The trend is annoying. It's deceptive. It's insulting to my intelligence. And sadly, it shows no signs of ever coming to an end. I am speaking, of course, about the video game industry's constant use of CGI (computer generated imagery) trailers.
My disgust for this practice has been sloshing around inside my head for a while now, but the issue really peaked for me back in 2006, when Sony unveiled supposed in-game footage of Killzone 2, which later turned out to be a CGI trailer. There was a lot of backlash over this, and I agree with all of it - it pointed out both how tempting it can be for game companies to deceive the public with CGI, and how easy it can actually be when our game systems are almost capable of producing such visuals anyway.
Imagine you're putting together an awesome movie. It finally comes time in production to get the word out and get people excited for the upcoming film. Your press agent asks for some promotional materials to show people... what would you give them? Would you create a video of animated characters and special effects, completely unlike the visual style of your film?
Of course not - it's ridiculous to even suggest it. But if you were working on a game instead of a movie, you'd probably come to the (erroneous) conclusion that as long as it's generated by computers somehow, it should pass for a good way to show off your game.
I find this trend annoying because, when I hear about a new game, I want to see what it looks like. If I watch a commercial or download a trailer, I want to see the game in action to get a feel for how it will play, how good the graphics are, etc. The last thing I want is a CGI trailer that gives absolutely no clear idea of what the game is about. What good does that do?
My other main beef with CGI trailers is the fact that I sometimes get the sense that they are meant to masquerade as real game footage, and the deceptiveness of this disgusts me. As game graphics get better and our systems become more advanced, the line between CGI and real-time rendering is getting blurrier. So not only does it sometimes seem pointless for a studio to release CGI when real game footage would be just as good, it also makes the CGI route seem like studios just want the public to think their game will look better than it does. For gamers, this isn't usually much of a problem - people who are used to viewing game graphics and computer-generated videos can usually tell the difference between the two - but it is still a very low-class thing to do, in my opinion, and just serves to confuse people who aren't dedicated game-players.
In the end, I suppose my complaints don't hold a heck of a lot of weight, considering the games industry has been in constant growth for many years, despite the rampant use of CGI trailers. Pre-rendered computer-generated videos definitely have a place in there somewhere, but I really think that publishers / developers should always try to show real footage first. I know that sometimes it's important to get PR materials out the door, in order to generate buzz for upcoming games, but if they just took a little extra time to polish existing videos and screenshots of the actual game, they'd be doing both themselves and their fans a favor.
After years of watching Sega take their greatest mascot and slowly change him from excellent to terrible, this is the only logical conclusion I can come to. Look at the last handful of Sonic games, and you'll see what I mean. Ever since his crossover into the third dimension, Sonic the Hedgehog has been a name to fear, and for all the wrong reasons.
Imagine my disappointment when I read the news that a new Sonic game is on the way - and this time Sonic Team is setting out to definitively prove that the concept can work in 3D. Feel like crying yet?
Entire generations of gamers have all but written Sonic games off at this point, and it really is a shame. The early Sonic games were brilliant - excellent level design and solid gameplay elements lent themselves to create a truly memorable and fun experience. And yet with every new release, Sega further proves to us that they now care nothing about the franchise, and I fear that this new game will be more of the same.
So why do I still hold out hope for the speedy blue Erinaceinae? At this point, i'm not really sure. I guess I just hate to see a handful of awesome games get trashed by people who've never played them, merely because their successors are utterly terrible.
Now it seems rather obvious to me, but apparently the knuckle-heads over at Sega have a hard time grasping this one, so let me write a couple of paragraphs about it. The underlying problem with all the new Sonic games is that the concept of Sonic the Hedgehog does not, can not, and will not translate to 3D. All it takes is a cursory look at the history of the franchise to understand why.
The original Sonic games were about exploration, speed, and control. As you ran around the massive levels, you got to explore many different routes, each with a unique set of traps and situations for the player. Often, even the slightest variation on your route through a level would result in the discovery of a whole new area - many containing secret power-ups or even gateways to special levels. Players enjoy being rewarded for straying off the main path, and the original games were genius in their delivery of this concept. Unfortunately, this notion is lost in the translation to 3D, because your view is no longer confined to your immediate surroundings; you can see the entire level ahead of you as you play. Other games, like the Mario and Zelda series, have found their own ways of preserving exploration in a 3D environment, but it is obviously a rather large beast to tame, and I am not sure that it could work for Sonic.
The aspects of speed and control are also hurt greatly by the third dimension. In 2D, you were running either left or right, and all you had to do to dodge obstacles was jump, spin, or try to stop. Massive speeds could be achieved because the options the player had were relatively simple, so the player didn't have to think about all sorts of button combinations or moves to avoid trouble. Simple, but effective. In the newer 3D iterations of Sonic, almost all the speedy segments are usually on-rails ring collecting orgies, which I can almost understand, given the lack of control you have in any free-roaming running environment. 2D Sonic gave you ultimate control of a fast hedgehog and asked you to use them as best you could to conquer a difficult game. 3D Sonic took away your control and asked you to conquer an easy game. Guess which one turned out to be more fun?
There are certainly many more reasons why the original concepts of Sonic the Hedgehog do not translate into 3D, but I am tired of going on about this. Every time Sega announces a new Sonic game, I hope that they'll do the right thing and make a 2D version with 3D graphics, but each time I am let down. There is so much possibility left in the realm of 2D games - and yet we move farther away from that with each new game released, for better or (usually) for worse.
One thing that does make me slightly more optimistic about Sonic Unleashed is that Sega has finally decided to stop adding weird-looking, exotic characters to the mix, and has instead settled on the three core players, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. Unfortunately, this is tainted slightly by the fact that Sonic is taking a cue from Twilight Princess and will now have the ability to transform into a wolf of some sort. Ah, well.
I will (ignorantly) hold out hope that Sonic Team proves me wrong this time around. And there's always a slim chance that someone from Sega will read my blog and remove all the things I find annoying in these games, right?
Right?
Well, I wrote it anyway. And now I'm going to go play some classic Sonic on my Xbox.
Update: Upon further inspection of some of the footage floating around out there, it seems like Sonic Team may have actually taken notes and done something right - the game looks like it just might be a 2D game with 3D graphics. I'm sure I'll have more to say about this when further details come to light, but for now, color me an excited shade of blue!
I must not be alone as the only person with a blog who occasionally lapses into "busy-ness" and either can't find the time or the words to write about anything. I must!
I've not written a new post in about three weeks. I'll admit it - most of this current busy spell has largely been due to my Xbox 360, and more specifically, Call of Duty 4. It's a great game, and it really is scary how addictive repeatedly leveling up your online soldier can be. But as a game player who is familiar with the crack-like properties of other electronic adventures, like World of Warcraft, I guess I can understand.
For the last week, however, I haven't really been playing much COD4. Instead, I've been running around school grounds beating up kids, causing trouble for the administration, and generally being kind of a... well, bully. You know where this is going.
Yup - I've been playing Rockstar'sBully: Scholarship Edition. I picked it up on the first day it was out, and just finished the game today with 100% completion, and 1000 achievement points. It's an excellent game, and I highly recommend it. In a day where good game design is copied in triplicate by even the most respectable studios, it really is easy to forget what makes the original ideas (and the people behind them) great.
I played Saint's Row all the way through some months ago, and though it too was a good game, it never quite forged ahead with the confidence that the GTA series had. Sure, it did take the GTA formula and improve on many of that series' shortcomings, but when it came to interesting characters and narrative, smart humor, and social commentary, Saint's always came up short by comparison. Having not played a new Rockstar game since San Andreas, this realization was lost on me - until I picked up Bully last week.
Also to be found in Bully is the usual Rockstar humor and its ever-present social commentary. As you explore the school and surrounding town, you'll encounter all sorts of things that are both funny, and sometimes subtly truthful. Prefects wander the halls of the school, complaining about not being able to beat enough people. The gym teacher has a sick obsession with seeing jocks mistreat the nerds. The preppies won't be friendly to you unless you're wearing expensive clothes. Girls impressed with Jimmy's antics exclaim how they can't wait to graduate, so they can spend all day kissing him… Okay, so maybe it's not always so realistic - but the fact is, after playing a game like Saint's Row, where NPC's childishly drop the "F-bomb" continuously in hopes of a cheap laugh, most of Rockstar's efforts into injecting humor and social context into their games seems almost high brow. Bully pulls off its humor and social context well - while playing it, you can't help but wonder how many members of Rockstar's staff might have actually been bullies in their childhood, for them to have gotten the whole experience down so well, and for them to be able to find so much humor in it.
The 360 version of Bully definitely has its flaws; throughout my quest to rule Bullworth Academy, the game froze my system completely 4-5 times. But as with all slightly flawed, but nevertheless awesome games, I kept reloading and jumping right back in. I highly recommend playing this game, if you haven't played it on the Playstation 2 already, and now that I am done with it, I will hopefully have a little more time for my own game making again.
Last Thursday, I was finally able to take off from work a few hours early and head over to San Francisco to check out GDC08!
My only prior exposure to GDC was the heavy media coverage through sites like IGN and Joystiq, and even though they usually deliver a pretty comprehensive record of the event, it's a completely different experience to actually be there. It was positively overwhelming, in all the right ways.
By now if you've followed GDC08 at all, you've probably already read about most of the crazy stuff there, like the headset that (theoretically) allows you to control games via thought power, the various presentations of motion capture software and hardware, and of course, all the game announcements. So I won't write too much about that stuff. What I do want to share is the acclaim two Game Maker games had achieved via the Independent Games Festival.
Walking around the expo floor, completely amazed at all the awesome technological wizardry around me, I eventually found myself standing in front of the huge Independent Games Festival display. Massive pillars towered before me, each containing a computer dedicated to a single game, with a huge title banner above and crowd of people below. I'd seen the IGF logo before, as it looked familiar to me, but it took me a few seconds of weaving my way through the crowd to remember where I'd heard about it, and why it was interesting to me. I stared at the pillar directly in front of me and read the title of the game it featured: Clean Asia. A quick look around the other pillars yielded another familiar name: Battleships Forever. I'd heard about both titles making it somewhat far in the latest IGF competition, but I still found it really refreshing to see two games that I knew had been constructed in Game Maker to be featured alongside other amazing games on the show floor.
It really is an exciting thing, on many levels. At the very base of the whole thing, it's great to see two independent game designers (from a community many of us are part of) see this sort of recognition. It's also great to see games made with Game Maker be taken seriously by the indie community, and the larger game development community in general. It just goes to show you how silly all the naysayers and hyper-critical people within the Game Maker circle really are.
Just being at the expo lent me a re-alignment of my compass within game development, but seeing these two games in the show was one of the highlights of the trip for me.
Overall, I had a great time walking around two of the expo floors at GDC08, taking in all the sights and sounds, and feeling even more connected to the global body of Game Developers. I only wish I would have had more time to look at everything!
Before I forget, I'd like to say thanks to Suzanne Forest from ECD Systems / Indie Game Showcase, who was able to offer many people in the area a free ticket to GDC08. I appreciate all the work ECD has done with the Indie Game Showcase, and I hope to have a new game to enter into a future contest sometime.
Thanks for reading, hope everyone had a good weekend!
Hey, I'm back from my blog hiatus! Miss me? I thought so.
As anyone who's followed my various exploits over the years might have guessed from my lack of posting, I've been a busy guy lately. This is partially due to my job, to my constant tinkering with Game Maker, to my spending time with my girlfriend, to a minor car accident, and to various other endeavors that will go unsaid. Don't worry though - all is well with Marty. I'm just a teeny, tiny bit tired right now, and barring some sort of spontaneous bout of sleep, I'll do my best to talk about some new stuff here before I sign off tonight.
First though, since pictures are worth a lot more words than I could (or would) ever type here, I've got an image for you:
Pretty neat eh? If all goes according to plan, I'll hopefully be able to take a little time off from work tomorrow and go check out the expo at GDC 2008. I'm pretty excited about it!
And if it turns out that I can't go, well... at least I got a chance to hit San Francisco for a while earlier in the week. And I've got some good (and legally burned) tunes, and a wireless headset for my 360 / PC gaming needs. Call of Duty 4's been a blast lately.
As far as serious projects with Game Maker go, I really haven't had much time lately to code. This is good though, because as some of you have spotted, I am actually working on a collaborative effort right now, with a fellow by the name of Mr. Chubigans. We're working on a sequel to his previous game, Sandbox of God; a sequel which is appropriated titled Sandbox of God 2. The full title is actually Sandbox of God 2: Ancient Warfare - we're hoping to enter the game into the latest YoYo Games competition, whose theme is "Ancient Civilizations." I'm working on the graphical end of things, and we've also recruited MischiephX / Ds (of Aces High Over Verlor Island fame) for music, so hopefully we'll be able to get something fun and impressive put together. Win, lose, or fail to finish, I am really enjoying this so far. It's actually quite a relief to be able to leave other important aspects of the game in someone else's hands, and just concentrate on the part I am most skilled at.
Normally at this time (9:44 PM PST), I don't feel all that tired, but tonight I feel especially exhausted. I've been putting a lot of hard work in at my job, trying to finish up a movie loop for a big expo coming up, and I've also had to create a lot of random things in a very compressed amount of time lately. I did get to see a Flash banner that I created up on ESPN.com though, so that was exciting. All in all it's very rewarding, but just the same, I am really pooped out, even with the short work week.
Another tidbit for those of you who have read my posts on my various blogs over the years - I have finally been "inspired" to get that painting job done for my buddy. It's a good thing that he's a patient guy, but I think that with my new inspiration, the trifecta of paintings that have taken me over a year to get done will be worth the wait. I'm probably going to try to get that rolling this weekend - I'll post some pics.
Well, anyway... Marty's hittin' the sack. Thanks for reading my blog, and hope to see you back here soon... I'll be posting more often again, so don't be a stranger!
My apologies for not making a larger post right now, but I have exciting news for anyone who's looking to enter into the world of 3D design on a budget... I recently found out, through an advertisement email I got at work, that TrueSpace 5 (my 3D design tool of choice) is on sale right now for only $40! For a program that normally retails around the $199 mark, that's a heck of a deal!
I know that if you really want to get a job in the industry, it's best to learn Maya or 3D Studio, but if you're not quite at that level yet, or you just want a tool that's easy to use and still powerful in output, consider checking out TrueSpace. It's a great way to introduce yourself to working and editing 3D scenes, and has some pretty nifty animation and physics features to boot. My one caveat with TrueSpace 5 is it's lack of a good UV editor, but if you don't mind using a separate tool for this (or you're planning on keeping your models within the program), then you're good to go.
Check out this link to Caligari's website for more information. Anyway, I'll have a bigger post about some of my secret favorite games soon, but I just wanted to help promote a product I've enjoyed over the years for now!
Every now and then something annoys me so much that I just have to say something about it. File this under that heading.
Let's say that one day, sometime in the future, a hostile alien race came to Earth and decided to destroy the entire planet. Except in the midst of all the explosions and such, they reconsidered, and now you are the only person - nay, the only thing - left from the original Earth. The alien race, not having taken the time to study Earth before destroying it, relies on you to tell them all about the earth so they can recreate it exactly as it was (or at least, exactly as you remember it). What would you tell them? What would you make better, or worse?
One thing that I wouldn't tell them about is "lolcats." I would take the opportunity to strike them from the history and from the collective consciousness of the world without a second's hesitation.
And now, I can practically hear the thoughts of people who would be greatly distressed by this... "OMG! I'm on ur blogs, rightin complaintz!" or "WTF! I can has hates for u!"
Hate all you want - I wouldn't tell the evil space aliens about lolcats. No sir. If I see another picture of a cat within close approximation of a computer (or game console), overlayed with unintelligible graffiti, it'll be too soon. Lolcats are stupid. The end.
2007 was a good year for games. Towards the end of the year especially, a lot of amazing titles came out, all which only supplemented an already strong year for the industry.
Of course, me being a normal guy in his 20's (read: of limited financial resources), I couldn't play every game out in 2007, nor every game for any particular console (since I don't own every system), but I think between my PC, Xbox 360, and Nintendo DS, I've covered a fairly large portion of 2007's games. So out of all the games I played this last year for these systems, here are a few that I felt stood out among the rest, in no particular order.
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (PC)
Back in the glory days of strategic Command & Conquer gaming, it seemed Westwood could do no wrong. Every iteration of their flagship RTS franchise seemed to push the genre further and extend the limits of how much fun one can have whilst commanding tiny men around a battlefield. Each addition to the collection of C&C titles, like Red Alert, offered a larger array of units, missions, and strategies. These games were good fun, and if you have a PC with an older version of Windows on it, I highly recommend grabbing these games from your local game store's bargain bin (with the possible exception of the rather stanky Command & Conquer: Tiberium Sun)
As seems to be par the course these days, EA came along and bought out Westwood Studios. Their first project with the old team was Command & Conquer: Generals, a game that turned out to be more fun than was expected, but didn't really feel like C&C. Many were afraid that this would hail the end of the franchise, or at least, the end of the franchise being any good.
In 2007 however, EA stepped back up to the plate with a continuation of the original series - Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. This game, built on a modified version of the Generals engine, was a vast improvement over Generals, and in my opinion, really did a great job of earning back the Command & Conquer title. With three completely different races to play as, a great campaign, and solid online play, C&C3 earned a permanent spot on my hard drive for 2007, and probably well into 2008. If you're a fan of RTS games, you should definitely try C&C3.
Orange Box (PC)
The Orange Box was one of those things that you know is going to be good, but which you don't want to get too excited about because you don't want to be let down. I'll admit it - I was a bit skeptical about Half-Life 2 going episodic. The last thing I wanted was for a great game like Half-Life 2 to be broken down into bite-sized chunks that costed too much and offered too little. HL2: Episode 1 proved my fears wrong however, and Orange Box, which includes Episode 2, serves only to re-affirm how misplaced my skepticism was in the first place.
With Orange Box, you get three very awesome games for the price of one (four if you order via Steam). The set includes Half-Life 2, HL2: Episodes 1 & 2, HL2: Lost Coast (a neat tech demo HL2 level), Portal, and Team Fortress 2. This package also includes a special version of Peggle if you opt to buy via Steam. I could go on and on about how much fun my buddies and I have been having playing Team Fortress 2 online, or how immersive the Half-Life 2 experience is. About how Portal is one of the most unique puzzle experiences I've ever had. I could even rave a little about how great Peggle is as well. I won't gush any more, however - you should just go buy it and see how great it is for yourself. The Orange Box is the best value you could get for your gaming dollar in 2007, and FPS fan or not, you'll find something you like here. $50 is hard to beat for three games... even on DS!
Mass Effect (Xbox 360)
Initially, I wasn't sure that I'd like Mass Effect. I own Knights of the Old Republic, but never got too far through it. I wanted to, because I liked the story and the Star Wars setting, but something about the game was just too slow for me. When Bioware announced they were working on Mass Effect, I was excited to give them another try, and things looked better with each press release they gave. With some amazing screenshots, and videos of the in-depth conversations that take place in the game, Mass Effect looked to be a much more lively game than the KOTOR series for me, and upon trying it out, I was extremely impressed.
I was recently talking with Lethalanvas, co-creator of Wanderlust, and we both came to an agreement about Mass Effect - the game is really a true RPG, unlike the weirdness that games like World of Warcraft spin into the genre. Mass Effect isn't all about crunching thousands of numbers or sorting through hundreds of different sets of armor. No, in Mass Effect, you make decisions that actually have consequences... you literally carve out a place in the game world for your character. You can be a noble good-doer (Paragon), a dastardly scoundrel (Renegade), or anything in between - and the game will react in a smart and appropriate way. It's hard to describe just how Mass Effect captures this essence of actual role playing so well, but I think it lies in the many moral decisions the game forces you to make as you play. Some carry more weight than others, but almost everything you do has a lasting effect on the rest of the game; the same permanence that your decisions in real life carry. In any case, if you're a fan of RPG's, and you have the time and patience to play a 40 hour game in its entirety, Mass Effect comes highly recommended from Marty.
The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo DS)
Many fans of the Zelda series decried Nintendo's latest revision of the classic tale as blasphemous, usually citing the touchpad-only controls as too mainstream / casual. As with other Nintendo titles gone "all touch," I reserved my judgement for when I actually got to try the game. In the past, I haven't been let down by this new type of control, and with Phantom Hourglass, this is no different. Sure, it's a bit wonky when you first try it out, but rest assured, once you get used to the controls, therein lies one of the best gaming experiences to be had on the DS thus far.
Call me silly, but there's just something about Phantom Hourglass that puts a smile on my face while I play it. I always get a certain satisfaction from charting my own course with the stylus and then watching Link's boat follow it around the map. When I make link do too many rolls or sword spins and he gets dizzy, I can't help but smile at the goofy sound effect and animation. And who doesn't get a kick out of drawing a patch for your trusty boomerang, and then watching it fly around exactly as you wanted? Phantom Hourglass is packed with all the little extra touches that people expect from a Nintendo game, aside from the standard epic story and amazing graphics (for DS, of course).
Though I haven't yet had the time to finish this game, my only complaint so far is that the Dark World theme from the SNES game, featured in almost all of the trailers for Phantom Hourglass, doesn't seem to be in the game. I could be wrong though, since I haven't finished it, but if I were a gambling man, I'd put my money against it at this point. It's a shame really, because I thought the remix of the tune for the previews was a real treat, and Nintendo has a huge library of music for the Zelda series, so why not toss a bone to all of us long-time fans now and then?
Regardless of this single caveat, Phantom Hourglass is a must-have title for DS, so if you haven't played it yet, go pick it up.
Other 2007 games I enjoyed, but didn't want to write about, include:
Assassin's Creed (360)
Call of Duty 4 (360)
Crackdown (360)
Gears of War (PC)
Halo 3 (360)
Games I enjoyed in 2007, but which were not released in 2007:
Civilization 4 (PC)
Clubhouse Games (DS)
Counter-Strike: Source (PC)
Gears of War (360)
Gun (360) (aside from the torturous end boss fight)
Saint's Row (360)
Sim City 4 (PC)
Tetris DS (DS)
Yoshi's Island 2 (DS)
And finally, how about a short list of games that I wanted to try out, but never had time to (full versions, anyway):
Eternal Sonata (360)
Unreal Tournament 3 (PC) (despite my rage for its mediocrity)
Thanks for reading, and be sure to let me know what 2007 games you felt were great with a comment below!
I guess it's a bit late to announce this here, 5 days after I actually submitted the game to YoYoGames for judging, but what the heck - I feel much more energized after a nice relaxing holiday at my parent's house, and I figure it's time to push the game a little bit. So without further ado, my YYG Winter Competition is finally finished!
I present to you the winter-themed SHMUP, Sun Sun Der! Here's a quick link to play at YoYoGames.com, more information below!
The spirits that govern the balance of hot and cold on the earth are in turmoil - on the Winter Solstice 2007, the sun's summer spirits refuse to leave. The goddess spirit of the winter, Friga, is sent to battle the summer and bring about the cold of winter once again!
Play the game here, directly at YoYo Games. If you like the game, I would appreciate it if you'd rate it accordingly... seems the YYG bury brigade has already hit many of the competition entries particularly hard.
Controls are as follows
Z - Shoot
X - Attract power-ups
C - Special attack (when meter is charged)
P - Pause the game
F1 - Restart the game
F4 - Toggle windowed / full screen display modes
Esc - Exit the game
Anyway, enjoy the game, and thanks to everyone who plays and / or votes. I appreciate all the support I get from the community!
Well, I had planned on doing a pretty extensive write-up about my thoughts on the integrity of some of the game media websites as of late, but for now I'm going to put this off. I am working very exclusively on my entry for the YoYo Games Winter Competition, trying to get everything finished for the December 23 deadline. It's been quite hectic, and I'll be glad when I can finally use my spare time to relax again!
That said, the game is coming along well. It's not quite as big as I had hoped it might be in the beginning, but procrastination and other obligations have kept me from making it something huge for the sake of the competition. Depending on how well the game is received, I might just give it the Reflect treatment after all the dust has settled. And despite the frantic development schedule, it's definitely been fun so far - I will be glad to have participated in the first YYG contest, regardless of the outcome (providing I finish, of course). At the very least, it's been fun carving out a game in a genre I haven't yet explored very much.
I'm finally ready to spill the beans on what exactly the game is though, so here goes! The name of the game is Sun Sun Der, and though it's a pretty standard kind of "shmup," I've been using the game Imperishable Night (a "bullet hell" style game) and some friendly advice from Cactus to mold the idea into something (hopefully) more memorable.
Not to overdo anything, I've kept the story for the game relatively simple, to reflect the relatively simple gameplay. This is all subject to change, but basically, you play as Friga, the spirit / guardian of winter. Every winter solstice, the spirits of the sun / summer must leave the earth to make way for the winter spirits to take over. Predictably, this year those spirits have refused to leave, so Friga must fight them and force the winter season to begin. Sure, it sounds a little silly... but I think setting up a serious and involved story for a game where a flying woman with blue hair kills hordes of fireflies would be infinitely worse.
So there you have it. Maybe not a particularly ground-breaking experience, but hopefully a visually pleasant, fun, and somewhat challenging game will await! Enjoy the screenshots above, comment, and thanks for reading!
