Soooooo someone created a 2D pixel-based RPG starring Kanye West, a clone of 2Pac and uhm The BasedGod. You control Kanye West in the future while attacking clones of various hiphop dudes. A walkthrough on YouTube had Kanye battling Snoop Lion, Dr. Dre, Dan the Automator, Del and Kid Koala in typical RPG battle mode. I dunno when Lil B pops up, maybe the end. But hey, at least someone is doing something positive with their time and time is money and money is in my hand. BasedGod?

From the site:

In January 2010, as rapper and producer Kanye West is taking the garbage out one day, he suddenly travels through a wormhole. Emerging on the other side, Kanye finds himself in the year 3030. In a dystopian city filled with clones of hip-hop musicians and under the control of a god-like dictator, can Kanye get back home?

 

Kanye Quest 3030 is a hip-hop-themed science-fiction 2D roleplaying game starring Kanye West.

Download the game here: http://kanyequest3030.tumblr.com/download

I recently unearthed a mixtape I created in an alternate 1986 full of juicy goodness from the 1980s. Enjoy this awesomely mixed compilation of the most random music you will hear this week.

Sometimes an idea enters the swirling cauldron of weirdness that is my brain and I must act on it. MOTU is the end result of one of those actions. Maybe 2.

Like most males somewhere in their 30′s I grew up watching He-Man religiously. I had the toys. I had the shirts. I had the underwear. It didn’t matter that the show was one giant commercial for the toys, He-Man was the primary reason why I was up early on a Saturday morning.

Somehow I stumbled upon an acoustic version of the He-Man theme that was released as part of the soundtrack and thought, “maybe I should chop up the He-Man theme and make a beat out of it.” That was my exact thought hence the quotes.

I had the concept in mind but hadn’t started work on the production so I chopped a breakbeat and just looped it until I finished writing. One thing I tend to do with “themed” work is avoid a lyrical reference and instead let the production or vocal samples create that vibe. With MOTU I’m not saying that I’m He-Man, I’m saying that I’m a Master of the Universe, the rap universe if you will so that drove the style, delivery and content. That’s why you have lines like “I’m a narcissist, catharsis through arson, charring a bar then start my harvest to harness jars of pure arsenic.”

The beat itself was fairly simple, I just chopped the strings at the beginning of the song before the drums kick in, making sure I caught the “Man” and at the end of the 8th bar, the “He.” I used the Moog to create the bassline and layered my drums but used the Fifth Dimension “Rainmaker” break as the foundation. I slapped some samples from the He-Man DVD and added the acoustic version to the end. Boom. Done. Enjoy.

It’s a first-person shooter that Ubisoft describes as “an 80s VHS vision of the future.” That’s it. Stop reading and buy it now.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is a stand-alone expansion to Far Cry 3 (obviously) set in the post-apocalyptic future of 2007. You play as Sergeant Rex Power Colt, a Mark IV Cyber Commando voiced by the great Michael Biehn who must destroy the evil, cybernetic Omega Force led by Colonel Sloan. The game is essentially a video game ode to the 80′s from the VHS tracking bar loading screens to the low-res cutscenes (Weathers/Schwarzenegger shake FTW!) to the amazingly authentic soundtrack to the cheesy one-liners and it’s all executed with neon-bathed scan-lined perfection.

Stripped down, FC3: BD is a fairly generic first-person shooter but it’s the level of detail, the atmosphere and superb writing that elevate it past mediocrity and into the realm of totally radical. Michael Biehn as Rex Power Colt throws our every lame one-liner from our favorite 80′s action films with a raspy delivery that emphasizes his cybernetic awesomeness. Colt himself is a visual rip-off of the Terminator with an exposed cyber-eye and scan mode that is almost identical to the T2 version.

The game itself never leaves the realm of the absurd. After the chopper assault set to “Long Tall Sally,” (Predator fans should recognize that reference,) you begin with a tutorial that mocks video game tutorials. The first screen asks you to press X in order to demonstrate your ability to read. Easy. A side mission has you hunting down turtles who live in the sewers and befriend rats. The turtles appear to be eating pizza and uhmm they wear masks. Oh and the Blood Dragons are massive dinosaur/dragon things that glow neon and shoot lasers from their eyes. Makes sense.

The soundtrack itself composed by Power Glove is spot on. Although at times the songs feel like slightly modified versions of tracks off of the original Terminator soundtrack, they are still executed with nostalgia-dripping synth perfection. I recommend tracking down the soundtrack to fully appreciate the work put into the score.

You don’t have to appreciate cheesy 80′s late-night sci-fi flicks to fully dig this game but it helps to fully understand the continuous onslaught of jokes and references littering the game. $15. Buy it and throw some hearts around.

Retro City Rampage makes it clear right from the title what you should probably expect from this game, it’s an 8-bit Grand Theft Auto homage. Makes perfect sense. That graphics are simple, sprites are tiny and the plot is deliberately lame but the concept behind the game is still amazingly brilliant. It’s an open-world experience never available on 8-bit systems that’s full of video game/pop-culture references, levels designed after specific games (Paperboy/TMNT) and even throws in filters that emulate old computer and console displays.

At first glance, newer gamers might not fully appreciate the time and effort put into creating RCR, which has been in development since the early 2000′s. At one point the programmer behind it, Brian Provinciano created an NES development kit to build the game. He was remaking GTA as a damn Nintendo game first! Then he ran into issues with the obvious NES limitations and switched to the PC. Oh well.

The story from Wikipedia:

In the city of Theftropolis, “The Player”, a thug for hire, decides to gain work as a henchman of a major crime syndicate led by the Jester. Three years later, during a bank heist gone wrong, Player runs into a time-traveling telephone booth, which he decides to steal from its owners. The booth flings him forward an indeterminate amount of time to the unspecified future year 20XX. Upon arrival, the booth breaks down and a man named “Doc Choc” arrives in a familiar looking vehicle and takes him and the booth in, believing Player to be a time-traveling hero. The Player must work with Doc Choc to gather the rare parts needed to repair the time booth, while avoiding law enforcement, his former employer Jester, and Dr. Von Buttnik, Doc Choc’s rival and the head of R&D at A.T. Corp, a tech corporation Player formerly worked for that wishes to use the time machine to predict future popular products, and control the market as a result.

The gameplay is simple, you run around Theftropolis shooting everything or hijacking vehicles with viewpoints that at times shift from top-down to 2D side-scroller. Various weapons, cars and upgrades are at your disposal as you tackle the 60+ missions. I love nostalgia more than most but nostalgia can only carry a game so far and this game has a few issues. Controls can be sluggish at times and the missions become repetitive after awhile. The enemies can be cheap, most of the cars are slow, difficulty randomly increases and after awhile the story vanishes into a sea of pop references.

It’s not all doom and gloom though, the bright, colorful graphics are well-done and the nods to game titles and references on the buildings are worth driving around to point out. The music is spot-on and feels at-home with other NES titles and the inclusion of cut scenes and mini-games are also a nice touch. You can also customize your character, earn trophies and unlock other characters.

Retro City Rampage sets out to recreate 8-bit classics but is able to accomplish so much more and offer at times, a much more robust experience than anything we found on the Nintendo. It has a few shortcomings but the experience outweighs it. Ch-ch-check it out.

Digital Fiend and I have finally wrapped up our Neber Pills EP. For those not familiar with the background on this project, Digi sent me a few old beats back in 2011 that he had ripped from cassette tapes. The quality was fairly lo-fi, some of the beats were slightly distorted and overall the sound wasn’t that great but the beats were dope and so I wrote some rhymes over it over the span of like 2 years. We grabbed the last third of VPC, Bionicheart to lay down some additional instruments and boom, EP done.

The title itself is open for interpretation and I’ll just leave it at that, I think our pill stance is evident on the track, “Laser Tag of Death” with the chorus that states, “music is our drug.” This is music made by guys who love to make music and just have fun with it. I’ve called it Sober Stoner music in the past, a hazy, dusty trip that lets you experience what exactly goes on inside my head on a regular basis.

In addition to the digi download, we also pressed up 50 limited edition clear 7″ square vinyl records for the fans. I love vinyl. I love my music on vinyl. I should do it more. often.

Buy the album here. Now. Do it: Amazon | iTunes | Bandcamp

By now most of you know that Jeff Hanneman, the Grammy-winning guitarist for Slayer passed away May 2nd of liver failure at 49. A founding member of Slayer, Jeff contributed lyrics and music to every single Slayer release including the big ones; “Raining Blood,” “South of Heaven,” “Seasons in the Abyss” and “Angel of Death.”

Angel of Death created a benchmark for metal lyrics that few bands have come close to matching, the aggressive biography of German doctor Josef Mengele who performed horrific experiments on prisoners at the Auschwitz death camp. “I know why people misrepresent it,” he told one radio interviewer. “It’s because they get a knee-jerk reaction to it. There’s nothing I put in the lyrics that says necessarily he was a bad man because to me — well, isn’t it obvious? I shouldn’t have to tell you that.”

Anyone who knows me personally knows that I’m a huge Slayer, in fact, I’m wearing a Slayer shirt as I type this so it should be of no surprise to mention that the music they’ve created has been a part of my life since the 80s. Most hiphop fans should also recognize the mark they’ve left on rap music as well. From their debut on Def Jam produced by Rick Rubin (and his name is attached to every other Slayer release) to Kerry playing “No Sleep ’til Brooklyn” to Public Enemy sampling “Angel of Death” for “She Watches Channel Zero” to Dave playing with DJ Spooky and Chuck D. on “B-Side Wins Again” to uhm, Lil’ Jon rhyming over the Rick Rubin produced “Stop Fuckin’ Wit Me.”

I’ve referenced Slayer in my songs and always list them as a major influence on my music, Hanneman is a major reason for that. He was the long-haired dude with the Raiders jersey who was a monster on the guitar, unfortunately the past few years have been difficult for him after contracting necrotizing fasciitis 2 years ago, likely caused by a spider bite and possibly the reason for his eventual liver failure. He nearly lost his arm and has been unable to tour or record with the band, in fact the band has been moving forward with their new album in his absence.

Slayer isn’t dead. Slayer will live on through the legacy Hanneman helped create.

R.I.P.

Easily my favorite RPG series, SMT takes the traditional RPG elements and places it inside a modern world. In the case of Persona 3 FES, the protagonist attends school, forms relationships with classmates and individuals around town and of course, hangs out with a drunk monk at a night club. It’s an RPG/Dating Sim combo. It’s a fascinating RPG that creates an experience unlike most console creations. I’ve covered most of the Persona 3 story with the portable review and this game is essentially the same except this time you can control the character and the interactive elements

About the game (via Wiki): In Persona 3, the player takes the role of a male high-school student who joins the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (SEES), a group of students investigating the Dark Hour, a time period between one day and the next that few people are aware of. During the Dark Hour, the player enters Tartarus, a large tower containing Shadows, creatures that feed on the minds of humans. To fight the Shadows, each member of SEES is able to summon a Persona, a manifestation of a person’s inner self. The game’s most iconic feature is the method by which the members of SEES release their Personas: by firing a gun-like object called an Evoker at their head. In addition to the standard elements of role-playing games, Persona 3 includes elements of simulation games, as the game’s protagonist progresses day by day through a school year, making friends and forming relationships that improve the strength of his Personas in battle.

The action is split between daytime and nighttime activities. During the day you attend school, answer questions that build your stats, join clubs, make friends, work, play sports, go to the mall, etc. At night you are able to build additional social links but it is during The Dark Hour that you are able to into the Tartarus and fight the shadows. The battle gameplay is turn-based and you can attack the Shadows with traditional attacks or summon your Persona and utilize their special ability. Defeating Shadows helps you earn items, experience points, mad loot and new Personas. A visit to the Velvet Room will let you merge Personas to create a stronger one to battle with. The Velvet Room, that’s such a pimp title. I should create a Velvet Room in my house.

Anyway, the game has amazingly detailed graphics for the PS2, decent voice over work, an awesome soundtrack that mixes genres and cutscenes animated by Sunrise Studios, who created Cowboy Bebop, Inuyasha and Sgt. Frog! The only problem I have with the series is how linear it is, you’re stuck on a predetermined path for a good portion of the game. You go to school, a teacher talks and then it transitions to the next day which can be fairly annoying for gamers who want to dive right in and explore the world of Persona 3. Be patient, the game quickly becomes a rewarding experience. Also worth mentioning is the detail found in the character design and art. The art is beautifully illustrated and the Shadows are all unique and at times, creatively bizarre.

The game is now available via the Playstation Network and I highly recommend you download the game and check it out. Now.

The comic book franchise that solidified my desire to practice ninjutsu and invest in nunchakus is back with a new downloadable game to run alongside the newly resurrected series on Nickelodeon. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is slated to drop this summer as a digital download on Xbox Live, PSN and Steam.

The trailer and gameplay videos are below and so far, I’m not impressed. Visually the game appears to be too dark, the graphics are muddy and the turtles look a bit awkward. The Foot shows up in the videos but no signs of any of the other villains so it’ll be interesting to see who pops up.

From Activision:

Activision Publishing, Inc. today announced that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™: Out of the Shadows, a new, digital download-only video game inspired by Nickelodeon’s new hit animated series, will be available this summer. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is a third-person brawler game set in New York City, taking gamers through articulated, true-to-life environments filled with action-packed adventures as Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Featuring an original hyper-realistic 3D-style, gamers can experience four-player online co-op play while stomping out the Foot Clan and unleashing turtle torment on any foe that gets in their way.

With an immersive world, deep character development, and an intuitive, skill-based combat system built around combo-driven action, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows puts ‘Turtle Power’ in players’ hands.

 
Trailer:

IGN Pre-Alpha Gameplay:

One of the best RPGs of the 16-bit era and for some, the greatest RPG of all time, Earthbound (Mother 2) will finally arrive on Wii U’s Virtual Console later on this year. Nintendo made the announcement during their most recent Nintendo Direct presentation, along with news of ‘Link to the Past’ and ‘Yoshi’s Island’ sequels, dope.

A massive cult-classic and like most cult-classics it completely bombed when it was originally released. Earthbound was a praised by critics upon release but never really caught on with the North American crowd since it wound up selling only 140,000 copies. That’s it. I think that Bebe’s Kids sold more.

A refreshing break from traditional RPGs that is quirky, unique and moves away from the typical dungeons and “long-ago” setting and into a modern world for gamers to explore. Blending in pop-culture references, humor and a strange assortment of bad guys to fight, like Master Belch the big pile of vomit.

It’ll be interesting to see if the music is altered to bypass possible lawsuits, as a few songs seem to sample or interpolate Beatles music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n4cs7Z7mDY).

Time to buy a Wii U. Oh and check out my Super album that featured tracks sampling the Earthbound soundtrack.