Nz17 Productions

Originally recorded 2019-Aug-08.
Originally aired 2020-Jan-01.

A new Episode for a new year!

This Episode marks twenty (That's 2-0!) years of ASO Radio. It seems like only two decades ago that I started this show, but it has actually been twenty years - who could have guessed? ^_- In that time we have reviewed every anime and Japanese video game ever made as well as the majority of manga, visual novels, light novels, and soundtrack CD's, with reviews of millions of comedic and dramatic audio programs on CD and digital as well. Or... that would be awesome if it were true. So until it is, we will continue to review media from Japanese popular culture.

...And hey, here's to another twenty years of ASO Radio! We hope you all shall join us on our continuing adventures in anime talk radio broadcasting!

Our fifteenth anniversary Episode - originally recorded on August 10th, 2014 - starts with an overview of ASO Radio's beginnings and its early episodes. We then segue to talking about the contemporary anime talk radio shows from back-in-the-day that have disappeared from the Internet over the years as well as what's been happening in the lives of Nz17, DB3, and ZGuy. All that is followed by our usual segments which include an anime review, some unique fan mail, a few zippy video game reviews while Nz17 gets a drink, and an overview of the 2013 NDK convention.

Check out the new review fore you guys.

Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward

Virtue's last reward is a sequel of sorts to the 2010 Nintendo DS game, "9 hours, 9 people, 9 doors." I say a sequel of sorts because they are not directly related to each other. Besides a few returning characters, the game play being identical and making the side stories make more sense, the two share nothing else. With that being said, should you play 999 before you play Zero Escape? In my humble opinion, the answer is a resounding no. Having played 999 before Zero Escape, (and even ranking on my top ten best games of 2010.) I found that Zero Escape's story kept slapping me in the face. "Oh you knew about this event that took place before? That has nothing to do with what's happening now." *SLAP* "There's this secret from the first game, I shouldn't tell anybody but I'll tell you... It has nothing to do with this game!" *SLAP* It truly felt as if I was being punished for having played 999 before playing Zero Escape.

For those not in the know Zero Escape is a "Japanese Adventure" game. You play in a first person view reading the text of dialogue-or in this case listening to spoken dialogue-until you are given options on where you want the story to go. Depending on what choice you take will depend on what ending you achieve, with some endings only viewable after you complete other endings. To break up the lengthy story bits, the game will through you into a puzzle room that works a lot like CSI. You spin around the room, find hidden objects, combine objects to make new objects to solve diabolical math puzzles.

Good Notes, Bad Notes.

1.Very well written. Good

2. Voice acting was well performed. Good

3. Some puzzles require you to "REMEMBER EVERYTHING!!" or play story bits over again, and write down clues. Bad

4. 30-40 hours of game time. Good

5. Some character designs are... questionable. Neutral

6. Skip dialogue read before, auto advanced dialogue, and manual advance button are all the same button. BAD

7. Music is recycled from the first game. BAD

8. Final ending is a let down. BAD

9. More twists and turns then an M. Night Shyamalan movie. GOOD

10. Would still play a sequel. GOOD

5 Good remarks, 4 Bad remarks and 1 Neutral remark. Which gives a final score of 5.5 out of 10.

Final Notes: Zero escape is not perfect, and there are things that I would want to fix if I was given the reins. With that being said I would still purchase a sequel, and for the PlayStation Vita (At time of writing) this is the only game worth playing. So even though it did not receive a high score from me, it's still worth picking up, or at the very least renting it for a weekend play trough.

This game was reviewed on a copy purchased by the reviewer.

OK, so it's been much longer then I wanted it to be, and so just to get the list out I present to you a paraphrased version of the best games of 2011.

Best Games of 2011

7. Sonic Generations

6. Spider-Man: Edge of Time

5. Cthulhu Saves the World

4. Portal 2

3. Professor Layton and the Last Specter

2. Terraria

1. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

And the Worst game of 2011.

1. SpaceChem

I know that this is a lack luster way to put out the games on the list, but if I don't just get them out this way I doubt I would get them out at all.

This Episode contains a special announcement about some changes we're going to be making around here. But it also contains a review of the anime Working!! (known as Wagnaria!! in North America) and an hour-long interview with the famous voice actor Sonny Strait and the musician - and convention favorite - Warky T. Chocobo. A nice mix of ASO Radio goodness that spans over ninety-eight minutes, this is an Episode you should not miss!

Moving right along, controllerless and no memory card for me. Giving you the good and neutral for free.

Good Games of 2011

9. Test Drive Unlimited 2

An MMORG or Massively Multiplayer Online Racing Game, Test Drive Unlimited 2 is all about the racing with others in the game. From street racing to off-road to track racing, TDU2 has it all. Although the music in the game is rather "Meh", and the single player story (A valet aspires to be a racing legend, but is fired because he daydreams about it and is late in retrieving the car for an heiress. But is given a chance to race in the "Grand Prix" racing event if he can get the same heiress to the filming studio in time.) is a bit lacking. Although you are given a car to start out with, where you go from there is up to you. You can earn money on everything from races to doing odd errands for paying customers. Money can then be turned into newer better cars, houses to store cars, clothes for you character and even more bizarre items like plastic surgery. And if that wasn't enough, the race tracks are not one, but two giant islands to go anywhere and do almost anything. A must have for any fan of racing at all.

8. L.A. Noire

L.A. Noire tells the story of an WWII Ex-Marine, back in the states now serving as a cop. Set in the 1950's you start your career as a patrol cop and through solving crimes by finding evidence, talking to witnesses and capturing perps. Although you could say screw it all, and just travel the old L.A. doing random acts of heroism or really nothing at all in it's open ended game play. This IS a game for the mature of audiences as there are some murder scenes that are quite grizzly, and there is nudity featured more times then once.

Neutral Games of 2011

9. Puzzle Agent 2

Staring Nelson Tethers the FBI's only puzzle agent, Puzzle Agent 2 takes Nelson back to Schoggins to solve the mystery of the missing Eraser Head factory foremen. Unfortunately Puzzle Agent 2 comes off as a quick dip into some cheap cash, hoping to sell of the success of the first game. I would have preferred if Nelson was sent somewhere else to solve some other sort of puzzle crimes, instead of being sent to the same old small town with the same old people and yet somehow finding people and places I had not visited in the first game. I do appreciate the close to some questions left unanswered in the first game, but I could have waited two to three more game inbetween to keep it from feeling stale.

three games down, only 16 more to go. :)

:(

In continuing the bad game tradition we start today off with the final two worst games of 2011. So without further ado...

Bad Games of 2011

2. Rusty Hearts

It's hard to gripe about a free-to-play game, but I'll find a way. Like how there's no customizable controls, you're forced to use the arrow key to move, the Z and X keys to fight and the mouse clicker to do everything else. What is this? The year 2001? I thought we killed off those three-handed games years ago.

Again, I understand that it's free, but only four characters to play has, and no color or clothes swap at all. That means there are hundreds maybe thousands of the same characters running around looking exactly the same. And that breaks the aesthetic for me, and I just can't believe there are this many of the same guy, without some sort of paradox happening.

And now the moment you've all been waiting for...

The good games for 2011

Good Games of 2011

10. Catherine

What makes this game good? Well it's not the original box art, or the crazy monster designs, or even the repetitive game play. No what I like is the originality, the thinking behind the lines that motivates me to continue to play just so I can see all that was put into the package. And again Atlus continues to have superb localization of the games they published. I want to buy all of their games just because they are so dang good at the localizing.

"As you know, the key to victory is the element of surprise. Surprise!"

Neutral Games of 2011

10. Samurai Warriors Chronicles

Continuing in the long line of "Warrior" games, Samurai Warriors Chronicles tell the story of some Guy/Lady that no one has ever heard of who travels feudal Japan, switching masters more often then Ken from street fighter.

I assume that you're getting a back story to real people from ancient Japan, and that the conversations taking place between them and your character is a "What if?" sort of scenario. This would be nice except that they all speak Japanese and when TecmoKOEI brought the game out *IN AMERICA!* all they did were subtitles. Making this game the "Moby Dick" of video games, with the hours upon hours of talking/reading bits.

And in case you are the sort that has been living under a rock for several years, this is the standard 3rd-person view hack-n-slash that is "go to point A and kill some guys. Now go to point B and kill some guys. OMG they have broken through our castle wall, get back to point A and kill some guys!" Also, sometimes you get to ride a horse around and kill some guys.

That's it for this update. What's that? I can't hear you over you saying that I for got something. Oh well, guess you'll have to ask next time.

Well hot diggity dog! Day two is off with a blast, and we're adding more games to avoid for a good time. So lets jump in and live in our world, because we would like to play.

Bad Game of 2011

8. DC Universe Online

This isn't the first Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game that I've played, but it is the first that I've bought. And I have to give it credit for having a unique fighting system that isn't a set and forget it style. However... it falls on the same crutch that after 10 to 20 levels they require you to play with a group. "What?! You want to play by yourself? Poppycock! Go make some friends, and don't come back until you've brought their money with you."I just couldn't continue to play or pay after they wanted me to have a group to play with.

7. Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights

I've come to the conclusion that Konami should change it's name to "The Sneaking Company." Let's take a look at their list of qualifications. Metal Gear Solid, Boktai, Doctor Lautrec, and Yu-Gi-Oh. All of them require some level of sneaking either in the game, or around the store so people don't see you buying it.Doctor Lautrec is a great concept involving a Doctor and is assistant, that go underground in Paris to find treasure not because it's valuable but because it has cursed monster inside of the relics that you must tame. If that's not bad enough there are puzzles in this game that you must solve, puzzles like crosswords, sliding pictures, and spot the differences. These are the ONLY type of puzzles in the game, with them repeating at different stages.Between all the puzzles and monster taming is the reason for Konami to change it's name. For you see, even though you stumble across underground entrances that have no been used in hundreds of years, you'll still find police guards patrolling the underground that you must sneak pasted. ! What was that noise? It was the sound of me TRYING to like this game, and failing.

6. Samantha Swift and the Fountains of Fate

Ok ok, so it's a hide and seek game and you're probably thinking "This should have been number one worst game." And in some respects you're right, but hear me out. It's one of the only hide and seek games that *gasp* uses the item you find to unlock new areas and advance the story. The major problem with the fountains of fate is that they changed the art work, and went from a cartoonish Indiana Jones to a goth tomb raider. Items became harder to find and the story went awhol, and has nothing to do with any of the other games. Not to mention a severe lack of any kind of story, when the last three Samantha Swift games you couldn't have paid them to shut up.

Hope you don't mind the extra game revealed I know that it's been a standard two per day for many years, but I'd like to get the list out before the first of February. So with that, we will have more of the bad games tomorrow, because knowledge is power!

Alright Detroit internet CITY!!! It's time for the yearly GAMES IN REVIEW!!! Starting this yea, were going to do things just a little different. Like starting with the "TOP TEN WORST GAMES of 2011."

So lets get to it, and make some noise...

Bad Games

10. Pokemon: White Version

It's terrible when a great series like Pokemon has come so far, and yet continues to stay stagnant. New additions are adding animations to the battles, and 250 new Pokemon. Again when this is the only new good additions, it gets old real quick and no longer the fun game that it used to be.

9. Kingdom Hearts Re:coded

It's another case of a great series, that would continue to be great if they would make new maps and areas to play in. I mean I know this is a retelling of the first game, that takes place between the 2nd and 3rd KH games. But what even make the game if it's going to be boring thanks to the been there done that feeling. Also, side note to developer's. Don't make players play in places they've been before just to make the game longer. It just pisses people off, and makes it so that no one wants to continue playing the game.

Well, that's it for today, continuing tomorrow we'll make the list shorter by releasing more bad games for people to avoid.

Ahhh the final day. What feels like it should have taken a week or two to finish as been more like a month or two. While it has been a fun ride, I must say that I am glad that I was able to get out the full list before I needed to start another one.

But let's take a moment to go through the list of the Top Ten Worst games of 2010.

10. 9. 8.

7. 6. 5.

4. 3. 2.

A classic lot of excrement if I ever did see one, although to be honest only the top five are the truly bad. With 10-6 being just not has fun as I had hoped for.

So without further ado, the Worst game of 2010.

1.

Lost Planet 2

Where to begin... How about the stages being way to long and if you die you start over. The Bionic Commando Arm swing need a lot of help with you swinging to your doom on more then one occasion. All players and enemies look exactly the same. And worst of all the planet that was all ice before is now melting, but somehow in a matter of years they have rainforest like jungles to fight around in. I mean come on, it's takes years and years for jungles to be grown and yet I'm made to believe that the snow just melted right off of these plants? I don't think so Capcom, and that why it is the worst game of 2010.

Now that we have the worst of the worst out of the way, let's get the best of the best started and we do that with a look back at the Top Ten Best games of 2010.

10. 9. 8.

7. 6. 5.

4. 3. 2.

What a good year last year was, and it gets ever better with the Best Game of 2010.

1.

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions

Spider-Man was the best game of last year for a lot of reasons that I'll try to list off for you.

1: Having four different spider men with four different voice actors(All that did voices for the cartoon versions of spider-man) makes the game not just one game, but four games rolled into one.

2: The gameplay is reminiscence of the classic arcade style of playing. Allowing you to select what stage you want to play what level of difficulty and what costume you want to wear in that stage.

Overall I find myself at a loss of words to describe just how great it is. All I can say is that if Activision makes more Spider-Man games just like this, I am going to buy it for sure.

Well it's been a long ride, but this is my stop. We'll see you next year and next time it should finish before Valentine's day. (I hope).

Two in the bush means one is almost in the hand. Right? Right!?

Good Game

2.

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

A true gentleman review a game with the utmost care. At least I imagine that's what Professor Layton would say, but I am not a true gentleman has I always remove my hat (except in TF2).

For those that have followed the series this far playing both the Curious Village, and the Diabolical Box sure play and finish Unwound Future for two very important reasons.

1: It completes the series adding an exclamation mark at the end.

2: A True gentleman never reveals the secrets of the game, but lets just say that it has the most story driven puzzles, and voice over of any Layton game to date.

That reminds me of a puzzle: If Diabolical Box came out in 2009 and Unwound Future came out in 2010 then when will "Professor Layton and the Specter's Flute" come out?

Bad Game

2.

What did I do to deserve this? AKA Holy invasion of privacy Badman

The idea with this game is that you build up defenses to stop heroes from coming along and defeating your evil lord that is under ground. The problem with it is instead of setting up traps and monsters to stop these heroes you are instead force to MAKE monsters by feeding different types of monsters to other monsters.

If that wasn't bad enough it seems that those monster randomly do whatever the hell they want to instead of feeding on the bug monster to grow, and then the bug monster dies and you have to plant another. It's all very frustrating.

We only have T-Minus 3 games left and counting.

Good Game

3.

Sam & Max: The Devil's Playground

Although at the end Telltale takes the cheap way out (And I won't say what so as not to spoiler those who have not yet played the game). It's really the first four chapters that will draw you in and not let you go.

If you need more convincing I originally only bought this game for a Team Fortress 2 hat, of witch other wise I would have not bothered.

Bad Game

3.

Dracula: Undead Awakening

This undead treasure should have been left buried as it is an iPod Touch style of game in that it is a crap game with no point, and even if it was free I would not have downloaded it knowing what I know now.

Also No Dracula was found with what I could find in the game. Only werewolves, Frankensteins Monsters, and creatures from the Black Lagoon.

For those keeping count we're on number 4, japan's only number that is the number 4.

Good Game

4.

NBA Jam

NBA Jame returns and in a big way, a big FUN way. Using pictures of real basketball players taken during games that they played, the characters on the court looks just like the real thing, if not for the crazy out of this world stunts the players pull off.

Fans of the original 2 on 2 game will not be disappointed, with the remix tour mode and the boss fights that have been added, still NBA fans will enjoy it for just a fun pick-up-and-play arcade game of their beloved NBA.

Bad Game

4.

Route 66

By the title alone you would think this is some sort of Racing game, and that is where you would be dead wrong. No instead of making a racing game titled Route 66, the guys at Gameshastra decided that they would make a Hidden Object Game, where you are driving done Route 66 looking for hddien objects.

Not to mention the game takes the image and super zooms in on you making it hard enough to find the objects with so much scrolling to do. Maybe they should have made it for the DS instead.

Roast beef sandwiches never sounded so delicious.

Good Game

5.

Metroid: Other M

This game is really great for anyone looking for a Action Adventure, although it would have been higher on the list if not for the bugs and glitches. From a game ending glitch that locks a door that's supposed to be open, to a game preventing ending that makes you shoot plain plasma shots instead of missiles.

Putting all of that aside, the game makes good use of just the Wiimote instead of forcing the nuncuck on you. And fans of Metroid get to she a side of Samus we haven't before. The Japanese sexist side. *wink*

Bad Game

5.

Star Trek Online

The only good thing I can say about STO is that it has a great character customization screen. What's left sadly is a slow, no weapon/armor showing MMO that begs the question "How has it lasted a year?"

No need to be beastly with me, I putting them up as fast as I can.

Good Game

6.

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth

Bring new life to the almost stall "Ace Attorney" games, Investigations takes the series somewhere it's never been before, point-n-click style. I will admit that the story is as believable as the rest of the AA games, which is to say that it's not. From Planes with no snakes, to Amusement Parks with no clowns, the story is completely unbelievable. That's not to say the story is not cleaver and funny, just that these events will NEVER happen in a million years.

The big plus though is the adding of Miles in the scenes you investigate. Instead of playing hide and seek with the hidden clues in previous entries, now it feels more like a REAL adventure. On the downside the game treats everyone as if they were in a courtroom, what with cross examinations, objections and hold its, but are NEVER in a courtroom at all.

Bad Game

6.

Halo: Reach

The only good thing I can say about reach is that when playing Co-Op story, instead of being the same color, and the same Master Chief (or Arbitrator) you now play as the Multi-player colors you selected from the beginning. To bad the weapons feel dumbed down, the maps are too open and yet restricted, and the story is supposed to be about the courageous Spartans that sacrifice their lives protecting their home. Instead it comes off as a bunch of cocky soldiers who get their ass kicked because they don't have the brains to know any better.

For some reason I have a craving for a Slurpee.

Good Game

7.

Mega Man 10

It's hard to believe that just three years ago if you had said that Capcom was going to make a classic 8-bit style Mega Man game, I would have told you you're crazy. Yet now we have Mega Man 10, the 2nd of the return to 8-bit graphics.

Capcom really learned their lesson with MM9 and MM10 took all of the benefits from it. Stages that are much funner to traverse, bosses that are more crazy (StrikeMan made me want to beat him out of the park.) Of all of the Mega Man games to have come of out late, this is the cream of the crop.

Bad Game

7.

Army of Two: The 40th Day

First off I was disappointed at the lack of pairs of animals, and there was no boats to be found at all. Besides this little flub, the game itself fails at being any fun for the single player, and only really enjoyable in the form of friends playing with you online.

I don't know why, but the guys at EA that made the game decided that static screens and bland colors would make people wants to play this more. Maybe they thought they were being artistic, but all they really were doing was annoying the hell out of me.