Game 4: Indigo Prophecy

Indigo Prophecy (also known as Fahrenheit to the rest of the world), is a Shenmue-esque psychological, crime, and investigation thriller taking place during a New York City winter. I consider the Shenmue comparison a compliment as the gamplay techniques used in these types of games can lead to some very fun experiences. But at the same time, this style is not for everyone. We will see how well the developer Quantic Dream pulls off this gameplay in the first hour of Indigo Prophecy.

(minutes are in bold)
00 - New game and the all important opening begins with what appears to be cherry blossom petals falling down with the developer and publisher names doing their fade in and out. There's a voice over undoubtedly foreshadowing all the events in the game, but I'm paying more attention to the beautiful New York City cityscape in the distance. The game sure looks great and it's obvious the artists spent a lot of time on this scene. It's made an impact on me at least.

01 - Snow is falling heavily and the lights of the city are blurred. The credits begin
fading in and out very movie-like. Reminds me of the cinematic opening of Metal Gear Solid 3.

02 - The camera begins following a crow and it lands on bathroom window and we get our first look at the crime scene. Of course, it's not a crime scene yet. There's a man at a urinal and another in a stall. My controller starts vibrating to the rhythm of a heartbeat. I'm starting to get into this.

03 - The man in the stall opens the door - brandishing a knife! He staggers towards the man who is now washing his hands; the screen is flickering between different scenes of terror. *STAB* The man falls to the floor and the killer climbs on top of him, stabbing him in the heart! (it sounds violent, and it is, but it doesn't look too gruesome)

04 - Suddenly, the man realizes what he's done, his trance-like mood is snapped and he starts freaking out (so am I!). A meter appears in the bottom right and it looks like the man is going into depression. I'm immediately reminded of the sanity meter and how much that set Eternal Darkness apart from other horror games. I gain control of the killer and the action begins! I begin with dragging the dead body into the stall next to the one I occupied just a minute before (even this first action I take seems to affect future events - more on that later).

05 - I am now able to interact with the bathroom using the man: I can wash my hands, dry them, look at myself in the mirror; it's all very Shenmue. I wash off the blood on my hands and regain a little sanity.

06 - There's a broom in the corner and I grab it to wash the floor. It seems mildly effective (another decision that will have affects on near future events). All of a sudden the screen goes split screen (24 style) and we see a police officer get up from his seat in a diner and start walking. By the tense music that begins and the timer that appears on top of the screen, the cop is undoubtedly walking towards me in the bathroom! This is actually really freaky and done really well. For the next few seconds I look around the room trying to find anything else I can do.

07 - I check the window, no luck, it's barred. I'm basically out of time and by the time I make it to the door, the cop enters. I dash out as he walks in and haul out of the diner by just running straight. As I run out, the waitress yells that I didn't pay and then the split screen reveals the cop finding the body! As I dash into the snowy NYC night, the cop starts yelling about no one leaving the diner and how there's been a crime. I wouldn't be able to hear him normally but the split screen allows me to see what's still going on in the bathroom.

08 - I run around town for a bit, keeping more of an eye on the other screen showing the cop checking the body. The whole time the music is pumping and my heart is racing.

09 - I climb into a taxi and tell the driver to head for Brooklyn. It seems I have escaped for now.

10 - If this blog were called "The First Ten Minutes", I would award Indigo Prophecy an easy 10 out of 10. But there's still 50 minutes left - plenty of time to let me down. Back to the game, two people arrive in a car outside the diner I just ran out of. From the sounds of it, they're the investigating police. I then get control of the female cop, looks like I'll be investigating myself!

11 - We get a look into her thoughts, she "feels" that something is different. Well obviously, otherwise we wouldn't be playing it.

12 - Together, we enter the diner and I walk over to the male cop and start up a conversation. The conversation is interactive like how Mass Effect's dialog promises to be. It should be mentioned that (on the Xbox at least) nearly all interaction with the world is done with the right thumbstick. So if you want to pick something up, you wander over to the object with the left thumbstick and sort of press up on the right thumbstick like you're picking it up.

13 - The game allows me to switch to the male cop, Tyler, on the fly, which is definitely a cool concept in a non-platformer.

14 - After walking around for a moment, I switch back to the female cop, Carla. I suddenly notice something, maybe it was my excitement before that let me overlook it, but the controls for walking are pretty wonky. The camera is very different from your typical 3D adventure and your character never seems to go where I want him to go except when walking totally straight. Indigo Prophecy seems to have inherited some of the bad gameplay aspects of Shenmue, unfortunately.

15 - I begin some investigation work, starting with the waitress who saw me run out. She can remember my (the killer's) face and figure perfectly, which is not good for me; I think.

18 - After speaking with the waitress for a few minutes and gathering some more information about the victim, I take Carla and check out the table where the killer had been sitting.

19 - Carla finds a few things of note on the table and I head into the restroom.

20 - The crime scene looks the same to Carla, but I can interact with things differently. However, the camera is jumping around and I have a hard time zeroing in on objects of interest.

21 - I switch between Carla and Tyler and find something intriguing: each investigator can find different clues and they comment on objects differently. This makes the crime scene more interesting as I can now look at it through a third pair of eyes.

22 - Besides the investigation, the officer pair begin bantering revealing their characters thoughts and motives.

26 - I feel like I've finally investigated everything in the bathroom with both officers. We found the murder weapon (knife from the diner), the killer's blood in the stall next to the victim's, and the broom I used to mop up with. The officers question each other on who's blood it may be. It seems that my first action has unusual repercussions: if I had dragged the body to the stall the killer had bled in, the question on who's blood is this would never have come up!

29 - I leave the diner after having Tyler check all the evidence in the restaurant, I think I've found everything. Turns out there's also an emergency door in the back, maybe if I had run out there in the first place the waitress would never have seen me...

30 - The game switches back to the killer, Lucas, he's waking up in a mess of bloody sheets. He's decided to go to work, but his sanity meter tells me he's depressed. I find him some pills to take and listen to the radio for a minute, he recovers a little.

31 - As I explore Lucas' apartment, I find a ton of things to interact with. This is spoiled some by the flaky controls, much like how Shenmue was spoiled too.

32 - The phone rings and I use the split screen to help me find the phone. The answering machine picks up first, but I'm able to interrupt it. It's a friend, we decide to meet in a park to discuss my situation.

33 - I check out the newspaper and find my story is on the front page. Really? A murder on the front page of a New York newspaper?

34 - Lucas says out loud (reminding me) that he can't go to work all bloody. I head into the bathroom and bandage up, turns out Lucas slit his wrists while under the trance and that's why there was so much blood in his bathroom stall.

35 - I look in the mirror and the victim's face appears next to mine! Freaky! It's easy to tell that this is more than a typical murder and that there's going to be a lot of psychological things going on.

37 - A policeman appears at the door, at least I think. A bunch of colors appear on the screen and flash like the Simon game. A moment later it says I failed. Failed what?

38 - Controls are still bothering me while walking around the apartment.

39 - Lucas experiences a flashback from last night, hard to forget that. I see the dirty clothes from last night and the game provides a split screen of the washing machine. I feel like I'm playing the Sims.

40 - Suddenly, a police man is really knocking at my door! He yells at me to open up and a timer starts. It's getting tense again as I gotta make sure it doesn't look like I'm hiding anything. I run into the bedroom and make my bed quick to hide all the blood.

42 - I open the door to the cop and a suspicion meter appears. He starts asking me questions and I think I'm answering them "wrong" because his suspicion is starting to rise quickly. The officer said the neighbors heard screaming and called the police. He asks if he can come in and I let him.

43 - The cop checks out the bathroom and then the bedroom. It's an intense moment as he opens those doors because I may have forgotten something. Turns out, everything is okay and he leaves. Phew. I leave too to meet my friend.

44 - At this point I can continue Lucas' story or take control of Carla, the female police officer. I choose Carla. Reminds me of the moment in Final Fantasy VI where you choose between three different groups, but you have to complete them all eventually. However, it's not clear in Indigo Prophecy if you will have to complete all characters to continue on. She's heading into work this morning at the precinct to start further investigation. The office is huge and I wander around for a while.

47 - There's less interaction here and I'm feeling overwhelmed by the amount of doors and offices. I finally find Carla and Tyler's office and head in. I get to play Yo-Yo! Once again, I think of Shenmue and all the little minigames that provided.

48 - Carla calls Tyler and he's still in bed. The game switches control to him and I navigate his way around the apartment. The game is throwing a lot of new areas at me, but this one is easier to manage than the station.

49 - Tyler says he needs a shower so I maneuver him over to it. While showering (non-graphic), there's a really weird split screen of Tyler in the shower and his girlfriend/wife getting up and making coffee. Weird not only for the content but also for the funky music accompanying it.

53 - I finally get Tyler to the office and talk with a co-worker. I'm able to respond to the conversation with different emotions and responses, making it totally unique.

54 - Carla and Tyler discuss the crime and continue their investigation. Turns out the waitress is coming in to help draw a composite picture of the killer (Lucas).

57 - Carla mentions she needs to check her email, indicating something important is in there obviously. Ah, a mysterious email concerning "Kristen". Of course.

58 - The game switches back to Lucas, he's at a park now. I walk forward and start a conversation with a man, it's Lucas' brother, Markus, a priest.

59 - Lucas explains his story to Markus but his brother is afraid to get involved at all. That seems pretty obvious to me when your brother was in a "trance" and murdered someone in cold blood!

60 - As the last action of the hour, Markus offers Lucas his cross necklace. I have the choice of taking it or not, but I take it. It must have been a good choice because I get an extra life from it! Seriously.

The hour is up, didn't quite end with a bang like the first three did, but here's my ratings out of 10.

Story: 10
The story seems very deep and involved, especially since it is being told from multiple viewpoints. It has a lot of potential, but the first hour sets the stage perfectly.
Graphics: 9
The graphics peaked at the opening (I'm not sure if it was an FMV or not), but the game looked great. The characters looked pretty real and the environments were created with care. Some of the textures seemed rather bland, and movement seemed stiff at times. The game has a very cinematic feel to it.
Gameplay: 7
The controls really bothered me. They bothered me in Shenmue too and I was hopeful this wouldn't suffer the same problems, but it does. It may even be worse thanks to the "cinematic" camera that jumps around at times causing you to walk into a wall, or at least anywhere but where I'm trying to go. The game does get extra points for using the right thumbstick in unique ways and exploring the multiple characters.
Fun Factor: 7
The game has its tense moments, but after the first ten minutes, they were and far between. The scenes with Lucas seem so much more interesting than Tyler and Carla; in the first hour, Lucas is the story and the investigation just isn't that exciting. Maybe that will change but the first hour seemed almost unbalanced.
Minutes to Action: 4
Overall First Hour: 8
The first hour of Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit) started at such a great pace that it just couldn't keep up. Sluggish controls and sudden boredom at the 45 minute mark keep this game from scoring higher, but it's still a very respectable and fun first hour. The developer Quantic Dream put together an intense and intriguing opening that loses its edge too quickly. The voice actors, however, did a great job as well as the art team, creating a snowy New York City. The gameplay is original and the control scheme is inventive, as long as it doesn't become a gimmick or crutch to lead the game on, I think the rest of the game will be worth it. Indigo Prophecy is a cinematic experience available on the PC, Xbox, and PS2. For those fans waiting for Shenmue 3, this seems like the Western equivalent of the series. Let us just hope the rest of the game can match the intensity of the first hour.

Game 3: Beyond Good and Evil

Beyond Good and Evil: the most overrated underrated game of all time? So many people say this game is underrated, I have to wonder if that's really true. But that's not the point of this post, the point is to rate The First Hour of Beyond Good and Evil. Warning: absolutely no overrating or underrating ahead. I'm beyond that.

(minutes are in bold)
00 - I once again start up a new game and the timer starts. One hour of underrated gameplay ahead I hear. Instead of opening up with a sweeping view of a city or some creepy voice over, we see a newscaster reporting on the latest happenings of the land. He informs us that there's a war going on! This is a pretty original idea for an opening scene as we get filled in on what's going on with a snarky journalist.

01 - The camera pans over to what appears to be the main character and her fox/goat friend doing Tai-chi on a cliff. But it doesn't take long for an explosion to rock the sky and bombs or meteorites start falling from above. The girl starts running and the game does that freeze-frame shot of her with camera clicks in the background. I always liked that cheesy stuff. Turns out her name is Jade, by the way.

02 - Jade runs to what appears to be a shield generator for the lighthouse. Does she really live in a lighthouse? I guess you don't see that too often. The button she presses mocks her for being out of money to pay the electric company so the shield can't restore itself!

03 - Some meteorites land by the lighthouse and a bunch of little animal kids fall in the holes. Why weren't they in the lighthouse like our disaster plan said?! Anyways, some alien capsules rise out of the earth and I get into my first fight! Action in just three minutes!

04 - So the game feels a lot like the latest Zelda games, which is definitely a good thing. I easily jog Jade around the battlefield and tap A to whack the machines. Jade also throws some martial arts in with her bowstaff for good measure and fighting is actually fun.

05 - I defeat all the machines pretty handily but near the end the battle started crawling along. I'm not able to tell if it's being artistic and slowing me down intentionally or if the frame rate was actually that bad. The game is beautiful looking but it's not doing any complicated lighting or particle effects.

06 - I fall down a hole somehow and get yelled at by some tentacle monster. I'm really not sure if he's speaking English or not (a trend in this first hour). A large pig jumps down and saves me and I get to fight this "boss". The pigs name is Pey'j (luckily there's voice overs or I wouldn't have known what to do with that apostrophe).

07 - As I whack and defeat the tentacle creature, the pig just stands around yelling about super attacks and such. Do your own super attack!

08 - I win an orb that is the size of my head and pocket it Guybrush Threepwood style. My talking belt says I can sell it on the black market. At least I think that's what he said, his Spanish accent was incredibly heavey!

09 - I go back up to the surface to find a bunch of soldiers and a news crew, I like this sort of storytelling where you really feel like you're in the world.

10 - Suddenly Jade faints! This is the necessary plot decision to move me into the house. I wake up surrounded by more animal children and a GIANT white dog. Scary looking!

11 - Spanish belt man pops out again (he's a hologram). This time I have no idea what he's saying, I can't even tell if he's speaking English. Should have turned those subtitles on I guess.

12 - Pey'j hands Jade her camera and we take our first picture of a horned ladybug. The more pictures I take, the more money I get to pay back our electric bill. And when I submit eight pictures of distinct animals, I get a digital zoom!

14 - I pick up some "Starkos Energy". Is it a piece of cheese? I also notice that jogging around in this game is a lot slower than Zelda. This isn't necessarily a bad thing though, it feels a little more realistic.

15 - I take another picture of some horned fox (why are some animals wild and some children living in my lighthouse?) and am able to pay back my electricity bill. Our lighthouse's shield regenerates and I guess we're safe from pterodactyls.

17 - I head downstairs to Pey'j's (that's awkward) workshop and am able to save my game. I also receive my first mission! I have to go to Black Isle Mine.

18 - Piggy says it's a trap! But since I'm the boss, I say we go there. I guess we need the money too. Beyond Good and Evil really makes it a point that we're poor.

21 - My first "puzzle"! I push a generator five feet into some sparks. Woo! The game feels more like Zelda every minute, but with a much more unique flavor.

22 - Looks like I get to drive a hovercraft. It looks pretty crappy but after driving air ships my whole life, I'm ready for something new.

23 - WOOOO! I'm cruising around the bay on my hovercraft, and I can shoot! Always a must on vehicles in video games. There's also a great compass feature that unobtrusively pokes me in the right direction. It doesn't take long though until my hovercraft dies and I get towed to the shop... There goes my fun.

24 - Mamago (a Jamaican rhinoceros?) explains his shop to me, boring. I don't have time for this in just one hour of underrated play!

26 - I buy a new engine with the orb I picked up before. Turns out with only 30 more orbs I can buy a space engine! Sweet! 34 minutes to collect them!

27 - My souped up hovercraft leaves the shop, only to run into a scripted boss battle! The bad guys attack again, this time with a giant water snake. Now, many games with vehicles try to pull off vehicle battles and a lot of them are really bad. This was actually really fun though, if easy. Cruising around the bay shooting at the lizard as he swam around. I'm not sure if I got hurt, but I only have two hearts of life anyway.

29 - I beat the snake and get another orb! 29 to go until my trip into space!

30 - I got an email! Cool! This kind of interaction is interesting.

31 - I try to head down towards the Black Isle but keep getting picked up by The Man. I don't think I'm going this way. In my frustration I destroy a civilian ship! Whoopee! Too bad I get fined, err. Grand Theft Auto guys don't get fined when they blow up cars. I only get fined 250 credits which I find out later is the price of a piece of cheese.

32 - I head into the city for a spectacular sight: there's hovercrafts and flying cars all around! Nice! Too bad I don't have time to enjoy the sights - instead I cruise through towards the Black Isle.

34 - I arrive at Black Isle without problems and get off my hovercraft. I meet an interesting handle-bar mustached man who tells me my mission is to take a picture of an elusive animal: Pterolimax. Sounds like my motor oil.

37 - The game really starts showing off its textures, it really is a beautiful game.

39 - Since I'm with Pey'j the pig, we get to do a lot of partner puzzles. This is another thing that can be either fun or obnoxious, but Beyond Good and Evil keeps them simple enough that I don't get annoyed. Mostly just telling Pey'j to step on a switch or lift his fat body off the ground.

40 - Pey'j shows off his jet boots, which run off methane and are run by contracting your abdominal muscles. Hilarious!

42 - I see a map and take a picture of it where it's then stored in memory. Great idea to the old concept.

43 - I get a new combo attack! Pey'j somehow causes time to slow down with his ground pound as I take aim at an enemy. Then that enemy flies across screen into something. I shoot some bad guys into barrels of TNT. They really shouldn't leave that stuff around.

44 - I take a picture of my eighth animal and receive a digital zoom. Seems like there's more rewards for more pictures, this is the kind of stuff that gets me coming back to games again and again.

46 - Pey'j yells "Sweet Jesus!" I have to laugh as I believe that's the first time I've ever heard that in a video game.

48 - Pey'j finds a giant wrench so now we can tear down chain linked fences. Man, the pig gets a sweet weapon and I get a larger zoom? Lame.

50 - Jade and me kind of get lost in the cave for a minute... I'm running past battles to keep the game moving.

52 - Shimmy! I've discussed my hate for shimmying before, but Jade moves pretty quick so I'm not bothered too much... but still enough to mention it.

53 - More decently fun partner puzzles.

54 - Pey'j gets mauled by some giant flying insect, I have to laugh at him.

55 - Whoops, I stepped on some baby slugs, I have a feeling something large is going to appear soon.

56 - Using my partner combo attack, I'm able to knock enemies off cliffs!

57 - I finally find the creatures I'm looking for, two little cute round things. I publish the picture to the internet I guess.

58 - Unsurprisingly (but still looks cool), the two creatures turn out to be the eyeballs of a much larger creature. He's another snake like creature and he goes in and out of holes while trying to drop acid on me. I manage to get a picture of him that's worth 3000 credits! That should cover the permanent burns on my body.

60 - At the last moment (by my own stringent time limit), I deliver the killing blow to the Pterolimax! Jade and Pey'j share a big hug (I really hope that's all there is to this relationship) and I receive another orb! Only 28 to go for my space engine, but I'm out of time!

Here's my ratings for the first hour of Beyond Good and Evil, out of 10.

Story: 8
I really enjoyed how the story was presented through newscasts, emails, and almost zero cutscenes. This kept the game moving at a quick pace while starting to flesh out what seems to be an interesting and mysterious conspiracy laden plot.
Graphics: 9
The textures and animations were great. Jade looks good and isn't over-sexualized like the current trend of female protagonists. The frame rate suffers sometimes though but overall the game looks great.
Gameplay: 8
If you're going to borrow from games, why not borrow from the best. Beyond Good and Evil plays like the recent Zelda games at a slower pace similar to Prince of Persia. This is a pretty good combination and the game benefits greatly from it. Sometimes it is a little too slow as Jade's dives through the air seem to battle the laws of gravity. The photography aspect of the game isn't original, but it is fun and rewarding. Many games just give you a camera and there's really no point in using it.
Fun Factor: 9
A very fun, pretty fast paced first hour. This isn't God of War 2, but there's a lot more to do than constant battling. Having a partner in battle is nearly worthless, but it opens up new avenues for puzzles, which are executed decently. Beyond Good and Evil is just a fun game to play though and really has a great first hour.
Minutes to Action: 3
Overall First Hour: 8
This is a fresh adventure game in a genre that seems bogged down with unoriginality and sequels. The first hour of Beyond Good and Evil presents a whole slew of things to do and opens up a world I can't wait to explore. The game is much more open than both God of War 2 and EarthBound and much more varied in things to do. I'm not sure if this game is underrated but the first hour at least, is well worth playing. Beyond Good and Evil is available on a variety of platforms (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, and PC) so it's likely you have the means to play this game. If you see it, pick it up as it's well worth the trip, at least the first hour is.

Game 2: EarthBound

Game number two in The First Hour series is the quirky Super Nintendo RPG, EarthBound. One of the most popular classic console role playing games, EarthBound sports an odd sense of humor and has a huge cult following. But the real question is what I ask: is the first hour any good? I can tell you one thing, it's not as violent as God of War 2.

(minutes are in bold)
00 - The game starts when I hit 'Start New Game'. The game is sporting some funky music and a very unique background. I choose 'Strawberry flavor' for my text box colors, nifty!

02 - Phew! I just finished naming just about everything in the game! My main characters are Greg, Amy, Gob, and Bruce (but I have a feeling I won't be seeing much more than Greg in this first hour). My dog's name is Dog (yes I know, but I needed to speed things up). I also like Pizza and Games! Now, on with the game!

04 - The year is 199X. Uh huh!

06 - We see a fly over of the town I must live by. Then the game cuts to me, Greg! I'm sleeping like a little babe. Suddenly there's a loud crash and I finally get to move!

07 - I raid my house for weapons and settle for a cracked bat that I find in my sister's room.

09 - I say good bye to my mom, after changing out of my "jammies", and head outside. I start wandering my way around and find a path up a mountain. I walk up it only to run into a police barricade right when I find the meteorite!

11 - The police won't let me go through so I guess I need to walk back home? The game isn't very clear on anything at this point. I'm sleeping again and are woken up this time by some loud knocking.

12 - Turns out to be Pokey, the neighborhood fatty. He says his brother is missing so my mom sends us out along with Dog, to find Picky.

13 - The phone rings, no one answers. I guess I will, obviously. It's my dad who must be a good for nothing bum if all he can do is call. Well, turns out he's not a bum because he just gave me 30 bucks! Score!

14 - I finally get to leave the house again, but I run into a crow! My first battle! And the first real action of the game, only 14 minutes in... I handily beat the crow with my cracked bat, and then collect a magic butterfly who calms me. Reminds me of other magic things.

15 - There's another crow, and another. Pokey just stands there and scratches himself, my dog sometimes attacks. I level up and learn a spell, lifeup. How am I able to cast spells, there's no explanation.

16 - I keep getting cookies from crows, why do crows drop cookies?

17 - A snake! My first non-crow enemy, quite the milestone.

18 - We get to the top of the mountain again and my dog takes off. Probably too many people in the party or something lame. Picky joins me and his older brother and then a bee pops out of the meteorite (one of the first of many things that makes absolutely no sense). He blabs on about the future and some bad guy named Giygas (undoubtedly the final boss).

20 - Buzz-Buzz (the bee if you didn't realize) joins up and we wander back down the mountain. This is getting kind of tedious. All of a sudden we encounter a man shaped as a star, the game calls them starmen for some reason.

21 - Speaking of tedious, this battle consists me of pressing the A button over and over again. We finally win with absolutely no danger to me and I ding level 3.

22 - I bring the neighbor brats back home and their fat dad chases them upstairs. The parents babble on about how noble they are, etc. But then the super deformed mom just swaps Buzz-Buzz! I approach the dying bee and he gives me his dying message.

23 - I must go to Giant Step, to collect something no doubt. He gives me a sound stone to collect things in. I'm not sure where he was carrying this sound stone but it must have weighed him down.

24 - I walk outside and get my picture taken. Odd.

25 - I call my dad and find out he's giving me 44 dollars for killing crows and snakes! When I was growing up I would have made 44 cents for killing hundreds of dandelions. I'm jealous.

27 - I take another nap and then head south into town, Onett.

28 - Hey! A garbage bin! I inspect it only to find a perfectly delicious hamburger! Mmmm... my hit points are maxed out!

29 - I run into another road block at the south end of town, looks like I'll need to figure out what to do here before I move on. It probably has something to do with these punk kids attacking me!

30 - I get into a brawl with a skateboarder and he calls for help, the wuss. Well, turns out I start getting tag teamed and almost die on the streets of Onett.

33 - I wander around town some more and find Giant Step, northwest of town. However, the door is locked and it appears to be two mimes guarding it too, scary.

34 - I head to the library and get a map of the town.

36 - Getting mobbed by some more pogo stick people, but I prevail. Hit level five, but I think the game is slightly unbalanced.

38 - I just got called a twit and spanky. This game has a great sense of humor.

39 - Okay, I just got killed by a man in a hula hoop costume. I come back to life in the hotel with full HP but no PSI so I decide to sleep there a night. Only 35 bucks and I'm rolling in the dough thanks to my dad and my street cleaning career.

40 - I find the boss of the street punks, Frank. Time to take him down.

41 - Or not, as Frank just destroyed me. I have a bad feeling I'll be leveling for the rest of the hour.

42 - Another night at the hotel to recover.

43 - I get mobbed by a bunch of punks and die, again.

45 - Dead.

47 - Mobbed. Tried to run. Dead.

49 - This time a guy chased me down and caught me by surprise, so he got the first turn. Dead again.

51 - Finally won a battle, level 6!

52 - Quickly die due to low health from the last battle.

54 - Dead again.

55 - I get some revenge and take down a pogo-sticker in one hit! It feels good to SMAAAAASH!

57 - I get mobbed and die again. These bad guys calling in their friends is getting really obnoxious. I think I have just enough time to try and fight Frank again.

59 - It's an epic battle against the feminine Frank! He keeps saying nasty things and makes my Guts go down. I'm not even sure what Guts do so I guess I'm not worried! After tapping A enough, I finally take Frank down!

60 - But of course, Frank's got a toy! It's a giant mechanized robot who shoots bursts of steam in between his punches. The steam does nothing so it gives me time to recover in between attacks. One time he hits me for over 42 hit points! I only have 62 at max! Luckily, I had just healed so I survived. After bashing the robot enough, I win! My first real boss battle is complete, and just in time as I take out Frank and his cohort at exactly the hour mark!

Time's up! Now for my ratings on a somewhat difficult first hour of EarthBound.

Story: 6
The story so far is only semi-original but very quirky and light-hearted. The game doesn't throw a lot at you right away which is nice. What it does present is funny and has lots of potential, if somewhat derivative at times.
Graphics: 6
I will be rating this category by what is out at the time, and it's artistic style. EarthBound presents very simple drawings, part realistic and part whimsical at the same time. The game is fun to look at but its simplicity hurts it. There's not a lot of flair in the first hour to really impress me. The game does have a unique psychedelic tone which I enjoyed, though.
Gameplay: 4
EarthBound moves at a plodding place. The main character walks slow, people talk slow, and battles are very tedious with mostly just you pressing A over and over again while you hope you don't get smash attacked. The town fights against the punk kids seem highly unbalanced as some guys can take out half your health with one hit pretty easily. As I got more hit points, I became over-confident and started getting teamed up against, getting killed just as easily. This was part my fault, but I feel the game is too difficult in the beginning and may scare off some younger players who aren't willing to tough it out and just level up.
Fun Factor: 5
The first hour of EarthBound is simply not that fun. It can be difficult and trying, forcing you to level up for the game's first real boss. That's not very fun. The game redeems itself, however, with its unique sense of humor and style. This is definitely one game that pulls off humor well.
Minutes to Action: 14
Overall First Hour: 4
EarthBound's first hour moves slow and can be tedious. I should admit though, I've played EarthBound many times before and can testify that the rest of the game is very fun. The fan overlap between this game and God of War 2 is likely small, though somehow I fall into it. The games are very different, and for different audiences. For RPG fans, EarthBound is well worth playing and a refreshing change from the games today. However, the first hour just doesn't cut it for an RPG.

Game 1: God of War 2

This is my first post on The First Hour, reviewing the first hour of the game that inspired me to create this blog in the first place, God of War 2. The first hour of this game is really good, loads of action, decent introduction to the characters, and lots of blood and gore. Well, let's get right down to it then.

(minutes are in bold)
00 - The timer starts when I hit New Game. This is my second time playing through the first hour of God of War 2, but I choose to play on Normal difficulty again, don't want to stress myself out too much over the next hour, this series can be really hard. I beat God of War 1 two years ago, and had a blister to prove it (I have no such blister any more so I can't prove it I guess).

01 - The opening video starts with barely any loading, the game is off to a good start in my book. We see Kratos, the current God of War, hanging out in his godly palace, watching a battle take place below him. There's a whole lot of blood and limbs flying all over, so if you didn't know by now, this game is rated M - for mature. Fortunately, I am about six years over the strict maturity line, and thus am prepared for the brutal violence to follow. Anyways, some female god strolls up and yells at Kratos about too much fighting, whatever.

02 - Kratos decides to join in on the action and jumps down to Olympia. We see a flyby of the city, including the Colossus of Rhodes, something we'll be seeing a whole lot more of over the next hour. All of a sudden, giant Kratos starts glowing blue, indicating something horrible is about to happen.

03 - The Colossus starts coming to life (horrible thing #1) and Kratos starts shrinking (horrible thing #2). Then we're thrust into our first bloody fight. During this I scored like a 300 hit combo, a personal best in both game and real life.

05 - Colossus is peeking in at me the whole time I fight, not sure why he doesn't just try and smash me with his arm right now, but I guess it's a good thing the programmers were lazy and/or designers lenient. I get to lift my first door (Kratos is too good to just open them normally) by tapping O.

06 - Hey! My first green chest! It contains green souls which I absorb for life. Much like Ninja Gaiden before it, God of War 1 and 2 slyly* steal the soul absorbing technique from the Onimusha series. I also get a ladder tutorial, how thoughtful. *blatantly

08 - My first real interaction with Colossus, I get to catapult into him, too bad he just grabs me and throws me against a wall, rather harshly too.

10 - Turns out you have to wear him down a bit, and then stun the Colossus to successfully catapult yourself at him. How one stuns a giant statue, I may never know. After I smack into him and do my first Shenmue-esque timed button sequence combo thiner, Big C throws me across town.

11 - I promise I will never call the Colossus of Rhodes, Big C, ever again.

12 - Kratos lands in some bath and there's some funky music playing. I wander over to two women behind a screen who are enjoying the water (their words, not mine), and share an intimate moment of whispering secrets and tickling. The neighboring peeing statue gets a kick out of it though.

14 - Being in and out of there, Kratos finds his first save point, some glowing yellow thing. I get to pull my first lever and swing on my first grapple of the game. Exciting stuff. But seriously, Colossus' foot almost stomps and kills me, but I'm still a god at this point (I think), and fight him off.

15 - Colossus is outside waiting for me, looks like I need to stabby-stab him some more.

17 - Okay, this guy is annoying. I know he's one of the Ancient Wonders of the World but how much can this guy take? Anyways, I'm almost dead and using all my magic on him, well, trying to at least, it's hard to tell if I'm actually hitting him. Eventually I just swing my weapon at him and he falls over. Now I jump on him and slice him and stuff.

19 - I'm almost dead again, I suck at being a god. I finally knock him down again and have to tap L1 and R1 back and forth a bunch to escape his grasp. Finally I jump on his head Mario style and rocket across the city.

21 - My epic jump somehow restored all my health and magic so I head into a palace. All of a sudden I start experiencing deja vu from my Prince of Persia days.

22 - Get to save again, and then some archers start shooting me. You know what, I can't stand archer enemies in games. Especially when I have no long range weapon myself to fight back, it's just not fair.

23 - Oooh, a box and switch puzzle, the best kind.

24 - Take an elevator up after killing a bunch of soldiers. Surprisingly, no surprises on the way up. But then Colossus peaks through a window and I get to slash his eyeball, yay!

25 - A little cutscene plays with Zeus talking about some sword. Zeus is supposedly the best or most powerful or hairiest god as he has a booming voice. He throws the sword down to earth (hundreds of feet away, mind you) so I guess I have to take Kratos over to get it. It's glowing blue (there's that blue again) and Zeus says something about losing my god powers when I take it, whatever.

27 - More archers!!!

28 - A really obnoxious balance beam with archers shooting at me, quite possibly the most annoying combination ever.

30 - I finally make it over, that had better be the last balance beam I ever see in this game (probably not).

31 - Cool little sequence where Colossus knocks the bridge I'm strolling on out from under me and I gotta run along it all quick like. The sword is right in front of me, but I'll have to fight Colossus a bit before I can pick it up.

34 - I finally knock the World Wonder down (must be that extra trade arrow he grants to each square of the city's radius that gives him extra health). Now I'm draining Kratos' red souls into the sword, bye bye.

35 - Knock Colossus down again and then lose my magical blue souls.

36 - At last, my green souls are getting sucked away, but I successfully draw the sword out of the ground. Not sure it was worth it considering all my special moves are gone and I have less than half the life I had before, and no magic.

38 - I tap square a bunch, slowly creating a hole in his chest cavity for me to jump into. Once it's big enough, I jump in.

39 - A bunch of platforming my way up the Colossus' spine. Thank you for double jump, gaming's greatest creation. I also receive a Hint Message: "You have just received a hint message. These provide hints on how to solve puzzles." Thanks.

40 - Accidentally jumped to my death, whoops. Another shout out thanks for checkpoints.

41 - Another balance beam boss, I live.

42 - Some falling pieces of wood knock me off and I fall to my death again.

43 - While staring at the magical blue spinal column, I fall... but not to my death! I actually land on the balance beam and an enemy falls down with me. We both walk slowly along the beam, and then I fall even further.

44 - At this point, I think falling and living is actually worse than falling and dying. At least when I die I get a checkpoint and teleport back to where I was before.

45 - I'm stuck. Well, I finally figure out that I have to shimmy along a circular plank. A note on shimmying: this is probably the worst form of movement ever developed and used in a video game. Shimmying slows the game down to a literal crawl and forces you to be bored and scratch yourself while your character moves like a slug across 20 pixels of narrow space. I hate shimmying.

46 - Almost as bad as shimmying is a minute long rope climb. At least it wasn't as hard as the ladder boss from Metal Gear Solid 3.

47 - An annoying beam of light puzzle, I want to kill more things!

48 - Kratos reaches Colossus' open mouth, and I fall to my death while writing down what's going on. I revive and jump out! However, always cocky Kratos gets squished by Colossus' right hand and we lose the sword!

49 - Kratos throws up some blood and stumbles towards his sword. All his soldiers make fun of him for his weakness and I can feel the pain in Kratos' heart. Or not. The worst part is I can't double jump right now.

50 - Beardy (Zeus) shows up and mocks me. Zeus and Kratos have a discussion about betrayal and such and then Zeus grabs the sword!

51 - We get into a fight but I can't do anything since I can't double jump, so I lose. Zeus stabs Kratos through the abdomen and an FMV starts.

52 - Zeus kills all the soldiers in the city with some super attack. Kratos gets really pissed but then he dies, so he can't really do anything about it. Some creepy hands come out of the ground and start grabbing for the body...

54 - We start seeing a flashback of God of War 1 storyline: Kratos becoming Ares' servant of war, Kratos killing people, his typical stuff. But then this woman's voice starts talking with various people's heads, including a naked woman with an oddly shaped rear end. The creepiest part is where she talks using a little girl (I think it may be Kratos' daughter).

55 - Kratos meets the disembodies voice, turns out to be some mountain named Gaia, a Titan. She gives me my mission, to go to the Sisters of Fate so they can help me beat Zeus. I have a feeling I won't be doing that in the next five minutes.

56 - All of a sudden I'm back in Hades and I have to crawl out of there with all these hands trying to grab me. Reminds me of middle school.

57 - I escape from Hades and see a* Harry Potter flying horse (thestral; obviously Kratos can see this thing because he has seen death before). *non video game reference ahead

58 - I save one last time and hop on the horsey, who turns out to be Pegasus. A voice over tells me that I'm not a god anymore and that to defeat Zeus, I have to travel back in time to the point where he betrays Kratos, to kill him. But won't that create one of those awkward paradox producing moments where you see yourself?

59 - I get to fly Pegasus and kill gryphons! Why gryphons?

60 - In my final minute, I kill two evil gryphons by chopping their wings off. Very bloody, very cool.

Well, time's up! That was a mighty fun first hour, now time for my ratings out of 10:

Story: 6
Why is Kratos so angry? Why are there random naked women? What is my motivation?!
Graphics: 10
Everything was gorgeous! The game really shows off the PS2's power, which I always thought was kind of weak, but there were a couple games, especially this one, that really proved it has something powerful inside of it.
Gameplay: 8
The controls were decent, I dock points for the period of time where I couldn't double jump, and when a piece of plywood killed me. The fighting though feels fluid and it's very fun to produce copious amounts of blood!
Fun Factor: 9
A very fun game first hour! Like I said in the introduction, tons of action and combat. This game throws you right into the battle and doesn't let up the whole time.
Minutes to Action: 3
Overall First Hour: 9
This is what this blog was made for! God of War 2 wastes no time starting you off with a great game and doesn't bother with too much potentially boring story. I highly recommend the first hour of this game to fans of Onimusha, Ninja Gaiden, God of War 1, or your grandma who used to have a fleeting interest in women's rights during the ancient Greece.