Party of Sin: Guilty fun or sacrilege?

I don't mind when people make jokes at the expense of religion. I wouldn't love South Park as much as I do if I got upset over people mocking faith. I even take part in some podcasts where religion gets mocked in sometimes crude ways. But you take it in stride, and know that nine out of ten times, the people mocking it don't actually mean cruel malice towards me or other members of my faith.

I remember a title called Afterlife by LucasArts, a silly Sim-like title in which you take control of Heaven or Hell and try to keep souls in your world occupied and productive. It was real tongue-in-cheek fun because the versions of Heaven and Hell that you controlled were funny caricatures that didn't really resemble our thoughts and beliefs regarding how we spend eternity. Sure, people committed sins to get there, but every religion has it's own set of rights and wrongs.

16 years later, an independent game company called Crankshaft Games has created a PC puzzle platformer called Party of Sin, in which the goal of the game is to take the seven deadly sins, who are actual characters, break out of hell and destroy angels on a quest to take over heaven.

The gameplay reads like an updated version of The Lost Vikings (translation: FUN!), in which each character has it's own strengths and weaknesses, and being able to switch party members at any time. The game definitely has a sense of humor, not unlike Afterlife, and going purely by the trailer, it's not as if you're burning crucifixes or murdering nuns.

Not being able to play the game (just reading the interview) leaves me crippled when it comes to judging if the game crosses any lines. I have to say, I do cringe a bit at the idea of waging war against God's angels in a video game, especially when the leader of the angels in the game is actually named Michael, but then again, I chuckle at Afterlife because it's such a silly stretch, maybe I should have the same attitude with Party of Sin. It looks like an amazing game to play.

Maybe the reason I give Afterlife a pass is because, even though it contains Heaven and Hell, it feels detached from Christianity a bit, while Party of Sin feels more like a game set in the world of my own faith. I think I'd probably feel much better about the game if it gave you the option of playing as the Heaven side of things, as you could probably make an even more interesting platformer with that mechanic in place.

Gun to my head, I'd have to say that it just misses that line of "OMG THIS IS EVIL SACRILEGE!!!!" I'll have to wait for the demo to come out and judge it more fully. Regardless of my opinions, I'm sure Bill Donahue of the Catholic League will go nuts if this game gets any kind of popular rub.

I'd love to get your thoughts in the comment section.

Review a Bad Game Day: Super Noah's Ark 3D

Note: A few months ago, Eric Bailey of nintendolegend.com alerted me to August 8, a new holiday known as "Review a bad game day." The full list of participants is at reviewabadgameday.com. And since we're a Catholic web site, why not get religious with our choice?

Love them or hate them, you have to admire Wisdom Tree for trying their best to get "Christian" games into the market. Which isn't a bad thing: if the original (awful) TMNT can get a release, why not a game based on the Bible? I actually really enjoyed their game Joshua, so to completely goof on them would be dishonest of me.

So in 1994, Wisdom Tree brought us Super Noah's Ark 3D, which is basically a clone of the First-person shooter Wolfenstein 3D. In the latter, your character is trying to escape from a Nazi prison, while the former has you take on the role of Noah and put down an animal uprising.

Yes, on the ark, the animals are getting restless, and you have a slingshot to quell this mutiny.

Pointing out the flaws in this concept is ridiculously easy. I mowed down the exact same goat at least a dozen times, and there's no way that a pair of goats could reproduce that much in the time that Noah was on the Ark. Also, Noah uses a slingshot to give the animals "feed" which instantly puts them to sleep. Those animals are going to wake up soon, and unless Noah never plans to back in that area of the Ark, it's a futile attempt.

Besides, where are his three sons? Shouldn't they be helping out too? Lazy bums.

But yes, this is a video game, and to say that the creators can't use artistic license to make a good game experience would be hogwash on my behalf. So I won't hold those flaws against the game.

Playing through the game courtesy of an emulator (I didn't own an SNES in 1994), I was struck by just how well it played. Since SNA3D is basically a clone of Wolfenstein, the same control options are available: You can use either the gamepad or the SNES mouse. The controls are nearly perfect: there's no lag or delay when you press a button. As a gamer, good controls are something you don't really appreciate until you play a game with broken controls. And for that, I give a tip of my cap to Wisdom Tree for making sure the game controlled flawlessly.

Graphically speaking, for the most part this game has the same quality as Wolfenstein 3D. Here's a comparison of the doors.

Getting these kinds of games to work on the SNES is no small chore, so the 2012 me can't fault either for the horribly pixelated walls, doors and enemies. In both games, enemies at a distance are just a block of shaded pixels. I give Wisdom Tree a pat on the back for making a game as graphically sound as a company with a presumably bigger budget, but iD released Wolfenstein 3D a year earlier, so on that note, you'd think Wisdom Tree could have improved on the graphics.

Where Wolfenstein 3D succeeds graphically are the powerups: they're different colors than the walls. In SNA3D, the first aid kits are the exact same color as the walls, which might cause you to miss a few. There was one instance where the there were three powerups that I originally missed due to their camoflauge.

As far as sound goes, the effects could have been better: The music playing throughout the game sounds pleasant enough, which is important when you only have one track, but some of the grunts sound like someone yelling into a $25 USB headset. The animals make a cute snoring noise when you put them to sleep, so that's great reinforcement when you tell your child playing the game that the animal didn't really die (along with the Zzzzz's coming from their head).

OK, so Wisdom Tree did a decent job on the technical aspects, but is the game fun to play? It's surprisingly enjoyable for 15 minutes. After that, it gets repetitive and yawn-inducing. Problem is, that's the same effect that the other SNES FPS games have on me, so it's not just Wisdom Tree's piece of software that shows it's age.

My huge gripe about the game is that bulls and goats can attack from a distance, but you don't actually see an attack animation, except for your health dwindling down. I hate to make this article a giant Wolfenstein comparison, but in that game, you see the soldiers raising their guns in the air. Here, you just have a bull sitting there looking at you.

Other than that, it's a competent game that will fill a nostalgic FPS thirst if you can get over the cutesy aspect of the game. So why is this a "bad game?"

Because there is nothing innovative about. Fun twist on the storyline, but other than graphics and sound, this is the EXACT same game as Wolfenstein 3D. Wisdom Tree could have added a few fun tweaks and twist to the FPS genre, such as multiplayer, a jump button, melee attacks, and so on. Instead of doing something different, they just played copycat.

Not to go on a rant, but that's the problem with Christian media. So many times we just duplicate successful secular ideas instead of being original and coming up with something new. That's why Busted Halo is the best Christian radio program. That's why Fr. Roderick's podcast is so great to listen to: they try new things and aren't afraid to be different.

SNA3D got the basics right. But a lack of innovation makes this a "bad game." Then again, we in Christian media could stand to learn a thing or two from this title. So we don't make the same mistakes.

My Latest Rantings

...on the newly-launched RantGaming.com. Lemme know what you think!

Beyond the Narrative

Art, if it truly IS art, has an intrinsic value beyond its thematic depiction. Whether it be a painting, a novel, a piece of music, or, yes, a game, there is some way that these various media give (or at least *CAN* give) glory to God. As an amateur critic of gaming, I've often seized on the narrative of a particular game as the reason for its moral worth (or lack thereof), even as I never neglected to critique the technical aspects of a game, as well. But if narratives are the only "real" reason games are worth our time, then we're probably better off sticking to novels. I'm quite convinced that there is some way in which particular game play systems are themselves an art. I've written about this before, and I've cited Ratzinger's "Spirit of the Liturgy" in my defense. I'd like to know what other people think about this. Are gameplay systems themselves an art form?

Disdain for new Mario game inspires soul-searching

As a kid, I idolized all of Nintendo's Mario games. I played the original NES trilogy to death, had Mario lunch boxes, pajamas, hats, and recorded the Super Mario Bros. Super Show every afternoon. That fondness extended past Elementary school: after a short relationship with Sega, the only consoles I ever purchased were Nintendo ones, which is true even as recently as my Wii purchase a few years ago.

Even recently, I made it a point to do something I always wanted to do: finish Super Mario Bros. 3 in its entirety, no warp whistles allowed. Doing that has to be one of my greatest gaming moments, alongside finishing Final Fantasy VII with every secret unlocked and those times my sister and I played Dance Dance Revolution in the arcades.

So you'd think when I got my hands on New Super Mario Bros. for the Wii (late to the party, I know), I'd be ecstatic. A throwback to those simpler times in my life. One of the most critically acclaimed games ever made by Nintendo. Mario the way I'd once loved him.

I hated it. Every single moment of that game was agony. I tried telling myself that maybe things weren't so bad, just keep playing and you'll get around to liking it. But after 20 minutes, I dropped the controller and just stared at the TV with nothing but contempt.

It had been months since I'd played a Mario game, so I know I'm not fatigued by it. It was just so alarming to see something I loved and cherished so much as a kid turn into something that I hated with such vile contempt. I'm sure I'm not the only person who has seen their tastes evolve, but this latest chapter actually makes me sad. There's so much history to Mario and I that it almost feels like a horrible breakup (a bit melodramatic, but you get the point).

Maybe I've done everything I possibly can with Mario. Maybe it's time to move on and devote myself more fully to other genres. Maybe my next gaming system should be something other than a Nintendo one (I love my PSP, and while I really like Zelda, that's the only Nintendo first-party franchise that I truly care about).

Without sounding too high and mighty, maybe the birth of my daughter four weeks ago flipped some switch in my brain. Not sure if anyone else has had that happen to them, but given the fact that I'm grinding through Final Fantasy I in my free-time, I doubt that birth flipped much of a switch, as I still love gaming. Still, the words of St. Paul do run through my brain: when I became a man, I put aside childish things.

There are a lot of faith aspects to this that are running through my head. The main thing is the fact that I pretty much worshipped Mario as a kid to the point of idolatry. Part of the reason I bought all of those Nintendo consoles is that childhood love of Mario: If I bought something different, it was like I was crapping all over my childhood and cursing a friend (when in reality, it's just a corporate product, not a true friend). Being disgusted with a Mario game makes me look back and start thinking about other things I've put in front of God. Playing on the computer. Work. Sports. Games. If I want to keep those other things from disgusting me at some point down the road, I'd better get my priorities straightened out.

Rest in peace, childhood memories.. I'll find another Mario really soon. And this time, I won't put it on such a pedestal.

3DS Troubles

So for the second time since I first purchased my 3DS at launch day last March, I've had to send it in to Nintendo for repair. The first time, something went wrong with the gyroscope. The system would automatically shut down when I would apply pressure to it. Now, the circle pad/control stick is messed up. Both problems apparently require Nintendo's own folks to fix. :/

Fortunately, my brother has his own 3DS and I can just mooch off of him when I want to play Tales of the Abyss. But has anyone else had trouble with their 3DS like I have?

Soul Calibur 5 Releases Today?!?!

Seriously, How did I miss this?

Head over to the Cross and the Controller to view the hilariously awesome launch trailer.

You can also read my review of the series' previous iteration, Soul Calibur 4, here.