Nonfiction Review: Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment by Jason Schreier

From king of the world to a cog in the system, Play Nice blows open Blizzard's rise to fame and its fall from grace

Play Nice, the most recent book from renowned journalist Jason Schreier, says all in the title. The book follows the Blizzard from inception to acquisition to scandal. Though the future for the company is rather uncertain (what with the recent Xbox acquisition), the past holds a lot of dramatic development fuel (at least enough for an almost four-hundred-page book). Though I’ve never been a hardcore Blizzard fan, I’ve sunken many hours into Overwatch and was curious to see how some of their development choices unfolded. Instead, I got a whole lot more that I didn't know I wanted.

Schreier begins with Allen Adham and Mike Morhaime’s (Blizzard’s co-founders) initial foray into the industry and hits on every success, cancellation, and acquisition that comes their way. The industry darlings of the 90s continued to pump out hit after hit after hit. The Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft franchises were all massive successes, but the history behind each plays out here. For instance, the Diablo team was originally a separate studio that was brought into the company. Play Nice details how Blizzard’s primary Irvine offices contrasted with the Blizzard North, how the two companies’ ethos were at odds, in some cases, with their newly acquired brethren, and at other times in harmony.

Schreier, to his credit, paints this era of booze-fueled frat fantasy video game development in vivid detail, partly from his own description, but mostly from the quotations he managed to secure from the many past and present Blizzard employees. At times the book gets crass, though that is in line with the content being represented. Schreier’s commentary is often comical. At one point he references a past advertisement/mantra that came into being from a past World of Warcraft customer service call. In the background of the call, a man’s wife claims: “This game is why we don’t have sex anymore.”

But the book covers more than the early days. The transition from fraternity game developer to full-time publicly traded company brings with it many issues. Sometimes the dream of becoming big has an entirely different reality, and Schreier finds quotes to help nail that sentiment. The consistent rotating door of executives, owners, and employees left me (never mind the company) on unstable footing. So many names are introduced and quickly discarded that I had to do a double take (or at least flip a few pages back to see if I was still reading about the same person from a few pages ago). Schreier will build up an employee with a bit of backstory, and then not mention them for a while (or ever again), while others stay in the periphery, bouncing back into view every so often. It’s a bit disorienting, but completely understandable considering the company’s thirty-plus-year history of confusion, success, and most recently, scandal.

As someone who is opposed to CEOs making hundreds of times what their workers make, I found it tough to read about the disgusting practices carried out by Activision and Blizzard’s upper management. Developers found it difficult to live while their bosses made millions of dollars. While Schreier brings in voices from all tiers of development, the main focus, especially later on, comes from those affected by the poor policies implemented to ensure that Blizzard would become a profit-first company (as opposed to their initial player-first mentality). Arbitrary rules put in place would see employees compete in unhealthy ways to keep their jobs. Not to mention, all the time that Blizzard continued to put out hit games with commercial success (including in their early days), their staff was paid less than other studios. To work for Blizzard was its own sort of payment.

One of my main issues with the book is the inconsistent timeline. The book, overall, is chronological, following the earliest days of Blizzard to the recent Microsoft acquisition and layoffs. At some points, however, Schreier goes back in time to discuss other projects and put emphasis on things in a time that I thought I had already moved past. So, like with the many different employees that are mentioned and dropped, I found myself flipping back to make sure I knew where I was chronologically. Again, it's hard to fault Schreier for this, considering the studio had multiple projects in the works, and he tried his best to cover each with their own highlight. Despite some of the timelines coming into conflict, it’s digestible, even if I needed to take a few moments to review my notes. Minus some poor fool pressing Enter and starting a new paragraph instead of the space bar multiple times, another issue I have is how Schreier ends each chapter. Almost every chapter ends with what feels like a dun, dun, dun… To Be Continued. Look, I get it, but the content is interesting enough. It isn't necessary, and eventually comes off as unintentionally comical.

Discovering many of the intricacies of not only Blizzard, but Activision, Vivendi, and Davidson & Associates (Blizzard’s original parent company), and how the company and its parent companies work (or don't work) was incredibly insightful. The constant bureaucracy from Blizzard’s owners and eventual erosion of what made the studio unique and successful slowly begins to creep up on you as you read through the book, and it’s quite fascinating to see it unfold. From the sexual assault scandals to poor implementation of morale-destroying policy to leeching almost all creative juice from the teams in favor of profit, Play Nice covers one of most influential video game studios of all time with vivid clarity. Thanks to the many interviews Schreier conducted to make this book, it feels like a triumph for those poorly affected by ABK’s (Activision Blizzard King) harmful policy and in some cases inadequate response to employee grievances. While I think Schreier should have waited a bit longer to see how Microsoft and ABK’s merger plays out over a longer period, the content here is informative and reflective of an ever-changing industry. If one wants insight into how one of the most beloved developers in the world has become a shell of what it once was, this is the best way to do it.

Posted by: Joe DelFranco - Fiction writer and lover of most things video games. On most days you can find him writing at his favorite spot in the little state of Rhode Island.

Video Game Review: Catan: Console Edition - Cities and Knights by Dovetail Games/Nomad Games

Anyone willing to trade labrious effort for some convenience and a few glitches?

For those who don’t know, Catan, previously known as The Settlers of Catan, is a board game from 1995. Its expansion, Cities and Knights, was released in 1998 and both versions are highly revered and still played all these years later. Over the years it has spawned many expansions and updates (including 5-6 player add-ons, Explorers and Pirates, Seafarers, etc.). I learned about the game eight years ago and have since loved playing with friends who know all about it (or when my cousin comes to town). I will do my best with this review to focus on the console version of the game, though some explanation of the base game and its expansion will be necessary, not to mention some observations I've discovered through multiple games. Most of this review will refer to gameplay experienced through the City and Knights expansion.

First and foremost, Catan is a board game that focuses on collecting resources, trading, and building. The goal is to beat your opponents to a certain score (ten points in standard Catan, thirteen in Cities and Knights) by building settlements, cities, development cards, city upgrades, and more. You gain resources by placing settlements on hexes with numbers and getting said number rolled. Which strategy you employ is up to you, and sometimes a pivot is necessary when things don't go your way. Trading is important and happens more frequently at the beginning of a match than toward the end. After all, the fear that one’s trade may place their opponent that much closer to a win is quite a deterrent. Catan: Console Version takes all the rules of Catan and perfectly implements them onto a virtual board, making long-distance Catan a possible thing. If you are a fellow Catanian, this is your best option to play with friends at a distance.

But is this the best way to play the game in general? Well, there are some caveats here that I must convey before endorsing such an investment. First and foremost, the game can be quite buggy. Not always, and sometimes not necessarily game-breaking, but still an irritation. Some of these simple things make me think no one at the studio used a quality assurance team to check for any issues. For instance, when a seven is rolled in Catan, there is a robber that is placed somewhere on the board (wherever he is placed, the hex will no longer give any resource of that type when the number is rolled until he is moved by a development card or another seven). When playing Cities and Knights, the robber will frequently hide behind a knight, making it difficult to discern his location at a glance. Visual cues in the game are sometimes iffy, sometimes leading to an improperly placed settlement, city, road, or knight. Sometimes the dice are difficult to see (particularly when they land on a wooded zone), which takes a few seconds of precious time away when you're playing on a timer. Minor things, but many of them added up can become an annoyance.

Catan: Console Edition also introduces the option to include AI opponents. This is great when you only have one other person willing to play (or just want to go one round yourself). While the AI is infrequently good enough to win (they have won once in all the games I've played), it is always almost too predictable. Only once in all the time I played did they use The Alchemist card (which allows you to choose the roll of the numbered dice) to roll something other than a seven. They almost always go for city upgrades first. They almost always penalize the player, even if another AI is a point or two ahead (Curse you, Yngvi). It is rather basic but still works well enough to have an enjoyable game of Catan. Sometimes, especially late game, the AI will play multiple cards or build multiple things. This occurs so quickly on screen that it’s sometimes difficult to tell what occurred, then I’ll look at my hand and a few of my cards are missing. I just have to laugh and move on. On the whole, I’d say that despite its simplicity and over-aggression toward the player, the AI is a welcome addition that allows more options for fellow settlers.

Unfortunately, there are some ugly glitches that I've encountered during a heated game. Whenever I play with my cousin and her partner, they are frequently kicked out of the game. Luckily she can rejoin, but sometimes one of them doesn't get back before their turn and the AI takes over briefly, using the player’s cards in a way they did not intend. This has also happened to my partner and I, though less frequently. There should be an option for all players to pause the game (if a timer is running) so that online opponents can rejoin. One time I got kicked and I was completely unable to rejoin. The game continued to bug out by saying that I joined, but never put me back in the action. It was near the end of the game which makes it even more frustrating. I’ve also paused an online game and quit (which is supposed to save the board you were playing to be resumed later), and when I came back, the game was bugged and unplayable. If a game is going to include a convenient option, it should be reliable. I didn't run into too many problems with resuming games in offline mode against AI thankfully. One of the most recent glitches forced the end of my turn, costing me a hefty amount of cards when the robber was rolled and completely ruined my plans (this frustration led me to quit that game).

One of the advantages of Catan: Console Edition is its display. The board looks great and even has small animations for all the hexes, cities, knights, the robber, etc. It brings the game to life a bit, even if the soundtrack and sound effects leave a lot to be desired (honestly just mute the game and put on some music). The sound effects for the barbarian attack are ridiculous and prompt players with a stupid screen that everyone must endure, each in turn, for a few moments (a bit of poor game design) instead of everyone seeing it at once and pressing the X button to continue. Despite these things and some previously mentioned visual issues, looking at the board and seeing it come to life is a welcome incorporation. They could have made it static and it would have been fine, but the extra polish breathes a little life into this thirty-year-old game. It is also nice that the console version gives you the option to view your hand from your phone (if multiple people are playing on the same console), though sometimes it lags behind a bit so you have to reload the page.

One of the biggest advantages of Catan: Console Edition over the tactile board game is the setup. Everything is quick and easy. The board sets itself up and randomizes everything significantly quicker than a person could. Plus it takes the additional sting out of losing (after all, the loser sets up the next board, right?). Not to mention the lack of cleanup and potential loss of pieces. Catan is an extensive game with many pieces and the convenience of the online version is undeniable.

Now for a brief aside about the game itself. Playing the Cities and Knights expansion made me realize how unbalanced the game can be. Make no mistake, when in the heat of a competitive game Catan is one of my all-time favorites. But when your luck is bad, the game becomes an absolute drag. This would be fine if you weren't aware of the fact that you are going to spend the next hour to an hour and a half losing. Sometimes other players are just too far ahead and luck is against you. In these instances, the game goes from being a fun, competitive, strategic escape to an absolute bore. I believe that the lack of tactile pieces makes this even more apparent, as I am drawn to my phone and any other stimuli in these long drawn-out bouts. This doesn't happen every game, but when it does, it can be painful.

When it comes down to it, I believe that the question of whether Catan: Console Edition is for you comes down to a matter of distance and convenience. Do you hate setting up and putting away the board after each bout? Do you want to play with friends across the country? Do you want play to online against strangers (the wait time is rather long, mind you)? If so, the game is for you. Despite its shortcomings, Catan: Console Edition is a convenient way to play this beloved board game, just be ready to fork out a little cash (Cities and Knights and other add-ons are an additional fee). If you've never played, I highly recommend getting the physical board game. It's a safe place to start. If you want to jump into the console experience, expect a few issues, but don't let it bother you too much. Catan is a fun game to lose hours to, just don't get on the bad side of the dice… or the AI.

--

The Math

Objective Assessment: 7/10

Bonus: +2 for convenience. +.5 for non-static visuals. +1 for online play.

Penalties: -3 for bugs. -1 for poor visual cues. 

Nerd Coefficient: 6.5/10

Catan/Cities and Knights (traditional board game version): 8.5/10

Posted by: Joe DelFranco - Fiction writer and lover of most things video games. On most days you can find him writing at his favorite spot in the little state of Rhode Island.

Nanoreviews: The Ascent, Hitman Trilogy, Guardians of the Galaxy

 I'm generally suspicious of subscription services, but decided to give Xbox Gamepass Ultimate a try - and I'm happy to report that it's been great. Aside from Halo Infinite, I've only picked winners so far. Here are 3 games that I thoroughly enjoyed, though they are all quite different from one another. Noting that The Ascent is Xbox/PC exclusive, while Hitman and Guardians of the Galaxy are also available for PS4/PS5 users. 

The Ascent by Neon Giant (2021)

The Ascent is a stylish, isometric-view action game set in a rich cyberpunk world. It's big on mood, with bright neon colors and a killer soundtrack, but also a lot of fun to play. And it's quite challenging too, though never frustrating. Shows what a small team of dedicated developers with a clear vision can achieve. My only complaint is that they haven't added a New Game Plus feature yet. 

Score: 9/10. 

Hitman Trilogy by IO Interactive (2016-2021)

Hitman Trilogy collects volumes in the Square Enix series reboot. The results are...mostly but not uniformly good. The Hitman games are stealth, but each mission is a sandbox - with multiple, branding paths and a number of different ways to accomplish your goals. The missions in Hitman 1, though, are a bit bland and the solutions generally too easy to figure out. The games do improve - Hitman 2 is somewhat better and Hitman 3 is, well, a lot better. I'd go so far as to say it's the best stealth game I've played since Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, back in the ancient days of 2005. 

Score(s): Hitman 1: 6/10, Hitman 2: 7/10, Hitman 3: 9/10. 

Guardians of the Galaxy by Eidos Montreal (2022)

I love the 2 Guardians films - along with Thor Ragnarok, they are far and away my favorite MCU films. Why? Really comes down to 3 things for me: mood, humor and the way the characters interact with each other. I'm happy to report that Guardians of the Galaxy, the game, captures all 3 in a fully original story (with some creative deviations from the films). At its heart, Guardians is a squad-based action-RPG where progress unlocks new powers and team-based combos. In that sense, it evokes the Mass Effect series, though the gameplay is quite different. Actually the gameplay is the weakest part of the game - its battles, too often, are overly long, repetitive button-mashing affairs. But what Guardians does well, it does exceptionally well. This is a narrative game, driven by plot and character development - and in that sense it's one of the best I've ever played. It really feels like an interactive movie, which captures the films' signature humor and features superb dialogue throughout. Story, which can often feel like an afterthought in games, takes center stage here - and packs a real emotional punch. 

Score: 8/10. 

Microreview [game]: Halo Infinite by 343 Industries

Sometimes you just don't want to go home

After a year of failure, this December I finally managed to procure an Xbox Series X. As a longtime user of the platform, going all the way back to the original Xbox, I naturally had to get my hands on Halo Infinite - the latest entry in the venerable series. 

Halo Infinite is in many ways the perfect launch vehicle for the new console. Featuring crisp, high-resolution graphics and excellent gameplay mechanics, you'd think this would be Microsoft's veritable ace in the hole. The reality, however, is more of a mixed bag - a melange of good, bad and ugly. 

First, the good. Halo Infinite is gorgeous to look at and looks amazing in 4k. The multiplayer is everything you want it to be, operating in the middle ground between Call of Duty's frenetic action and Battlefield's more languid pace. The maps are tight, the various modes fun to explore and the encounters as tactical as they were when Xbox first went online. I also appreciated the post-rock lobby music - a nice and unexpected touch. Matchmaking can be a little buggy, but once it gets going, the game is a lot of fun. 

The campaign starts strong as well, setting you on an open world island where you can wander about, capture forward operating bases (FOBs), eliminate notorious enemies, free imprisoned marines and - when you feel like it - initiate and complete various missions that advance the story. You also have a series of special moves that you can level up with Spartan Points, which you find scattered across the island. There's a grappling hook, threat detector, thruster and drop shield, all of which are useful at various points in the game. 

The open world dynamic is a lot of fun, particularly as you can approach the tasks in a number of different ways: going in guns blazing, using vehicles or picking enemies off from a distance with the sniper rifle or skewer. There are also enemy bases and bridges to capture, which are very tactical but still frenetic affairs. At this early stage in the game, I figured Halo infinite would end up one of my 2 or 3 favorites entries in the series. 

Unfortunately, the denouement of the campaign is...well, calling it "forgettable"would be a kindness - because it's memorable for all the wrong reasons. 

Let's start with design. As mentioned above, the open-world segment of Halo Infinite features tight gameplay mechanics and intriguing tactical battles, which force you to think as well as twitch. But once the game shifts into the more traditional linear corridor model, its weaknesses quickly become apparent. Throughout the game you are basically facing 4-5 enemy classes, each with a few variations. The lack of variety or evolution is masked by the openness of approach that you can take. However, once we're back in the corridors, you're struck by the fact that you're just doing the same thing over and over again, against the same baddies, in more or less the same environments. 

Then there are the boss battles, which to a tee incentivize the "keep running in circles" tactic. Boss battles should feel epic and thrilling, not like a chore you just want to get over with so you can do something that's actually fun. 

Finally, the story - which has to be one of the worst I've ever encountered in a game. First off, it's incoherent. The game starts with Master Chief almost dying at the hands of a Brute named Atriox, who leads a breakaway faction of the Covenant called the Banished. Then it turns out he's dead. The guy who replaced him? Completely indistinguishable from Atriox. And for the record, both come from the tired genre of "ME STRONG, YOU WEAK" barbarian baddies. Sleeping emoji. This villain, whose name I can't remember and don't especially feel like googling, shows up periodically to announce some variation on the "ME STRONG, YOU WEAK" line. Eventually you fight him by running around in a circle for what seems like years. What a game! 

ME STRONG, YOU WEAK!

There's also something about Cortana, your erstwhile manic pixie dream girl AI companion, who has been replaced by "Weapon," your new manic pixie dream girl AI companion. Weapon is mostly notable for her facial expressions. Cortana is mostly notable for something about a Halo Ring and Atriox. 

And then there's the pilot, who exists mainly to tell you that everything is useless and you should just give up - even when things are clearly going well for the Master Chief. When the pilot is captured and tortured by the Atriox clone, I wondered if there was a way to progress the game without rescuing him. Alas, there is not. Oh, and there's another villain who I guess is some kind of ancient alien and killing her is just as annoying as killing "ME STRONG, YOU WEAK." 

To conclude, despite a strong multiplayer mode and an enticing open world dynamic, it's hard not to see Halo Infinite as a massive disappointment. This is supposed to be Microsoft's marquee franchise, one that is not only supposed to extol the virtues of the company's hardware, but provide a truly memorable experience. Halo Infinite fails to meet those standards, providing gamers instead with a glimpse of that, until it devolves into a tedious and repetitive slog.  

The Math

Baseline Assessment: 7/10

Bonuses: +1 for the open world segments and tactical gameplay; +1 for a balanced and fun multiplayer experience

Penalties: -1 for such a godawful story; -1 for repetitive enemies, weapons and environments;  -1 for the worst villains -1 really the story is as bad as I've ever seen in a video game

Nerd Coefficient: 6/10. 

Holiday Gift Guide -Mikey and Brian

Buying stuff for people is hard! I mean, how do you know what they already have? Do you know them well enough to make a guess? So we attempted to be a bit broad, think a little outside of the box. Getting people something they didn’t know they wanted until they got it is great! Alternately, we tried to get something that they would want but maybe not pay for themselves. Something not exactly exciting but always needed, like socks. With that said, here are our picks for the Nerds of a Feather Holiday Gift Guide 2014.

Brian's Picks:

Dishonored: The Dunwall Archives

I loved Dishonored. It’s a great game that encourages creative solutions, or allows you to play it as straight as you want. But beyond that, it’s a beautiful game with a great art style.  There are just mountains of fictional history and fluff that many games overlook. Dishonored: The Dunwall Archives collects some of the best parts and puts them in a hardcover book. It’s a well-made volume that I was proud to add to my collection of good video game books. Get it for anyone who is a fan of good video games, and maybe get them a copy of Dishonored (PS3 , Xbox One) to go with it!

Funko Classic Sci-Fi Mystery Minis

My wife recently got me a LootCrate subscription, and I was pleased to find a Funko Classic Sci-Fi Mystery Mini in one of the recent packages. It’s a small vinyl figure, but the detail on the sculpt and the paint is pretty impressive! Part of the fun of these is that you never really know what’s in the box until you open it. The Classic Sci-Fi series includes figures from Tron, E.T., and Firefly, among others. They make great little desk decorations so they’re perfect for the office-working sci-fi fan! Grab one here .

Xbox Live / Playstation Plus 12-month Renewal Card

These definitely fall under the ‘socks’ category, but they’re way better than socks. If you own a PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, or Xbox One, you know that your console is half as useful without a subscription to Playstation Plus or Xbox Live. You know that you’re going to be renewing it every year, and hoping the renewal doesn’t come before you find a good deal on a renewal card. You, the gift-giver, can save your gaming friends the hassle with a renewal card. Time on renewal cards stack with whatever they’ve already paid up for, so they’re instantly usable and the gift-recipient can forget about renewing for another year. Beyond that, these services give away free games to subscribers, so you’re technically buying your friend a full year of free gaming. Renewal cards are always appreciated.

Mikey's Picks:

Luke Skywalker's Lightsaber MimoPowerTube 

As a nerd who frequently travels around to various conventions, a portable power supply for your phone or tablet is a must.  While you gain points from your fellow convention attendee for being prepared, nothing is going to earn you more cred than charging your device with Luke Skywalker's freakin' lightsaber!  Not only do the good folks at Mimoco put such an amazing device in an amazing package, they include an adapter so you can plug in your MimoPowerTube into a handful of devices.  This is the Rolls Royce in the portable charging market and is perfect for the nerd in your life.  Pick one up directly from Mimoco here.

Machi Koro

About two year ago I ventured into the world of tabletop gaming.  Not knowing I was opening up a Pandora's Box of fun, I have made it my mission to indoctrinate as many people I can into this amazing world.  My strategy has been to target the youth with games that are quick and fun, but surprisingly deep and strategic.  Machi Koro is my current gateway game of choice.  You assume the role of a mayor who wants to construct four landmarks.  To accomplish this you must collect resources and build up your city.  I have read a lot of reviews that compare the game to Catan and while I think that is a fair comparison, Machi Koro really lets you control your own destiny in a way that Catan doesn't.  If your numbers aren't hitting, then simply buy a card with that number to increase your odds.  Are you a gambler?  Then focus on a couple of numbers and pray to the dice gods that you have a lucky roll.  Each game keeps you on the edge of your seat and it is enjoyed by gamers of all ages.  It has quickly risen to the coveted spot of my son's favorite game and I have already started to hook his friends with the delightful world of Machi Koro.  Highly recommended for gamers of all levels and ages.  Pick it up at Amazon at a ridiculously low price here.

Jedi Academy

I was introduced into the world of Jeffrey Brown through his delightful book Darth Vader and Son.  It was an instant hit in my family and we have been scooping up his books as fast as he can publish them.  His current series, Jedi Academy, tells the tale of a young man named Roan.  Growing up on Tatooine, he wants nothing more than to follow in his brother's, father's, and grandfather's footsteps and attend Pilot Academy.  After being rejected, Roan is in for a surprise for his life as he finds himself attending Jedi Academy under the tuteledge of Master Yoda.  It is easy to relate to the characters in this book and there are some genuinely hilarious moments (my favorite is the P.E. teacher Kitmum the Wookiee).  My favorite thing about this book and its sequel is the simple fact that it has my son excited about reading.  This is the perfect gift for an enthusiastic young reader.  You can find Jedi Academy at Amazon here.

Fantasia: Music Evolved

[Fantasia: Music Evolved, Harmonix, Microsoft Studios, 2014]

Guitar Hero for kids, or something more?

When most people see the Disney logo on anything, they have an automatic and polarized reaction, somewhere between childlike longing for the carefree days of yore and visceral disgust at the today's bastardization of Walt's original vision for a family-friendly group of parks and films that were of the highest quality available in the world. Personally, I fall more into the former group than the latter, although I can't help but acknowledge the Eisner Effect and some of the more corporate decisions made by the company in recent years. All of that said, no one can deny that the original Fantasia is a true classic and a work of art, as well. 

Questionable corporate decisions aside, I believe they made a good call in creating Fantasia: Music Evolved. It is by far the best Kinect game released since Microsoft put out the oft-maligned piece of hardware. Although there were some minor glitches, they were few and far between. For the vast majority of the game, the Kinect is the perfect controller and operates flawlessly when it really counts. The music is highly recognizable, yet manages to stay fresh and avoid the bland quality that can accompany over-played tracks through a mix of unique gameplay and fresh remixes. While some of the stuff that has been put out by Miramax and Touchstone would make Walt turn over in his grave, I can say with full confidence that this game would fall squarely in his mission of creating quality entertainment for everyone from age 2 to 102. 

Gameplay on Kinect that doesn't make you want to smash it?

Although some of the titles that have been released for the Kinect work questionably at their best and are exercises in testing one's self-control to keep from taking a Louisville Slugger to the gadget at worst, Fantasia is one of, if not the best title to be released for the amazing yet imperfect piece of technology. While there is no question that the Kinect is an astonishing piece of equipment when it comes to motion capture technology, it has often fallen woefully short of expectations in practice. It is undoubtedly that lack of follow-through that led Microsoft to un-bundle it from their next-gen console this past May. That is really sad news for anyone who has played Fantasia: Music Evolved, because it appears they are finally figuring out how to use it properly. 

The “mouse pointer” in Fantasia is creatively titled “The Muse” after the mythological female Greeks who inspired music, literature, and the arts. Although it could be frustrating at times to operate, it was probably the best motion detection controller I’ve used on any system including the Wii.  This game is supposed to be the least glitchy of all the Kinect titles to date, but it still had a bump or two in the road. That said, it’s amazingly accurate for a motion sensor. Really the only aggravating part about using the Kinect was maneuvering around the various Realms menus used for choosing songs and progressing through the game. Once you were in the actual song part of the game using triggers during play, it was pretty seamless. The only other problem I found with the game was a bit of HDTV lag that I've found is present in all music titles. I’m a classically trained violinist so I’m especially attuned to minor issues with pitch and rhythm. Just as in Rock Band and Guitar Hero, this issue was easily fixable with a small amount of fiddling with the calibration in the Options menu.

Enough complaining, get to the game already!

The game itself is loosely based upon the Sorcerer's Apprentice portion from the original film. You are Yen Sid's (Mickey's old boss) newest apprentice. He has taken you under his wing to teach you the ways of wizardry and magic. Once you've earned your hat (The same one that got Mickey in such trouble) through a series of training exercises that teach you the mechanics of the game, the real fun begins. Sid leaves you alone in his workshop and you meet Scout. It's never really clear what Scout's job is. It appears that she may have been a previous apprentice who decided she could learn more on her own, but she's still hanging around Sid's workshop fiddling with spells for some reason. Whatever her backstory, Scout convinces you to try out your new skills on a spell she's been working on. The outcome is about the same as what happened to Mickey and you release an entity called "The Noise" that destroys all art and music. 

As luck would have it, Sid has chosen this time to run out for groceries even though he "NEVER leaves the workshop," according to Scout. That means it's up to you and your new companion to do your best to contain the evil spell you've released and keep it from destroying all the music and art in its path. You do this by correctly playing one of the most wide-ranging yet high quality soundtracks I've heard in a game.  Well-known game composer Inon Zur (Fallout 3, Dragon Age: Origins), no relation to the weekend weapons salesman from Destiny, did a fantastic job with the music selection and remixing for this game. The songs vary massively with everything from The Flaming Lips and Cee Lo Green to Mozart and Tchaikovsky, but always manage to keep the energy level up and the game entertaining. Each track is playable as the original version, as well as two "remixes" in specific other musical styles. The new-style remixes of familiar tracks don’t offend as they so easily could have, but simply add some unique touches to songs most of us have heard a hundred times before. If anything, it manages to keep the game from getting bogged down in familiarity rather than having a soundtrack of oft-played songs make a good game seem outdated.

You are able to switch from the original track to one of the two remixes mid-song. Called a "Cue Switch," a circle will appear mid-screen during a song and you have to punch through it, then swipe your hand in one of three directions, thereby choosing which version the game will play next. You have several opportunities throughout each track to switch up the style, creating your own personal on-the-fly remix of the multitude of classics in the game's soundtrack, some as old as Bach and Dvorak and as new as Gorillaz and Lady Gaga. 

Now that we know it works, how do you play the stupid thing?!

As mentioned before, there are several hand motions that are used to control the game, much in the same way that the guitar or drum set controls tracks in Harmonix's best-known series, Rock Band. These include:

• Swipe – Move your hand in the direction of and in time with a ball through a small, arrow-shaped opening. It doesn’t seem to matter which hand you use, as long as it’s going in the right direction.
• Punch – Punch a hole through colored circles that appear on the screen in time with the ball, once again.
• Punch and hold – You punch through the colored circle, as before, but this time you hold your fist in the position of a second colored circle until it disappears. This is usually for long-held notes like whole notes and multiple measures.
• Punch and swipe – For this, you again punch through the colored circle, but when finished you have to move your arm slowly in time with the music along a section of brightly colored lines. These seem to occur during slurred notes where several notes are played but, with a violin, for example, the bow would never change direction. Eighth and sixteenth notes are prime examples where 4-16 notes would be played quickly in succession. 

This may seem like a fairly small collection of movements, but trust me, when they're sixteenth notes, syncopated, coming at you at 100 bpm, it's plenty!

Realms

There are five primary realms in Fantasia. Each has its own theme such as the underwater "Shoal" seen above. Once you have completed these five levels, new ones become available. Each realm has two or three songs in it, and each song has the original track plus two remixes. You must make certain goals in order to open the remixes, but they are fairly conservative and I never had a problem hitting the mark required to gain access to a remix. Your goal in each realm is to open a Composition Spell. These are made up of various mini-games that allow you to add a personal touch to the soundtrack. 

The Composition Spells appear as geometric shapes on-screen. They are created using samples from the tracks within the realm. You must record short, two-bar phrases using the samples provided and the phrase you create will then appear in the songs as you replay them. Not only that, but there are points mid-song that you can create small phrases that are used during the track. This personal touch wasn't necessary for Fantasia to be a high-quality game, but they give it that extra bit of individual control and attention to detail that lets the player know developers had them in mind when creating this gem of a title. As both an old-time Disney fan, of both the parks and the classic films, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of playing Fantasia: Music Evolved. My only complaint was that it wasn't long enough. However, there are at least three planned DLC packs on the way. That said, I certainly got a good workout while playing it. My 70-year-old mother uses Dance Dance Revolution as her cardio workout and I've always kind of scoffed at the idea, but the soreness in my back and arms as I type this tells me that I may have been a bit of an idiot for doing so. Although I've been slacking on my workouts of late, I think an hour or two of Fantasia would give even someone in tip-top shape a healthy cardio and upper body workout. Maybe it's time for me to go pick up a mat and start playing DDR like mom. :-)

the math

Objective Score: 8/10

Bonuses: +1 for the smooth and unique gameplay that is unlike anything I've ever seen before. Kudos to Harmonix for originality in creating a truly distinctive gaming experience.

Penalties: -1 for the standard difficulties that all motion sensor games seem to have when it comes to menus. It was just really hard to get the "Muse" to settle on the spot where you wanted it to go. It wasn't ever bad enough to get me to yell at the TV, but it was mildly annoying.

Nerd Coefficient: 8/10. Well worth your time and attention.