Between 2 Ferns: Will Ferrell

I don't know why, but these always get my goat; this one begs the question: why haven't we seen an Anchorman 2 that includes John C. Reilly and Zach Galifianakis?

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Will Ferrell from Will Ferrell

Modern Warfare 3 Trailer Revealed!

This trailer came with a mountain of hype, which is odd because the game doesn't come out until November 4th; I guess they are going to try and break a sales record or something?

We all play Black Ops when we get a chance, so it looks like their decision to break the studios up will pay off. Not only do we get a game that has had 2 year development cycle, but we get it so close to the anniversary that Black Ops was released; that's just good business sense folks!

Here's hoping that Infinity Ward is up to the challenge of surpassing MW2.

YTMND Weekly #14: Gator Conan

• After Conan O'brien allowed Will Farrell to shave off his beard - he seemed to resemble a certain swamp lizard: Conan Is....
• Oh well, can I go back to my last save? R.I.P
• This should be the PSA for Alchaholics Anonymous: Just Add Alchahol
• Pretty good response to the Rapture failure this past weekend: Comic Book Guy mocks Harlod Camping 
• I knew a Dan W. once. It wouldn't be surprised if this is the same guy: Meet Dan 

Bad 80's - Invisible Touch

I am an unabashed Phil Collins fan. Did you know English Dwarfs could sing like angels accompanied by key-tar?

At one point in the 80's, there was one English Dwarf who ruled the world, and white people from miles around would gather and lose their shit to his siren's call.

But seriously, this guy was a magician. One of his first solo forays away from Genesis led to the greatest music video of all time: SOMETHING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO HEAVEN .

There was never a video that combined the hapless existence of a dog more ; it was once rumored that Phil Collins' voice had the power to seduce even a feral canine. This video cemented Phil as the "Dr. Doolittle of Power Ballads" :

In similar news, Phil Collins was just cast in The Hobbit  as the mayor of Hobbiton. Sorry, that's not true - but wouldn't it be cool if he was?

Taming a Direwolf!

Augustus "Gus" Miller-Hamilton Shcnauzer is my fiercest friend. I reward him with what I call the "sleeping claw."

 

I was a little annoyed with HBO's Game of Thrones this week, as it was the first huge break with cannon. There were some revelations given and plots revealed in the T.V. show that I haven't even encountered in the novels yet, and I am 1300 pages into the series. I just wasn't prepared for the astronomical leap the story took, but I understand the small-screen can't always have the subtlety that books can convey.  

Knowing what I know about how the story is supposed to play out, I am hoping that they can at least do the big twists and turns some justice. My personal favorite stories so far in the books are the ones about Jon Snow and his direwolf "Ghost," as well as political maneuverings of the "Imp." 

Gray Reviews Bulletstorm!

(***NOTE: This post was originally written on my other blog at the SA Current website on February 25th, 2011. It is under the name “People’s Gamer”. I am reposting here for my personal blog to maintain all of my work for personal use. In any case, hope you like it.)

At 11:45 pm Monday Night, at a nearby GameStop at 410 and San Pedro, I was struck with a personal dilemma. I had reserved Killzone 3 and Bulletstorm with the intention of playing both games, but I was surprised when I failed to notice that both were debuting at the same time. With only enough cash to purchase one, I kept wavering between the two. On the one hand, I knew Killzone 3 do be a dedicated FPS game with stunning graphics, impressive AI difficulty and an already-storied plot. On the other, the impressive marketing campaign done by People Can Fly studios certainly caught my intrigue and played up a fascinating new FPS game cornered on coming up with creative ways to dismember your opponents. With time growing short, I knew I had to make a decision. Ultimately, after doing some high level calculus and biochemistry to scientifically weigh each game against one another, one detail emerged from Bulletstorm that sealed the deal—the name of the protagonist is Grayson.

Hold on a second…You guys are using my name? In a video game?!

Call me self-centered, but considering the plethora of games that use common names (or worse, let you choose whatever name you prefer), seeing your own name as the main character isn’t a common experience for me. I agree it was a bit of a risk to purchase a game based on such an insignificant detail, but this time it payed off rather well. As a whole, Bulletstorm turned out to be a creative, albeit shallow action shooter with a special zest of charm that makes the whole experience far more entertaining, yet never completely satisfying.
The game introduces us to Grayson Hunt years after he and his deadly colleagues went AWOL after finding out their commander, General Sarrano, had been contracting them to kill innocent people. After looking for answers at the bottom of countless bottles, a drunken Hunt decides to take on Sarrano himself by careening his ship into him. Ill-planned and even worse executed, Grayson and Sarrano crash land on nearby planet Stygia with only one chance of escape. Accompanied by a newly “modified” shipmate Ishi, the two crewmates set off across the gorgeous landscape to pursue Sarrano and escape the planet.

If all of Bulletstorm could be described in a single word, it would undoubtedly be ridiculous. From plot, to dialogue, to combat and to environment, the developers at People Can Fly set off to crank every facet of their shooter to eleven. While some of the concepts benefit from this amped level of pinash, several other features fail to shine and actually suffer from such graphic entertainment. Grayson’s (that never gets easier to write) constant barrage of cliché kill phrases and attempts of cruel humor are smirk-worthy at first, but quickly overstay their welcome and just become annoying. I understand Hunt’s perspective is loose and uncaring when it comes to near-death situations, but I do not need to be reminded every 5 minutes.

The graphics, however, take center stage in this title, as the clashing environments on Stygia are breathtaking and quite florid in design. Lush, tropical jungles and cliff sides clash well with machinery and urban sprawl to create a varied adventure between the two. Grayson and Ishi get to see both nature and mechanical in various stages throughout the game, and one can easily see the high level of scrutiny put into each chapter by the designers. Moreover, the combat mechanics also turn out to be a fresh, though slightly sadistic, look in an otherwise bland array of FPS games. With each new weapon Grayson acquires, there is a list of “skillshots” that the player can attempt to pull off for more experience points. These points are then turned in for ammo and various upgrades. The skillshots vary wildly in terms of difficulty and creativity, with some occurring dozens of times and others you’ll be lucky to trigger even on accident. It is a simple, yet shrewd mechanic that behooves the player to try out every weapon for a decent amount of time, instead of making quick judgment calls on otherwise bland weapons. I quickly identified which weapons would become favorites (as they are blatantly overpowered), but the joy of discovering the dozens of different skillshots kept me switching weapons at each checkpoint.

Unfortunately, the last third or so of the campaign suffers in terms of pace and relative enjoyment. Having acquired all of the weapons and accomplished most of the skillshots, I started to feel the drag and lost the entertainment of shredding bad guys in different ways. By the end, I was playing the game to simply beat it instead of enjoying it. Even more frustrating is the game’s ending, which stands out as one of the most blatant and infuriating attempts to set up a sequel I have seen in quite a while. Although the game provides a wildly unique FPS experience, I highly doubt most people would want to see a second game be developed, other than People Can Fly of course.

When it’s all said and done, Bulletstorm is definitely worthy of playing all the way through. The enjoyment of performing all the many different skillshots does provide enough entertainment value to get you through the story, and some of the game’s action set pieces are equally entertaining. The excessive profanity loses its flair very quickly, and sometimes is just down right annoying, but it is not a deal-breaker by any sense. I am sure most gamers would agree that Killzone 3 probably wins the overall battle in the FPS wars for now, but I am happy I chose Bulletstorm instead, as it is much harder—and more rewarding—to experience something fresh and new in the midst of established franchises and storied science-fiction plots.

See you in the Next level,

Gray

Gray Reviews Vindictus

(***NOTE: This post was originally written on my other blog on the SA Current website on April 10th, 2011. It is under the name “The People’s Gamer”. I am reposting here on my own blog to maintain all of my personal work. In any case, hope you like it.)

Most gamers will agree that the phrase “free to play” is intentionally misleading. Sure, you can download the game, set up a character and have it running without paying a penny, but within a few hours you’ll start to see what else you didn’t pay for—non-existent story, unbalanced combat mechanics, and incredibly buggy gameplay. Fortunately, Vindictus is a rare gem in the free-to-play world that refines the fundamental aspects of online games into simple, repetitive questing that is equally addictive and entertaining, if only to keep you distracted until the next big game is released.

Vindictus comes from the Korean-based game publisher Nexon, which also hosts several other web games for various interests. It traveled to theU.S.market when it garnered several accolades when it was presented at E3 and PAX conferences. As mentioned before, it is completely free to download and play, but for those who wish to splurge on their avatar there is an in-game store that uses their Nexon credit system to buy special items. These can be anything from weapons and equipment to extra storage space or tattoos and new hairstyles for your character.

The majority of the game revolves entirely around a small city hub called Colhen, in which players are given “stories” to complete by traveling to a dungeon and slaying the final boss. These dungeons never last more than 15 minutes, and the difficulty is accurately paced to be simple for those starting out and expertly challenging by the time you reach the level 70 cap (as of this writing, although new content is added to the game every month or so).

For anyone who has ever played an MMO before, the classes are almost exactly as any you’ve played before: A magic user, a damage dealer, and a tank to stand at the front lines and take most of the damage. Unfortunately, these roles never become necessary until the higher level dungeons and most of the game centers on four players spam-clicking the enemy to death. Enemy AI is basic enough to be extremely predictive, but still doesn’t enter the territory of idiocy. Enemies will focus on those dealing the damage, but anyone caught trying to heal themselves or others will not be left alone for long. Recent patches have introduced additional features such as a very basic PvP system for one-on-one duels, an expertise system that is essentially a carbon copy of the profession system from World of Warcraft, and transformations for higher level characters paired with a very simple talent tree for a very small degree of character customization.

Many can argue that the aspect of “grinding” in MMOs is counter productive to having fun with other players, but I have always found myself in disagreement just a tad. The ‘lather, rinse, repeat’ cycle exists in nearly every MMO to date because it is a mechanic that not only works, but it hooks you. Achievement-based gamers have long been catered to by MMOs as they offer a process of repeating the same actions in order to achieve the next level; World of Warcaft is guilty of this, as is Vindictus, yet the biggest difference is that Vindictus doesn’t burn 15 bucks a month… at least, not if you want it to.

While Vindictus certainly doesn’t offer any kind of real depth or central story such that full-fledged or subscription-based MMOs have, it is nevertheless entertaining and a solid game that exhibits style and polish better than many other MMOs out there. After 3 months of play, I still throw in an hour or two a day because my achievement-inner-child is still alive and kicking, and that’s more than enough reason for me.

See you in the next level,

Gray

Conan the Barbarian Trailer!

I was less than thrilled with the initial "teaser" that was released a few months back with the Super Bowl that effectively showed nothing at all of what we might expect from the remake of Conan the Barbarian ; considering that a CG-laden movie like Transformers 3 could have real footage in its teaser while having had a shorter development cycle than Conan , things didn't bode well for our favorite barbarian.

What do I make of this actual "trailer?"  At a glance, I am definitely pleased with the realization of the Hyborian world and the embracing of its supernatural elements. In terms of the script, Jason Momoa's (who can currently be seen playing "Khal Draego" in HBO's Game of Thrones ) take on the title character already has more lines of dialogue in one trailer than Arnold had in an entire movie; I don't think I have to go out on a limb to say this new interpretation of the character of Conan will be a little bit more fleshed out as a result.

Stephen Lang, now super famous for his villainous Colonel Quatrich in Avatar , also plays the baddie in the forthcoming Conan . His "Khalar Zym" seems to be right there in the spirit of James Earl Jones' "Thulsa Doom," which has me wondering how original this film's plot may be; I understand there are younger generations that have never been exposed to the original film, but am hoping we end up with a wholly new and fresh take on the character in ever sense of the word - not just a note-for-note "re-imagining" of the first film. This new movie would do itself a big disservice by trying to copy the original; simply, the gritty and raw nature of that first Conan  can never be replaced, so why even try? Do they want to hear the lamentation of the nerds?

Legend of Zelda: Skwyward Sword Trailer and Easter Egg!

This is a little belated, but of note because of the very cool Easter-egg that some intrepid fan found by playing the trailer backwards. Any fan of the series will pick it up the now ubiquitous theme (which first appeared on the SNES' Link to the Past). What it means for the game has yet to be seen (or heard), but early reports indicate that this game will be chronologically one of the first, if not THE  first Zelda game in the canon, and may provide an origin story for the legendary Master Sword.

We'll talk more about this game after it's E3 showing this year; I probably don't need to mention how excited I am to shake off the mountain of dust on my Wii (not a metaphor), and play a new Zelda. Though the game requires the Wii Motion Plus, literally controlling the master sword in a Zelda game has to be a dream of every gamer and worth the price.

REVERSED

PlayStation Network Up By May 31st - Nerds Weep!

Now the universal symbol for "implosion"

As I have talked about previously, the sundering of the PlayStation Network by hackers seemed to be debacle that would take only weeks to solve. Any official  information detailing the time frame for the online restoration that has come down the pipline on the company's blog  has been frustratingly brief and cryptic; each day of silence has only angered loyal customers more.

In an effort to throw the masses a bone, Sony talked about May 4th as the targeted day for restoration. Clearly, that day has come and gone with nary and explanation - until today.

Shigenori Yoshida, a spokesperson for Sony in Japan, told Bloomberg today that the company plans to have the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services fully restarted by May 31st.

May frickin' 31st?!?

When tested in the "B.S." meter, this too could be a loose timeframe, though the company indicates that it actually is "very  conservative." They maintain that May 31st is the date at which all phases of the network, which includes the online gaming, Qriocity, and the Playstation Store services, will be fully up and running. Sony assures that the gaming component of the network will be the first to be phased back in.

Honestly, it's almost impossible to pin down Sony at this point. Their mantra during this fiasco has been to basically go Helen Keller with their Public Relations. In any case, the PlayStation's future just might be filled with Sony executives that turn a deaf ear to their customers until they find themselves wandering blind and dumb amongst the wreckage of their brand.

That's not "water" Helen, that's failure.

Helen, pictured with her dog,
"Durrrglihimmmm"

Thor Review

Of all the Marvel characters that needed an introduction to the existing movie canon before the assembling of the legendary Avengers, Thor is by far the easiest to get wrong. I mean, his shoehorning into the comic world was already a stretch, as one has to do a mental leap to accept the conceit that Thor is in an alien from a different plane of existence, and all of the metaphysical flim-flam that goes along with that.

Get your inhalers ready kids, there is some 'splainen to do.

What flim-flam you say? Well imagine that the expanding universe is actually a cosmic tree, with new branches shooting off every billions of light years to form different planes, or "realms" of existence. Thor exists in one of the oldest planes, Asgard, in a time and space far removed from the small and newer plane of existence that Earth resides in. Thor's people, the beings that exist in the Utopian-like Asgard, are so technologically and physically advanced that they can actually cross over into other realms and space using a big worm hole gun that can connect these beings to anything in the universe.

This ability to cross over into other realms beget a whole Norse mythology at one point; some Vikings around 900AD had the misfortune of being caught on an interstellar battleground between the Asgardian  and the Frost Giants,  a different race of beings from another realms called Ylaksaiujsejeim  (or some shit like that), as the Norse homeland was used like a frozen paintball course between these two races. You see, Christianity had it wrong all this time. It was actually Vikings that had the right answer - well, except for all the raping and pillaging. OoooooDin! *uses inhaler*

So scientifically: who are what are gods but beings with technology beyond our mortal comprehension? See Mom and Dad, those philosophy classes at that private institution DID pay off.

I AM the Philosoraptor

OK, so given everything I have told you - try to imagine how insane a movie like that would be, and how difficult it would be to execute. Well, Marvel Studios tried - and knocked it out of the park.

I'm still blown away myself. All of the early snippets from this film hinted at the non-stop goofiness of Thor becoming a mortal after falling to Earth, some of it being eye-rollingly bad. I can now say that those same deflating scenes, taken in context, have the complete opposite effect.

Perhaps only a Shakespearean actor  of Kenneth Branagh's renown could have pulled something like Thor  off as a director. The bulk of the film plays out in Asgard, where beings act like they are in a cheesy Shakespearean time warp themselves, with all the pomp of a Royal Theater production of Macbeth (though I'll take Anthony Hopkins as Odin any day). Hell even some of the character arcs are deliberate and predictable, as its nothing someone didn't have to sit through in high school English studying Greek tragedies about how emotionally crippled some of the gods on Olympus were. There is enough campyness at the beginning ( I am looking at you, young Thor) that it's almost impossible not to roll your eyes at these "people."

Oedipus is the one where he stabs his eye out after watching his own colonoscopy, right?

Once Thor falls to Earth, though, that's where Kenneth Branagh's brilliance really kicks in. As someone who had spent a bulk of their life imitating Shakespearean characters, it probably wasn't hard for him to imagine how ridiculous it would be for any of those characters to exist in our modern world, much less a Princely God of Thunder. The people of "Earthrealm" are played completely straight. Natalie Portman (listen I am not complaining, but is she in every  movie?) and her "team" of scientists, as well as the SHIELD team that was shoehorned in for Avengers purposes, act like any other sensible people would when confronted with a Shakespearean-spewing, Viking-looking dude : like he is insane.

I didn't think it was possible, but I enjoyed the "fish out of water" Earth-realm story way more than I thought I would, with most of the kudos going to the casting of Chris Hemsworth as Thor; Hemsworth is pretty damn note perfect, and the range he gives Thor really has me anticipating his future interactions with other superheroes.  The humor of Thor's exile to Earth and his growth as a mortal is really what grounds this movie in the same physical and emotional "reality" as other Avengers, which had to be this film's ultimate goal for the sake of both the Thor  franchise, and the Avengers .

Yet, the scientific and metaphysical ideas presented in this film also serves to expand the scope of the Marvel film universe to the point at which we can accept the forthcoming Avengers  vs. alien invasion story.  Once again, credit has to go to Branagh for effectively and seamlessly laying so much interstellar groundwork, not just for Thor, but for the Marvel film universe as whole.

Thor is by no means perfect. There is so much going on, so many different tracks running through this film, that some aspects suffer. The love story between Natalie Portman's "Jane" and Thor feels about as rushed as Padme and Anakin Skywalker, but at least with 1000% more chemistry. Thor is on Earth for what amounts to an extended weekend, but I guess those rock hard abs could seal the deal with Natalie Portman in that amount of time.

Fact: Natalie Portman is no bigger than Thor's left bicep

Also, the action was a little up and down and times. I didn't see it in 3D, but some scenes in Asgard and in other realms that aren't Earth came off as super cartoonish, Clash of the Titans-like in its diminishing quality; the film was not natively shot in 3D, so I would not shell out the extra money to see it - it won't change anything but your pocket book. Also, the characters and performances more than make up for a weak and predictable story.

All in all, these are pretty minor quibbles. I had absolutely no expectations going in, so I was pleasantly surprised at all Thor  managed to accomplish in its two hours. The fact that Marvel studios pulled off Thor  is minor miracle; I am now 100% confident that the forthcoming Joss Whedon directed Avengers movie could be the superhero opus - the biggest film of all time.

****

 

Transformers 3 Trailer!

I don't know what it is, but the trailers for Michael Bay's Transformers franchise always seem to pull the wool over my eyes until I physically get into the theater. That being said, this is another solid offering that, if correlated with early story reports on the film, could indicate that robot escalation we have all been waiting for.

It seems that Bay may finally have gotten through his pretty thick skull that fans do not want robot dick jokes, nonsensical globetrotting, and Shia LeBeouf going to robot heaven. All we want is continuous robot fighting. I appreciate his attention to "Bayhem" (mayhem lols) and the way he has always works in our armed forces (the flight-suits out of the helicopter is sick), but in terms of presenting a product that reflected well on all fronts, he just couldn't get past his own ego that all we needed was explosions, a hot girl, more explosions, and racists robots. As for the hot girl Bay replaced Megan Fox with: definite fish-face downgrade, bro.

But here we go again, Transformers 3: Battle Chicago . I know it's Dark of the Moon or some shit like that, but from early indications, that's exactly what this film is: an alien transformer invasion descending upon Chi-town, and the good guys fight it off.

See that wasn't so hard Michael Bay. I accept you into robot heaven if the promise of the film holds true.

Mortal Kombat Review

It is probably fitting I release this two days after the American ninjas of Seal Team Six delivered a pretty epic fatality to Osama Bin Laden; considering the way that videogames such as the Call of Duty  have risen to become the fastest selling  franchises,  I would not be surprised if Seal Team 6 is in fact comprised of robots with assault rifles controlled by nerds with itchy trigger fingers thousands of miles away.

Can anyone explain how it took a few good men took 40 (ahem, more likely it was 15) minutes to wipe out a whole compound while suffering no casualties and it was not  a videogame?

As for Mortal Kombat , the franchise has finally caught up.

Ever since the rise back to relevance of the fighting genre thanks to Super Street Fighter 4  , I have been waiting for MK to do the same.  I lived through the first real "fighting-game" era in the arcades when Street Fighter 2  dominated the market. Along came Mortal Kombat, a fighting game that brought a whole new emphasis to the conclusions of fights rather than the actual mechanics. The buckets of gore and endearingly fun fatalities served as a point of escalation in the fighting genre for years to come. Since peaking with Mortal Kombat 2 ,  the franchise slowly became a mockery of itself, maintaining it's stale combat mechanics of jump/ sweep/ uppercut while introducing more types of fatalities: animalities, friendships, babealities etc.

Beware - it becomes evident how quickly the animators ran out of ideas after the first 10 seconds:

After several sequels and forays into 3D, MK  has followed in Street Fighter's footsteps and returned to its roots. Like SF4, that aptly titled Miortal Kombat  is 3D rendered reimagining of the entire MK lore, while moving the fighting plane back to 2D and adding several new mechanics.

The MK lore as we knew it was already pretty flimsy. Back in the day, stories were patched together as quickly as new iterations of the arcade game were churned out. The new MK takes the overall framework and characters of those previous iterations and pulls a Star Trek  by allowing a younger Raiden to see the future of the original series' canon and thus try and change the timeline in the new game to avert tragedy. If this at all seems confusing, I should probably throw up the disclaimer that that STORY DOESN'T MATTER.

Honestly, if you enjoyed this series growing up - hell if you got a kick out of the first movie - you will enjoy this game. Every character has been reimagined with stunning graphical detail with voice acting that is as campy as the story. After playing through the story mode, I finally figured out what makes this series so nostialgic and relevant.

Frankly, it's not the fatalities. I spent the first 15 minutes of the game going through each characters tier 1 fatalities in the training mode, and actually kind of freaked out that my excitement had already peaked. It wasn't till I actually spent time fighting that I got it: it's the characters.

Sub-Zero and Scorpion have always been the pinnacle of cool, and pretty much skewed my perception at a young age of what ninjas were capable of; hell my mom even made my brother and I matching Sub-Zero and Scoropion costumes that we wore multiple Halloweens in a row, just because those characters were so badass (I was Scorpion of course). Even though the fighting mechanics in those old games were terrible,  the series never took itself seriously enough to warrant a decent fighting engine. It was all about cool characters ripping peoples heads off, and I was fine with that at the age of 9.

At the age of 26, I needed something a little bit more. Thankfully, Mortal Kombat  has finally adopted a decent, Major League Gaming  level of fighting engine. Now, those same awesome characters you used to love actually do equally awesome combos and moves. Though the tuning is not as tight as SF4,  there is enough variation and arial leeway with moves to create an infinite string of combos with the right precision. Thankfully, most moves are extremely easy to pull off - at least with the D-Pad.

Since the PS3 network has been down, I have been kind of dreading how some of my favorite characters will fair in online compitetion. The D-pad gives the player the precision and peace of mind to pull off any move, but really doesn't feel as ergonomic or fast as the analog stick. Unfortunately, as everyone knows, the analog can be damn near rage-inducing when trying to pull off some moves. I do not know if it was MK's design, but I find myself now instinctively switching back and forth between the D-pad and Analog stick, which can be quite cumbersome on the fly. I'll have to wait and see how important the online component will become to me, as that will determine if I take the extra step to go buy one of those damn arcade joysticks; hell, at least I can still use it for SF4 or Marvel Vs. Capcom .

The other big introduction to the series that has been a long time coming (every other popular fighting franchise has a varition of it) is the "X-Ray Power Bar."  Once filled, the character only needs to hold 2 buttons to execute a move that, if landed, is a cinematic exploration of how each character likes to shatter bones or smash internal organs. They are veritible game changers in combat, as some characters X-Ray moves can reduce an enemy's health bar by up to 40%. Yet, you can go another route with the bar, and use portions of it as you see fit to execute some enhanced super moves that do extra damage, or a one time combo-breaker. Definitely adds a much needed strategic aspect to every fight.

The final verdict: if you were at all a fan of Mortal Kombat at any point of your life, this game is the summation of it's greatest features, rendered beautifully with some much needed updated fighting mechanics. How it will hold up to the  test of time will probably be determined by how many friends you can convince to buy the game and duel online. In a world where there is no PlayStation Network, the single player was an enjoyable trip down memory lane.

****