I picked up a copy of Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles the other day and as I shot and blasted my way through endless hordes of zombies and monsters I realized something. Since when did video games become so violent? Now don’t get me wrong, I love seeing the blood of an enemy splatter on the camera from a mortal sniper shot to the head just as much as the next guy. But when did actions like these become a norm in the video game industry. Could it be because graphics have improved so much over the last 20 years, or is it just a reflection of the increasing violence in today’s society? More importantly though is whether or not video game developers are relying to heavily on violence to carry their games and not enough on the basics of fun.

I remember a time when video games, plain and simple, were just about fun. Clever level design and an appealing hero and cast of villains were all that were needed to make an entertaining and fun game. Just look back to the NES, Super NES and SEGA eras and their onslaught of fun and challenging games. Games like Super Mario Bros., Castlevania, The Legend of Zelda, Sonic the Hedgehog and many others were all created with these essential elements in place. They all featured appealing and relatable heroes in Mario, Link, Belmont and Sonic, along with unique villains and great level development. The storylines were original and unique and although they lacked depth, they made up for it in seamless game play. All of these games and others consisted of killing enemies, yet when each enemy was defeated they wouldn’t gush or spew forth blood; rather they would simply vanish, usually into smoke or flames. Again I’m not advocating a ban on violence in video games. I actually like the added sense of realism in the games that I play and I don’t think that playing violent video games leads to added aggressiveness. Rather, I am simply saying that video games today rely to heavily on violence, obscenities, and bloodshed and lack the plot depth, character development and design like their predecessors.

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past – Heroic protagonist and excellent storyline

Sonic 2 – Great level design and overall fun factor

Games like Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt, which do present a shallow fun factor, are perfect examples of games that rely to heavily on gore. I like the fact that you can do anything and go anywhere in the Grand Theft Auto games, yet this is only appealing for a short period of time and as a result it lacks replay value and depth. Stealing an innocent bystanders car and then running them over with their own ride can only be thoroughly enjoyed so many times until it just gets stale. I do like violence in the games I play, as long as it is incorporated efficiently and effectively. Take for example God of War and Resident Evil 4. These two games battled it out for game of the year in 2005. Why? Because they were both solid games that featured awesome heroes, villains, plots and level designs topped off with an effective use of violence. God of War was an original masterpiece with flawless control and overwhelming enemies, and Resident Evil 4 managed to take the series into an innovated direction with pinpoint shooting accuracy and a spectacular storyline.

Grand Theft Auto 3 – Killing and stealing is fun….for awhile.

Resident Evil 4 – Mixing great game play and plot with violence equals one deadly combination

This increase of violence in video games also leads me to my next point. Many people that play video games today label games that don’t feature added violence (blood and obscenities) as “kiddy.” I used to hear that word tossed around like crazy by my friends when I would talk about my Gamecube games. They used to come over and enjoy playing games like Super Mario Sunshine and Super Smash Bros. Melee, but they would always say that it was too kiddy. I would ask them why these games were kiddy, and they would usually respond by saying the games looked too cartoony or not real life-like. I used to get so mad because kiddy should be a word used to describe the difficulty of a game not simply the visuals and graphics, and anyone who has played Sunshine or Melee knows that those games are no piece of cake. My friends and I used to have long arguments about which games were best and what systems were superb. I used to tell them that they only liked certain games because they included ridiculous and over-the-top violence. At the end of the day it isn’t the violence that makes a solid video game. Just because it looks real doesn’t mean that it’s a good game. In order to have a solid video game that is noteworthy one must repeat the formulas of the past. Clever level design, an appealing hero and villain cast and the underlying fun factor are all necessary ingredients to make a good game. Once you have all those elements in the mix then you can add some violence to top it all off.

-Dillon (D-dub)

WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!

That’s right Nintendo Wii fans; Mario is back and better than ever!

The local Game Stop opened at 10am yesterday, and I was in the store by 10:30 to pick up my very own copy of Super Mario Galaxy. The long awaited debut of Mario for the Nintendo Wii has finally arrived, and believe me when I say that this game is out of this world…literally.

Super Mario Galaxy is a spectacle for the eye from start to finish, and when you’re done it will leave you begging for more. From the minute you pick up the Wii Remote and Nunchuck you are seamlessly entrenched in a game unlike any other Mario, let alone any other game, you’ve ever played. However, despite all its new additions and innovations Super Mario Galaxy has a ton of historic Mario driven themes in place to make those of us hardcore gamers feel right at home. From the music to the enemies (yes Goombas, Kooopas and the like are all back), Super Mario Galaxy is like a freshly cooked homemade meal. It will have new gamers asking for seconds and hardcore gamers completely satisfied.

The biggest thing aside from the innovative use of physics in the game is that despite the lack of graphic prowess of the Wii the game looks amazing. Now I know that the Wii doesn’t support 1080p and high definition, but the 420p capability of the Wii hardware is pushed to the max. Hands down this is the greatest looking game on Nintendo’s home console by far. From the opening cinematic and throughout the course of the game I was constantly blown away by its crisp textures and vibrant colors. Mario jumps, shoots and soars from planet to planet and galaxy to galaxy leaving you taken back by the pure beauty of it all. The outstanding variety of the different worlds and levels in the game are enough to please a fan, but because this variety looks so sharp it doesn’t just please, it surprises. Take my word for it when I say that this game could rival some XBOX 360 titles in terms of sheer graphical outlook. It looks that good!

Yeah it really looks that pretty. Look at the texture of that volcano and the lighting effects on the lava. Impressed yet?

Aside from the visuals, Super Mario Galaxy boasts completely innovative game play just as its predecessors, Super Mario Bros. and Mario 64, had done before. Super Mario Bros., the originator, was released in America in 1985, and it transformed the way people played games. Before the debut of the NES, arcades were the best form of a videogame outlet for the masses. Atari came out with a home console, yet it was so barbaric that when Super Mario Bros. hit the market people were blown away by its graphics, its extremely tight control and its addictive game play. Then over a decade later, Mario 64, viewed as one of the greatest (if not the best) videogame(s) of all time brought the Mario franchise to the third dimension. For the very first time people finally had total freedom over the control of Mario and his environments. And now after another decade and a critically split GameCube installment, Super Mario Sunshine (some loved it, others hated it), Mario returns to glory on the Wii in Super Mario Galaxy, arguably his best game yet.

Super Mario Bros. – The game that started it all.

Super Mario 64 – Crafted tight control and originated seamless 3-D character roaming and environments.

Super Mario Galaxy – Brining game play into a whole new league with amazing physics and well done motion control.

Super Mario Galaxy’s innovation lies in its spectacular use of physics and gravity. The game takes place primarily in space after Bowser rips Princess Peach’s castle from the ground and carries it off into another galaxy. Of course Mario gives chase, and on his journey he encounters the various ends of the universe. The idea is so fresh and exciting that you’ll keep coming back for more the very first time you walk around on the bottom of a planet or jump as high as you can only to be sucked back to the surface by the planet’s gravitational field. The controls are tight and responsive, and they aren’t over used by forced motion control from the Wii Remote. There’s no motion control gimmick here. In fact, you hardly use the motion of the Wii Remote with the exception of Mario’s spin attack (a replacement of the punch) and some very well done racing and balancing situations. For example, Mario must stand atop a giant ball and steer it through a hole-ridden course from start to finish by using the Wii Remote’s motion control as a make-shift steering wheel.

However, despite all of Super Mario Galaxy’s triumphs, I do have a few miniscule areas of improvement. The game runs very smooth with little to no frame rate drops, yet sometimes the camera, which overall does a fabulous job of following Mario around the backsides and underbellies of planets and objects, gets stuck in a bad spot where you can’t use the free camera to change Mario’s view, or it changes view too quickly often resulting in death during an intense jump sequence. The developers this time around really tried to incorporate an actual story line into the game, and it works, but it is no Legend of Zelda tale. These are extremely minute details that should easily be overlooked because the good of this game outweighs the bad by far.

Overall, I can’t limit this games greatness to just mere words. Rather, you must take my advice, and pick this game up for yourself. Buy it, rent it, or steal it from a friend – I don’t care what it takes. If you have a Wii (or even if you don’t) you won’t want to miss this game. It is epic, and it is Mario, but most of all it just plain FUN, and that’s what Mario games have always been about.

-Dillon (a.k.a. D-Dub)