Top 10 Underrated Games

With so many games coming out these days

It can be pretty easy to miss out on great titles just because they either get buried under the big blockbuster games or you just can't spare the time or cash to get into a new thing. A lot of times, games are forgotten because they suffer from condemning reviews that were unjustly served towards a game that was a true gem. I took the time to figure out what I think are the best examples of games that either didn't get the respect they should've or faded away and deserve to be remembered.
I give you top 10 underrated games.

10. Spiderman 2

I remember when the first Spiderman game came out. Suffice it to say, it sucked dick. The exploration was hugely limited, it had an obnoxiously linear gameplay which just didn't fit, the combat was a joke and overall the game was a laughable failure.

But then this game comes along in 2004. The graphics were stunning, the control and gameplay fantastic and free-roaming and the open world was massive. When I first played this, I wasn't very used to open world games, so I didn't have much to compare it to, but even so, it's a damn big city you get to play in that's finely detailed with secrets and hideouts.

There was never a time in this game where you had nothing to do. This game had an infinite number of side-quests which that sounds actually better than it is because it's just about a dozen different kinds of "save someone" quests over and over again. Despite that, it doesn't get tiring and even if you don't look for a person in need, there are plenty of times where you happen to randomly stumble upon a crime in progress and get to send some thugs into next year.

Speaking of the combat, it's nothing short of awesome in this game. The player has dozens and dozens of stylized techniques at their disposal and their 'arsenal' increases as the game goes on.

It's not that this game did poorly critically, the reason it's on this list is because I never knew a single person besides me who had it. That's too bad since it's one of my personal favorite games and it's such a "this one time" kind of game and I found I had no one with whom I could share my adventures as the web-slinger.

There's so much more I could say about this game but we've got nine to go so without further adiu...

9. 007: Everything or Nothing

I'll start by saying this is on here for the exact same reason as Spiderman 2. I never met anyone who played this anywhere. Like Spiderman 2, it did pretty well critically and received largely positive reviews. For whatever reason, people then proceeded to forget it ever existed at all. It's unfortunate and surprising because I always felt this game had such a unique feel to it. For starters, it's an over-the-shoulder shooter which may deter a lot of gamers but I assure you, it works really well. The control is intuitive, responsive and makes sense.

You won't find much in the realm of multiplayer, unfortunately, but this game's single player story makes up for it enormously. It's a pretty long game, can't remember how long exactly but I do recall that it took a while to complete. It's full of gadgets, vehicle battles, shootouts and a whole host of other fun shit. I would say that next to Goldeneye, this is the best 007 game ever made. Seriously, I would recommend this to any shooter fan. Just give it a try and I guarantee that you won't be disappointed.

8. Bulletstorm

The best way to describe this game is just to say, it's a fucking blast. All encompassing, maximum badassery, Bulletstorm prided itself on being the man out of all of the kids shooters and it's advertising campaign was making fun of the FPS games like Call of Duty and asked if you wanted a real game.
It received mostly positive reviews but it's on here simply because no one fucking played it. Why, I have no idea. This game is 100% balls to the wall, ass kicking that deserves fans and, I may even be so bold as to say, a followup.

I'm sorry, I must've missed training exercise that went over this exact situation.

The play-style is distinguished. It centers largely around trying to get the most stylish kills possible and there are probably hundreds of ways to go about ending your countless foes piteous lives. Kicking is an attack rarely featured in first-person shooters but works well in this game, as does the light whip which sends enemies into slow-motion as they hurtle towards you.
Although the multiplayer is very limited, it's still pretty fun and besides, there's more than enough single player to make up for it.
So yeah, badass game. Check it out.

E3 winner of the most uses of the term "limp-dick".

7. Chibi Robo

Why I was the only person I know who has even heard of this game, I have no idea. Sure it's not exactly a "hardcore gamer's" sort of game but that in no way should mean that it should go totally unnoticed.

Chibi Robo is an adorable little game that centers around a six-inch tall robot who is never referred to as anything other than Chibi Robo. The main focus of the game is to clean this one family's house of dirt, trash and whatever else in order to make them happy. That seems like it'd be boring, but Chibi Robo doesn't fail to entertain as you constantly unlock upgrades allowing you to reach places you've never reached before. Clambering all over furniture in order to get to a high bookshelf is a puzzle in of itself.

Besides that, every character in the game has something wrong in their life and it's your job to help them solve their problems to make everyone truly happy. Not to mention, each of these characters is memorable and unique, one of my favorites being your floating counterpart Telly who has just as interesting a voice as he does appearence.

So all in all, Chibi Robo is a charming little game that actually manages to be quite memorable in both it's highly stylized world and unique concept.

6. Yoshi's Story

Speaking of highly stylized...

I was recently looking over an article published by Game Informer about the upcoming Wii U Yoshi game. In it they listed other memorable Yoshi games of the past to play while you wait. To my surprise, this game was not mentioned. Yoshi's story garnered generally poor reviews when it debuted in 1997 scoring as low as 4.8/10 on some reviewal sites and in fact, one of the very few reviewers to give it a positive number was Game Informer who awarded it an 8.5/10.

How someone could earnestly dislike this game is beyond me. Like Chibi Robo, it's not exactly a challenging game. It's focused more on being a cute little adventure that's highly playable and fun.

The game is so unique in style that it blows my mind that anyone could forget it existed without the aid of a decade and a half (oh wait...). Every level is distinguished and I love the way it looks as though it were constructed by hand. For instance in the screenshot above the entire level appears to be made out of cardboard and in the screenshot below the entire sky is denim and the clouds look like they're stitched together.

The whole concept of the game centers around collecting as much fruit as you can until the boarder around the screen fills up with what you've eaten and you win. Because of this treasure hunt sort of style, each level plays non-linearly and has many branches off into different parts of the world. It's extensive level design and like I said before, no two are alike. The game only takes six levels to complete but it has 24 courses total, four levels per each of the six stages. It only takes one level victory to complete a stage which is an implement that I am inclined to dislike. I sort of wish that you were required to play all 24, but instead going through the full game requires replaying the story line at least four times. Despite that, it does succeed in offering experiences that are distinct among players.

5. Starfox Assault

I don't find myself a big Starfox fan considering that the games can be kind of hard to come by in America and I just never got into it much. That's not to say there's anything wrong with the games, from what I've played of them, they're great. One of the few Starfox games that I did play extensively was Starfox Assault.

Starfox Assault received mixed reviews and like many other entries on this list, went generally unnoticed by most gamers when it released in 2005. That's a real pity because it's a true gem of action games. Weather you're fighting with Arwings, Landmasters or just on foot, the battles are sure to please as they're intense and gripping.

The only major complaint against this game I could voice is the fact that it's as short as it is at a mere nine levels but the best thing about this game isn't in the campaign, it's in the multiplayer. With up to four players, the vs. combat in this game is a blast. A great game to play with friends

I'd say that it's well worth your time to look into it, even if you're not a Nintendo fan. As one reviewer, Kevin Gifford put it, "The game is aimed less at the Mario Club and more toward the hardcore crowd." Check it out.

4. Poke'mon Colosseum

I guess I'll say the bottom line first. If you like Poke'mon, you will like this game. Simple as that. This is honestly, one of my all-time favorite Poke'mon games because it's so different from the rest. It's one of the few to be on a platform console rather than a handheld. I've always wished they did more like this because I generally don't bother myself with any handheld games beyond my Gameboy.

People may dislike this game due to the fact that you can't capture wild Poke'mon which is a staple of the normal Poke'mon games. I'll admit, I'm not fond of that change either, but I love this game regardless and it's method of stealing Poke'mon from other trainers is cool. The rest of what sets this game apart lies in it's visual style whereas most are bird's-eye shots, this game is all over.

But the place this game really excels are in the battles. I've heard people complain that the fighting animations are repetitive but they're a hell of a lot cooler than anything from the handheld installments.

I'm not trying to bash the handheld games as they're all fantastic, I'm just saying that this game deserves more recognition than it got. Great game.

3. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3

I would go so far as to say that the entire Budokai Tenkaichi series is underrated, but the installment that went way above and beyond what is needed to be a respected game is Budokai Tenkaichi 3. With 161 playable characters, this game has one of the largest rosters in any fighting game and each is equipped with plenty of unique special moves that are true to the show. The cel-shaded graphics translate the animation into the third dimension so well.

As for the fighting? Oh, my fuck. It is so fast and so intense that this game is actually daunting to already hardened fighting game veterans. In fact, IGN said "The sheer speed and complexity of the controls may turn some people off" and "The game [is] remarkably easy to learn, but nearly impossible to master."

Y'see, I'm one of those guys who mastered it. My friends and I will stage tournaments in this game and just fucking go at it. We're at the point in the game where we're absurdly good and absurdly fast and that's what makes this game so amazing.

It's actually much like the show in that respect because you have to train to get better. When you pick up the game, you're comparatively weak next to the masters. That's not to say the game isn't fun, playing with others at your level is still a blast, but it takes awhile to get really good and it's incredible because every time you're sure there's no way to get better or faster, through training you do (just like the show!).

I would say, and I know that almost everyone will disagree with me on this, that this game is my all-time favorite fighting game. Not to say it's the best, but when it comes to fast-paced and intense combat, there's no competition.

2. Kirby Air Ride

This is the game that just barely didn't make the cut when I published the article about my top racing games. It debuted in 2003 and received largely poor scores and was even called "a throwaway game" by one reviewer. I would say that this game is the exact opposite. The are levels crazy in design, the vehicles are all unique and interesting and it's just an all around competitive blast. Playing this with friends generally results in standing up, yelling at the tv and cheering when you win what tend to be remarkably close races.
This game has three modes. There's the standard racing mode titled Air Ride. The second is an overhead, single-screen racing game called Top-Ride which comes off as sort of a mini-game but can be just as engaging as the normal play and effectively changes up gameplay.

Finally, the third mode is called City-Trial. This is the mode that received the highest percentage of positive feedback and is what makes this game great. You and up to three other players, roam about an enclosed city map, scrounging for power-ups and/or stealing them from your opponents. Once the time is up, you're all transported to a competitive game where you vie for first place. These games range from races to battles to objective-based mini-games and force you to rely on your power ups which you'd better hope you got enough of. Running around the city is so much fun and gives you plenty of opportunities to be a massive douchebag to your friends (killing them just before he game ends will cause them to drop many of their power ups and force them onto the default vehicle).

I could probably talk about City Trial for a long time and go into extensive detail, but I'll spare you and just say it's great and it's the best thing about this game. Try it some time.

1. Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom

If anyone ever made a list of surprisingly good games, this would have to be number 1. Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom, despite being a mouthful, is a charming action/adventure game that is actually engaging and consistently entertaining through and through. The game didn't get the attention it deserved likely because it was a licensed game which is not very surprising, albeit, disappointing. 

It gives you control over three different characters: Spongebob, Patrick and Sandy. Each of them have their own set of imaginative moves, intuitive control patterns and are all voiced by the original actors, like every character featured in this game with very few exceptions. The level designs are all based off of locations from the show and are impressively distinct of each other, each one being fresh and original and brimming with creative puzzles that may actually force you to think.

What makes this game so impressive is that it's so well done compared to what you'd expect coming from a video-game adaptation of a children's cartoon. It happens to include one of my favorite OSTs in gaming.

That shit could be in a Hollywood blockbuster. Every song is just as good too, I just picked that one sort of randomly (try the Poseidome theme).

The game has a silly plot about a robot takeover of Bikini Bottom which is an interesting concept and is effectively made goofy through the comical humour this game is riddled with. The enemies are quirky and the boss battles are exciting and anything but repetitive.

The main complaint that someone could make against this game is that it doesn't appeal much to non-fans, which isn't surprising but unless you, for whatever idiotic reason, flat out hate the show, I'd recommend giving this game a try. It's great.

Hotel for Dogs

It's true that I don't fancy myself a big fan of kids movies. Don't get me wrong, there are family movies I adore. Spirited Away for instance is family movie and that happens to be my favorite movie of all time. I'm always looking forward to the next Pixar, Miyazaki or animated Disney film.

Excluding their God-awful and apparently mandatory direct to DVD sequels of course.

But for some reason, the live action kids movies have never appealed to me. The humor is always obnoxious, the plot is generally close to nil (or flat out absurd) and they're always styled horribly. The last time I remember seeing a live-action family movie I genuinely enjoyed was in 1997 when Good Burger came out because that shit was jokes.

And yes, I'm implying that not everyone who enjoyed this film was on drugs.

But that was 1997 and between then and now are sixteen long years. I had pretty much given up hope on these types of movies. I was quite content to just sticking with the animated ones since those always came off as if someone had actually put some work into them.

But then comes along Hotel for Dogs.

I watched this movie on a really random whim a few days ago. It came out in 2009, had a few advertisements, and made $117,000,000 which is actually pretty darn good for an anonymous little film like this, which was the fifth highest grossing film of the weekend it released.

One might assume from the trailer and title that it's the standard crap that's shit out by family movie writers who can almost literally print money by calling any half-assed attempt at a film Shrek 5.

SOMEBODY ONCE TOLD ME

In Hotel for Dogs, two troublemaking foster siblings, Andi and Bruce are secretly housing a dog named Friday, despite what their foster-father and Phoebe's opinions on pets are (not good). The kids have recently been warned that if they keep up the bullshit (they just got caught ripping off a pawn shop) they'll be separated and sent to different families.

Friday runs off into an abandoned hotel where they find a plethora of other canines chilling all by themselves. Andi and Bruce sneak some food to the strays the following day and soon decide to set up a hotel.

A hotel... for dogs.

The best scene in this movie is definitely when Bruce builds all of the dogs a bunch of crazy contraptions so they can take care of themselves when no one is around. The machines are charming Rube Goldberg-esque devices that generally accomplish simple things, like putting out the food. My favorite of these was the vending machine full of shoes that the dogs could munch on.

Towards the climax of the movie, the Andi, Bruce and their few friends who have joined them are found out and the siblings are separated. It's a pretty sad scene because at that point I was somewhat invested in the characters and wanted them to succeed. Of course I knew in the back of my mind that this is a kids movie, so there's literally no way in hell that it'd have an unhappy ending.

But the ending scenes are the only real thing that bring it down. Like any family movie, it's a very predictable conclusion, with an emotional speech that changes everyone's hearts and all that business, but it does it's job.

Incredibly, there's a video game adaptation of this movie, but I see no conceivable way it couldn't be a complete pile of trash.

I dare you. I fucking dare you.

But anyway, I was actually pretty surprised with this movie. It's not too bad. I may even say that it's pretty good. It held my attention and I enjoyed it. Give it a watch some time.

8/10 - Why the fuck not?

Third State of the Union Address

It's been awhile hasn't it?

The last time I gave an address was at the start of the year, when I officially decided to give the blog a set theme. If you don't already know, these articles are when I take some time off of my busy and restless writing to speak to my followers directly, fill them in on upcoming changes and commemorate new achievements. So what is it we're commemorating? What you're reading is my 50th post!

Huzzah!

But that's not all, at the same time we're also celebrating this blog's 2000th hit!

Shout-out to the eight of you who viewed my blog from a 3DS

Wow.

It's been a long way coming since I first started out ten months ago. When my friends first coaxed me into starting this thing, I figured it'd be a little hobby I kept up. Publish some shitty post and amass single digit views. I never would've dreamed that I'd come as far as I have and I know 2000 is insignificant to the bigger and more popular blogs, but that in of itself was way, way more than I ever expected to get.

So, it seems as though you've earned the right. It seems I can no longer refer to you as "my non-existant fanbase". It seems you exist after all.

So what's new with the blog?

From here on out, I'm going to follow more of a schedule. Don't worry, it's nothing too methodical, it'll just keep my ideas in check and keep you at a constant entertainment level. See, I'm afraid I'll start putting out too much content too fast all at once and then not have any material later. So here's what will be done.

Expect to see movie and game reviews periodically as always. That is staying the same. I will still be review older movies whenever and I'll continue to try and see new movies that are in the theatre, but no promises, I'm poor.

Opinionated and discussion articles will now occur once a month. The date that I post it within that month is whenever the fuck I get around to it, but there will always be one in every month.

As for countdown articles, I'll post those periodically as well but I won't make any promises as to the consistancy of the posts. Those kinds of articles are the hardest to make, so expect them less frequently.

And any other sort of article that is miscellaneous, like rants for instance, will also be posted randomly.

I think that about does it. Just wanted to let you all know about it. Schedules and redesigns... this blog is getting more official by the minute...

Well anyway, one last thank you to the readers who I daresay are not accidentally stumbling here and then promptly leaving. I hope to see more readers in the future. I genuinely hope that you enjoy my work. Hopefully soon I'll be getting regular comments and we can hold discussions... For once, I'm optimistic about the future.

Thanks Sincerely.

Olympus has Fallen

I've been following the production of this movie for a little while now and I just arrived home after seeing it. It seemed to me like it was going to be a flashy, blockbuster-esque sort of flick where you turn off your brain and enjoy. Surprisingly, the movie wasn't quite what I was expecting.

It was actually quite grounded in reality. I didn't have a hard time suspending my disbelief because I never really had to. The only part that could probably raise speculation is the first action sequence, the siege on the White House, which serves as 'the big action scene.' It's got a bunch of flashy CG, a bunch of explosions and a bunch of death/destruction yadda, yadda. It's a pretty cool scene, but some people will undoubtably berate the film for being unrealistic in the ten minutes or so that it lasts.

Surprisingly, subsequent to that, the rest of the movie's action is quite tame. Gerard Butler goes around stealthily kicking ass with hand-to-hand combat, one terrorist at a time. The movie has itself an R rating, which is deserved. Fortunately, it's not one of those R action movies that throws in senseless violence, language and sex just to attain the rating; the violence in this movie is realistic and necessary. There's a disturbing scene where a woman is executed that effectively captures the grittiness of a terrorist situation and reminds the audience that this ain't no G.I. Joe: Retaliation and we're not fucking around. The film is successful in being suspenseful, rather than relying on cheap special effects, which did happen occasionally but mainly just in that one action scene. Unfortunately, some of it looked pretty bad, specifically the one shot where they throw the flag off of the White House. Y'know, that shot that made all of the posters?

But back to Gerard Butler, who is the main character as well as the co-producer. I'm quite fond of him after seeing his role in Law Abiding Citizen which is one of the best screen performances of the previous decade and in this he gives his usual job which is strong and believable. Needless to say, not even close to being on par with Law Abiding Citizen, but here it's not so much an emotional role as it was before, so it's not a fair comparison. The rest of the cast is strong too. No complaints as far as the casting goes.

The movie succeeded in investing me in the characters. It wasn't long before I genuinely wanted to see the good guys win and the bad guys lose, which is probably the most essential part of any film. If I can't get behind the characters, I'm not going to enjoy the movie, it's as simple as that.

While I'm on the subject, I did like the villains in this movie. They were North Koreans, which intrigued me, personally, because I've been heavily following North Korean politics for a lot of years now and it's a topic that piques my interest. But again, this film's bad guys are fun to hate.

After the disappointment of A Good Day to Die Hard, this movie is a breath of fresh air. Matter of fact, I'd say that this movie is more deserving of a spot in the Die-Hard franchise than it's most recent installment. It's clear throughout the film that it's very inspired, there are several nods to the first Die-Hard in particular that I'm guessing were quite intentional. I half-expected Butler to shout "Yippie ki yay!" in one scene (Spoiler! He didn't!).

So, overall, a good action film that slightly exceeded initial expectations. I enjoyed it. Matter of fact, I'll watch it again when it releases on home video.

8/10 - Above average action flick.

Changing Tastes

I think most people would say that they haven't always liked the same genre of music they're entire life. We have transitions through our preferences, they never really stay the same. That being said, it's rare for taste to pull a complete 180. Generally it's specific albums or artists that guide the listener through their phases.

The same goes for me. I've said before that I fancy myself an elitist metal fan. I try not to be; I try to be open to other genres, but I often just can't adapt; I like to stick close to my music. And by stick close, I mean if I go more than a few days without listening to my music, it'll have adverse effects on my mood. Really, I actually put that to the test once ( I was in a pretty shitty mood after the third day).

What can I say? I love music and even despite my elitism, I have not always been a full-on metal fan. Only for the past seven years or so. I've decided to talk about the three albums that got me into metal and thus, where I am today. I'll order them according to how much they influenced me.

Killswitch Engage - As Daylight Dies

This is an album that has diminished in my eyes slightly over the years, but only because my personal taste changed, it's still a great album from beginning to end. Every single song is solid. Great complicated and light guitars and very unique sounding clean vocals. It's metalcore, sure, but it remains as a great album to blast at full volume, especially when My Curse rolls around.

I listened to this album so many times that had every riff memorized. Great stuff. While I did like the following album, End of Heartache, I don't think it truly topped As Daylight Dies and I know I'm probably alone in that opinion, but hell, my opinion is my own.

In Flames - Come Clarity

Here's one that the elitists on forums wouldn't scold me for listening to. Interestingly, the only reason I ever found this band was because I liked the artwork and clicked on it while browsing music on Youtube all those years ago. Everyone can agree, In Flames is one of the greatest metal bands to grace the ears of mankind and Come Clarity is their indisputable best work. Some people prefer their earlier stuff, but to me, it's a no brainer. It has to be Come Clarity. Every single song is distinguished and exceptional.

The tunes are melodic and complex, the vocals are, again, quite unique as is the screaming. This is an album that I still cherish. It's certainly nothing short of a "God-tier" album.

Demon Hunter - The Triptych

This was an album that I found on the shelf of a record and CD store and the album artwork was so rad that I had no choice but to purchase it right then and there. I was blown away by this album. It was probably the first real metal I had taken the time to listen to. I was already dabbling in the areas of hard rock like Godsmack, but was ultimately bored by the genre. This album opened my eyes.

At first, I was utterly mystified by the album title, The Triptych. I did some research on this topic and found that a triptych is piece of art that features three panels next to each other. That didn't really help much until I finally realized that this album had alternate artworks.

And if that weren't enough...

The last one puts all three together. Spiders, snakes and crows. It's some amazing artwork that was done just for this one album. When I eventually started looking at their other albums, I found that every single one was like this, with the same logo but with a different design and no words anywhere. I thought and still think that that's really cool. I also discovered during my exploration of their discography that as amazing as I thought The Triptych was,  it's actually one of the weaker albums this band has put out. So, fuck it, what I'm getting at here is that Demon Hunter is an amazing band and may actually be of my favorite band of all time. Maybe.

Well, that's all I have to say on the subject. Try thinking about this yourself; what albums got you to where you are today? Not like anyone actually comments on anything here, but I'd love to hear about it if you feel like sharing.

Dead Snow

What makes a good zombie movie? Most of the time, I'll walk away from this type of movie feeling it was a solid meh. A good zombie movie has to either be doing something really unique and different and/or be backed up by and very solid cast. Everyone seems surprised that I don't watch The Walking Dead. Well, that's why, the cast is terrible in that show. Let's be honest, the plot-line of a zombie apocalypse is not very interesting in of itself. It has to focus on the trials the characters have to overcome inside and out. So, where does the movie Dead Snow fit into this? Well, it doesn't. Remember that and/or statement back up there? Well, Dead Snow falls into the former of those two. It's fucking different.

The Norwegian film, Dead Snow, effectively shook up the western audience in 2009 after it's mild success in it's country of origin. I think it goes without saying for any film that depicts half of a severed head on the ground right on the poster, that it's balls to the wall, blood and gory-guts and this movie has no shortage of the good stuff.

No, sir.

This movie is a wet dream of badassery. A bunch of assholes go off into the mountains and Nazi zombies commence fucking their shit up. What else do you need to know and furthermore, how can you go wrong? This movie has it all from hanging off of a cliff by a line of intestines and fist fighting a zombie at the same time, to snowmobiles with mounted machine-guns, to improvisational chainsaw weaponry. It's definitely the sort of movie where you're expected to turn your brain off and just let it happen and people often forget that and critique the shit out of movies like this which is all wrong, it's just a drive in, grindhouse. With that kind of film, there really isn't much that can be said about it without talking about individual moments. It's just a movie about Nazi zombies in the cold, secluded peaks of Norway.

Red shows up nicely on white

So, gather some friends, find this movie, sit back and enjoy. It's one hell of a ride and I'd highly recommend it to any zombie fan.

7.5/10 - Check it out

Double Standards

The perceptions and standards of different forms of media

Can you remember all the way back to two and a half weeks ago when I posted about Mass Effect 2? I had briefly talked about how the sex scenes in that game were considerably less explicit than in the first game. This was because somewhere during the three year interval between the games, the first had come under fire from the media which was claiming that the game should be banned due to it's "graphic depictions of sex, nudity and sodomy." One blogger, Kevin McCullough, said about it,
"Mass Effect can be customized to sodomize whatever, whomever, however, the game player wishes," and "with it's 'over the net' capabilities, virtual orgasmic rape is just the push of a button away."

Now, obviously, this is a load of bullshit. After the media had been met with outrage from the fanbase and the devs, they retracted their statements. It turned out (not surprisingly) that not one of these accusers had ever once played the actual game. When they were shown the footage, one of them, an author named Cooper Lawrence, stated that she "has seen episodes of Lost that are most sexually explicit."

So, why the uproar over something that a public channel rated for ages 14 and up could get away with? Mass Effect is rated M for Mature. As the "Mature" part implies, it expects it's audience to actually be mature. But what that rating means, is that the content in the game is not appropriate for gamers under the age of 17. Keep in mind that that rating is equal to the film rating, R. Furthermore, Mass Effect is a video game. The characters, and anything, depicted within the game is digitally rendered, AKA not real people. Now, it's true that animating technology is quite amazing these days. We've come a long way from...

Yeah

But that still doesn't excuse the brazen disparity in treatment between the two mediums. Why does the media hold the video game to a different standard? No one ever had an aneurism over the sex or other such graphic content on TV or in the movies; parents bitch about it every so often, but there's generally not a huge upheaval.

The true issue at work here is simply a double-standard and in this case, it happened because something is defying a preconceived notion which, conscious or not, is deeply-held. Someone got word that Mass Effect had some sexual content and ran with it, probably sensationalizing it somewhat and everyone freaked out.

Trust me, if these games were half as graphic as people claim, they'd be much more successful.

So, where is the conflict here? It comes down to the fact that the older generation, the one making all of these accusations, grew up in a time where their kid's games looked like some obscure little bricks and you had to use your imagination. Games were generally aimed at a young audience and the content of those games reflected that. Over the years, as games became more advanced, they could flesh out and try to reach older generations as well. Nowadays, games have the power to shoot for any audience, there's no taboo on an M rated game, but despite this, the generation that knew the first games still holds that image in their mind. They unconsciously expect games to still be for kids. Therefore, the idea of explicit content seems abhorrant.

It begs the question, if the older generation can't handle some sex, but the younger one can and can just move on with their life, which is the more mature?

Behold, the most explicit frame in the entire trilogy.

This doesn't apply just to the realm of video games, although that is one area where it may be the most prevalent. Another area that a censure is held is anime. It's quite true that these days, anime has much more freedom than it did. There are plenty of no-barred, TV-MA shows that you can find.

Fucking ahem

Of course, it wasn't always this way. Back in the 80's, Dragonball Z had first came to the states. The infamous Canadian crew, Ocean, was responsible for the atrocious original english translation and dub of the show. Considerably less admonished, but still prevalent, is the horrible censorship of it; my personal favorite example is in one of the movies, Bardock's entire squadron was murdered by traitors and all he has to say is, "Those... meatheads!"

The older generation at that point was familiar with children's cartoons. The thought of having an animated show aimed at adults seemed silly. In other places, namely Japan, the medium had already reached an older audience, so shows like Dragonball Z were designed accordingly. If you've ever seen DBZ subbed, then you know that just about every other word is "damn". Regardless, the American culture refused to recognize that and the script was rewritten and scenes were cut to accomodate the young audience.

Now, I'm not condemning children's cartoons. Over time, people were slowly able to adapt to the idea of having a sophisticated and mature anime. It took anime a very long time for it to be taken seriously in the western hemisphere and it still isn't truly respected; most people assume it's all powering up and screaming, ignorant of shows like Eden of the East or Death Note.

On that note, this sort of standard is not simply for violence and sex, it also applies in the plot. Video games are at a point where they're finally starting to be taken seriously. That's why games like Heavy Rain can even be made.

That's a very high-brow and adult game. Games have come very far from charming fantasies like Mario or Zelda. Now, those games are great, no one disputes that. They're kids games but can be enjoyed by any age group. This generation of gaming is significant because it's debatably the first where sophisticated games like Heavy Rain and Mass Effect, that are geared towards a mature adult audience, can also see commercial success.

So, is this standard exclusive to anime and video games? No. It applies to cinema as well only in this case it's in reverse. In the modern day, movies are generally rather grounded in reality. Even the ones that aren't, the science fiction and fantasy, moviegoers have a hard time suspending their disbelief. They'll endlessly nitpick at films that have even trivial "mistakes" such as an unrealistic moment. Movies like Godzilla are unwatchable to a western audience; they just can't let themselves enjoy it. It's great to see that movies today can be as intellectual as they are, but it seems that you can never have both ends of the spectrum.

What could be done to refine the gaming standards? Making more games like Mass Effect and Heavy Rain. Over time, the generations will change, and the ones who are familiar with games such as this, will be used to the idea of a mature game and no one will freak out over trivial things like they did with Mass Effect.

Am I saying that all games should be full of violence and sex? No. Am I saying that all movies should be dumbed down? No. I just hate the idea of any medium being limited due to any sort of established precept. You shouldn't have to be forced to restrain a story based on some set of unwritten parameters. These mediums are often about expression. I'm not begrudging those "rules" because I want to see more graphic alien porn. The bigger picture is about the freedom. Throughout history, things like art and literature have been shunned due to this sort of conduct. It's unfortunate that similar things happen today. It's the kind of thing that can only be changed over time.