Looking at: Persona 4 Golden

High School Blues

You'll need to enter the TV world through the biggest TVs you can find.

I'll be the first to admit, I hated high school. I think, on reflection, most people do, since it's an awkward and terrible time in your life. Either that, or they loved high school because it was the last time their life made any sense, and that's even sadder. Regardless, for me high school sucked, and that's terrible, but at least I didn't have to fight a horde of demons hell bent on killing people.

Ok, in fairness, I don't think a lot of people have to do that in high school. Math class may have been terrible, but at least it wasn't trying to eat me.

Persona 4 is, in many ways, the complete opposite from my high school experience. It's a poppy, happy-go-lucky, monster slaying good time and easily one of the best JRPGs I've ever played.

Small Town, Big Adventure

Knocking down all enemies gives you the opportunity for a powerful counter attack.

The setup for P4 is that you've recently moved to the small rural town of Inaba while your parents are away on business for a year. You move in with your uncle and cousin, attend high school, make some friends, ect. A few days later bodies start showing up, mutilated and tied to TV antennas, and you learn of something called the Midnight Channel. The Midnight Channel shows up at midnight on rainy days, and while the rumors say it's supposed to show you your soul mate, the reality is it's showing people about to die horrifically. You, along with your friends, soon discover that you can enter into the midnight channel and save these people by freeing them by way of killing a shitload of monsters.

That's really all I'm going to say about the plot for two reasons: First, the story of this game is so long that recapping it here would make this my longest article yet by far. Having just beaten the game, my total playtime is well over 50 hours, and that's just for the main plot. Persona 4 is a massive game, and encourages extra playthroughs with a New Game Plus mode and a bevy of side missions and entire side plots to explore.

The second reason I'm not revealing any more about the story is that it really needs to be experienced, and just talking about it doesn't do it proper justice. It's a weird tale, with plenty of surreal and unbelievable moments as you get drawn deeper and deeper into the mystery surrounding the Midnight Channel. It also draws heavily from the likes of Saturday Morning cartoons, and it's no coincidence that the entire game was adapted to one of these post launch.

Whatever it is, the writing is amazing, with memorable, multi-layered characters that are worth exploring. There is the occasional awkwardness due to the translation, especially with the total inclusion of Japanese honorifics (I now understand what Senpai means, and I hate it) but overall the translation work is great and it works well in English. It constantly walks between noir-horror, high school comedy, and coming of age as the characters and plot evolve over the year, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

The overarching theme of the story seems to be discovering what's hidden inside of a person. The Midnight Channel accentuates the innermost thoughts of whatever victim is trapped inside, and dealing with this creates some of the most grounded moments in the game. You'll see people dealing with their sexuality as they approach adulthood, and it even touches on the subject of homosexuality, something incredibly taboo in Japan. It's an odd contrast to the mile-a-minute of the rest of the game, but it proves effective for flushing out the characters and making them feel much more real.

Math Class, Killing Demons, and the Dating Scene

Improving your relationships with people is necessary to succeed.

Gameplay wise, P4 is a mix between traditional dungeon crawling JRPG, and... high school life sim? I'm going to go with visual novel for the other half, but that's only because my knowledge of that genre is limited at best.

Basically, when you're in the Midnight Channel, you'll be stalking along the hallways of randomized dungeons, hunting or avoiding monsters and battling them for cash or loot. It's a classic formula we've seen dozens of times before... mostly. More on that in a bit.

The other half of the game is spent as a teenager living in a small town and going to school. You'll need to study for tests and attend classes, as well as buy supplies and prep for your excursions to the other side. Most importantly though, you'll need to make friends and strengthen your bonds with people, referred to as Social Links. Social Links increase as you get to know people, and they feed back into combat by allowing you to create better Personas to fight with.

That leads me to the Personas themselves. Personas are kind of like Pokemon, at least functionally. You collect them by winning battles, and you can train them and equip them with skills. What this means is Personas act as your magic abilities in combat, giving you access to elemental attacks, and various buffs/debuffs. The most interesting thing about Personas is the ability to merge them, either as a pair, threesome, or even more powerful combinations later on. This allows you to create even better personas from the ones you've trained, and combining the right Personas with each other can lead to incredibly strong outcomes, especially when you start giving them the proper skills.

All of this feeds back into the combat, which you'll be doing a lot of. Combat in a JRPG can drag and get boring, especially thanks to random encounters, but Persona 4, having learned from P3, seems to have been built to keep combat going at a break-neck speed. The trick is the ability to stun enemies by exploiting their weaknesses. If the enemy is weak to fire, hit them with a fire attack and they'll be stunned. Stun all the enemies and you'll have the option to launch an All-Out Attack, where all available party members rush in and do massive damage. Battles are blissfully short when conducted correctly, and you're encouraged to balance your party, as well as your stable of Personas to stay prepared for anything.

Golden Hour

The golden re-release contains so much new content, it might as well be it's own game.

I've played a bit of the PS2 version of P4, but it's the Vita re-release that I beat the game on. The Vita version is called Golden, and that's not an understatement. It's the definitive version of the game by far, with a huge list of additions and extra balancing to even out some of the rougher areas of the game. The Vita doesn't have a huge list of games worth playing, but Persona 4 is definitely worth it alone.

Graphically, the PS2 version was pushing the system to it's limits. Everything is incredibly stylized to look like a cartoon. It's an incredibly colorful game, with everything over the top and popping with style. Animations are all smooth, and character models look great both in game and during battles. There are a handful of animated cutscenes, and while they don't look as good as the official companion anime, they're a great addition to the game and help to sell some of the more important scenes. The Vita's Golden version is even better, with a wider resolution and smoother frame-rates throughout, even despite being on a hand-held.

The audio in Persona 4 is brilliant. There's really no better way of putting it. Sound effects are punchy and help to sell the animations, but it's the voice work and the music that really shine here. Firstly, let me say that Persona 4 might have one of the funkiest soundtracks ever recorded. It's an eclectic mixture of J-pop just south of annoying, 80's style hair-rock, and what I can only describe as electric orchestral. The PS2 version came with a soundtrack CD, and it's not hard to see why.

The voice over work is equally impressive, calling on some of the best from both anime and video games. You're main character is silent throughout, but there's strong performances from people like Troy Baker, Laura Bailey, and a huge cast of extras. Like most Japanese games, only select portions of the dialogue are voiced, but the parts that are, are extremely well done. There are some lines that grow annoying after hearing them for the 500th time, but you eventually just tune this out as you loose yourself in the game.

Graduation Party

Persona 4 isn't afraid to touch on taboo subjects, but it's also filled with humor.

It's rare that there's a JRPG that I like, and even rarer that I like one so much I play it till the end. I really considered not writing this review, since in my mind there's something terribly off about a grown man playing a game about high school teenagers.  In the end though, P4 is such a great game I decided it was worth talking about.

Persona 4 is, single-handily, one of the best reasons to own a PS Vita. It's one of the best JRPGs I've ever played, and it's one of the best RPGs in general I've ever played. It's a game that forced me out of my comfort zone, and I'm all the more happy for it.

image sources:
http://gearnuke.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/persona4-golden-1.jpg
http://www.snackbar-games.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/persona4golden4.jpg
http://gamingtrend.com/wp-content/screenshots/persona-4-golden-vita/Persona%204%20Gold%20-%201.jpg
http://www.thescoreonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/persona4-social-link.jpg
http://gamerchatter.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/2013-02-01-132245.jpg
http://static4.gamespot.com/uploads/screen_kubrick/mig/3/1/4/5/2123145-169_p4golden_extras_homegardening_ot_vita_110912.jpg
http://cdn3-www.playstationlifestyle.net/assets/uploads/2012/11/p4g-screenshot1-555x315.jpg

Looking at: Grand Theft Auto 5

Rockstar Life

GTA 5's three protagonists

I'm standing in the middle of a busy intersection, in my underwear, laughing as the world around me explodes. I'm a crazed Canadian meth dealing psychopath and I've planted C4 in a circle around me, just to watch the chaos unfold. The area is tearing itself apart and it's all because of me.

I'm driving my luxary car down the street on my way to pick up my best friend. He's an asshole, but we grew up together in the suburbs of Los Santos, a facsimile of Los Angeles, and he's one of the few friends I've got. As a couple of poor, African-American guys we have to struggle to make ends meet, but we always try to find time for a few drinks and a game of darts when we can.

I'm on a golf course downtown and I'm considering beating the guy behind me to death with my 9-iron. He's been bugging me all game and I can feel myself relapsing into my old violent ways. I stop and consider that I'm trying to be a better father and go legit after a life of crime I left behind. I hit the ball and slice it hard left. Killing the man proves to be much more enjoyable.

The Grand Theft Auto series is one of the older IP's still hanging around, having managed to stay alive since 1997 without a reboot or a very long pause. It's a series all about letting the player run rampant in an open world, creating their own stories in-between the story crafted by Rockstar themselves. GTA V is a return to the sunny shores and barren desert of Los Santos, jewel of San Andreas, but is this a trip worth making again or is it just another celebrity face-lift?

Tinsel Town

Scattered around town are random side jobs, almost as good as the plot missions.

In many ways GTA 5 is the same game as GTA 4 was, which itself wasn't to far removed from the GTA 3 trilogy of the early 2000's. As always the game revolves around you doing various crimes as you rise through a seedy underworld all the while trying to keep a level head and stay one step ahead of those who would see you taken out. You'll fight cops, other gangs, private security, and your own morality as you come to grips with the world of crime and violence you find yourself in. It's a dark look at what man is willing to do, and the biting commentary about modern American life is found in every corner.

Once again this crime drama is set in Los Santos (Los Angeles), the jewel of the great state of San Andreas, previously seen in the GTA of the same name. Where as GTA: SA had the entire state to explore, including the cities of San Fierro (San Fransisco) and Las Venturas (Las Vegas), GTA 5 has chosen to instead stick to one city and the surrounding country side. That's not to say the map is small mind you, and indeed it's decidedly larger then any of the previous games, including Rockstar's Western odyssey Red Dead Redemption.

Despite it's enormous size, GTA 5's version of LS and the surrounding Blaine County is, hands down, one of the most detailed and impressive game worlds I've ever seen. There is so much to see in this game that I often found myself flat out ignoring my current objective just to walk around an appreciate the world. The amount of minor detail is staggering, from the way the different districts of LS look and feel different, from the wide open wilderness of Blaine County and the way it all melds together. I've always been a sucker for big worlds begging to be explored and seeing a game outside of the RPG genre pull this off so well reminds me constantly why Rockstar is one of my favorite developers. 

That's sort of the underlying strength of GTA 5, is it's almost psychotic attention to detail in the little things. Thinks like how vehicle engines tinkle as they cool down when parked, or how the pedestrian traffic of different areas changes based on the time of day. It's a level of detail you rarely see in games, save perhaps the admittedly even crazy Metal Gear Solid series, and it really helps to bring the game to life. You could strip away all the story elements to GTA 5 and just sell it as an interactive world and I still would've bought it on that alone. 

Triple Trouble

Michael's problems with his family are some of the most human moments in the series' history.

The story, incidentally, is perhaps GTA 5's most problematic area. Like previous entries into the series, the story revolves around a series of daring crimes committed by a small group of individuals as they struggle to survive against ever mounting odds. The biggest difference this time around is that rather then one protagonist, you control three, slowly unlocked over the games first five or so hours. 

Firstly there's Franklin, a young African-American man trying to shake his gangster upbringing. He's in love with a girl that hates him, best friends with a suicidal moron, and lives with his fem-Nazi aunt that wants him out of her life. Franklin's biggest strength is his ability to drive well and in another one of GTA 5's new features is the addition of special poweres, in Frank's case, the ability to slow time to a crawl and drive with perfect precision. It's a handy feature and Frank's is arguably the most useful. 

Shortly thereafter you're introduced to Michael. Mike is a retired bank robber who gave up his life of crime a decade ago and has been regretting it ever since. He's still got his head in the game, but the game's moved past him and he's playing catch up. More interestingly is Mike's family, a wife, daughter, and son. Family ties was a theme explored in GTA 4, but Mike's is far more interesting then the bowling obsessed cousin of that adventure. It grounds the character in a way not previously explored in the series and does a great job of humanizing him. 

Then there's Trevor, simultaneously the worst character in the game and the best character in the series. Trevor is pure chaos, completely unhinged and ready to go off at a moment's notice. He's a cannibal speed freak, striking fear into everyone around him with his very presence. He's an agent of destruction, leaving a trail of bodies wherever he goes. He's Mike and Frank's best friend, and they're worst nightmare. 

Switching between the three after they're all unlocked is a smooth and seamless transition, allowing you to go to the other side of the map at a second's notice. While it's fun to switch between them during free roaming gameplay, it's the missions that see them working together that really make the game, swapping back and forth for flanking shots and side assaults on unsuspecting enemies lends a new level of depth to the gameplay we didn't see before. It's like playing a strategy game, only really fast and it makes some of the hairier moments all the better. 

Psychotic Episode

Trevor sows destruction wherever he goes.

It's a little to bad these men don't have a better story to tie them together. The plot is best described as "wandering" and it's oddly made both better and worst by the addition of three playable characters. There's no overarching plot to hold everything together like Niko or Cj's quests for revenge in the previous games. I've heard GTA 5's plot described as "people doing bad things" and that's really the best way of describing it, it's just a series of people doing things.. 

That's not to say the writing is bad, actually quite the opposite. This might be some of Rockstar's best work, with a huge cast of memorable characters and dialogue that's both funny as hell and shockingly realistic. The way the characters interact feels real, especially between the three leads, and there's a metric fucktonne of voice work ensuring that every line is delivered perfectly. 

GTA 4's plot was all about the American Dream gone wrong as Niko slowly learned that America is worse then his former life. GTA 5, in response, is the utter rejection and hatred of the modern American life. This is a game completely sick and tired of the world around it, taking potshots at nearly every aspect of modern, post economic collapse America. There's commentary on modern News reports, racial tension, police militarization, reality television, and even other video games. There's something lost in the minutia of it all, and at times GTA 5 seems to forget what's parody and what's just pointing and laughing, but it works more then it fails and paints and ugly picture of the world we live in. 

At times it seems like the game would've benefited from only one main character, and you can sort of see that throughout, since all three men have their own individual story. I would've loved to see the game just centered around Michael's struggles, and it's his plot that seems to have the most weight to it. Sure, the switching is fun, and both Trevor and Franklin bring their own strengths to the table, but it's Michael's struggle between family life, crime, and his deals with the shady government agents that proves to be the strongest part of the game. 

Maximum Pain

First person mode offers a new way to play in the Next-Gen/PC version.

If there is one thing handled perfectly it's GTA 5's shooting. GTA 4's shooting was a step up from the PS2 era, no doubt, but it still felt floaty and off balance. GTA 5 seems to have taken several notes from The book of Max and completely overhauled the shooting. This time around it feels precise and on point, allowing you to deliver perfect shots with ease. It's not quite as perfect as Max Payne 3, but it's more then serviceable in it's own right and never hinders the experience. 

Driving has also received an update from GTA 4. Cars now have real weight to them, depending on the vehicle type, and there's a huge difference between driving a family sedan, a low-rider, or a semi-truck. It takes more then a bit of getting used to at first, and it's easy to spin out accidentally or over-judge a slight calculation, but once everything starts to click it feels as smooth as any number of racing sims. 

Graphically GTA 5 is impressive. Like I mentioned there's a huge level of detail to be found throughout the game, like characters only getting wet to where they went into the water, but all around GTA 5 is a really nice looking game. Los Santos has never looked better and it's rare to see a game world that looks and feels this alive and vibrant, with color strewn about to bring the game to life. There are minor issues, like the lack of reflection on certain surfaces and recycled textures popping up here and there. There's also, at least on the last-gen systems, a huge problem with pop-in and LOD distance causing the occasional crash into a tree that wasn't there before. Out of all the versions the 360 is by far the worst for this, and while it doesn't ruin the game, it really doesn't do it justice either. 

On the audio front, GTA 5 is an absolute accomplishment. Let me start by talking about the radio stations, all of which are awesome. There 17 stations in the default game, plus an additional one for PC players and a custom player station on PC as well. It's a guarantee you'll find some music you love, but even better you can really get into the mind of each character thanks to the radio. It's awesome to drive downtown as Franklin, blasting classic rap songs, or racing around as Trevor to some angry punk music. Never mind the original score, which punctuates the scenes perfectly and always seems to kick in right where it's needed most. 

Beyond the music, the actual audio design is fantastic. I already talked about how great the voice work was, but it goes even further then that, with the streets of Los Santos sounding like actual busy streets. There are innumerable pedestrian conversations, either between people on the street or into their cell phones. There's the distant sound of dogs barking, or emergency vehicles whizzing along. There's the subtle hum of traffic, complete with the odd radio turned up way to loud. GTA 5 might be one of the best sounding games I've ever played, and it's so well done I doubt many people will actually realize. 

On PC and Around the World

Multiplayer is often as hectic as the singleplayer.

I haven't mentioned it up till this point, but this review is largely based off the PC re-re-release of GTA 5, which is hands down the best version. I'm not just saying that because I prefer PC gaming, but I've played the PS3, 360, and X1 versions of GTA 5 and the PC version beats them all hands down. This isn't just another console port, and while the 18 month delay from the original version might seem a bit long it's clear right off the bat the wait was worth it. Rockstar received a lot of criticism for GTA 4's sloppy PC port, and it's been rumored that's why Red Dead Redemption never made the leap. It's clear they've learned from this as the PC version out preforms all of the console versions with ease. 

First of all, it's just a very well made port, with a full suite of graphics options to suit your needs. My little brother's rig is definitely starting show it's age and yet he had no issues running the game smoothly. More then that, it's rewarding for people that put time and money into their machines by offering 60fps, and while I'm not usually one to get hung up on frame rates, it's impossible to not see the difference. 60fps is much smoother then 30 and the game as a whole feels better for it. It does tend to dip down, especially when shit starts to hit the fan, but I've never seen it go lower then the high 40's. 

The PC version also looks better, even then the next-gen console versions. The lighting is sharper, shadows handled a bit better, and there's more minor details rendered. All of this can be seen from the included 1st-person mode, courtesy of the PS4/X1 version. While I still prefered the game in 3rd-person, it was nice to see how much work was put into making 1st-person a completely viable option, and it's impressive to see how well it works. 

The other thing I haven't talked about yet is GTA Online, GTA 5's multiplayer portion. GTA 4 included an online suite too, but that was more traditional. GTAO is structured as a stand-alone MMO packaged with the already lengthy single-player, and as of now it also includes the option to take on heists. There's enough here to keep you busy, sure, but playing with a group of friends, especially the heists, is the way to go and provides some of the best, action packed experience the game has to offer. 

All of this can be captured and logged thanks to the PC version's full video editing suite. GTA 5 isn't the first game to feature a video editor, but it's certainly one of the better ones. Short clips can be recorded during normal gameplay, either single or multiplayer, and edited together with a whole host of options. What's great is that you're not even limited to the your camera, as the recorded video is produced as a full 3d screenshot, allowing you to move the camera wherever you want. There's also the inclusion of Director Mode, allowing you to take control of any character in the game and do whatever you want with them. Want to make a video of Michael's daughter going on a killing spree? Now you can. 

Crime Spree

Trevor and Michael's strained relationship works well thanks to great performances by Ned Luke and Steven Ogg.

Rockstar have earned themselves a name by making grand, sweeping games worth playing and talking about, and GTA 5 reminds us why. While it's story might not be as strong as GTA 4's, there's no denying the strong cast of characters and biting commentary offered up by the three leads. GTA 5 points a mirror at modern American life and forces us to admit that it's a shitty, shitty place to live in, THEN the game gives you a hammer and lets you smash the mirror to bits. Whether or not they know it, and I think they do, Rockstar have created one of the best pieces of cynical parody in gaming ever. 

The GTA franchise have always been great games, and GTA 5 continues that tradition in style. It's a completely confident game, bursting with content and personality. It's a game worth playing, if not for the great gameplay or awesome dialogue, then simply because everyone else is playing it too. 

image sources:
http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1quk34/a_map_comparing_the_sizes_of_all_the_major_gta/