Chaos Faction 2

You all know about the popular game, Chaos Faction right? If you don't, then where have you been? Chaos Faction is basically Super Smash Bros. with health bars and guns. It even has a level editor similar to Super Smash Bros. However, it's not all the same. The game has a strong emphasis on character customization, allowing you to customize your character in different ways, while earning new character parts through matches. With the wildly popular Chaos Faction jumping into the flash gaming vault in 2006, it's no surprise that the guys at Dissolute Productions would make a sequel. And while it lacks in some areas, it's certainly a HUGE improvement over the first. The old Chaos Faction had you battling a wide variety of opponents, from aliens, to Eskimos, and even the people who made the game! Chaos Faction 2 still has the zany battles found in the first game, but offers so much more. When starting a match, the biggest thing you might notice right away is the new art style. The first game was lacking emotion, and felt strained. The second has a cartoony feel to it, with characters being squashed and stretched with every hit, as well saying "Yeah!" with every kill. The graphics have majorly improved, with no jagged edges or rough design. Hands and feet are now well detailed and actually look like hands and feet, instead of circles. Everything is smooth here - the environments, the characters, even the weapons. A huge upgrade is the character customization. You know how in the original game creating a character was limited to choosing arms, hands, body and eyes? Chaos Faction 2 fixed that. Now a whole array of possibilities are here. Besides choosing the obvious body, hands, legs and eyes, you can now choose the character's hair, hat, and mouth.

One of the many characters that can be made using the character creator.

You also have the new ability to name your character, instead of using a set name defined by your parts. This leads to more unique characters. One of the main things that have been changed is the fighting system. The HUD has been changed to better fit the screen. The battles now use a dynamic camera which follows the action. The screen shakes when someone is knocked out of the arena, and the camera scrolls depending on where you are and how close you are to the player. This works out well, and compliments the BIGGER arenas. That's right, the arenas are bigger than the first game. The arenas have also became more interactive. No longer are they just platforms re-textured to fit in with a theme. Now each arena has its own hazard. For example, Captain Black's (a pirate) level has you fighting him while dodging cannonballs shot by his ship, or the Alien's level may have you dodging the lasers shot by his spaceship while trying to defeat him. Each arena is bursting with personality. New additions to the combat system include the Windup Punch, and the Rage attack. These make the battles a lot more frantic. Characters are actually knocked back when hit, instead of just standing there while a punch sound effect plays. Players can now taunt and drop their weapons. It's all polished here. But what have fans been waiting for in Chaos Faction? Multiplayer. They want it on their plate, and Chaos Faction 2 delivers it. 2 people can play on the same computer against each other. with their own custom characters. Now, getting a buddy and hunching up over a computer may seem weird, so if you're gonna play with somebody, you should get some game controllers for your computer. Sadly, there is no online multiplayer. Offline still works great though, allowing you to play with up to 2 human opponents and 4 computer opponents.

Battles get hectic with a wide variety of attacks and weaponry.

The game runs smoothly, with only a little lag and slowdown. The game has the same gamemodes as the first (Survival, Deathmatch, and Campaign), so nothing new was added in terms of game modes. There's still a level editor, left unchanged from the first game. After beating the campaign and playing survival or deathmatch several times, I slowly lost interest in the game. However, what kept me going was the new achievement feature. This adds to the replay value. Doing certain things in battle gets you achievements, and in turn, new characters, weapons, and game modifiers for use. So if you've beat Campaign and you see a few empty slots in your character parts screen, you'll know why. 

Chaos Faction 2 is a major improvement over the first game, and while it does  have that fresh, new game feeling that makes you ask "Is this really Chaos Faction?", a little more work could be applied in making the game last longer.

Score Card

Gameplay: 8.5/10 The combat system introduces many new attacks.

Sound: 10/10 Catchy tunes are a mix of pop and techno.

Graphics: 9/10 No ugly sprites. Everything is smooth and almost HD.

Polish: 8/10 No glitches, with a nice framerate, along with major button lag.

Replay Value: 7.5/10 After beating the campaign, achievements are next.

Final Score: 8.6

Must Play, Must Avoid, or Try It?

Must Play

           

Vocaloid: The Future of Music

Here's a non-gaming related, Entertainment article for once.

You can say what you want about Japan. We get that they're an active radiation hotspot from being bombed. By us (and I feel quite sorry for them). We understand that we teach them how to make a lot of shit. But one thing we definitely cannot argue with, is that Japan is most definitely, several years ahead of us technology-wise. They've adapted cyberpunk into a freaking ward, for crying out loud, in the form of Shibuya, Tokyo. They have created a sort of remote control human. They made a god damn Spider-Man robot which climbs walls, along with a hybrid motorbike, instant aging wine, and a re-writable printer. So yes, we have established that they are quite a few years ahead of us, regarding technology. Well, whether you like it or not, "stars" like Justin Bieber and One Direction are getting outbeat by fucking computer programs, and I tell the truth. I start with one. Meet Hatsune Miku (that's pronounced Hat-soo-nay mee-koo), a singing computer synthesizer program produced by Crypton Future Media, using software by Yamaha Corporation. Hatsune Miku is described by Crypton as "An android diva from the future where all songs are lost" or basically, what I said a sentence ago: A singing synthesizer program. But she's also a pop star, performing over 100 live concerts and events all over Japan. Starting out as a synthesizer made for creating songs with a 16 year old Japanese female voicebank, with a high pitch range, the software became immensely popular, and a star was born. 

Hatsune Miku's persona. Note the REALLY FUCKING LONG hair and the tattooed "01" on her shoulder, signifying her being the first of the Vocaloid 2 series.

Crypton's intentions were not to make a holographic pop star, originally. They just planned on creating voicebanks (voices) for use with the VOCALOID software, so composers could create songs using the voicebanks provided by the company. They started out creating voicebank packages for Vocaloid 1, with their first Vocaloids, KAITO and MEIKO, which were successful, but not successful enough.

So then, Crypton said "Well, shit, we're not doing crap with these two Vocaloids! You know what! We need something fresh! Something hip! New! Unique! Something that will make people shit themselves with happiness!" and BWAM! Miku was born, as the first Crypton Vocaloid using the Vocaloid 2 engine, and the second to have a live concert (first being Miriam, an English Vocaloid).

Miku, as she appears in a live concert. Oh joy, the people in the front row can see her panties. e_e

Now, I know what some of you will be thinking. "What the hell is wrong with these people? She's not even real!"

Yes, but whether she's real or not, the big thing is she's actually a good singer. Miku spawned a massive (and I mean MASSIVE) fanbase in Japan, and even in America. Thing is, her songs are enjoyable, despite whether you speak the native language, which is one of the reasons why America has a huge Miku fanbase. You don't have to understand Japanese to enjoy the songs, the point was that they were catchy and if Americans like 'em even though they don't know what the fuck she's saying, that lets you know that you made one helluva good thing. (in fact, it's better you don't know Japanese when listening to a Miku song. Take Romeo and Cinderella for example. Catchy song beat, but if you knew the English lyrics to it, you'd be like O_O)

Miku is immensely popular in Japan, and does just as well in America, despite her not even speaking English. All I can say is.

Bieber has millions of fans.

Miku has billions of fans and she's not even real, and doesn't even speak English.

Result: Suck it, Justin.

She's now included in a shitload of merchandise, such as video games (the Project Diva series, which is based off of Hatsune Miku, but basically Dance Dance Revolution), race cars (yep, right here.), toys, figures, and a bunch of Miku-related commercials promoting the 2011 Toyota Corolla.

Crypton realized its success and pushed a few more babies out of its collective mangina, creating Vocaloid Megurine Luka, and companion Vocaloids Len and Rin Kagamine, who all had similar popularity, and also had live events. Crypton is swimming in money.

With the realization of the fact that there are American fans of Miku also, Crypton had several concerts in the US too. And boy did the world rejoice. Miku makes music, and music is music, real or not. The best part is, you don't ever have to worry about her getting old or hitting puberty or dying. Can't say the same for anyone else. In 2013, Crypton plans to get some money out of our fellow Americans this time with the creation of an English Miku. You don't know how many fans out there are squealing with delight as I type this. Huge-ass deal.

So, with the rising popularity of Vocaloids, people consider them to be "The future of music."

Perhaps someday, we will see popular singers replaced with virtual ones like Miku. Do you see that as good? Or do you feel that is bad? Whichever way, Miku is here to stay.

(Note: Hatsune Miku is how her name is pronounced in Japan, which is last name first and first name last. In america, it would be said as Miku Hatsune, but 90% of people don't give a shit)

Cube 2: Sauerbraten

Ah, Quake 3 Arena. The good ol' days. Back when things were just about blasting everything in your path, and not having to worry about whiny bitches or campers. Oh, if only I could go back to those days. Man, if only I could make my own maps also. If only I could play something like Quake 3, but different. New. Oh, if only...

SHUT THE FUCK UP!

No more if onlys, Quake 3 fanatics are treated to a special treat in the form of a free game known only as Cube 2: Sauerbraten (or just Sauerbraten), a fun, frantic, fast-paced shooting game that runs under the Cube Engine, a lightweight game engine which focuses more on performance than graphics. Call of Duty junkies can  get out right now. If you need a game to at least have realistic graphics or whatever, just get out right now. This is for the old schoolers who appreciated when shooting games were more enjoyable. Anyhoo, Sauerbraten is essentially Quake 3 Arena, but with goblins and orcs instead of people. Consider it Quake 3 but with slightly less weapons, better graphics, and a full, IN-GAME, map creator, for creating your own maps. Fans of Quake 3 should have no problem adjusting to the game and playing it. Fans of Call of Duty might enjoy this, or might be turned off by the game's blazingly fast gameplay. Whichever way, there's a game for everybody. Essentially, you run, jump, shoot, and blow people to bits. Your fast movement speed, aiming, and high jumping make for some quick, lightweight, pick-up-and-play fun that will cater to even the most hardcore FPS fans. It's all here.

Fast movement makes for quick gameplay in this game inspired by Quake 3 Arena.

The game also has an ENORMOUS amount of multiplayer gamemodes, ranging from your standard fare Team Battle, Free-For-All, and Instagib modes to some creative ones like Tactics (players spawn with a random weapon), Efficiency (players are given ALL weapons upon spawning), and Point Capture, along with singleplayer bot matches and 3 campaign modes. Can you say ENDLESS REPLAY VALUE?

HAHAH Of course you can. 

The multiplayer community is especially strong, as there are tons of servers online every day, and people have already set up clans and groups and all sorts of fun stuff to enhance the experience. 

But we're not here to talk about the gameplay. We are here to talk about the main highlight of this damn game, the badass map editor! This is by far the easiest mapmaking system I've seen. Walls and floors can be constructed with ease, as a  scroll down of the mouse wheel pulls blocks towards you, while a push of the mouse wheel pushes them in. It's quite easy and inuitive, as a pool of lava for your lava map can be made in seconds. Everything is made up of Cubes (hence the name, "Cube 2") but they can later be pushed and angled and adjusted to make more complex shapes, adding for a lot of different possibilities.

This isn't even 0.01% of what you can do with the amazing map editor.

Working with the editor for a while, I found myself easily crafting up a little map, taking place in the sewers, with water at your feet. This was definitely designed for ease of access, I can say that. In fact, the 20+ maps that come with it were made with the in-game editor. Hard to believe they started as cubes! To top it all off, you and a friend can start up "Coop Edit" mode, and work on maps together. The most intricate of mapmakers will have a blast with this, as you could form a little group and do a collaboration map, then switch out of edit mode and blast each other with it! It doesn't get any easier than that. The game's graphics aren't exactly Call of Duty level, but they're not balls of polygons either. The lightning engine looks simply AMAZING, and in quite a few maps, it really shines. No bugs have been encountered yet, which is great for such a little game. A lovely little game for those fans of classic arena shooters. With so many features and an astounding map editor, there's no excuse NOT to try it out. It's free, after all!

Score Card

Gameplay: 9.5/10 Smooth, frantic action which is hard to break free from.

Sound: 3/10 There is no music withing the game, and the sounds aren't great.

Graphics: 6/10 Not the best, but graphics don't make the game.

Polish: 7/10 Well polished, but just doesn't feel like a legit game.

Replay Value: 10/10 Use the map editor, play multiplayer, or campaign.

Final Score: 7.1

Must Play, Must Avoid, or Try It?

Must Play