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.

The Cross and the Controller and other "Shameless Plugs"

A friend of mine recently posted a link to this website on my facebook wall, and I figured I'd pass along the favors to the readership here. Check out "The Cross and the Controller" website here:

http://www.thecrossandthecontroller.com/tcatccom/Default.aspx

Also, a certain Colin Malcolm contacted me on facebook recently requesting that I ask around for Catholics who are involved in or interested in game development. While I find it hard to believe that Catholics AREN'T involved in this industry, I do think Colin presents an interesting question. How does a Catholic integrate game development into their Catholic faith? I'd love to hear from an actual game developer about this.

On a final note, Merry 4th day of Christmas!

Saying goodbye to Gampro

Although I'm a little late in reporting the news, apparently Gamepro is closing its doors.

I found out about the news while listening to the Retronauts podcast last night, where the group fondly reminisced over Gamepro's history. It made me very sad to think that the majority of its employees have to go through this holiday season without a job.

Gamepro was good to me throughout the years. I got my first issue in November 1995, as a replacement for Sega Visions. They sent a nice letter stating that they were ceasing publication, ,and that the remainder of my subscription would be filled with Gamepro.

And wow, Gamepro was amazing to this 12-year-old kid! Sega Visions was great, don't get me wrong, but Gamepro showed me games outside of the Sega spectrum. I read all about Chrono Trigger and fantasized about owning this game, even though I had no Super Nintendo to speak of. They had articles about going to school to become a game designer, features on hot arcade games, and an awesome editor named Johnny Ballgame (the greatest Gamepro editor that ever lived).

In fact, Gamepro was my first published article on anything! In issue #125 (December 1999), I wrote to Gamepro asking why the N64 only had kiddie and racing games, instead of more "mature" games like the Playstation. Gamepro replied that I needed to look around and see that the N64 had a lot more than just racing and kiddie games. True, the N64 had some amazing games, like Zelda and Goldeneye (two games I loved), but I still think I was right on the money when I said the N64 was filled with racing games.

I since quit subscribing to Gamepro in the early 2000s, and up until 7 years ago, I had all my back issues stored in the closet. I wish I had kept them, as they'd be a nice thing to relive.

Since this is a religious gaming web site, I wanted to post my memories as a reminder that the people we love and look up to are always in need of prayers. Definitely keep the good folks from Gamepro, and the others without work this holiday season, in your thoughts and prayers.

God bless.

Finding Catholicism in Final Fantasy VII

Notice: This article contain spoilers related to the storyline of Final Fantasy VII. If you're looking to replay this game (about $10 on Playstation Network), you should really skip this article until you finish the game.

A friend of mine, who is the father of two, recently gave me some sound advice.

"Do everything you like to do now," Chris told me a few weeks ago when I asked if he had any parenting advice for me (my wife and I are expecting a baby girl in late February). And when it comes to video games, I've taken that advice to heart. I spent five-and-a-half hours completing Super Mario Bros. 3 without any warp whistles back in August, knowing full well that 330 minutes of uninterrupted gameplay will not happen with an infant in the house.

I then extended that logic to Final Fantasy VII. I've been playing that nonstop on my PSP. I never finished the game when I first played it in 1999, nor did I finish it when I tried again in early 2010 (foolishly selling my PSP for a DS, only to turn around and sell the DS to get a PSP 15 months later). This time though, I was determined to win the game.

And not just win the game. I wanted to get all the secrets. I wanted to actually succeed at that stupid Chocobo breeding, get the crazy awesome materia that I was too lazy to get on previous playthroughs, and feel a sense of unrushed accomplishment when I finished the game.

And I succeeded, well, for the most part. I did get that Gold Chocobo through breeding (his name was Neil), which allowed me to get the good materia, like Knights of the Round, but I didn't waste my time killing those giant monster weapons that roamed the planet (with the exception of Ultimate because I needed Cloud's ultimate weapon).

And last night, at 3:00 a.m., after nearly 50 hours of gameplay, I finally defeated the game. Were my Catholic sensibilities assailed throughout this game? Actually, I was able to find some positive elements in the game. Yes, a game that deals with people dying and returning to the planet's lifestream is far from what Christianity teaches. I realize that. But if you look past that, you can find elements and ideas our Faith would support and champion.

Such as:

• Life is sacred. The game shows why we should not try to "play God" when it comes trying to create life through artificial means. Professor Hojo tries to create clones of the main antagonist Sephiroth on two characters, Cloud (the main protagonist) and Zack. The result is a painful discovery by Cloud that many of his memories are falsely implanted. The game would agree with paragraph 2273 of the Catechism, which states "Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being's right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death."


Sephiroth himself was created through natural conception, but during the pregnancy gets injected with "cells" from an alleged supernatural being. Again, I see this is as a definite violation of the Church's teaching that the integrity of a person should be respected.

Later in the game, Hojo tries to convince Cloud that he's nothing more than a failed experiment. But that line of thinking fails when Cloud's friends convince him that he's not a failure. Cloud realizes that, which to me says that no matter what bad things have happened to us in the past, we can still rise above those misfortunes and honor God with our lives.

And while not specific to FF7, the characters all feel the need to save the planet and it's people.

• Good intentions do not justify evil acts. In the beginning of the game, Cloud joins a terrorist group named AVALANCHE, which is made up two other main characters, Barrett and Tifa. The group is labeled a terrorist group because they end up destroying a MAKO reactor due to the (rightful) belief that the corporation SHINRA is killing the planet by using MAKO energy for electricity.

And while the group had good intentions (taking down Shinra), they soon realize that maybe they weren't doing the right thing after all. The Church would agree, as paragraph 1753 says "A good intention (for example, that of helping one's neighbor) does not make behavior that is intrinsically disordered, such as lying and calumny, good or just. The end does not justify the means."

Barrett and the group later realize that by destroying that reactor, a lot of innocent lives were lost, and that their terrorist actions made them no better than Shinra.

• Church is a sacred place. Early in the game, Cloud meets Aeris (I named her Sarah) inside of a Church. Despite the decrepit slums that surrounded the church, flowers managed to grow and look beautiful in this building. Even one of the villains orders his troops not to step on the flowers. I liked this respect that this church was afforded in the game.

• Our abilities are gifts from God. While the Materia system in this game is inherently flawed (you can just slap any of the materia onto the characters and they immediately know the magic) and not nearly as good as previous job systems like in Final Fantasy V, I think it subtly shows that the talents that we have are a gift from God. God, not ourselves, is the source of our talents and abilities, just like Materia was the source of the characters magical abilities. Take the materia/God away, and we're left with nothing. Yes, God gives us the opportunity to hone our abilities (much like you have to build up the Materia), but we should always give thanks to him for what he has provided.

• The power of Prayer. When Aeris decided to stop Sephiroth, she didn't take any weapons. Nope, she just prayed. And while she ended up dying while praying, it was her faith and prayers that made it possible for the characters to defeat Sephiroth in the end.

Yes, there are things that you could find objectionable to our faith, such as the lifestream and cross-dressing (done for humor purposes, not erotic), but you almost always have to look past those things when playing a Japanese RPG. You aren't going to find explicit faith in most of these games. But, as the Busted Halo Show teaches me on Thursday nights, it is possible to find positive spiritual messages throughout our pop culture, including video games.

I thank you for joining me on this faith-filled look at one of the most hyped RPGs of all time. Anyone have any suggestions for another RPG to occupy the next few months of my life? I'm thinking either Final Fantasy IV or Lunar?

Gamespot respectively dives into religious discussion

Just read a very thoughtful piece from Gamespot entitled "Having Faith in Your Games." What I really enjoyed about the piece is that it didn't spend too much time goofing on Christianity-based video games like Super Noah's Ark 3D, and instead spent the majority of it's time exploring how video games can explore faith.

With games becoming more sophisticated when it comes to story lines, exploring the topic of religion in a tasteful way should be easy to do. The article cites recently-released Catherine as an example of how to implement a struggle with faith, stating:

Each night Vincent confronts his burdens in the form nightmarish puzzles rife with gothic iconography, and you, the player, are prompted to bare your soul in a Catholic-style confessional booth with questions such as "Do you buy too much food when you're hungry?" "What do you think of actors in sex scenes?" and "Is popping bubble wrap fun?" Vincent's fate rests on your answers, and some of the endings are as entertaining as they are hellishly disturbing.

Catherine, a game that may just inspire me to purchase a PS3, has a theme that would be worth exploring: choosing to live your life by your own rules, or submit to a higher power (although I do caution parents to be aware of the M-rating, as the game has a lot of sexual content). That's life in a nutshell, and the temptation we as people of faith (all faiths) struggle with.

It's a reminder that we Christians can expect more from our games than "answer a bible trivia verse and get this guy to repent." (Best quote from the article is "But Christian games should be biblically accurate and family-friendly if they are to share the message of God's love." But isn't that what the Bible is for?")

Just like there can be films with powerful messages that aren't explicitly Christian (think Schindler's List or Metropolis), there should be more games with a great exploration of faith that inspires you to ponder your own moral convictions.

Catholic News Service video games article tells us things we already knew

The Catholic News Agency did a story on video games, which you can read about here.

If it wasn't a Catholic news agency writing the story, I probably wouldn't waste time posting it, as the story could easily be filed under the "Does this article even have a point" category. Most of the info is stuff we already knew, and some of it makes me wince.

C'mon Catholics, we can do MUCH better than this.

The article starts strong, giving me a decent history of gaming. Things I mostly knew, but I'm not going to fault them for setting up the fact that gaming started with Pong and "evolved into a complex creative form whose impact now ranks with that of movies, TV and popular music."

 (FYI, you can tell how much the author of any story DOESN'T play games by how quickly they throw Pong into the equation. Pong was great and all, but if you really wanna show your old-school knowledge, drop a Demon Attack reference on me instead).

 Anyways, the article cites stats, gives way to the widespread penetration of games into homes, then segues into how violent games are. Nintendo's Wii is cited as the most family-friendly option due to the motion-based controller matching up with inoffensive content (the ultra-violent Madworld escapes mention), while mentioning that the X-Box 360 and PS3 are trying to capture the family-friendly market.

Surprisingly, the author never mentions the fact that those systems have their own motion-based controls. The two bright spots in this article is an explanation of Bioshock's exploration of morality and the limits of personal freedom, and a quote from "Grand Theft Childhood" author Cheryl K. Olson, who says, "I remember watching my son play games such as 'Legend of Zelda' when he was a young teen. He had to search, plan, and try different approaches to advance. You don't get those kinds of benefits from watching cartoons or sitcoms on TV."

 That's a solid defense of gaming. Too bad it was buried at the end of the article.

 My point in this post isn't to bash Catholic News Service for trying to do a gaming article. The author, a cathecist, supposedly has written about games for 20 years. The point I'm trying to make in highlighting this article's shortcomings is that when Catholics write about things like video games, it shouldn't be the same rehashed things that mainstream media has done to death.

We should be trying to find our own unique angle to bring to the story. Too often Catholic media tends to be like sheep, just following trends. We need to stand out, become unique, and lead the charge instead of just following old trends.

Hopefully CNS will put together better gaming articles in the future.

Mario Paint + Christian Music = Youtube Gold

If you are my age, you probably remember Mario Paint. While it may seem outdated nowadays, given the powerful art and music programs that many people have on their computer, it was a blast when I was kid. Draw your own pictures and make your own songs on the TV? Simply amazing.

And while Mario Paint may have faded away for many people, it seems that the music portion of it is alive and well. Do a search on Youtube and you'll find people still using Mario Paint (or the PC program Mario Paint Composer, which technically is a PC program, but it's a near replica of the SNES Mario Paint) to create covers of popular songs.

Which got me thinking, how many Christian songs have been "covered" using Mario Paint? Here are a few that I found on Youtube, along with a short description and what game SNES game they'd match up with best. I'll admit, I'm tempted to copy some of them to my iPhone: the quality is just that good. And while many of these songs aren't explicitly "Catholic," they still glorify God, and that's something we can all get behind.



My favorite part of Jars of Clay's Liquid is the drums. And I think they are faithfully converted in this song.
Game match: Mega Man X.




Red is a great Catholic rock band. Kayla from Sirius XM's The Message introduced me to the band when she appeared on Lino Rulli's The Catholic Guy Show a few years ago.
Game match: Any fight scene from a Japanese RPG.



Kudos to this composer for getting the guitars to sound great in Switchfoot's Meant to Live. Game match: For some reason, I keep thinking this would sound great in Killer Instinct.



I wanted to feature something from Matt Maher, who might be the most well-known Catholic musician in Christian music circles, but all I could find was this medley. He pops up at 1:23. Game match: Background music to standard RPG towns and maps.



And what feature on Catholic music would be complete without Ave Maria? If I could, I'd sub in this song for the Opera scene in Final Fantasy VI. Actually, finding Christian music that had been redone in Mario Paint was a little difficult. I have the sheet music to Matt Maher's "Your Grace is Enough" and when my new copy of Mario Paint arrives in the mail sometime in the next few days, I know how I'm spending my free time!

Another Catholic Gamer!

Thank you Ashley Collins for throwing this in my direction! Looks like a new Catholic-oriented gaming website has emerged during the past summer. Readers, head over to http://catholicgamer.com/ to see what's happenin'!

About that SCOTUS ruling...

All the juicy info is over at http://gamepolitics.com/2011/06/27/esrb039s-reaction-statement-scotus-decision. I like the ESRB's take: empowering parents is the best way to go. I think that is a position that Magisterial-minded Catholics could agree with.

We've had plenty of discussions about video game violence and the like on this blog in the past. Now might be a good time to revisit them; in any case, a good Catholic approach to the issue can be found here:

http://www.crisismagazine.com/2011/concupiscence-is-not-a-sin

Don't let the mask of "prudence" and "protecting children" lead you into rejecting Christ.

E3 recap

Readers,

Due to my lack of internet access in my current "sitz in leben," I'm completely unaware of any news from this year's e3 conference. Anyone wanna give this Catholic gamer the details?

Thanks in advance,
Andy Kirchoff

Link's Christlike example

Lately I've been playing a ton of Legend of Zelda, splitting my time between Link's Awakening (on the classic brick Game Boy) and Ocarina of Time downloaded from the Virtual Console.

Playing through both of these games, the thought occurred to me: Link really is, out of all the gaming characters, the most selfless hero out there.

Video games are filled with characters who exude good virtues. Locke from Final Fantasy VI might have been a thief, but he goes out of his way to rescue Terra and Celes. Halo's Master Chief destroys a race of aliens hell-bent on destroying the universe. And Pac-Man might be the Vatican's first virtual exorcist.

But Link's adventures have mostly consisted of his going from town to town, helping people without ever complaining or thinking twice about it. Rescuing Princess Ruto from Lord Jabu-Jabu's belly. Delivering love letters (in my mind at least) from old men to old women, and fetching masks for people all while saving a planet from being destroyed by the Moon.

After he does that, a huge carnival is thrown. But is Link honored? Heck and no. He leaves town presumably to go help someone else.

In each game, you're always tasked with these great missions, and while Link receives tokens of appreciation along the way that aid him in his quest, it seems like he's never truly thanked for the hard work he's done in saving everyone's lives.

He reminds me of Christ in this aspect (yes I realize that I compared a digital character to our Lord and Saviour, and I realize that Link isn't going to save my soul from Hell, but hear me out). When Jesus healed the ten lepers, only one of them returned to thank him. And while it certainly could have happened, when Jesus turns five loaves of bread and two fishes into food for 5,000, none of those people are mentioned as thanking him before he goes off into his boat, as tired as can be.

We see Christ do so many wonderful things for people, that it seems like The Bible should be filled with more of those people thanking him.

Even today, not many people (myself included so many times) really stop and thank Christ for what he does for us, instead just going on about their merry lives.

Of course, maybe we should all be like Link. Tirelessly helping others without expecting anything in return. I think Link follows Christ's words very well in Matthew 5: "But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on (your) right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles."


Link definitely goes the two miles.

Any other video game characters exemplify a Christ-like attitude? Leave a comment!

Final Fantasy and Philosophy

I thought I would put a little post up about quite an interesting book I read earlier in the year. It is titled "Final Fantasy and Philosophy" and is essentially a selection of essays from unknown academics at minor institutions on the philosophical issues raised by the FF series. The book is not as good as it could have been, it tries far too hard to be 'pop culture' with pointless jokes and word plays (possibly at the hand of a redactor) thrown in, this is epitomised by the opening prologue which you should probably avoid, it completely trashes the essays' academic credibility. Secondly, the 'philosophers' as a whole know absolutely nothing about Christian Philosophy and make one or two embarrassing references to the philosophy of St Thomas and some clumsy supposed problems with the Christian vision are thrown out without any explanation. I am thinking in particular of Chapter 13- Is fear of stopping justified and Chapter 8- The four light warriors saved the world. A third problem is that some of the essays are very dull- the first and last chapters which both centre around the philosophy of language are tedious and philosophically narrow with the impression that the individuals just heard a 101 on a certain linguistic philosopher and decided to apply it to an aspect of ff. A fourth problem is the inclusion of essays written solely about the film "Final Fantasy- The Spirits Within", which every genuine FF fan would rather not hear about!

Now on to the good qualities, some of the authors have a really good knowledge of deep issues playing out in some of the major FF games- and spot the existentialism, deep green philosophy and Neitzschean Nihilism running throughout. The three best essays by far are 2- Kefka, Neitzsche, Foucault, 11- Sin, Otherworldliness and the Downside to Hope, and 12- Human, all to human. Cloud's existential quest for authenticity. The last two feature an analysis of FFX which parallels my take on it reviewed on this blog some time ago. http://catholicvideogamers.blogspot.com/2010/08/review-of-ffx.html

The difference is that the philosophers (explicitly ch 12) are more or less writing from the atheistic existentialist perspective themselves. They raise some important questions though and I really enjoyed them. I enjoyed their contribution to the debate.

The chapter that sides most with our way of thinking is that which touches on what FF teaches us about morality Ch 7- Final Fantasy and the Purpose of Life The essay is poorly structured but essentially supports a teleological virtue based morality (which he claims is based on Aristotle but includes not one reference to Aristotle throughout the article!) over Kantian and Utilitarian morality.

My overarching conclusion of the book was that it could have been much better, but for the few decent chapters I felt it was worth the £7 I paid for it.

If anyone has read it, I would love to hear you thoughts as well.

Behold!

It is mine, precious!!!!!






Also obtained: Street Fighter IV 3D and Super Monkey Ball 3DS. More impressions to follow!

Revisiting the Mortal Kombat kontroversy

If you were a kid in the 90's, I'm sure you remember the glut of one-on-one fighting games. Street Fighter II, World Heroes, Samurai Showdown, Virtua Fighter, I could go on and on.

(By the way, my name is dustin Faber, and Andy was kind enough to let me post on this blog. Instead of a self-congratulatory post talking about the wonder that is me, I'll stick with letting you know I'm an engaged graphic designer/customer service rep who loves the Boston Celtics, classic gaming, and blogs at catholicguyshow.com, dustinfaber.com and thecatholiclovebirds.blogspot.com. Oh and Root Beer rocks).

Anyways, one fighting game stuck out, and it wasn't due to it's superior gameplay (Street Fighter was a better game). Mortal Kombat. Instead of beating people up, you literally killed the other guy, with blood splattering all over the place and the ability to rip someone's spinal cord out of it's socket.

While the gameplay's merits are up for debate, there's no doubting that this game made news. Parents and senators were up in arms, to the point that the ESRB was created due to games like this (and Night Trap as well). The ESRB made me mad: it prevented me from buying Street Fighter II: Championship Edition, even though my Mom had watched me play an entire match it in the arcades with no objections at all (To this day, it's the only parenting decision I strongly disagree with Mom on. She goes strictly by the ratings, I say there are other sources to go by as well).

But the realistic violence was too much for some people, and understandably so. If you wouldn't let your kids watch an R-Rated film, why let them recreate one on the Genesis?

But a few weeks ago, my fiance and I plugged Mortal Kombat II into the Sega Genesis, used a Game Genie code to make the fatalities automatic, and enjoyed pre-marital bonding by slicing each other up with razor-sharp fans. It made me wonder, during all of the bloodshed, if the criticism of Mortal Kombat was well-founded, or overblown.

Is this really that over-the-top violent as congressmen claimed?

Perhaps the HD graphics of today distort my views on the game, but the violence seems so cartoony and over-the-top, especially when you compare it to the upcoming MK title. It's not as if we were up in arms over life-like actors and actresses mutilating each other for our own amusement. More than once while playing MKII, I thought to myself that the game wasn't so bad.

Or is it? I really can't find any redeeming values in the game (then again, what redeeming values are in Pole Position?), other than the fact that it's really fun to trash talk your loved ones after a close battle. Perhaps the bloody carnage helped us bond in ways that Tetris Party could not do.

But I'm curious to your own thoughts. If you have younger children or nieces/nephews, would you let them play this game now, under the guise that it isn't as "graphic" as the violent games of today? Or would you consider the game just as off-limits as your standard M-rated FPS?

Final Fantasy IV

I have recently started playing through FFIV again, I think I last played it as a lapsed Catholic about 5 years back and this time round I am picking up a lot more depth in the game. I'm also amazed at how many elements of the gameplay have not been taken up in more recent ffs. For example, the screen blurring out of battle if you are under certain status effects- I think this could be done really well on the rich 3d new ffs. Another would be Gilbert's auto-hiding away when he is low on life, that is great. Another is the cave where you are not allowed to have any metal weapons or armour equipped- I am so surprised that there isn't a side quest dungeon of this sort in any of the later ffs! It is a great idea!

FF4 really was revolutionary on so many levels.

And philosophically ff4 is great because characters have set roles and different stat development curves- this is a fundamentally more Catholic view of the world than a job based system or sphere grid where the player essentially has the power at his own will to recreate the fundamental attributes of each character. I think it is essentially post-modern and actually makes for quite dull gaming.

I am playing the SNES version and would be interested to hear about how people have found the DS re-make as it looks pretty good.