Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine

Live Arcade Thievery

Monaco is a throwback to the tabletop games of old. It takes a top-down view in the same vein as the classics of the eighties, Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Centipede. I can still remember waiting for a table at Western Sizzler as a child and playing a tabletop Ms. Pac-Man, but I digress. This Xbox Live Arcade beauty has won several independent game of the year awards. It has a 79 on Metacritic, which is pretty good considering its graphics would fit right in with those other tabletop games. Let's just say they don't rely on stunning CG to cover the lack of a quality game.

Monaco proves you don't need mind-blowing graphics to create an enjoyable game. It has a fun story, a good sense of humor, a nice melange of character options, and challenging gameplay. Put them all together and you get a unique game that takes you back fondly to your earliest years in video gaming. You can keep the "you're old" jokes to a minimum. I realize I'm dating myself here. The comparison to Ms. Pac-Man or, more accurately, Gauntlet, are apt in both visual depiction and enjoyment.

The gist is that you are a part of an Ocean's Eleven-like team of thieves, burglars, and general n'er-do-wells. Holding down L2 or left trigger put you into "sneak" mode. This made you fairly hard to detect, but if you walked in front of an officer, it didn't matter at all. You start the game with four of the eight character types. The other four must be liberated from captivity before they can be used. Along the line you rob banks, steal yachts, crack safes, kill cops, and cause country-wide mayhem. The story was cute, but not where developers placed their focus. The focus was clearly on unique and addictive gameplay.

All of the speaking in the game is in French, which is strange considering the developers are based out of San Francisco. However, I suppose the events of the game do take place in Monaco, so it makes sense on those terms. You can play the game in single player mode, but it really shines when four players are trying to be stealthy together. The chaos is unlike anything I've seen in Halo or Call of Duty. Instead of it being four times easier, as is usually the case when you fill out a multiplayer team, it was four times more challenging. Keeping one character hidden is hard enough. Keeping four out of all the guards' line of sight was nearly impossible. I was definitely the weak link in the chain, too. In my defense, my friends had been playing for two weeks and it was my first time. Now that you've heard my excuse, you'll understand I know that of which I speak when I say that you spend a LOT of time in multiplayer reviving teammates. 

The line-of-sight display used in Monaco means you can only see what was visible by your flashlight or ambient light from the environment. Even though certain rooms may be on the screen, unless you are physically in them you can't see what's going on. It would be nice to know whether there are cops inside or not. This effective visual decision made picking locks and entering new areas nerve racking, but in a good way. It was one of the little stealth additions that make Monaco a success. When you aren't relying on stunning graphics as so many of today's games do, you absolutely must have extra polish on your gameplay to get any attention at all from the gaming public. 

cast of characters

There are eight playable character types in Monaco. Each one brings a certain set of skills to the action. I found the Cleaner to be the most effective in the early going. Later on, the unlockable Mole became a personal favorite. Here is a list of the characters and their powers:

• The Hacker can disable computers and cameras faster than other characters. He can also create computer viruses from outlets. 
• The Cleaner can knock out unsuspecting guards. If they don't see you coming, you can put them to sleep for a short period of time. The Cleaner also uses med-packs faster than other characters. 
• The Pickpocket has an adorable pet monkey that collects coins and other loot for him. Hector (the monkey) won't alert guards, so you can stay hidden while he does the dirty work for you. The Pickpocket also hides in bushes faster than his compatriots. 
• The Gentleman can create a disguise while hidden. It doesn't last very long, but can be vital in keeping you from meeting your maker when being tailed by five or six trigger-happy coppers. For some reason, they don't seem to realize that they were shooting at you not seconds before once you don a disguise. He also enters getaway vehicles faster than the other thieves, but I never found that to be an advantage as you were pretty much free-and-clear once you reached the car. 
• The Mole has the ability to chomp through most walls and obstructions. This was invaluable when you were trying to escape from a bevy of guards. It also made getting around the board more straightforward. One of the problems I had with the game was the inability to tell what was a door and what was a wall. With the mole, you could go through either. 
• The Redhead has the ability to seduce a single enemy. More than one and she was toast, but she can get one guard to chill out if he's chasing her by himself. She also revived teammates faster than any other character type. 
• The Locksmith can, fairly obviously, pick locks very quickly. That includes doors, safes, cash registers, and ATMs. 
• The Lookout has the useful abilty to see every guard on a level while sneaking. She can move faster than any of the other types. She can also open windows, vents, and stairs faster than the rest. 

retro revolution

The music is as retro as the graphics. It brings to mind Scott Joplin and leans heavily on piano music from the first half of the twentieth century. The opening music sounds like it belongs in a saloon in Dodge City with Wyatt Earp dealing Faro. It also plays a part by informing the action. When you are undetected, there is little to no soundtrack. Someone just tickles the ivory. However, when a posse of guards is hot on your trail, the Joplin-esque piano really kicks into high gear. I found it to be a quality addition that really improved the overall experience. 

The game is very challenging, sometimes a bit too much so. It operates under the same gameplay model as those previously mentioned games from the eighties. You aren't supposed to be able to clear a level on your first try. This model varies widely from most modern games. Many of today's titles have levels that are passable on your first try. The focus is more on progressing the story line than mastering each individual level. For example, I knew every level warp, extra life, secret trick, and negative world in Super Mario Brothers. In today's games, an online walkthrough is almost always required to learn every secret that a title has to offer. For completionists, online walkthroughs have become a completely necessary part of the gaming experience. Many people, myself included, purchase 400-page game guides in order to achieve the same level of knowledge about a game that used to be acquired via multiple deaths and playthroughs. 

One reason for this shift in gaming trends is simply the size of games. HowLongToBeat.com claims Ms. Pac-Man takes 2-3 hours to beat, but I never came anywhere close to lasting that long. It took 3-4 hours to cover every level of Super Mario Brothers. Some single missions in Skyrim could take that long. To reach the same level of completionist OCD relief in Skyrim as Mario, you would have to spend at least 200 hours playing the game. If Skyrim missions were as difficult as those in Monaco, that number would be closer to 1,000. At first, the requirement that you replay levels over and over was a tad annoying. As the game went on, though, I grew to love the older style of gameplay. Like Mario Brothers and Pac-Man, you are given three lives in Monaco. Once you use them up, it's game over. It's been quite a while since I played a game with a limited number of lives. The retro-style design and gameplay were great fun and a nice change of pace from most of my recent fare. Although it could be a bit disheartening when you failed a level for the tenth time, it made it all the sweeter when you finally cleared it. I did more yelling at this game on my television than I have at anything short of sports for a long time, both out of anger and sheer joy.

the math

Objective Score: 8/10

Bonuses: +1 for making a supremely rewarding game despite the lack of graphics on par with this generation's biggest titles. I'm not a huge "independent" gamer, but Monaco has convinced me to give more Live Arcade indie titles a try. 

Penalties: -1 for being so difficult as to possibly turn off some gamers before they really get into it. If I didn't have to play it for this blog, I might not have made it through.

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

Mobile: Zen Pinball HD

small ball

If it wasn't obvious from the title, we're going small this week in the gaming sector. Handheld, to be specific. Zen Pinball HD is a mobile game available for free in both the Apple and Android Play Stores. Pinball is a game that is tailor-made for mobile control schemes. It's easy because there are only two buttons, left and right. There's no getting shot to death while you try to find the 'right' button with your thumb. Tap the screen in the bottom left corner, the left flipper(s) go off. Tap the screen in the bottom right corner, the right flipper(s) go off. Simple, right?

freebie

Zen Pinball HD comes free with a pretty fun game called Sorcerer's Lair (seen above). If you manage to get a ball up to the sorcerer, he vaporizes it with, I'm assuming, sorcery. There are multi-ball portions once you've plugged enough balls into a particular hole (I know, I know, but you think of a better way to say it!). Ghosts appear at one point that you must defeat in a period of time for a bonus by rolling them over with the pinball. There are even some mini-games that I only half understand. Something about gears and a green ball? Anyway, for a free game, I haven't played a better mobile pinball app. 

this is how they getcha!

Although I'm sure it came as a great shock to you, dear readers, they also offer add-on tables for $1.99 each. I'm a Star Wars nut and I was unable to withstand the Dark Side. I was born the same week Star Wars Episode IV came out so I really didn't have a choice in the matter. I'm the definition of a Star Wars baby. Short story long, I bought the Episode V: Empire Strikes Back table and the Boba Fett table. All I've done is play these games for the last two weeks. I've turned off my 360 just to play this game, which is rare for me with mobile apps. Zen Pinball also offers Star Wars: The Clone Wars for fans of the newer movies. I probably enjoyed them more than most people, but even a die-hard fan like me knows the first three movies were better.

They also boast several tables based on Marvel characters including Thor, Wolverine, the Hulk (or the Credible In-Honk as I referred to him at the tender age of 3), X-Men, Avengers, Captain America, Ghost Rider, and then a few others I didn't recognize. My point is, you could end up blowing almost fifty dollars on tables if your habit is bad enough. I may end up grabbing Wolverine and Hulk once I've mastered Empire and Boba Fett.

episode V: the empire strikes back

The Empire Strikes Back table has tons of references to the consensus best of the Star Wars films. If you manage to put the pinball through a door in the middle of the table five times, one for each letter (V-A-D-E-R), Darth will rise up out of the table and roll off quotes from the movie. "Join me, and together we can rule the universe as father and son." If you hit the pinball at him, he quickly dispatches it with his light saber. 

If you manage to hit certain spots enough times, you're offered six different story lines that bring up memorable parts of the movie. One scene brings out asteroids and two tie fighters that fly around shooting at your pinball. Another has Yoda training Luke by doing a handstand while lifting rocks with the Force. A third brings out a storm trooper who fires at your ball with a blaster. For fans of the movie, each one brings back fond memories of George Lucas' classic film. On top of that, it's a top-notch pinball game that's as good as any real-world table that I've played. 

boba fett

The Boba Fett table could also be called Return of the Jedi, although there are a few quotes sampled from Episodes I-III. At the top of the table is the Sarlacc pit. Shooting three balls into Slave I, Boba Fett's ship, will bring on multi-ball. You start the game with one missile, but by increasing your score you can gain more. These are fired by Boba Fett at one of the "job" spots. By hitting these you take on a bounty and have to hit specific spots to complete the job. 

Boba constantly flies around the table using his jetpack. He does his best to avoid being hit by the pinballs. He also fires at your ball as it rolls around the table, but unlike Vader's light saber, it doesn't destroy the balls. As you can see above, one of the "spinners" on the table is Han Solo frozen in carbonite as he appeared as Jabba's finest decoration in his palace. Jabba sits in the upper-right corner of the table and also appears in a cutscene when you're given a bounty job, again drawing direct connections with Return of the Jedi. I still haven't managed to get the Sarlacc pit to pull Fett down as it is doing in the above picture, but I'm not going to stop until I get it to happen! 

the breakdown

I'm not the biggest mobile gamer in the world. I usually prefer my Xbox 360 to my GS3 for gaming, for obvious reasons. The Samsung has a nice, big screen, but it pales in comparison to my 50-inch HDTV, nevermind the difference in controller abilities. However, every once in a while a mobile title grabs a hold of me and won't let go. Zen Pinball HD, especially the Star Wars tables, have done just that. I'm a big fan of real-world pinball and I plan to have several tables in my house once I'm rich and famous. Until that day comes, Zen Pinball HD is a pretty good substitute. If you're looking for a fun mobile option other than Angry Birds and Temple Run, try out the Zen Pinball HD free table. But don't come crying to me if you end up spending a bunch of money on their other 22 pay tables. That's on you. 

the math

Objective score: 7/10

Bonuses: +1 for the realistic physics that recreate the experience of playing real-world pinball tables very well. +1 for such a large number of table options, especially the multiple Star Wars tables.

Penalties: -1 for charging two bucks for each new table. It's not that I don't think they're worth it. It's just a bit high when compared to the average price of most mobile titles, especially when you consider you can spend nearly $50 to buy all the available tables. I could see some mad parents out there reprimanding their kids when they get the phone bill.

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

Violence in Games: Part I

The Numbers

8 out of the top 10 best-selling Xbox 360 titles are first- or third-person shooters. Their main goal is killing, be it human, alien horde, or the Covenant. And don't forget Skyrim, which can get pretty dark and violent even though you don't carry guns. The only non-violent video game on the list was Kinect Adventures, and it was #1. Sony PS3 did quite a bit better with only 4 overtly violent video games in their top 10 sellers. Gran Turismo and Little Big Planet helped make up some ground there. That said, 8 of the games from 11-20 were heavily violence-based. Call of Duty: Black Ops sold 16.4 million copies on Xbox and 3.3 million on PS3. At sixty bucks a pop, you're talking about well over a billion dollars in gross revenue. That's an incredible number and it's no wonder violent games continue to prosper despite all the school shootings, mass murders, murder suicides, and assaults we have in society today. This is the first in a three-part series where we at NoaF will examine the various aspects of this timely topic. 

Where do you fall on the spectrum? Is this art imitating life? Life imitating art? Do violent video games have a negative effect on our society as a whole or are they merely harmless entertainment? Let's find out!

The Obvious Target

Everybody's favorite whipping post when it comes to violence in games is Grand Theft Auto, so that seems like a good place to start the conversation. The reason is obvious to those who have played it. This game takes the worst in society and trumpets it. You can stand on top of a building and snipe dozens of police officers at a time. You can take seven hookers to the same spot, perform various sexual acts with them, then kill them and take your money back, leaving the bodies piled up (although they eventually disappear). You can walk into the emergency room and drop a grenade on the floor, killing dozens of patients, nurses, and doctors. These are all things I've done in various Grand Theft Auto games and it makes me a little embarrassed to admit it. I hope my mom isn't reading this. 

Violence in video games has come so far since the days of  Mortal Kombat that it seems almost silly that anyone ever made a fuss over it. More people play the Modern Warfare online series than ever learned how to rip Jax in half. They drop 16 players in a map together and your sole goal is to take the other guys out. I'm reminded of Colonel Troutman from First Blood saying, "In Vietnam his job was to dispose of enemy personnel. To kill! Period! Win by attrition."

I think we're all happy that our government really has people like that. Take the subject of Zero Dark Thirty. Was there any patriotic American that didn't take just a little bit of joy knowing a member of Seal Team Six put a round through Bin Laden's left eye? However, do we really want to program ourselves to think the same way as those highly trained killing machines? Look what it did for Rambo. He ended up bawling and being taken to prison. And what about the kids? 

Somebody think of the children! Oh, won't somebody please think of the children!

This is where the argument gets murky for me. On the one hand, games have a rating system. I'm 35 and I just had a Best Buy employee I.D. me to buy the new Devil May Cry. On the other hand, we all know there are "cool parents" out there, or ones that just don't care, that buy Mature rated 17+ games for their 12-year-olds. Through these "cool parents", 90% of children get to experience these types of games just by spending the night at a friend's. Their minds are still developing. What effect does such ultra-violence have on them at that age? Can they differentiate between reality and fantasy? To what extent? When presented in such a sleek, fun medium, games like Grand Theft Auto manage to make mass murder fun. I simply don't think it's something I would want my kids exposed to at an early age.

That said, I trust the rating system. The problem is that too many clerks and parents ignore it. If they aren't going to enforce it, then why have it at all? The real responsibility, as with most things child-related, lies with the parents. It's up to them to keep Mature games out of their children's hands. 

Freedom of Speech or the Downfall of Society?

I tend to lean toward freedom of speech, personally. We, as Americans, speak loudest with our wallets. We obviously like these types of games more than any other. We do take the risk of being de-sensitized to an extreme degree, but is it worth our freedom? They've tried to blame school shootings on violent video games, but that's just a scapegoat. Those people were mentally unstable to begin with. If it wasn't Modern Warfare that pushed them over the edge, something else would have. 

When it comes to limiting what media we can produce, it's a slippery slope. If you can't have violence in video games, then why is it allowed in movies? Is the extremely realistic torture scene in the aforementioned Zero Dark Thirty too much, as many people seem to think? What about Inglorious Basterds? Is beating in skulls with a bat or burning up a theater full of people crossing the line? Apparently not since it was rewarded with eight Academy Award nominations. This slope can lead us all the way down to classics like Hamlet, which is nothing but murder, suicide, and incest. Where does the censorship end? 

If we start limiting what programmers can do in games, then it follows that other media will suffer the same limitations eventually. It should be left up to personal choice and taste whether or not we, as a society, play these games. Games have been out-grossing Hollywood for years now and, like Hollywood, the majority of their money is made on violence. While the occasional creative game like Portal or Little Big Planet manages to make a splash without violence, the overwhelming majority use it as their main staple of gameplay. Like it or not, violence is a part of society. While most of us won't realistically experience it to the degree we see in games, we are constantly made aware of its presence via the news media. Tipper Gore's attack on Gangsta Rap didn't clean up the ghettos any more than stopping Modern Warfare games from being produced will stop school shootings. 

You are what you eat

All of that "freedom of speech" talk aside, I believe that what you take in, be it food, books, games, television, or movies, will have an effect on you. As you get older you become more able to differentiate between reality and fantasy, but that doesn't mean you can get away with taking in nothing but crap. While I enjoy a violent game as much as the next sicko gamer, I also enjoy a good Pixar flick, Portal 2, and even an occasional trip to church from time to time. The answer, as with most things in life, is moderation. Find a balance. Don't relegate yourself to one type of entertainment, especially the violent kind. While it won't turn you into a mass murderer, it can effect your overall outlook. 

Take care, and look for Part II of our discussion on violence in video games in the days ahead. 

2012 Nerd Gift Guide: The G

For the Nerd Who Spent Too Much Time in Pizza Parlors as a Kid: Arcade Cabinet Kit

You think you're good at Tetris, huh? Test your skills the way they were meant to be tested...on a tabletop cabinet like the ones you used to find in every greasy pizza joint from Brooklyn to Santa Monica. It's a bit pricey, so you better actually like this friend...a lot. And it doesn't come with an LCD screen (sold separately) or the actual gaming board (I recommend this one, it has Tetris). But it's made of solid parts, looks like it would be fun to put together and is guaranteed to make waiting for pizza more fun. Oh, and I believe there's a mod you can get that turns this badboy into an actual coin-op machine, so your friends can pay for the privilege of getting pwned, 80s-style. Available from Holland Computers for $329.

For the Nerd Who Takes Star Wars a Little Too Seriously: The Jedi Path--Manual For Students of the Force [Vault Edition]

If you know someone who's always going on about Star Wars, even in spite of the execrable prequels, then look no further. This book outlines the ancient teachings and histories of the Jedi Order and even includes marginal commentary from Yoda, Obi-Wan, Annakin (he can read?), Count Dooku and others. So yeah, not only can your friend drone on about the Old Republic, he/she can now quote scripture at you too! Plus, if you buy this, you're not only getting your friend something ridiculous, but you're getting him or her something ridiculous that also comes in a ridiculous box. And comes with a ridiculous pendant. Available from Amazon for $99.

For the Simultaneously Literary and Musical Nerd: The Ghost of John Henry by Sci-Fi Romance

You may know Vance as our resident film nerd, but he's also the singer and guitarist of Los Angeles-based band Sci-Fi Romance. Described as folk music with a "serious, literary bent," Sci-Fi Romance matches tight songwriting with lyrical content that explores mythology, history and (yes) even science fiction. So yeah, this is very smart music. Plus there's cello! Available as a digital download from iTunes for $10, and as a CD from Amazon for $12.