain new Personas. Instead, the player has to go through tons of trial and error, grinding, and hair pulling to even obtain a demon's card. The player needs two or more cards to make Personas, having to fuse them together in the velvet room.

The story, also confusing, has the player traversing through a world with absolutely no direction. If Revelations: Persona is put down for a long time before being picked back up, there's a good chance the player will have to start over again just to have the smallest idea as to where to go and what is going on.

The graphics, for the time in which it was released and remastered, were pretty decent. While I was hoping

Revelations: Persona would be something remotely close to Persona 3 or Persona 4, it's not entirely a bad game. The music is catchy, the battle controls are easy to learn, but aside from that the game is very complex.

I give Revelations: Persona a 6/10. The game was decent, but not enough to hold my attention the entire way through. Fortunately though, Persona 3, Persona 3 FES, and Persona 4 were amazing titles to make up for Revelations: Persona being confusing.

Grid 2... Oh! I Play This Game!

Grid 2 is a racing game developed by Codemasters. It was released on May 27th for PC and May 28th for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Grid is a track based racing game that features many real world locations such as Miami, Paris and Hong Kong. In the game, you can own and drive hundreds of cars from the last four decades. It includes a campaign mode, as well as 5 different versus modes.

Story - 8

Unlike most track based racing games, Grid 2 presents you with somewhat of a story. You are an amateur racer working under your agent, Patrick Callahan. Callahan wants to make it big, and he's got a master plan to do so. He is going to take you around the world and pit you against the best racers each country has to offer. If you impress them, he'll invite them to a world racing tournament to crown the best racer in the entire world. This may not be a great story, but it was unexpected. Most racing games don't actually take the time to include any semblance of a plot to justify putting the petal to the metal.

Audio - 7

I'm going to come right out and say it, the voice acting in this game is horrible. The only real voice you hear is Callahan's, and he gets very irritating very quickly. Occasionally he offers good advice, like how to take turns, but most of the time he just constantly reminds you that you need to pass the car in front of you. Other than that there isn't much to complain about with the audio. The soundtrack isn't all that noticeable because no music actually plays till the last lap, but it is quite good. It also does a great job with the sound effects. One of my complaints with racing games, is that most of the time the sound of the engine revving is too loud to really make out other noise. In Grid 2, they find a great balance between making the engine purr, but not blare.

Video - 9

Grid 2 is a beautiful game. All the cars look amazing and interact with the world in breathtaking ways. Smoke comes off the tires as you drift, your tailpipe jutters as you go over bumps in the road, and your car shows wear and tear if you drive recklessly. Like several games before it, when you crash the game slows down to show you exactly what happened. There's only one thing that bothered me in this game: bald people. On a course, I spun out of control and ended up stopping right next to the stands with people sitting in them. I soon realized that they all had no hair what soever. At first I dismissed this as just a simple glitch, but I began noticing it in other races as well. Part of me finds this to be lazy texturing, the other finds it kind of funny.

Gameplay - 9

Gameplay is the main focus in racing games, and Grid 2 has you covered. Each race feels very realistic due to its "TrueFeel" handling system. TrueFeel makes each car handle almost exactly like their real world counterparts. This feature makes it easy for new players to learn how to get behind the wheel, but also opens up challenging stunts for experienced players. Grid 2 also features the ability to customize each car quite extensively. This allows you to pick a car and fit it to the way you want to drive. Aside from the campaign mode there are also 5 other racing types that you can enjoy. Race, is a standard 12 car race. Elimination is similar to Race, but every 20 seconds the car in last place is knocked out of the race. Checkpoint puts a timer on your race, and every checkpoint you pass through adds time, to win you have to be the last person with time remaining. Faceoff is a 1v1 tournament to see who is the best racer. And finally, the favorite from last game, Drift. Drift has you sliding from side to side trying to drift the best you can. Each player is awarded points based on how well they drift, and the person with the most points at the end wins.

- - -

Grid 2 is a great racing game, whether you are a fan of the genre or not. Its the type of game that you can play seriously, or just get a bunch of friends together and have a fun time. All in all, Grid 2 comes out with an 8.2 from me. While it is lacking in some areas, it is still a fantastic game to play. Grid 2 is also a great game for the whole family. There isn't really anything offensive in its content, and there are a good number of beginner courses. If you like cars, fun competition, and messy crashes, this is a great game for you.

Tales of Warframe

Warframe is a free-to-play co-op third person shooter developed by Digital Extremes. Warframe was first released on March 25, 2013 for the PC. The community of the game was later notified that Warframe would also be released for the Playstation 4. Digital Extremes has also released a trailer for the future release on the PS4.

The game takes place in a massive world, allowing the player to travel to different planets and galaxies. The player controls warriors called the Tenno who use advanced armor with special properties, also known as Warframes. The Tenno are at war with the Grineer, the Corpus, and an alien race named the Infested.

The Grineer are human, though they may not look like it. Over many years of cloning, their bodies have decayed and have started to look more like a promitive species. The Corpus are heavily into machinery, using mechs and smaller robots to do most of their fighting. Infested were human at some point, but were changed by a virus or parasite. The Tenno are descendants of an ancient civilization of warriors from Earth.

The player is immediately immersed in the game from the moment they pick their first Warframe. The player is given the option of Excalibur, a melee Warframe, Mag, a ranged Warframe, and Loki, a stealth Warframe. After selecting which they would like to use, they are introduced to some of the basic controls by someone called Lotus.

The immediate story doesn't reveal itself, and research has to be done to understand what exactly is happening. The world is vast, but the information is just not there. Warframe's graphics are spectacular, an option to increase the graphics is also given to the players in the Options menu.

While it's partially true the player doesn't have to spend a penny on Warframe to access everything, there is a slight catch. Each player has a limited amount of weapons or Warframe slots that, once filled, stop them from making another weapon or Warframe. This can be remedied by either buying a slot or selling one of the items.

The game also introduces an interesting way of increasing the power of your weapons, Warframe, and skills. During a play through of any mission a player gains experience for both their weapons and their current Warframe. Also during a mission, a player may encounter and pick up an item known as a Fusion Core. These cores provide special skills or abilities that can be equipped to increase the overall power of the weapons or Warframe. To increase the power of the skills, a player needs to fuse skills together or with a Fusion Core, to level up the skill. This mechanic leads to a lot of grinding, so the player can obtain skills and Credits, in-game money, in order to increase their strength.

There are also beings called Sentinels that follow the Tenno around, once bought or crafted, that act as a secondary weapon or utility power. As of now, three different Sentinels can be built giving the player a sort of variety.

There are also currently thirteen Warframes, not including the Prime Warframes that certain players were

able to obtain during special events or donating a certain amount of money. These Warframes all have different special abilities that separate them from each other, and give the player a different play style depending on the Warframe selected.

All items in the game can be found or built with a blueprint that requires, sometimes rare, items, credits, and time. Because of this, it's a very attractive game for players who don't wish to spend money on a game, or just occasionally.

An interesting aspect about the developers, is that they stay really close with their community. Almost once every month they provide a Live Stream where the developers talk about the future of Warframe and even respond to questions or concerns the players have. All this week there will be official Warframe streams from E3, be sure to tune in if you are interested.

Monday's Live Stream 5:30 P.M. PDT / 8:30 P.M. EDT: Warframe and Spike TV allaccess.spike.com
Tuesday's Live Stream 3:20 P.M. PDT / 6:20 P.M. EDT: Warframe and Gamespot http://www.gamespot.com/e3/stage-2-day-1/
Wesnesday's Live Stream 11:35 P.M. PDT / 2:35 P.M. EDT: Warframe and Playstation Blog Livecast playstation.com
Wednesday's second Live Stream 5:10 P.M. PDT / 8:10 P.M. EDT Warframe and Machinima http://www.youtube.com/user/machinima
Thursday's Live Stream 1:00 P.M. PDT / 4:00 P.M. EDT Warframe and Twitch www.twitch.tv/twitch

Warframe can be a little confusing to start, as the game doesn't tell you all of the controls, but is fun regardless. It allows the player full customization, from weapons, to colors, to Warframes, and even helmets. Thankfully the publishers are working on bringing forth a better tutorial and a better way to tell the story of Warframe, to attract new players, so all we need to do is wait. As it stands, Warframe earns an 7/10 being highly addictive for a time, but unless you enjoy grinding this game may or may not be for you. Hopefully the changes that lie on the horizon will change things up a bit, making the game more interesting.

Breaking News: Jack Bauer as Snake, Ligntning's Return, and Dark Soul's 2

EVE Online and its sister game DUST 514 were both taken temporarily offline this week after a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. EVE and DUST are separate MMO games that work together. Where as EVE is an MMORPG on PC centered around being a star ship captain, DUST puts you in the role of a mercenary in an MMOFPS for the Playstation 3. The attack began around 2AM on June 2nd. It took roughly 24 hours for the servers to fully recover. For more information click here.

The next installment of Final Fantasy XIII, entitled "Lightning's Return" was said to be released in February of 2014 this week. If you would like to watch the official trailer you can do so above. In other JRPG news, Namco Bandai announced "Tales of Symphonia Chronicles" this week. It will be an HD collection of both Tales of Symphonia, and its sequel, Dawn of the New World. Chronicles will be released exclusively on the PS3. Originally, Symphonia was a Gamecube exclusive when it was released in 2003, and New World was a Wii exclusive on its release in 2008.

During the preparation for E3, the Los Angeles convention center put up a very interesting billboard. The billboard said " Dark Souls 2," with Marth 2014" written below. Obviously we can expect to see the sequel for the player killing franchise early next year. We can also speculate that it will be released on current generation, as well as next generation consoles.

Since their announcement, fans have been excited for the new Metal Gear games, "Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes", and "Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain." However, soon after, it was revealed that the long time voice actor of Big Boss, and Solid Snake, David Hayter, would not be participating in these games. Instead, Keifer Sutherland, the star of 24, was recruited to replace him. Sutherland will not only be doing voice acting for Metal Gear, but will also be using motion capture to make the in game movements even more life-like.
Click here for more info.

Sony announced that they will be putting 2 free to play MMOs on the Playstation 4, Planetside 2, and DC Universe online. Planetside is an MMOFPS featuring massive battles on a constant battlefield. DC Universe is a superhero MMORPG where you can create your own hero and fight alongside popular superheroes like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Also, some good news for Playstation Plus members, this is going to be the best month to be a member. June's free to play list for Playstation Plus features Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Saint's Row: The Third, Machinarium, Orc Attack, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Little Big Planet Karting, and Uncharted 3 for Playstation 3, and for the Vita you can download Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward, and God Eater Burst. Keep in mind that these games are only free to play if you download them for as long as you are a Playstation Plus member. Source.

There's a new indie game on the way from Celsius Game Studios, called Drifter. Drifter is an open world space exploration game with an emphasis on trading. You take the role of a starship and can mine asteroids for ore, transport cargo between planets, hunt pirates for bounties, or even become a pirate yourself. It will be a sandbox game with a procedurally generated galaxy up to one hundred thousand light years across, and with the potential for tens of thousands of star systems. You can pre-order the game on their website here, which will also give you access to the Beta. You can also vote for the game on Steam Greenlight.

A new Skylanders game is coming this October of this year. Skylanders: Swap Force is coming to North America on October 13th, Australia on the 16th, and Europe on the 18th. Swap Force features special new Skylanders figures which have interchangeable parts. This allows for players to customize their own characters with different appearances and abilities. It will be developed on Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii, Wii U, and the 3DS. Source.

Upcoming Games Thief 4, and Saints Row 4, both released trailers this week. Both games look pretty epic, for different reasons of course. You can watch them above, and below.

That's all for this week's Breaking News. Check back next week for the breakdown of this years E3. Next week I'll be reviewing Grid 2, and continuing my Gamers vs Anita Sarkeesian series, if you would like to read part one, click here. Don't forget to subscribe for notifications whenever we post new content. 

Way Back Wednesday: 2nd Ignition

Welcome to Limit Break's first Way Back Wednesday. Starting today, and every Wednesday following, we will be posting a review from older systems. Starting with an old favorite of mine, Wild ARMs: 2^nd Ignition.

Wild ARMs 2, or 2^nd Ignition in Japan, is the second installment in the Wild ARMs series developed by Media Vision and SCE development studio Contrail on April 30, 2000. Wild ARMs 2 is a RPG where the player controls

several characters throughout the game. The game starts off with the selection of three characters. Ashley Winchester, a male gun warrior, Brad Evans, an ex convict and heavy ARMs user, and Lilka Eleniak, the party's mage.

For people who never picked up a Wild ARMs game before, ARM stands for Advanced Relic Machine or gun which is introduced in the first installment, Wild ARMs. In the second game, ARMs means the same, but has another meaning as well Agile Remote Mission Squad or in other words the party. Ashley and Brad can both use ARMs while being part of the ARMs, confusing.

Each character has their own set of powers, abilities, weapons, and tools that make them essential to the party as a whole. The battle system is a little complex, each character needing FP, Force Points, which are gained by being attacked in order to use some of their special abilities.

Once all three characters have been played, they are brought together by a man named Irving and leader of ARMs. From the moment the antagonists join forces, they are pit against a terrorist group named Odessa, a group bent on ruling the world of Filgaia. Besides the main antagonists, there are bosses that reappear and characters you will either love to hate, hate, or simply love.

The world of Filgaia could be compared to a fantasy western, between the catchy music, the state the world is in, and the use of guns. There are more advanced parts of Filgaia, and of course there is the magic aspect that comes together to make an unforgettable journey.

The story of Wild ARMs 2 takes place over two discs, both with different animated intros on each disc when the player loads their game. The graphics in the game, while not impressive to the current generation of games, are fun and really good for the time when the game was released.

This is one game I would suggest to anybody. It's classic, but amazing. Wild ARMs 2 has catchy music, strong character development to make the player care about their party and supports the overall story. While the disc version of Wild ARMs 2 is hard to find in working condition for a fair price, the game can be bought from the Playstation Network for all to enjoy. Wild ARMs 2 gets a 9.5/10 rating... close to perfection!

Comment below with the system you would like for us to select a game from for the next Way Back Wednesday! The comments help, both with material and to let us know how we are doing.

At My Limit: Gamers vs Anita Sarkeesian

This At My Limit post will be the first of three parts in a series talking about the controversy surrounding Anita Sarkeesian's Tropes vs Women in Video Games Youtube series.

Anita Sarkeesian is a pop culture commentator and feminist who started a Youtube channel called "Feminist Frequency" back in 2010. Since then she has made a series talking about popular tropes that are sexist against women. A trope is a convention or plot device frequently found in creative works. Anita's first series was about tropes in general media, and was released in 6 videos each roughly between five and fifteen minutes long.

In 2012 she announced that she would be doing another series about tropes, this time focusing on video games. Her announcement video for the series started quite the controversy. People from all over the internet began to bombard her with verbal harassment, and attack her website. The controversy lasted several months, and its still going on a smaller scale today. 

This series will be addressing the two videos she's released in this series, as well as the controversy surrounding them. Part three will then be my own opinions on sexism (both male and female) in video games.  I'll start with a basic summary of her first video for those of you who do not care to watch it , then proceed to the general reaction to her video, finally I will provide brief comments on the video itself and the controversy.

If you would like to watch her videos "Tropes vs Women in Video Games", here is Part One and Part Two.

Tropes vs Women: Damsels in Distress Part One Summary

Anita Opens with this statement, and I do believe that it is very important to take it into account while reading both this summary and my comments following it:

"This project will examine the tropes, plot devices, and patterns most commonly associated with women in gaming from a systemic big picture perspective. This series will include critical analysis of many beloved games and characters. But remember, it is both possible, and even necessary, to simultaneously enjoy media while also being critical of its more problematic or pernicious aspects."

Also, please keep in mind that I do not take credit for the ideas presented in this summery, nor do they necessarily represent my own views.

The first point Anita addresses is how female characters are usually put in back seat roles in video games. Her prime example of this is a game called "Dinosaur Planet". This game might seem new to you, mainly because it was never released under that title. Rare studios was developing Dinosaur Planet as an action adventure game on the N64. The game would feature 2 main protagonists, one of which would be a bipedal female fox by the name of Krystal. 

Near the end of development, the game was transformed into the third installment of the Star Fox franchise, and the focus was changed solely to the protagonist Fox. In this new game Krystal was only playable during the prologue, and was then captured and imprisoned for the rest of the game. Fox's goal was then to save Dinosaur Planet, and Krystal from the evil tyrant. Anita uses this example to show how, in video games, women are usually dis-empowered.

Krystal was transformed from a heroic protagonist to a damsel in distress. The "Damsel in Distress" trope is commonly used in story telling. Early examples can date back to Greek mythology, such as the story of Perseus rescuing Andromeda. It was even used in many films and television shows that are considered classics, like Popeye and King Kong. Video Games are not excluded from this, with legendary damsels Princesses Peach and Zelda.

The damsel in distress trope reduces the female character to a state of helplessness, requiring a hero who is typically male to rescue her. The damsel may or may not play the role of victim for the entire plot, and the hero might not be successful in rescuing her. The act of rescuing her, is not something that furthers the female character's storyline, but something that ultimately benefits the hero's story. This trope trades the dis-empowerment of a female character for the empowerment of a male character.

The problem with this trope centers around the subject object dichotomy, which states that subjects act, while objects are acted upon. Damsel in distress puts the protagonist in the subject role, and the damsel in the object role. This is a form of objectification of women, making them the goal or victory prize, and can be offensive because of how overused the trope is. Most games nearly portray the damsel as a possession that has been stolen from the hero. Damsel in distress isn't even really about the woman at all. She simply becomes an object in the center of a competition between men.

Similar to the damsel in distress, occasionally the hero may be captured and imprisoned. The hero then must use his intelligence, strength and skill to escape his captors. Unlike the damsel, the hero can, and does rescue himself, where as the damsel must be rescued by the hero. The hero's escape is usually an important growth point in proving himself heroic. Unfortunately the damsel's rescue, is just another trial for hero to overcome.

This became the go to plot device for many video game developers. It is almost as if it is a marketing plot to capitalize on adolescent male power fantasies. May of the games from the 80s and 90s which feature this trope are: Violent Storm, Spin Master, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Splatterhouse, Phelios, Arabian Fight, Rise of the Dragon, Ninja Gaiden 2, Final Fight, Final Fantasy, Altered Beast, Crash Bandicoot, Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness, and Kid Icarus.

Princess Zelda, from the Legend of Zelda franchise, is not completely defined by her role as a damsel. Yet she is still captured or otherwise dis-empowered in every game Legend of Zelda game she appears in. Zelda is quite helpful to the player, providing the protagonist Link, with useful tools, information, and opening doors that are otherwise impassible. Anita calls this variation, the "Helpful Damsel".

Zelda also has two other incarnations which are significantly more empowering. In Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, she disguises herself as "Sheik", a mysterious ninja who helps link and is fully capable of defending herself. However, when she reveals herself as Princess Zelda, she is captured in under three minutes. Tetra is a feisty, independent pirate captain. She adventures with Link for some time, and is then revealed to be Zelda. After this reveal, she is told that she can no longer adventure with link because it is "too dangerous", and must wait in the castle. She does so, and is eventually captured. Tetra does however help you in the final boss battle. Tetra appears in a second Legend of Zelda game, in which she is captured in the introduction.

The damsel in distress trope may have larger ramifications beyond characters and games. Video games are increasingly becoming a part of our social and cultural lives. This trope could add to the idea that women are weak, vulnerable and must be protected by men. This does not mean that it does, but popular culture does influence our thought process, and since it is a recurring trend, it could sway our perspective of women.

The Controversy

A Screenshot of Her Vandalized Wikipedia Page.

Since the release of her introductory video, Anita has dealt with a large uproar against her on the internet. People from all over started verbally harassing her. Some even emailed her photoshopped, or hand drawn images of video game characters performing sexual acts on her. Her website was hacked several times and brought down, and at one point, her Wikipedia page was edited to include a fake pornographic image of her and a demeaning description, as seen to the right. You may see the full, censored version here. The comments box on her Youtube videos became so disgustingly profane, that she deleted all comments and disabled them all together. Before deleting them, Anita took several screen shots of the comments and posted them on her website to show how crass these people became. Below I will include some censored versions of some selected comments.

"Why do you wear make up, if everything is sexism? Why don't you shave your head bald, stop wearing make up and huge slut earrings. You are a f*****g hypocrite slut."

"I hope you get cancer :)"

"f**k you feminist f***s you already have equality. infact you have better s**t than most males, be glad what you got b***h. also if you want equality, we talk to men like that too, so f**k off f****t... I mean lesbian"

"Video has more likes than dislikes. Step it up f*****s"

"Video games are about doing hard work, this men are a better choice you just went full retard"

"GOD, you sound F*****G BORING. i prefer to hit my balls TWICE with a HAMMER than going out on a date with you."

Gamers all across the internet have been going bat crazy over this video. None of it is justified. In fact most of this video was already information that other game commentators used previously. The difference: those commentators were male, and were not feminists. I guess the internet just placed a giant target symbol on her because of the stereotypical perspective on feminism. However, it does not appear that she is falling into that stereotype at all in this video. Most of the time, she is calm, collected and rather neutral.

Several video responses were also posted for the Tropes vs Women in Video Games videos. Several of the arguments against her involve the characters Lara Croft of the Tomb Raider series and Samus Aran of Metroid. First off, these are two examples, only a drop in the bucket to the number of games she lists in her video. Secondly, how are these good examples of strong, well developed female characters? Lara Croft is marketed at men. The most prominent parts of her body are her lips, breasts, and rear end. To most guys, she is just a pair of D-cups holding pistols. How about Samus? A nearly silent protagonist with neutral dialogue revolving around her missions. We didn't even know she was female until the second game, and that was more like a token plot twist. She wasn't well developed until Metroid Other M, and most fans hated that game.

Another key argument is that video games target audience is men, so female protagonists do not sell. How do we know if games with female protagonists won't sell, if we don't make games with female protagonists? You can't make money off of something you don't design. Besides, roughly half of the gaming market is known to be female, so there is a market for it. The recent Tomb Raider incarnation, with a new, better personality and character design for Lara, sold very well. The most recent game with a female protagonist, Remember Me, has been receiving poor reviews, but on the basis of it being short and linear, not because the protagonist is a female. Even though it has received a few bad reviews, it still sold very well. There is evidence that there is a market for well developed female characters, why aren't developers tapping into it?

- - -

Honestly, I don't understand why there is such a huge controversy over this video. I found it to be interesting and informative, and not the least bit hostile. I actually agree with a lot of the stuff that she points out in this video. I enjoy good stories that use the damsel in distress trope, but have also grown quite tired of seeing it anywhere, and can see how it can be viewed as offensive. Very few video games feature well developed female characters, whether they are primary or secondary. I also wish that there were more strong female protagonists, not only to add gender variety, but because it will also open up new doors for story telling.

What I find most offensive about this video, is the gamers reaction to it. Most of the people that responded to this video paint the gaming subculture as intolerant, ignorant, and immature. I don't think the fact that she's criticizing video games even remotely justifies what people did to her. In fact, a similar form of harassment happened when Robert Ebert, the famous film critic, stated that he didn't review video games because he didn't consider them to be on par with the storytelling in film. Really people, how can you expect the rest of the world to take us gamers seriously if you overreact every time someone says something critical about gaming?

Next week, I'll be reviewing Injustice: Gods Among us, the DC comics fighter developed by Mortal Kombat developer, Nether Realms. Also next week I'll be posting part two of Gamers vs Anita Sarkeesian, so you can read about her second video in the series, and my opinions on that. E3 is this weekend, so next Saturday will have tons of great news on upcoming video games, and the next generation of console gaming. Click the follow button on the right of the screen to subscribe for notifications whenever we post new content. We here at limit break would like to know what you think of Anita Sarkeesian's videos, and the controversy surrounding her. So, please, use the comments box below to tell us your perspective on the damsel in distress trope, and if you find it to be sexist.