Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5: Review

    I had the pleasure of watching quite a few hours of streaming live of Tony Hawk a Pro Skater 5, thanks to Gamereacter Live, Europe's most famous Videogame magazine,now live twitch streaming service, and website. Most people gave this game a very low score, and those who gave such a low score, are from people who only watched the game be played, rather than played it themselves, or so Gamereacter Live stated, and with them I can agree. See, I'm old, let's face it, I'm older than most gamers, but I know what the old-school Tony Hawk games were, and I believe that Tony Hawk 3 was the pinnacle of the original series, because it was perfect, from control, music, graphics, at the time that is, and it even received a perfect 10 score on Gamespot.com, and back then, Gamespot.com was more important than EGM, I'm sorry but facts are facts. 

     THPS5, is an amazing game for nostalgia's sake. It looks, plays, and plays better than any other game in the original series. Granted, you can't get off the board, but you couldn't get off the board in the original games, and I kinda like that they kept the Pro Skater style, rather than the Underground gameplay. Call me nuts, but I even like the graphics they have in the game, I'm glad they don't looks so real you can see nothing but ass sweat through the entire game, I'm glad when you fall it looks like a really bad rag doll, and not all cuts and scrapes like say, in Skate. I know power ups, and shooting fireballs takes away the realistic skating,but is it so wrong to have a video game be a fun, crazy, unrealistic game for once? I mean do we remember that gaming is about escaping reality, not necessarily emulating reality? I don't play Fallout for accurate guns, and realistic environment, I play it to fight zombies,giant killer monsters, radiated bears, and giant green goliaths! 

      Still, the game is flawed, even for emulating....old-school gameplay. Granted, the graphics, and the S-K-A-T-E letters come back, but the graphics could still be a bit better than they were, even though they look nearly, if-not eerily similar to those found on the Playstation 2. The quality seems lower, but it's surprisingly fast-paced, and the load screens are rather slow, however, having to load back and forth from single player, and multiplayer. Still, we go Gaga over playing games that look like 8-bit "art", but when we do something that's looks nostalgic from ten-to-fifteen years ago, it's not worth a dime of our money. I think it's hypocritical for a gamer to braise a game like Braid, or Bastion, then condemn a game like Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5. I have to paraphrase a line from the Fresh Prince himself, Will Smith: Young Gamers Just Don't Understand. This is a hypocritical nation, and we are surrounded by the hypocrites that don't see the irony in their disdain for a "next-gen" title, which looks like a bunch of polygons, or like it was made on a twenty year old engine, but clap their elitist hands when it looks like every other 8-bit RPG rip-of of overrated titles like Final Fantasy to begin with! News flash! Final Fantasy was Squaresoft's going out of business sale, because they couldn't sell a blessed cartridge. Still, RPGs are the stuck-up "cultural" facades of the gaming community. We gamers are not just some "98 Quite Bitter Beings" that have been there to play every one of the old-school THPS games, we respect that the old adage that games are designed not for some cultural statement, but to be played for fun. 

     In a culture that makes me feel like the old man screaming to those young hooligans: "Get off my Oregon Trail, ya damn whippersnappers!!" I feel a sudden disdain for gaming journalists who gave this game such snotty scores like 3 out of 10, why I never cared much for given a game a numeral score anyway! This game is fun, I can see it's fun, and plays like an older game, which isn't a bad thing! Seeing as every newer game has so many candid flaws, and glitches that crash your console, so it needs to go in the shop to be fixed by Bubba, who charges you enough to might as well buy the newer system. Sorry, but this game deserves a median score of 6 out of 10, maybe even a solid 7. I'm not crazy, I'm a gamer who has been playing games since the second generation console cycle, and hanging out at an arcade to play something that was truly communal, unlike online gaming that never levels the playing field. 

    Yeah, I hate to be that guy, but many gamers are sick of the liberal use of making indie companies to fight the so-called "man" over actual gameplay, because the trends will be trends, but love or hate it, there is a need for games like Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5, so hypocrites have to stop playing gaming politics in journalism, and actually give a fair, unbiased (hah!) score. Now I may stick with third-party titles, and I may do only Playstation exclusives, I love gaming overall, but I also know what I personally like! Canni appreciate a 2-D game? Absolutely! Yet don't doubt me when I say that these games only succeed because some old farts in the gaming journalism elite, hate the fact they're getting old, and jumping on a trend so that grey streak running down the sides of their receding hairline, is somehow ignored becaue they jump on a sheep bandwagon. Am I a hypocrite for saying all this? Hey! Welcome to 2015! 

     Personally, if you're a fan of the rest of the THPS games, and I happened to find them to be rather dull after the first Underground game, and yes, the original Skate game was okay, but it didn't even compare. Is this game great? Does it compare to Skate 3 even? No! It was never supposed to though! It's pales and oranges, and Tony Hawk is one of those old fogey guys who I talk about in their said industry, and yes this game is an obvious rush job, but for the complaints people have for this title, they're the wrong complaints, and a sad, sad sin as to what the gaming journalism industry has become. 

    The controls on this game are slated to be basically carbon copies of their older counterparts, and although analog controls have been added, they seem to be responsive from what I've seen, and the reviewer experienced from the stream I've watched. The gameplay itself is a bit repetitive, but it's a skateboarding game, so if you think it's supposed to be varied and complex, I'd suggest only playing user-made levels, or building your own parks, becaue that to me seems like the meat of this game; as it was for the grandfathered prequels. 

     If this game was made, let's say either ten years ago, or ten years in the future, it would have received a much stronger score overall, so is this just bad timing? Even though it was rushed out because the liscense expired, I have some mirth over how well accomplished this game was, and who the hell didn't want some trophies/achievements to go along with the original Tony Hawk Pro Skater games?  The problem is most people are finding the game too easy...well, it is the fifth rendition of a game most of us mastered at fourteen, so yeah, older gamers are probably not having that much of a problem, although younger gamers who are so used to just mashing square and/or Y buttons to achieve something, are probably not used to actually having a challenge. I could be wrong, still, I think the only thing this game does wrong is the lackluster playlist, and that has more to do with shitty music, rather than a poor playlist choice, but that's another rant. 

      To conclude, this game is a stellar choice for nostalgia gamers that are sickened by the flooded market of eight-bit wannabes, and helps in a lacking market of skateboard/extreme titles. I would hope that this game opens the said floodgates to other major titles of extreme sports titles, but most likely, it's a dying genre, because it doesn't have nearly the impact it used to; that I can agree with most naysayers. Still, I happen to still love the X-Games, and can appreciate what skaters put their bodies through for perfection, and it is earned with broken bones and scraped skin. This game is fun, and it may harken back prices of thirty dollars per game, but it deserves it's full-price, despite how much that may piss off "gamers". 

     Thank you for reading my anger, but if you are an old-school gamer, from Maine to Ajerbijan, you can appreciate what I'm saying, and you may or may not appreciate my vigor on the subject, but I know that gaming for gamers isn't about brand, or age, it's about the experience. Sure we older gamers make it seem like the Rose-colored glasses of the past make it sound like games were better, but in-truth, many of them sucked, yet they were built with a pride that didn't come with developers being personal slaves, where they were more defined, more in control before games became big business. I sense the irony in  my subtle disdain of newer indie studios, but they have not the same fortitude as older developers of yesteryear, and have a great deal of growing up to do. I say criticize until we make sophomoric results reshape into perfection. 

  Again,thank you for supporting the Malacast Eidtorial, and I hope you all continue to have a wonderful October!!

Editorial: Upcoming Posts, and A Quick Discussion on Bloggiing

First: an allusion to upcoming posts

Every single big move made in entertainment today seems to go in this abstract formulae that aggravates rather than innovates. For example, we know the biggest movie releases are going to suck so bad, that less than one percent of the U.S actually sees them. Yet movies that make so much money, never get the recognition they deserve. The joke is that most of these award ceremonies should be made for the entertainment that was the least entertaining.
  This is not always the case with video games: which normally receive accolades before they're even released to the general public.  Video games take years to make, and spend more time in post production (which can last forever, now that downloadable patches are inherently more accepted, than a scarce bandage for a rare bug or glitch) than any film, or television show. Video games have tons of awards, which act more as a rating system than some  glorified kiss-ass festival.          
   Games, no matter their genre, tend to be stocky, never really advertise far from what the market desires. When something noir, unique, or just plain wacky, it is now made into a new sub genre that creates a boatload of sequels.  I find that most games are far from actually being legitimate new. Not since the times of the fifth generation consoles, has there been a great deal of risk-taking games. I do believe that games are more innovative, in-terms of story, and the voice acting and sound effects are unparalleled to any major motion big budget film.
       I've mentioned this some time ago in a past blog post. I do enjoy reminiscing, I even have an upcoming blog post that I've spent a few hours on about two months back, solely based,on my love of one nostalgic game: Silent Hill 2. This game was the second one I bought for the Playstation 2, and I go into detail about the game.  For those who actually followed this blog for some time, they know that I write a ton of posts out, and put them up when applicable.  If I have the time, I'll occasionally write one out on a tablet (which I find irritably annoying) that usually gives me some time. I've written a great deal in the last five years, some of it I actually like, but I have very little to show for it, because I never take that next step.
      So I write this blog, and in the above paragraphs, I've started to discuss the change in the production of video games, which is quite obviously the most dynamic expenses of the medium. Production changes more often than the way it's coded and played. The biggest change for most video games in the last thirty years is that the remote had gone wireless and is nearly flawless. The remote hasn't changed in forever. I've written an article, entitled Peripheral Apocalypse, which I will also be putting up in the next couple of weeks. So I have a few posts that will come to fruition for the Malacast Editorial.  However, until those are applicable, here is my post for today:

      For bloggers, writing is essential, almost critical, when it can be done nearly every single day. I write nearly every single day, but I take a nice long hiatus when I'm nearing the end of a project. For example, I'm writing a novel right now, it's a futuristic Sci-Fi that I'm hoping to end at 180 pages. (Approx. 100,000 words plus) I'm at 100 pages currently, and I haven't touched it in a few weeks, probably about a month, month-and-a-half tops. I'll be finishing it up pretty soon, I just wanted to think of ways I could end the book that will both appeal to my readers, and satisfy my tastes. A lot harder than it sounds!
     Yet, most writers write what they want, which makes sense, but even I have to bite the metaphorical bullet at times, and actually write something I despise. This novel is more up my alley, and I think my readers who have read my fiction beforehand, will admire it greatly, because it goes well with my short stories, and a bit of my poetry.
  I take a long break in the middle or the end, because I'll jump right into the next novel the second I'm done with the current, literally just hours, or days after,,I take no time to rest.  This works for me, and seeing that this is the sixth manuscript I've written, I believe that it will be a standalone, I'm not too fond of serials, unless they're short, they literally follow one another, and they could be read individually, just in case someone picks them up in the wrong order. Sounds contradicting right? That's why it's tough, and I don't do it on average. I think when Stephen King opted to writ a sequel to The Shining ( the sequel is entitled Doctor Sleep) it was more an act to appease himself, and not necessarily the reader. Which is great! He has reached the pinnacle of his career that he could right the script to a porno, and it would be the most mainstream porno ever made. The man could write a book about two headed puppies from hell, and turn it into a number 1 best seller. I almost wish he trolls the market one day and writes a book about killer rhododendron. Or did he do that already?
  As writers, which we are, essentially, we blog either every day, or every week, depending on time management. So we kind of band together, like an online family of constructive critics, and most are,willing to help out their fellow blogger. Now because of independent publishing, we help each other, because of how marketing on each other's blogs help spread the word of our books, especially to potential audiences that might not have been reached before.
    My point is, we use this medium to discuss what we want about the subjects that get cloudy in other forums. However, blogging also allows us the opportunity to do some free marketing for our other ventures.  Anyway, before this post is completely wrecked, I'll end it here.

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Thank you again for reading the Malacast Editorial, it's much appreciated. I'll have a new post up for this upcoming Monday Blogs, if you follow me on Twitter.com, you'll know when The blog is updated. You will also be informed via e-mail whenever I release an E-book. I'll only inform those that are interested, so you can message me directly, or send me an E-mail.

Until next post, keep well, and enjoy your day, afternoon, morning, and night.