Tag Archives: video games

First Experience with Dead Rising 4

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Note:  There are spoilers in this article.

 

Though Dead Rising 4 was released in December 2016, I was unable to play it until mid-March.  I had to wait until it was made available for my favorite gaming hub, the Steam Network, before I could download it.  Unlike Resident Evil 7, my resolve to stay spoiler-free until I could experience the game for myself was successful.

Like Resident Evil 7, I was certain that Dead Rising 4 would not run on my computer.  I chose to test it anyway and was pleasantly surprised when it booted up – although the load time for the starting screen took a while.  The only nitpicks I initially had were that shadows appear as distorted, blocky shapes, and there was a bit of a lag in the gameplay.  But that’s nothing that ruined the experience for me.  All I care about is that a game runs without crashing.

After the ending of Dead Rising 3 seemed to guarantee that there would be no more zombie outbreaks and that the story was over, the fourth game added another layer to the overall narrative.  In a lot of ways, Dead Rising 4 goes back to the roots of the series – it features photojournalist Frank West as the lead protagonist, takes place in the town of Willamette after a zombie outbreak has started, and has an intriguing mystery at its core.  It even lends some more depth to Dr. Barnaby, one of the antagonists in the original game who was responsible for starting the zombie epidemic in the first place.

One of the things I liked best about Dead Rising 4 is that, unlike its predecessors, there were no time constraints.  Instead of rushing through the game to solve the mystery before the clock ran out, I took my time exploring and killing zombies to my heart’s content.  I also love that the game brought back the option to dress the main character in a variety of wacky outfits, as well as create combo weapons and vehicles.  To take it one step further, Frank has access to a piece of military tech called an Exo-suit that can amplify his speed and strength.  In this outing, he throws cars at zombies to off them if he wants.  So far, I haven’t made much use of the Exo-suits apart when the game makes it a mission objective to put one on.  It is something to explore further.

While I encountered more than a few game glitches – my PC is old – nothing ruined the overall experience.  The one that really got annoying was when I undertook a mission to take out all the zombies present inside a pool hall.  Toward the end of the fight, the camera panned up to show a shot of some second story windows before a handful of the more aggressive zombies crashed through them; the camera angle remained fixed on the windows all through the ensuing fight and its aftermath.  While I worked out a way to kill the remaining creatures regardless, I was unable to exit the building since I couldn’t face the door.  Fortunately, this problem was corrected by loading the checkpoint given to me at the conclusion of the fight.

Apart from that glitch and the general lag in the gameplay, the other bugs I encountered regularly were seeing one or two zombies embedded inside a wall or walking into a room that is completely black.  I couldn’t see anything even with night vision enabled inside these black rooms.  While I enjoyed the game even with these glitches, I hope a newer, better computer will help eliminate them.

Overall, I liked the story developed for Dead Rising 4, but I also feel there are ways in which it could be better.  For starters, the character of Vick, one of Frank’s journalism students, didn’t live up to her potential.  In the opening chapter, I got the sense that she had a personal stake against the military group called Obscuris that was secretly creating and experimenting on zombies.  Had Obscuris taken someone Vick cared about for their experiments?  I was disappointed when this idea didn’t play out; Vick was simply a budding journalist out to write a prize-winning story.

I was also a bit disappointed with Calder, the “uber-zombie” hinted at during the first half of the game.  I remember feeling a sense of dread as I chased him through a train yard filled with mangled, heavily dented cars and then into the sewers.  I didn’t know what kind of monster to expect, but a highly intelligent former soldier decked out in an Exo-suit wasn’t quite it.  What made it weirder was when Frank caught up with Calder, the latter was, for some unknown reason, hell-bent on destroying the research that created him.

I felt that Calder and his motives could have been fleshed out better.  And if I had written the story, I would have had it so Vick and Calder were blood-related.  That would have made for quite the dramatic climax.

The ending to the main game still had its share of drama.  The final scene had Frank pulled from the rescue chopper by a horde of zombies and supposedly killed.  However, there has been news of an expansion pack called Frank Rising that will continue the story and have Frank striving to find a cure for zombie-ism before he fully joins the ranks of the undead.

I don’t know if there are any revelations that would allow for another game in the series.  Unless the company behind the Dead Rising franchise can come up with an intriguing, believable story for a fifth game, this may truly be the end of the road.  Whatever the future holds, I’ve definitely enjoyed the ride so far!

Despite my enthusiasm for Dead Rising 4, the game got pushed to the side for about a week in favor of Mass Effect: Andromeda – more on that in my next blog.

 

First Experience with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

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Note:  There are spoilers in this article.

As far as immersing myself in a brand-new game goes, Resident Evil 7 proved to be an interesting experience.  In the weeks leading up to its release, every new bit of information got me eager to begin playing.  Though it would not feature any of the established characters in the series – with one possible exception – I thought it would be refreshing to play as newcomer Ethan Winters, a non-combatant in search of his wife, Mia, who was believed to be dead for three years.

As soon as I downloaded the game on the more advanced of my two computers, I booted it up eager to start playing.  I was highly disappointed when the game crashed each time I tried to start it.  After three unsuccessful attempts, I determined that I would likely have to wait until I got a newer and more state-of-the-art computer before I could delve into the world of Resident Evil 7.

Despite my determination to stay spoiler-free, I couldn’t resist watching YouTube videos detailing the game and all its secrets.  While not the same as experiencing it first-hand, I still enjoyed the story, spooky atmosphere, and a few twists and turns along the way.  And I began to imagine ways in which this new installment ties in with previous games in the series.

I was resigned to writing a critical essay about Resident Evil 7 without actually playing the game.  But I was surprised when I found out on February 7th that the game would run on my more substandard computer.  I would liken it to trying to play a DVD with a VCR, but the game still ran all the way through without crashing.  I’m not sure what inspired me to try and start it, but I’m glad I did.

There were however several glitches present that made it interesting, such as a porch swing that looked like it was having an epileptic fit or seeing Mia’s hair literally flapping all over the place during a speedboat ride.  Perhaps the most disturbing glitch was seeing Ethan’s hands completely coated in blood before he’d even wandered into the dangerous house where much of the action takes place.

Examples of the game glitches encountered, and the perfect piece of toast in the bottom left.

In spite of the bugs, I still found the game enjoyable.  I’m glad to have gotten a chance to play it myself.  Since I’m someone who prefers to take their time and look around in detail, I observed quite a lot about the environment and what it tells about the characters.  One thing that I found humorous during my exploration was a perfectly-preserved piece of toast that seemed quite out of place in the decayed, moldy plantation where the game is set.

The villains, like the hero, are also new to the Resident Evil series.  In this outing, you must square off against the deranged Baker family – Jack, Marguerite, and their son, Lucas – and an evil genetically-engineered girl named Eveline who is capable of controlling people after she infects them with a mold-like virus.  There are moments where the Bakers seem to act of their own accord, so I’m inclined to think that Eveline’s victims come around to her way of thinking after a lengthy exposure.

On the other hand, Mia seems capable of fighting Eveline’s control, though she was the first to be infected.  This seems to suggest that Mia – and Jack and Marguerite’s daughter, Zoe – is more strong-willed or somewhat immune to the effects.  To clarify, Mia was part of a team in charge of transporting Eveline from one science facility to another when the latter somehow escaped containment.  This resulted in the destruction of the tanker they were aboard, which subsequently drifted into the bayou bordering the Baker’s home.

Not much is known about the Baker family and what their lives were like before Eveline entered the picture, but there are little things about their house or mannerisms that tell something of their respective backgrounds.  For instance, Lucas is quite skilled at engineering according to the trophies in his bedroom, though his journal entries tell that he was a psychotic killer even before Eveline got to him.  In addition, Marguerite’s biggest passion is cooking, but she gets offended because her meals, repulsive to normal people, are refused.  It’s hard to guess at Jack’s background, but it is known he is a former Marine.  Some of his hobbies may have included hunting or taxidermy.

You might ask what this story has to do with any of the previous games in the series, but I feel there are some interesting connections.  Perhaps the biggest setup for this scenario is tied into what Derek Simmons, the high-ranking NSA agent and main antagonist of Resident Evil 6, proclaimed in his final hours: “You have no idea what would happen if I die!”  As villainous as Simmons was – he did assassinate the U.S. President, after all – it is possible that he was holding a greater threat in check.  Just maybe, his demise paved the way for the organization that created Eveline.

Another interesting connection between Resident Evil 7 and its predecessors is how closely the Baker plantation resembles the Spencer mansion from the very first game.  A work order found in one of the plantation’s rooms reveals that the Bakers had hired an architecture firm named after the ill-fated George Trevor, the builder of the mansion.  It’s curious why the Bakers chose George’s style and inclination to create puzzle-based rooms meant to hide secret passageways for their own house, but there may be a simple explanation for this.  I think it’s possible the Bakers might somehow be related to the Trevor family; maybe they wanted to honor George’s vision.

There are also some oddities about this game that hint at a much larger picture.  For one thing, it’s curious how or why such a large ship went unnoticed for three years.  However, Ethan discovers some documentation inside a mine late in the game that indicates Lucas was somehow “freed” from Eveline’s control and was secretly monitoring her for the benefit of an unknown party.  It would be quite the twist if Lucas were one of the good guys despite the insane death traps he stages for some of the characters taken hostage by his family.

Even more puzzling is the military team who comes to the aid of Ethan (and Mia if she survived) at the very end of the game.  This team is aboard a helicopter that has an updated logo of the Umbrella Corporation, the corrupt pharmaceutical company responsible for starting the bioterrorism war.  What’s weirder is that one of the soldiers introduces himself to Ethan as Redfield, and the closing credits show Redfield’s first name to be Chris.

I am unsure what to make of this ending, but my imagination is in overdrive and my mind is filled with countless questions.  Is the Umbrella Corporation somehow back in play?  Are they the good guys now?  Is Chris Redfield, one of their long-standing opponents, really working for them, or is it just an imposter using his name?  I am certain these questions will be answered once Resident Evil 7’s expansion pack titled Not a Hero comes out in the spring, but I will be anxiously awaiting some resolution until then.

What I like most about Resident Evil 7 is how it uses the formula made popular by the early games.  There are puzzles you need to solve to advance through the house/game, limited inventory space that forces you to decide what to carry with you or store for later, and the requirement to save your ammo for when you really need it.  I failed a bit at the last one and was down to only one Magnum bullet and a limited amount of flamethrower fuel for the final fight; as if that wasn’t bad enough, I got eaten whole by the last monster when I stupidly stopped firing for a couple seconds.

All things considered, I didn’t do too shabby for my first playthrough, but I was really struggling to survive my third fight with a mutated Jack Baker.  Though I was sure I was going to get killed, I somehow managed to make it through in one piece.  In the end, I only died twice in the whole game.  And that was just on the easiest difficulty setting.  I shudder to think what the hardest difficulty will be like, but I’m not one to shy away from a challenge.

The Top Ten Things I Love About the Mass Effect Series

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(Note: There are spoilers in this article.)

Finding a video game series that is well thought out and has a fully fleshed out history to its name is a rare thing.  One such series that does so is the Mass Effect “Commander Shepherd” Trilogy.  I don’t know of any other franchise on the same level, but the Mass Effect series sets the bar for how to make a trilogy outstanding.  Though the overall ending presented with Mass Effect 3 left many fans disappointed, that shouldn’t take away from the quality of the games as a whole.

The sci-fi series kicks off with the introduction of Shepherd, the second-in-command officer of a starship called the Normandy who leads a team to save a colony under siege.  Though only one colonist is found alive, he reveals the perpetrator as Saren, a member of an elite and exclusive galactic policing organization (SPECTRE) who’s gone rogue.  In addition, Shepherd comes into contact with an alien artifact that gives him or her a cryptic vision of a cataclysmic event to come.

Those are just the basic plot points that set the stage for a huge epic adventure that takes three games to tell.  Unfortunately, the setup doesn’t do much for telling just how great the trilogy is, so here is my top ten list of what makes the Mass Effect games so fantastic.

10) History/Backstory – The first game introduces players to a dozen different alien races.  While each race has a distinct look that makes them intriguing enough, the game’s developers took the time to establish detailed backgrounds for each and every one of them – even the Elcor and Hanar though they don’t play a central role in the story.  I don’t know of many sci-fi games that would build up a cultural and economic history for alien races who don’t get a lot of screen time, so kudos to the production team.

9) Game-save imports – It is not necessary to play all three games in the trilogy to understand the overall story, but it is recommended if the player wants to make the most of their experience.  There are at least a hundred different characters to interact with in Mass Effect 1 – most of whom Shepherd merely engages in conversation with.  However, supporting characters, provided they survive, will only appear in the subsequent chapters of the trilogy if the player imports a save containing data of what occurred in the preceding installment.  These imports add more depth to the overall story.  For example, saving or sacrificing a seemingly unimportant character in the first game has an impact of on how the second or third installment plays out.

Two versions of Commander Shepherd as created by me.

8) Character Customization – I know that there are other games that allow the player to decide how the main character looks or what their name should be, but the Mass Effect trilogy takes it to another level.  Shepherd’s look is not set in stone from one game to the next, even if a save is imported.  For example, Shepherd dies within the first fifteen minutes of Mass Effect 2, only to be brought back to life by expensive scientific means by one of the trilogy’s more shady characters, The Illusive Man.  Upon his or her resurrection, Shepherd’s appearance can be altered by the player if desired.  Though there is no clear reason given for why Shepherd’s appearance is prone to change between the second and third games, the option to alter the main character’s look is also present in Mass Effect 3.

7) Variety – One of the things I love most about the trilogy is how versatile the story is.  There are so many variants present in the games that you would have to replay them multiple times to experience everything.  Whether you’d like to see Commander Shepherd as male or female, peacemaker or badass, or engage in a relationship with one of the many romanceable crew members available, there is guaranteed to be enough variety to keep the games from ever getting stale.

6) Unavoidable decisions – Since nothing particularly bad happens to any of Shepherd’s squad mates\team members through much of Mass Effect 1, it’s easy to get attached to all of them.  So when a mission to take down Saren on the planet, Virmire, comes around late in the game, the player is forced to make a tough call.  Two squad mates – Kaiden Alenko and Ashley Williams – each come under heavy fire at separate ends of Saren’s complex, and Shepherd can only save one of them at the expense of the other.  While decisions don’t carry as much weight in the second game, there are several in Mass Effect 3 that pack the same kind of punch.

5) Multiplayer mode – In addition to its main story, Mass Effect 3 has a multiplayer mode where up to four players can team up via internet connection for a skirmish against one of the enemy armies present in the trilogy.  In this setting, you can choose to be a human combatant or one of the humanoid aliens present in the main game.  My personal preference is to play as a Quarian Engineer since their sentry turrets come in handy in keeping enemy units from sneaking up behind you.  For the most part, I like doing solo runs though those are mostly limited to easy/bronze mode.  Maybe one day I’ll actually get good enough to make it through a hardcore/platinum mode (which has the toughest units from all four enemy armies coming at you right off the bat) on my own.

4) Personal pratfalls – As much as I love the trilogy for its story, variety, and engaging characters, there are a few dumb things I’ve done at points that made it a truly unique experience.  For instance, I’ve come to learn from a number of games that I suck when it comes to steering a ground-based vehicle.  I can’t count the number of times I’ve crashed a car into something within a video game, but in Mass Effect 1, I somehow managed to drive off the edge of a wide cloud-level platform multiple times.  During my first playthrough of Mass Effect 2, I thought I was doing fine until I undertook the mission to recruit Archangel/Garrus as a team member – I got confused on what I was supposed to be doing and personally gunned him down myself.  In addition, I would often play the second game when I was dead tired.  This sometimes resulted in me jolting awake in front of the computer to find myself holding down the forward arrow key and Shepherd face-planted against a wall.

3) Monsters – No matter the game, there is nothing more jarring than being forced to combat someone you think of as an ally.  Mass Effect 3 uses this premise in spades by pitting Commander Shepherd against monstrous versions of the alien races that players had come to know and love.  While most are easy to take out with the right weapon or skill set, none of them are more frightening than the mutated Asari, or Banshees.  A long-limbed grotesque creature with a distinctive scream and the ability to teleport toward you at a fast pace, any one Banshee can kill Shepherd/the player with one blow if he or she isn’t careful.  FYI, Banshees are also included on my list of video game monsters that terrify me.

2) Romances – Pursuing a relationship in the Mass Effect trilogy is quite the experience in itself.  Between the three games, including the expansion packs, there are a total of 18 characters (or 19 if Aria T’Loak even counts) that Shepherd can get up close and personal with.  Romances are something that greatly add to the versatility of the games.  Shepherd can choose to stay true to his or her love interest from the first or second game or move on with someone else.  In most games that offer character customization, I prefer to play as a female character.  However, I have made an exception with the Mass Effect trilogy in the interest of pursuing a romance with one of Shepherd’s female teammates.

1) Humor\One-liners – The one thing that makes the Mass Effect series truly memorable is its unique wit.  The trilogy is filled with zingers guaranteed to get people chuckling.  Whether it’s Shepherd’s trademark statement for ending a conversation (“I should go.”), a snappy comeback to someone who confuses Shepherd with a very distinctive-looking alien (“Here’s a tip.  Two eyes – human.  Four eyes – Batarian.”), or humorous one-liners such as “I don’t need luck, I have ammo,” there is certain to be one bit of the dialogue in the games that will elicit a laugh.

This video game trilogy depicting the adventures of Commander Shepherd will always hold a special place in my heart, even if there is a forthcoming game to be released in March 2017 that may surpass them.  The upcoming Mass Effect: Andromeda will be completely removed from the original trilogy by taking place 600 hundred years later in a separate galaxy and featuring an all-new cast of characters.  I don’t know much of what to expect from this upcoming game.  But if it retains the same elements that made its predecessors so great, I’m sure I’ll find it immensely entertaining.

I hope you all enjoyed this article, and please leave a comment below if you did.  Be sure to tune in next month for my first impressions of the soon-to-be-released Resident Evil 7.

©January 18, 2017

 

My Top Ten Favorite Badass Video Game Characters

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My Top Ten Favorite Badass Video Game Characters

In my years playing video games, I’ve come to particularly enjoy games that are action-packed and feature some of the most impressive visuals that I never tire of seeing.  None of these iconic action sequences would be entirely possible without the right character bringing their unique talents to the table.  Whether it’s heroes or villains who are superpowered, highly skilled in combat, or defy the laws of nature, no game franchise would be complet without a character or two who really kick ass.

The list that follows is my top ten favorite badass game characters and what sets them apart.  Please be warned that there are spoilers ahead.

10.  Rhonda Kreske (Dead Rising 3) — (spoiler alert) It might seem odd to have a tough-as-nails mechanic in the #10 slot, but Rhonda is, in my opinion, one of the best things about Dead Rising 3. From the moment she first appears on-screen as the friend, maternal figure, and employer of the game’s lead protagonist, Nick, her winning personality and take-charge attitude make her an instantly likable character.  She quickly proves she can hold her own when a pair of hoodlums dragged her into a shack for an attempt to rape her only to be sent packing by her within minutes.  As if she isn’t awesome enough, to begin with, she acquires a robotic flamethrower arm to replace her own when it’s cut off toward the end of the game.

9.  Galahad (Aveyond series) – (spoiler alert) The fantasy adventure series, Aveyond, isn’t widely known; it’s likely I wouldn’t even be aware of it myself if I hadn’t downloaded a demo of Aveyond 3: Gates of Night and got hooked. Each entry in the series tells a story separate from the others, with up to a 300-year gap in between games.  Only two characters appear in all four Aveyond games in some form — the vampiress Te’ijal and Galahad, the paladin-turned-creature-of-the-night she tricked into marrying her.  Even though Te’ijal’s been a vampire longer than him, Galahad is the most powerful character present in the series.  In Aveyond 4, he appears out of nowhere and single-handedly demolishes a battlefield full of demons that the four playable characters had no hope of beating.

8.  Big Daddy (Bioshock 1 & 2) – The world of Bioshock 1 & 2 is a massive undersea city called Rapture built to be a utopia for humankind. It falls into disarray after the introduction of a highly-addictive drug that grants superpowers.  The main character in Bioshock 1 discovers Rapture sometime after its decline into a monster-infested ruin.  The most dangerous creatures roaming about are each referred to as Big Daddy, hulks in full scuba gear that wield huge drills as weapons.  While they’re not to be trifled with, each of them serves as a devoted guardian to a young, drug-addicted girl wandering about the city.  Each Big Daddy turns deadly if they think their charge will be harmed.  To make things more interesting, Bioshock 2 flips things around by allowing the player to assume the role of a Big Daddy fighting to reclaim the girl who was forcibly taken from him.

7.  Vaas Montenegro (Far Cry 3) — A good rule of thumb, for both the world of Far Cry 3 and real life, is to make sure the island you’re planning to skydive onto isn’t overrun with drug runners and criminals led by a dangerous psycho. The game’s main protagonist, Jason, learns this the hard way when he and his older brother are quickly captured upon landing; the brother – a soldier no less – is killed during the escape attempt.  From there, it is up to the non-combatant Jason to systematically tear down the empire of the psychotic villain, Vaas.  This undertaking isn’t without its perils.  At some point during the story, Vaas shows off his special blend of crazy when he captures the intrepid hero, ties him to a cinderblock, and shoves him into a pit filled with water without warning.

6.  HUNK (Resident Evil Series) — In a game series populated by experienced fighters, soldiers, mercenaries, and the like, it takes a lot to stand out. One character that does is a Special Forces operative who goes by HUNK (Human Unit Never Killed).  He remains the most mysterious character of all in the Resident Evil series.  His real name was never revealed, and his face is constantly covered with a red-lensed gas mask.  HUNK’s character bio states he has a reputation for being the only operative to come back alive from several team-based missions given to him by the corrupt pharmaceutical company, the Umbrella Corporation.  Though his only real appearances are in Resident Evil 2 and the spinoffs, Umbrella Chronicles and Operation Raccoon City (all set in the year 1998), he is presumed to be still alive and kicking and waiting for a comeback.

Top (L-R) Urdnot Wrex, Vaas, Wesker, Big Daddy, Kratos
Bottom (L-R) Alexia Ashford, Galahad w/ Te’ijal, Rhonda, HUNK, Kai Leng
(photo credits at end)

5.  Kai Leng (Mass Effect 3) – (spoiler alert) The Mass Effect series has many formidable villains to its name, but very few with the aptitude of the telekinetic ninja-like swordmaster Kai Leng. Though he is seen standing idly by in one of the opening movie-style cinematics, he shows just how dangerous he is in his first action sequence. He is sent by a terrorist group to assassinate some high-ranking political figures and knows he must slow down the main protagonist, Commander Shepherd, to pull it off.  Toward this end, he drops from the sky onto the nose of Shepherd’s transport shuttle, stabs the engine with his sword while evading fire, and makes a smooth exit when his ride/shuttle comes in to pick him up.  Despite Shepherd’s best efforts, Kai succeeds in killing one of the politicians unless one of two other characters (Thane or Kirrahee) are still alive to stop him.

4.  Kratos (God of War series) — I must admit that I’ve never actually played any of the God of War games, but I’ve seen enough YouTube videos from other players to have developed a liking for the Spartan anti-hero, Kratos. Over the course of the three main games in the series, Kratos personally takes down many of the central figures in Greek Mythology – Gods, demi-gods, and Titans alike – in a quest for revenge.  Kratos’ thirst for vengeance knows no bounds.  He even claws his way out of the underworld – twice – to satisfy his bloodlust.

3.  Albert Wesker (Resident Evil Series) – Of all the villains in the Resident Evil franchise, there is not one that comes close to sharing Wesker’s particular capabilities. Granted superior strength and agility from a genetically-altering virus, Wesker is capable of easily besting the most experienced combatant and can move faster than a bullet at point-blank range.  Even more remarkable is his knack to stay cool and composed in most situations.  One example to the contrary is when an opponent gets lucky enough to stab him in the arm; the look of rage on his face says it all.  My personal favorite fight sequences are when he goes up against his long-standing rivals, Chris and Jill, inside a mansion, or his close quarters battle against Chris and his new partner, Sheva, in a ship’s cargo hold.

2.  Urdnot Wrex (Mass Effect Series) – Kai Leng is not the only character in the Mass Effect trilogy to take down a shuttle, but the brawny alien leader of Clan Urdnot of the lizard-like Krogan race, Wrex, does so in an extraordinary fashion. To save Commander Shepherd from a ship full of mercenaries, Wrex dives through a window and uses his body weight alone to force the shuttle down onto a platform.  He then proceeds to beat the stuffing out of all the mercs on board.  I was a fan of Wrex even before I saw this takedown, but this scene elevates him to new levels of awesome.

1.  Alexia Ashford (Resident Evil: Code Veronica) – If there were any one character who is arguably more powerful than Wesker in the Resident Evil series, it would be the main villainess in Code Veronica, Alexia Ashford. No sooner do Alexia and Wesker come face to face than she transforms into a humanoid plant-like creature and engages him in a fight.  Though the extent of her powers is never fully explored, what little she demonstrates is enough to make Wesker think twice about duking it out.  One of his punches does nothing more than make her stagger.  Alexia also uses her blood as a weapon, which ignites into flames within seconds of being exposed to oxygen.  The game, in general, doesn’t have the best dialogue, but this showdown is spectacular.

It could be interesting to throw all of these characters together for a grudge match, excluding Vaas and Rhonda since they wouldn’t last a minute, and see who comes out victorious. Granted, Kratos has an unfair advantage due to his tendency to come back from the dead until he gets it right, but Kai Leng’s ability to create psionic force fields are a good countermeasure against the determined Spartan.

Feel free to cast your vote on who would win such a Battle Royale in the comments below.  And be sure to tune in next month as I countdown the top ten things I love about the Mass Effect games.

Photo credits

Rhonda — http://i.imgur.com/pc2Dpqy.jpg

Galahad – https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZhWFBZHTKYw/maxresdefault.jpg

Big Daddy – http://www.game-art-hq.com/wp-content/uploads/Big-Daddy-Playstation-Allstars-Battle-Royale.jpg

Vaas – http://media1.gameinformer.com/filestorage/CommunityServer.Components.SiteFiles/imagefeed/featured/feature/top10s/derangedvillains/Vaas610.jpg

HUNK – http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/residentevil/images/a/ad/HUNK_by_Aikido456.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20151218195316

Kai Leng – http://img04.deviantart.net/c018/i/2012/079/4/e/kai_leng___mass_effect_3_by_loraine95-d4tfc2m.jpg

Kratos – http://i.imgur.com/cXg7bMn.jpg

Albert Wesker – http://t08.deviantart.net/YDtgwYw3CNf7stcAACMEvu-6TrY=/fit-in/700×350/filters:fixed_height(100,100):origin()/pre01/f49e/th/pre/f/2012/183/0/9/resident_evil_5_by_lena14081990-d55nyxl.jpg

Urdnot Wrex – http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/masseffect/images/1/11/Urdnot_wrex_14_by_johntesh-d4y9jqc.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130216012755

Alexia Ashford – http://orig07.deviantart.net/4ce5/f/2016/020/e/0/alexia_ashford_mutated_first_form__by_thebeast10-d9oo14v.png

 

My list of Top Ten Quirkiest Video Game Characters

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I’ve played dozens of different video games in my lifetime and have come to count hundreds of different characters as endearing. But there are also a handful that particularly stand out and whom I count as the most memorable. What follows is my list of the top ten characters who make me smile or laugh whenever they come to mind.

10) The Meeps (Quest for Glory)
Of the many quirky characters present in the first Quest for Glory game, these furry subterranean creatures are, in my opinion, the funniest. The player needs only to obtain a patch of green fur from them for a potion, but the game designers threw in a red herring on how to get the fur. The player has the option to try and attack them. But any attempt to do so bears a striking resemblance to a poorly-played game of Whack-A-Mole.

9) Kinzie Kensington (Saints Row 3 and 4; Saints Row: Gat out of Hell) – (spoiler alert)
Saints Row is a franchise revolving around a street gang that started off serious, but each new installment has since gotten more silly and over-the-top in a good way. I never played the first two games and am not even sure what drew me to the third one. But it is a series I have grown to love due to its many colorful characters. The one I found the most quirky — at least until the fourth game was released — was paranoid cyberhacker Kinzie Kensington. Of all the characters in Saints Row 3, I find her the most eccentric and interesting. What makes her stand out the most is her dual personality. At times, she comes off sweet and someone you just want to give a hug. And on the other hand, she is feisty and has one wicked mean streak. For instance, after Kinzie delivers a vicious beating to one of the antagonists in the fourth game, she rolls off him, adopts a serene Indian-style pose, and in a bubbly tone tells her friends, “I’m done.”

8) Special Agent Tanya Adams (Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2)
What I really enjoy about the Red Alert series is it takes place in an alternate history where Hitler was assassinated, the Holocaust never happened, and Soviet Russia became a more dangerous force to be reckoned with. What I love even more is the spunky female commando Tanya Adams (portrayed in the second game’s cinematics by actress Kari Wuhrer) who acts as a frontrunner and one-woman army against Soviet soldiers. She adds a unique energy to the roleplaying strategy game, and her gleeful battle cry of “Yeah, baby!” when she prepares to take out enemy infantry or take down nuclear silos is one of the main reasons I adore this game as much as I do.

7) Simon the Killer Ewok (Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds) – (spoiler alert)
Cheat codes have been included in video games ever since the early days in the seventies and eighties, and serve as a way to win with minimal effort. But I don’t know of very many games that feature a character who is only generated through use of a cheat code. Pressing enter and typing “SimonSays” in the game, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds will give the player control of a single Ewok called Simon who can decimate any enemy army, soldiers and vehicles alike, all by himself. Call me crazy, but the majority of my time playing this game was spent delightedly watching Simon go to town against Imperial or Rebel forces.

jeanettedeadwood-2016-12dec-photo

Clockwise from top left – the Meeps, Paul, John Smethells, Yes Man (photo credits at end)

6) Conrad Verner (the Mass Effect trilogy)
Behind every great hero is a wannabe who strives to live up to the hero’s ideals. I’ve seen that formula used in countless stories, but the Mass Effect series puts an interesting spin on it by giving the wannabe delusions of grandeur. Conrad Verner’s antics, ranging from asking for inclusion in an elitist military unit to unwittingly promoting a terrorist organization as the “good” guys, and Shepherd’s reactions to those antics get me chuckling every time. As with many of the characters in the trilogy, his survival at certain points throughout the three games hinges on choices made by the lead protagonist, Commander Shepherd. The sci-fi video game trilogy has tons of interesting characters to interact with, but there is something about lovable loser Conrad that adds an extra special element to the overall story.

5) Potato-Glados (Portal 2) – (spoiler alert)
The basic premise of the Portal games is that you’re playing as a character being used as a proverbial guinea pig in a science facility and made to solve logistical puzzles as you wander from one testing chamber to the next. And all the while, an insane artificial intelligence (A.I.) is monitoring and trying to dictate your every move. Through all of the first game and half of the second one, that A.I. is Glados, until another A.I. called Wheatley conspires to take her place as the governing source of the facility. Though Wheatley turns evil once he has ultimate power in his grasp, he still turns the tables on Glados in a very amusing way – by attaching her CPU and voice modulator to a common potato. Potato Glados’ lack of mobility and desire to regain control causes her to team up with the protagonist she previously tried to kill. What I find most hysterical about Portal 2 is that you literally have a root vegetable as an ally for half of the game.

4) John Smethells, the “omniscient” steward (Titanic: Adventure out of Time)
I’ve seen many games offer a tutorial to give the player a sense of what buttons to use. But the way the period-piece mystery game, Titanic: Adventure out of Time, presents it is very comical. Minutes into the game, your protagonist is greeted by a steward named John Smethells inside a nicely rendered replica of one of the ship’s deluxe rooms. Answering yes to his question on whether you need help finding your way around causes him to break character and start talking about which buttons on the keyboard are needed to move, interact with other characters, or pick up important objects. What further shatters the immersive experience is he also gives you instructions on how to register the game online. The fact that all this info about computers and the Internet comes from a guy dressed like a 1912 ship steward couldn’t be more hysterical.

3) Yes Man (Fallout: New Vegas)
Of the four characters to ally with when it comes to seizing control of the casino strip in Fallout: New Vegas, Yes Man is by far my favorite. Though he is a dangerous robot called a Securitron who has been reprogrammed by the duplicitous casino kingpin Benny to stage a coup, Yes Man’s allegiance is prone to shift to anyone who interacts with him. As Yes Man cheerfully puts it when first met by the main protagonist, “I was programmed to be helpful and answer any questions I was asked. I guess no one bothered to restrict who I answer questions for. That was probably pretty dumb, huh?” The fact that he’s stuck with a permanent smiley face and sounds so cheery even when he says something particularly dark really cracks me up.

2) Muggy (Fallout: New Vegas – Old World Blues)
When the player ventures to an area called Big Mountain in the Old World Blues expansion pack, he or she find the main hub of a science facility at its core houses a number of everyday appliances given artificial intelligence and unique personalities. While other A.I.s in the hub, such as the toaster or jukebox, are entertaining, the mobile obsessive-compulsive little robot called Muggy steals the show. Like Yes Man, Muggy is a Securitron, but is much smaller than any other one found in the game. In addition to his small stature, Muggy has a permanent cartoonish teacup displayed on his face monitor. He was deliberately programmed to be obsessed with cleaning the ceramic cups and occasionally curses the scientist who made him this way. Much as he might hate his compulsion, he is doomed to drone on and on about it. Best quote: “Mugs, Mugs, Mugs. Mugs, Mugs. Mug-a-mug. Mug-a-mug. Mugs! God, why can’t I stop singing this f***ing song?!”

Last but not least, here is my all-time favorite quirkiest video game character:

1) Paul (Saints Row 4)
Much of the plot for Saints Row 4 entails the systematic destruction of a virtual world built to enslave humanity. This task falls into the hands of the leader of a street gang. Step one: the leader must rescue his or her teammates from each one’s individual simulated hell. Of all the virtual “nightmares” encountered, the one built for Pierce Washington takes the cake. This particular simulation kicks off with a battle against human-sized energy drinks – or rather humans dressed up as purple aluminum cans. And just when you think it can’t get any crazier, in comes Paul, a gargantuan soda can that roars and has the ability to shoot laser beams from his eyes… It’s hard to find the words to do this character or battle justice, so here is a YouTube video of that, courtesy of one of my favorite gamers out there, RadBrad.

If you enjoyed this list, feel free to leave a comment below. And be sure to tune in next month for “My Top Ten Favorite Badass Video Game Characters.”

Photo Credits:
The Meeps
Yes Man
Steward
Paul