Violence: It's Human Nature

Violence has been a touchy subject on the video game industry for a while now, as more games get increasingly violent, the question of what is too far gets asked. BioShock Infinite seems to be the next game questioned on whether games are getting too violent lately. BioShock Infinite is violent, but it’s not as violent as most says it is. You do shoot things and use vigors to kill enemies, what makes it violent is the melee kills. You get your skyhook and use them in brutal ways. Either killing an enemy by decapitation or simply snapping the neck. I think the reason why these kills are the front and center of it all is how detached the rest of the game is. It’s the most violent aspect of the game, and it can easily be avoided most of the time. The only time you use the melee is the first battle. 

RIP TEAR SLASH 

But what about the other games that is out there? Take the God of War games. They are increasingly violent, and it sells that level of violence to the audience. When God of War III was first announced in E3 2009, the finale part of the demo was Kratos ripping Helios’ head off. It was not a clean rip either; skin was stretched, veins burst, and blood spewed everywhere. Even Kratos himself was bloodied. That one rip was the talk of everyone when God of War III was discussed. It’s very possible to say that the violence and gore was part of the game design, but if you look at paintings about Greek Mythology, they are violent by nature. The one painting that shows up often is one of Cronos eating his young. It was not like they were swallowed whole like in God of War II, but literally being eaten. Blood covered Cronos hands and mouth with a body that is almost devoured. This is just one of many graphic paintings of violence that shows how violent a person is. Look up Hell at Google, and you will be shown paintings of people getting tortured and killed. From the early days of the caveman paintings by telling the story of how they got their food, to now where we can see real live shootouts in the news. Violence is now, and forever more, a part of human nature. If you see an insect you don’t like, there’s a good chance that you are going to kill that insect. There, you have commented violence. 

 
See the veins 

Violence is in movies, music, comic books, books, and nearly everything you do. Some of the greatest movies are violent. Gone with the Wind, Wizard of Oz, Saving Private Ryan, and even the old classic Disney films are violent. Same goes for comic books. Even in the 1950's where comic books had to be absurdly tame, it still had violence in them. Music and books are downright graphic. Listen to a song from the Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem and there is a good chance that there is a violent reference. Then there are bands like Cannibal Corpse and Dethklok. Their songs are violent by nature. There is not an episode in Metalocalypse that some random person dies in the most graphic ways. I’m a fan of They Might Be Giants and there’s a song from there new album on which it hinted that two young kids kill their parents. This is not the only song they sing about that has death in them. In their long career, death one way or another is one of the main themes. If you think that games and music is bad, it has nothing on books. 

GORE AND GORE 

One of the most popular books to come out in the past 20 years is the Harry Potter series. It starts out fun and light, but by the time the series ends, it’s so far removed it feels like an entirely different series. If you saw the movie and read the book, you know that the snake did not disintegrate in the book like it did in the movie. The snake was flown off and blood was everywhere. What you make in your own head is worse than what actually is. In the Dark Tower series, Stephen King goes to an absurd detail on how a person got ran over by a car. No music, game, or movie has ever match that level of graphic violence. That is why horror movies are effective and some are not. The less we see the better. Because there was not a PG-13 rating back in the early 70's. Toby Hopper was hoping to get a PG rating on Texas Chainsaw Massacre because of how little gore was shown, but when it was released it was rated R. Even by today’s PG-13 standards, the film is tame. What pushed it to the R rating was how little was shown and how your brain made it worse. The ironic thing is, is that Jaws is rated PG and that film is gorier than Texas Chainsaw Massacre. 

 
He gives us the idea, we just fill in the blanks. 

You could argue that the reason why games are in the spotlight instead of films and books is because we are participating on the violence. While this is true to a point, we are only interacting with someone else’s idea. It’s one thing to play a game; it’s another thing to write about a fictional character’s death. In the game we are giving the tools to kill an enemy. Either by sword, gun, magic, blunt object, to even the body. Writing about a death allows you to step forward beyond that. It gives you a motive, setting, weapon, and the characters. I could write that person A kills Person B with an ax, or I can say that person A dodge person B’s attack and Kills person B. I can kill A or B in a number of ways. By the chest, legs, arms, or even the head. It’s entirely up to me and that is what games can’t do. 



There will always be violence in media. Whether fiction or on your nightly news, violence will never go away. I just rather prefer violence in a game, book, movie, music, paintings, plays, or any other matter that is not real life. If you kill another human being, then there is something far more wrong with you than you realize. There is no easy answer, so try not to find one.

BioShock: Infinite Review

"If you want to test a man's character, first give him power" - Abraham Lincoln

Ken Levine returns to the world he created with BioShock Infinite. When the original BioShock came out in 2008, it received many awards and it's been called one of the greatest games of all time. While BioShock was good, it wasn't as good as everyone said it was. Repetitive fetch quests, a bit leaner, and a lackluster boss and finale, I just don't hold the high regards everyone else has. I found BioShock to be good, Nothing more, nothing less. BioShock 2 came out, and it wasn't good. It was just mediocre. Now, in 2013, we finally have a BioShock game that matches the hype, BioShock Infinite. It ditches the fetch quest style of the original and leads us to the path of redemption and loss. From the minute  you step into Colombia, BioShock  Infinite version of Rapture, it becomes apparent that this is American Propaganda overload. No matter where you turn, you will see the red, white, and blue. There was also racial overtones in the game, none of it was too offensive, but it does bring the racial war America used to have. The one thing that does shine brighter than that is the religious propaganda. The creator of Colombia is a reverend named Comstock, but he calls himself a prophet. He claims that God came down and to make the City one which this game is based on. If the original BioShock shows what happens if you give everyone too much power, BioShock Infinite shows you what happens if you give someone too much.

"Who is the happier man, those that lived life to the fullest or someone that just stood back and merely existed?" - Hunter S. Thompson (paraphrased)

BioShock Infinite is an FPS adventure on which you have to save a girl named Elizabeth. For all the action and great gameplay BioShock Infinite has, it's nothing compared to Elizabeth. Elizabeth can take care of herself and can take care of you. It's like a reversed escort mission, instead taking care if her, she is taking care of you. She throws you all you need to survive the fight. And if you are down, she'll revives you. She doesn't help all the time, but most of the time she does. This might make the game seem easy, but it's not. The game is not too hard, but there area  few fights that do require you to be careful. One of the best part of the game is the Skyline. You use a hook to ride in the skyline to go to one place to another in Colombia, and it can be part of combat also. This adds an exciting aspect to combat. Using the Skyline, it will make you be in constant movement, but Elizabeth won't give you items. It becomes a risk and reward aspect of the game that I didn't think it would be there. Elizabeth is this years Clementine. She's a fully established character that you can't help to care for. What makes Elizabeth work is the brilliant script and a great story. The voice acting is superb that makes you care for the characters. DeWitt is a likeable dick. The last 10 to 15 minutes of the game is so mindblowing that it's going to be hard for other developers to match it.

"We are Hummingbirds who are not willing to move" - Issac Brock

In the nine to twelve hour game, there were a few moments that I would have either taken away, or trimmed down. There was a stealth mission that comes from out of nowhere, and it would have been entirely possible to miss it. The finale battle, while trying to be epic, didn't have that same excitement the rest of the game had, and one that I won't mention because of spoilers. That part happens in the middle of the game. The story, while still great, does falter a bit, but that one section ends just as quick, it's still equally important to the overall narrative. It just seemed that there would be more than that. But the worst thing about it is the fact that there is no carry over or new game plus. Like Tomb Raider, finding everything is just not worth it if it doesn't have carry over.

It's not often a game comes along and blows the hype out of the water, but BioShock Infinite did just that. The flaws that it has, even if one of them is major, is nothing compared to the rest of the game. Not only is it a strong contender to game of the year, but it'll be remembered as one of the best games of the decade.

A Quick Impression of Injustice: Gods Among Us

The creators of the Mortal Kombat series are coming out with their brand new game Injustice: Gods Among Us. Releasing in April, 16th Netherrealm has a released a demo in the mean time. The demo has three playable characters; Batman, Lex Luthor, and Wonder Woman. It's got about 20 more fighters in the finale game including Robin, Nightwing, The Green Lantern, The Joker, Superman, and Harley Quinn. Depending on what character you play as you play as, they each have their own advantage and disadvantage. Lex Luthor is strong, but moments are slow, and Batman is quick, but his attacks are weak. Wonder Woman seems to have the mixture of the two. I'm a more of a quick attacker player, so Batman was the choice for me. If you were expecting the fighters to have the same moves as the Mortal Kombat characters have, then you'll be half right. The buttons for both games are different, but they both share the same button commands, Batman's grappler move is the same as Scorpion's. If Batman is Scorpion, then Wonder Woman is Mileena and Lex Luthor is Jax. If you had some problems with both Mileena and Jax, then you'll have the same problem here. But if you practice like you might have done with Mileena and Jax, Wonder Woman and Lex Luthor can be powerful fighters. With enough practice, you can make their weakness into their strength. This game has the philosophy of Easy to play, Hard to master. I haven't learned every move of Batman, so I've been button mashing. I know that if I sit down with it like I did with Mortal Kombat, Batman will be just as powerful.

There was one only one mode to play in the demo, and that was Battle. You fight Batman, Wonder Woman, Lex Luthor, and Doomsday. Doomsday seems to be taking the Shao Kahn's school of bosses, but unlike Kahn himself where Kahn has the tendency to use the same moves over and over again, Doomsday mixes them up. He's a legitimate challenge. He isn't tough, but tough enough to keep you in your toes. Much like Mortal Kombat, there is a type of X-Ray move, instead of showing the bones break, each fighter has a super move. Batman's super move is that he shocks you, hit your chin with his knee, throws an exploding Batarang, and makes his Batmobile run you over. It gets ridiculous sometimes, but it's fantastic in doing so. There is also wages that happen randomly in the battle where you press a button to try to complete a clash. There was something like it in Mortal Kombat vs DC. If one person wins the wager a small bonus will be given to them. The two I've seen was a small health benefit or more damage of the resulting clash. If there was a tie, nothing happens, and the fight continues on. The one thing that did surprise me was the damage. In one fight parts of Wonder Woman's skin was gone. It's not Mortal Kombat level of skin damage, but it's there and not as bloody.

Injustice: Gods Among Us releases this month for the PS3, WiiU, and 360, and if this demo shows a tiny taste of what is to come, then this will be one of the best fighting games around. I haven't mention the extra multiplayer and single player modes this game has. The same care that Mortal Kombat 9 had is shown here, and I can't wait to try out the full game.