Preview: Spider-Man: Edge of Time

Superheroes are everywhere. Between the multiple blockbuster movies released every summer and the powerful momentum of comic books, society has recently acknowledged the significance of the superhero genre again, allowing the theme to completely blow up. The Avengers may be taking the spotlight in 2012, but Marvel has certainly not forgotten their other representatives like Spider-Man.

Spider-Man: Edge of Time, a new game developed by Beenox, features two incarnations of the titular hero, both of whom behave quite differently. While the original, "classic" Spider-Man, Peter Parker, is playable throughout the game, the futuristic Spider-Man 2099, Miguel O'hara, acts as his counterpart (For those who are unfamiliar, Spider-Man 2099 stars in his own line of comics which acts as a futuristic reimagining of the original series).

Spider-Man 2099 in his city of future Nueva York.

Spider-Man: Edge of Time focuses on both "Spider-Men" and their teamwork to prevent the Alchemax corporation from striking the world with its iron fist, which would imminently lead to a dark, dystopian future. A scientist goes into the past to help the Alchemax corporation develop at a much faster pace, killing Peter Parker in the process. Miguel O'Hara, a geneticist, becomes aware of the devastation that would ensue and goes into the past to save Parker from his demise. In order to prevent the grim future from occurring, O'Hara and Parker cooperate between different timelines, applying their abilities, strategy, and teamwork to every situation along the way.

Modern Spider-Man using his speed to confuse enemies.

In Edge of Time, Both incarnations of Spider-Man play similarly, yet have unique specialties in combat. Spider-Man 2099 is melee-oriented, equipped with a battle suit that allows him to fight similar to classic Spider-Man. Additionally, due to this suit, 2099 can both accelerate rapidly and zip around to confuse enemies. On the other hand, classic Spider-Man can use his webs to spin together weapons and grab enemies from afar. Reliant upon his web and speed, his "spider-sense" also gives him an edge when fighting a large number of opponents.

Arguably the most unique feature within Edge of Time is the cooperative actions that can take place between both versions of Spider-Man. For instance, Spider-Man 2099 would be facing a giant robot that he is incapable of taking down. However, classic Spider-Man may be within the factory that created the robot, able to demolish it before its construction is complete. Thus, Spider-Man 2099 can continue on with little trouble.

That situation may not be as hypothetical as I said.

Spider-Man Edge of Time comes out October 4 for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii, PC, DS, and 3DS.

Short Version: Due to the unique gameplay style, Spider-Man: Edge of Time promises to be an enjoyable and exciting experience. Anyone who likes Spider-Man will love this game.

VGM of the Day #13: Only a Plank Between One and Perdition

Been away for a while, whoopsie-daisy. I'd apologize but I quite enjoy my free time.

Much like my inevitable return to the field, this Nobuo Uematsu track marks the time to get one's ass and take action. Tension is rising from the impatient bassline and pulse-pounding percussion, and combined with the no-nonsense melody, this makes for one those edgy run-like-hell songs, and it's implemented to that effect in the game quite well.

Granted, pretty much every numbered entry in the Final Fantasy series has a track or two for occasions like this, but in my eyes, this one stands a cut above the rest. The fact that it's been years since I beat FF VIII and the only tidbits of the game I can vividly recollect contain this song speaks a lot. Especially since FF VIII was a fermenting pile of compost.

All in all, it's definitely one of the better tracks in what was not one of the better games in the series. It's a high-speed thrill ride that makes it clear; the time to dilly-dally is over, and the time to act is upon us.

Heh. Maybe I should take its advice and keep up with the blog.

The Verdict: Need something to study or do your homework to? Look elsewhere.

VGM of the Day #8: A Fleeting Respite

Freaking Mondays.

You know the feeling; you wake up ten minutes before the alarm is set to go off. You can't go back to bed, and you don't want to get out of bed, either. You have two options: wait in vain for the inevitable despite your best hopes otherwise, or get off your lazy ass for once and start the day early. Lose-lose.

The Castlevania series gave me that same vibe a lot. There's a world to save and a castle to destroy, but you need to work hard for victory. Backtracking to get the item you need to double-jump, only to approach another wall on the other side that you need the high jump for - it challenged my will to keep playing with how little I've accomplished.

This track expresses that pretty well. Underlying tones of sadness and joy make for a mixed bag of emotions, filling the air of Yoko's shop. Aptly titled, A Fleeting Respite represents that brief moment of rest that you've earned, but before long it's back to work, no matter how much you want to fight it. You've got a job to do, and there's no getting around it.

Freaking Mondays.

The Verdict: Nice blend of happy and sad; catchy and refreshing.

VGM of the Day #6: Drivin' Through on Max

Ah, weekends. I remember my brothers and I would just wake up, gather around the Nintendo 64, and play games to our hearts' content. Be it Mario Kart, Mario Party, F-Zero X, or whatever else we had at the time, it was always a fun way to whisk the day away.

Yumiko Kanki and Naoto Ishida combine forces on this track to bring a pulse-pounding experience that adds excitement to the race, but doesn't go too hardcore. It's a perfect mix of fun and ferocity; you have to beat your competition to prove that you're the best, but remember that it's just a game, enjoy it.

The main melody is repeated throughout the entire track, accompanied with solid guitar work and a sick bassline. It's definitely a great fit for the intense gameplay that the F-Zero series has become known for.

While I don't really gather around for game night anymore, fond memories of good times never dissipate. And this game's given me plenty of those.

The Verdict: One of the best tracks in the game. Makes races exciting and enjoyable.

SilverTrinity Rants About Video Game Music - BlazBlue

I've been playing BlazBlue a lot recently, and can tell you that there is more depth to this than there is to a lot of other fighting games. Whether SFIV is one of those, I'm not sure, but regardless, this ranks among my top 3 fighting games ever. If anybody's played and liked Guilty Gear, don't shy away from picking this up; it's awesome.

And so is the game's music. Much like Guilty Gear before it, the soundtrack in this game is heavily rock-inspired , yet still somehow strongly diverse among the 12 character's themes. Except for Taokaka's and Tager's themes, all the character tracks have an electric guitar accompanied by whatever fits the character (Rachel's theme has an organ and Hakumen' s sounds Asian, for example).

Now, usually, I don't approve of the game's music being too rock-heavy, or too biased into one any one genre, for that matter. but the action gets intense during play, and it fits that so well. As for the remainder of the tracks, they take on a much less bring-the-pain role. The intro has Japanese lyrics (joy of all joys -_-), and the main menu is actually pretty good and catchy, unlike a certain recent fighting game that I won't be playing for a while.

The song I'm most pleased with in the game is actually a lyrical piece that only plays when my favorite character (Bang) activates his Distortion Drive. This song right here can motivate a paraplegic to run a marathon, it's so good. It can motivate you to run outside in a snowstorm and DODGE SNOWFLAKES, it's so good. It can make you want to die, come back from the dead, and AVENGE YOURSELF, it's so good.

But I digress. Though it may not work for some anti-rockers, it's actually really good in terms of production and arrangement.

SilverTrinity's Score: 8.0 / 10.

SilverTrinity Rants About Video Game Music - Street Fighter IV

As there is not much else to do at this time of day but listen to music and chat with my buddies on MSN/AIM/what-have-you, I was doing just that when all of a sudden fellow Psychotic Gaming member Scykoh sends me an IM telling me that he sent me an invitation to be an author on his new blog. So, thinking about what I could blog about from one bad idea to another it occurred to me that I should express my opinions about something I'm knowledgable about.

Right off the bat, the first thing I thought of was my taste in music, for I prefer (In contrast to Scykoh's incoherent drivel) to hear the tunes of my favorite videogames over that of "real" music. As that's all I really listen to anyway, and as not many people favor VGM over other genres of music, I decided to have an episodic blog about various games, past and present, in which I critique their soundtracks.

The first installment of this frequent rant is about one of my favorite games of all time, for sure: Street Fighter IV. After a long hiatus since its last numbered entry in the series, it easily proved that this old series still has it, easily making my Top Game of '09 (Take that, Modern Warfare 2!) and redefining itself as a series. I can't wait until Super Street Fighter IV comes out; it's all Dee Jay, man, watch out.

HOWEVER!

As much as I enjoy the game and the series as a whole, I am displeased to say that the soundtrack in this game is somewhat lackluster. The majority of the stages (Except for the Training Stage, which is awesome) have these generic kind of synth-heavy tunes that are largely forgettable the instant you put the game down. There are 4 pairs of stages that actually use extremely slightly tweaked versions of the same song. C'mon, now.

The tracks in this game are a nausea-inducing, half-techno, half-crap hybrid that make me want to play (thanks to the beauty of the Custom Soundtrack feature) my good ol' Third Strike soundtrack over that of the game's. And I do. Because it's bad.

Now, that's not to say that every single track in this game is bad. There are indeed a few tracks that stand above the rest of the pack for me, and most of them are in the form of the remixed versions of the existing tracks in previous installments.

Ryu, Sakura, Guile, Chun-Li, Cammy, and Zangief all have wonderfully done renditions of their past theme songs. 4 of the fresh new faces in the games- Abel, Viper, El Fuerte, and Seth - have nice, fresh stuff to bring to the table. Akuma and Gouken basically have 2 halves of the same theme, but they're nice nonetheless.

The only problem is that these tracks only play during Rival Battles or the online lobby. Bad move.

Now, I have one more beef I have to address before I give a score. Everybody knows what it is, everybody has their own opinion towards it, and I repect that. But, I must be honest. THE INTRO/MAIN MENU THEME in this game makes me absolutely sick to my stomach. It's a completely and utterly terrible piece of music. In English and Japanese, the beat is grating, the lyrics are irritating, and it doesn't fit. If this load of crap taints the sanctity of my main menu on Super Street Fighter IV, you can count me out, Capcom. Ugh.

All in all, I don't think it really fits with the game too well, it's forgettable, and while it has its high spots, it has far more numerous bad spots.

SilverTrinity's score: 6.0 / 10.