Scabs R' Us

The NFL Replacement Referee Act of 2012 has been a resounding failure, getting worse as the season progresses. While there were some opening week jitters, the replacement refs were mostly competent. People thought these guys were okay and the regular referees looked bad as a result. The second week had more problems, but could still be defended from time to time. The peoples' view of the regular referees started to turn. This past weekend however, having culminated with the last two games, have been an unmitigated disaster. While the New England Patriots may call foul with a questionable field goal, no one can cry more foul than the Green Bay Packers, who last night had a game stolen from them by the replacement referees.

The final play of the game is and will forever be under the microscope. Was the ball a simultaneous reception by both Jennings of the Packers and Tate of the Seahawks? While the referees determined that yes it was, which means it's a touchdown since the ball in those situations reverts to the Offense, anyone with a clear view of it, either from afar or close could see that Tate didn't even have an arm on the ball. When you see the replay, Jennings caught the ball, got both arms around it, went to the ground and had the ball in his chest. Tate had one arm above the ball, maybe near Jennings' neck area, but nowhere near it to say he had at least partial control. What resulted was baffling, what can only be described as a black eye for the NFL, as the league forced them to kick the required extra points minutes after everyone left.

Throughout this whole ordeal, the NFL has tried to maintain order over the Referee strike, claiming that everything was fine, and the replacements weren't costing teams games. After Monday, the league can no longer claim that. While the game from both teams was particularly ugly, the referees ended up deciding the result of the game. That is not what referees are there to do, and after this game, it is perfectly clear that this experiment is a failure. The league needs the people who know the rules and procedures back on the field. Not yesterday, not tomorrow, but now.

NFL 2012 - Week 1 Predictions

Welcome one and all to the 2012 NFL Season! It's been 7 months since the New York Giants won their fourth Super Bowl, once again over the New England Patriots, but now a new season begins tonight. So what better way to commemorate a new NFL season than to begin a new year of NFL Weekly Predictions? I can't think of anything better.


Dallas @ NY Giants
- The Giants host the Cowboys tonight with the Champions Season Opener, which is a rematch from Week 17 last year when the Giants manhandled the Cowboys to win the NFC East. While both teams are not looked at highly, I expect the Giants to hold serve against the Cowboys.

Indianapolis @ Chicago
- Andrew Luck is the new QB in Indy, but the Bears Defense has always been tough under coach Lovie Smith. I expect them to give Luck a warm welcome with many sacks due to their poor offensive line, allowing the Bears to cruise.


Philadelphia @ Cleveland
- When these two teams played in the pre-season a couple of weeks ago, the first string of Philly outclassed Cleveland. I expect the same to happen here, but for real, not practice.

St. Louis @ Detroit
- The Rams were the second worst team in the League last year while the Lions had a highly touted offense. While the Rams have a new head coach, I expect the Lions to show the Rams why they're the Rams.

New England @ Tennessee
- While the Titans finished the year strong, they have looked less than impressive in the off-season and have a new QB at the helm. Considering they're facing the New England Patriots, I expect nothing less than a mild blowout.

Atlanta @ Kansas City
- The Chiefs are enigma. They won the AFC West two years ago. They started poorly last year, fired their head coach, and got to 8-8 under Romeo Cronell, who isn't a good coach. I don't expect a stomping like the Bills put on the Chiefs last year on opening day, but this won't be close.

Jacksonville @ Minnesota
- While Maurice Jones Drew will play for the Jaguars on Sunday, he'll more than likely be a bit out of synch after holding out all off-season. I expect the Vikings to start strong, but eventually end up holding off the Jaguars for a close victory.

Washington @ New Orleans
- This is probably the most interesting game of year for the Saints. After all of the suspensions and controversy, they start out at home against the Redskins, who've been mildly quiet this off-season. While the Redskins winning would be a surprise, I can't see how they can stop Drew Brees short of injuring him or the replacement refs being so bad that the Redskins win.

Buffalo @ New York Jets
- The Jets only scored one Touchdown all pre-season. The Bills have a great defense. But so do the Jets. I expect this one to be low scoring, but the Jets have a tendency to win close, low-scoring games, so I'm going with them.

Miami @ Houston
- The Dolphins haven't looked pleasant all pre-season. They have a new QB that looks lost, and have a defense that looks inept. Going against the Texans, and a top tier QB in Matt Schaub, I expect a blowout here.

San Francisco @ Green Bay
- Last year's NFC Championship Game that didn't happen finally happens. I feel that the Packers will be angry for the opening part of the season, meaning an easy win here. While Alex Smith is adequate, the Green Bay Defense is just a little bit better to provide the difference here.

Carolina @ Tampa Bay
- Last year, the Panthers demolished the Buccaneers in both games. While the Bucs got better in the off-season and the Panthers got worse, the difference between them is still definite for me to say the Panthers will win this one.

Pittsburgh @ Denver
- Out is Tim Tebow, in is Peyton Manning. While the Steelers lost here last year in the Playoffs, I expect them to come out for revenge early and often, hoping to end Peyton Manning's career. Especially when he has a history of not playing well against them.

Cincinnati @ Baltimore
- The Bengals are an up and down team season by season. Last year they were up, this year they will most certainly be down. Given that this is the Ravens' last shot at a Super Bowl title before their defense enters retirement, I expect them to come out guns blazing once again.

San Diego @ Oakland
- San Diego doesn't have a good record in the opening month of the season under Norv Turner. While they've constantly struggled, given that Oakland is once again in a year where people expect them to break out, I don't. I see San Diego winning this game, albeit close because it's on Monday Night Football.


That's it for Week 1. We'll see how I do.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 Review

When New Super Mario Bros. released for the Nintendo DS in 2006, little did we know we’d be getting a plethora of Mario games the likes of which we haven’t seen since the NES era. After another 2D entry on the Wii, which featured 4-player cooperative play, Mario and Luigi make their way back to the portable space on the Nintendo 3DS in New Super Mario Bros. 2 for nothing short of a coin grab by both plumbers and Nintendo.

The most prominent feature of the 3DS system is that it can have glasses free 3D. This is a feature that does grab your attention most of the time, and in New Super Mario Bros. 2, this is no different. The game’s 3D effect is nothing short of lazy, making the depth of field go up by blurring the background. This ruins the texture work of vistas in the background, and does cause problems when turned all the way up. The best solution for this is by having the 3D slider partially up, being no greater than halfway for the best viewing experience. It’s disappointing since Nintendo usually has been the ones revolutionizing the tech.

Despite that, the levels look good, and have a definite flow to them. While some hardcore gamers will decry the easiness of the series, New Super Mario Bros. 2 is deceptively difficult. While the game wants you to collect coins, they often set up situations where your best interest is to rush in order to get them. The levels however are designed against you doing so, causing you to lose power-ups and unnecessary deaths along the way. Additionally, each level has 3 Star Coins hidden throughout them. While a definite majority are out in the open and will be found through simple exploration, a good portion of them are hidden cleverly throughout each level. It adds a bit of replay value if you desire to collect them all.

That’s a good thing since the game, straight through is relatively short, taking players three to five hours to beat. Most players will rush through the game though, since the game doesn’t start with a “Save Anywhere” feature like Super Mario 3D Land. Instead, it’s a step back to the previous New Super Mario Bros. games where you save after a Castle, and can Quick Save anywhere, but if you lose your progress, you’ll be put back at your last Main Save. Another thing that’s just like the original New Super Mario Bros. games is the music. Almost every track is ripped from previous entries with the exception of adding small vocals to them. It makes the game feel rehashed and uninspired at times, despite being enjoyable to play.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 is simply more Mario. It’s not a groundbreaking entry into the series, and feels like it needed an extra year of development to provide a better experience. It’s fun, but it feels more like an Expansion than a proper sequel.

Pros
- Coin Rush is where most people will spend a lot of time in to get 1 million coins
- Level design is good, and rewards usage of different power-ups
- A Good Challenge

Cons
- Controls feel slippery, causing unnecessary deaths
- Cooperative Play is tacked on and pointless
- 1 Million Coin Reward is a joke, and not worth it

Score: 6 out of 10

The Unknown Powerhouse

With a little over a month to go in the 2012 MLB season, the playoff picture is finally beginning to materialize. While the Yankees are atop the AL East, the Rays and Orioles give chase. The Tigers are trying to rundown the White Sox in the AL Central, while the Rangers have a sizeable lead in the AL West. While Tampa Bay is sure to get a playoff spot, the Orioles, Tigers and Athletics are in competition for the second AL Wild Card spot. In the NL West, you have the Giants and Dodgers battling for West Coast supremacy, while the Reds are finally distancing themselves in the NL Central from the slumping Pirates and the semi-consistent Cardinals. But in the NL East you have what should be the talk of the baseball world, even though many focus on things that while important, shouldn't be the reason people are talking.

In second place, you have the Atlanta Braves, the team that is synonymous with Post-Season failure. A team that won the NL East consecutively for over a decade and only managed a handful of Post-Season wins, including 1 World Series title. As of writing this, they are 7 games behind Baseball's best team, and the focus of this article, the Washington Nationals. At 76 wins and 46 losses, they hold baseball's best record by two games over Cincinnati in a tougher division, with more runs scored, less runs allowed, 2 cy young contenders in Gonzalez and Strasburg, 3 gold glove contenders in Zimmermann, Desmond and Bernadina, a rookie of the year contender in Harper, and an MVP contender in Desmond. But ultimately they are a team that, because of their lack of time in the spotlight doesn't really get the credit they deserve.

While it's true they haven't won anything, over the last few seasons they've constantly been improving, and this year, while many thought they would be competing for a playoff spot, few thought they'd be on top of the baseball world. They never go down without a fight, playing every last out. They have consistently gotten help from every player on the team, particularly when injuries have occurred. No player has really gone missed this season for the Nationals, as it seems like 2 players pick up the slack for when one of them goes on the disabled list. After years of being the laughing stock of the league, every single player on the team is fighting back, and it's making a city that has long gone without a Championship proud.

While the Yankees and Rangers are odds on favorites to win the World Series due to their storied and recent playoff history, don't be surprised if they end up facing this year's 'Little Engine that Could,' the Washington Nationals in the World Series. Because they are baseball's best team, and have consistently proved it all year.

Nightmare Fuel

While talking about the upcoming release of Dead or Alive 5, Yosuke Hayashi of Team Ninja was quoted with the following:

Unfortunately Metroid is kind of out of our league as it’s Nintendo’s game, but we’re still in close touch with co-creator Sakamoto-san, so we want to do something with him moving forward definitely. It really depends on what he wants to do with the game first.

...

The following question comes to mind: "Would Nintendo really be that stupid?" It's safe to say that Other M was both a critical and sales failure to Nintendo, in addition to destroying the image of character of Samus Aran for almost everyone, and destroying any coherent lore there was about Metroid because of it. While the majority of people blame Team Ninja for it, others blame series Creative Director Yoshio Sakamoto of Nintendo for many of the games' poorer elements. The reality of the fact is that all parties involved with the project share part of the blame.

Yoshio Sakamoto bares the blame for his depiction of the Series Protagonist Samus Aran, as well as the Metroid universe, since it was him, after all, that wrote Other M's story. He is also to blame for Jessica Martin, Samus' English Voice Actress, who he picked out himself, despite not being a native English speaker. He also decided that the game's story must be literally localized for all languages. Outside of the story, Sakamoto forced Team Ninja to use the Wii Remote only for the game, and adding the first person element via threat of shutting the project down. He also decided that the series staple, the Gravity Suit, would be depicted by a "serious-natured" purple aura instead of the standard purple suit with blue visor. In the music department, Sakamoto insisted upon ambiance for the standard fare of music instead of a more traditional and expected Metroid soundtrack.

These decisions, by and large, made fans upset, and a backlash ensued. This, in tandem with scathing reviews by journalists and fans alike led most gamers to stay away from the title until the game received gashing price cuts, or outright refusing to buy it altogether due to the story, and the controversy about how sexist against women the game was, particularly with a female protagonist, that was at the time, and maybe still is, highly respected and loved among gamers.

Then there comes Team Ninja's contributions for the game. Their CG team, D-Rockets, helped put together the story in Other M in movie form. Team Ninja also produced several gameplay mechanics are at fundamental odds with the core structure of Metroid games, finding items, and exploring new paths to find shortcuts for speedruns. The game mechanics introduced Other M vehemently discourage players from doing these things, including fighting enemies later on since they are basically a chore at that point. You can't even get 100% item completion before the game's final boss, which is ultimately a story-based unlock.

The quote from Hayashi is troubling to Metroid fans, as well as Nintendo fans who have been desperately hoping for a new Metroid game to be announced, hopefully paired with the retconning of it due to its' terrible story and complete mediocrity in almost every other area. It shows that Team Ninja doesn't realize that their mechanics are not what's best for Metroid, nor does it give the indication that Yoshio Sakamoto believes he did any wrong with Other M. While it was his dream game, he made it a nightmare. Giving it back to Team Ninja, especially after Other M, would be more fuel to the fire to killing the series, if it isn't already dead.

Xenoblade Chronicles Review

Xenoblade Chronicles is a Japanese Role-Playing Game published by Nintendo. It's been a long time coming for those wanting this released in the North America, and its' finally here. Championed as the best JRPG of this generation, and one of the greatest of all time, people waiting to play this should not delay.

The story of Xenoblade revolves around two titan creatures, the Bionis and the Mechonis. Long ago, they fought and died, and their deaths allowed the creation of all living things on their lifeless shells. The world at the present day is a war between those living on each side. The journey of the game takes you across both of these creatures, exploring some of the widest areas in gaming history. Players will want to waste hours completing every square inch of area maps, only to realize they're barely 10 hours into the game. It's remarkable that such a feat happened on the Wii. These areas also look wonderful in terms of visuals as well as scope. Throughout various areas of the game you'll be able to see the other Titan to give you proper placement in the world, which is a really neat touch that will leave your jaw dropped every time you realize it, especially when you play through it.

The game's combat is reminiscent of Final Fantasy XII, an MMO style RPG where your party acts on their own and you choose your special attacks from an Arts bar. Throughout the game you get a variety of them, which you can level up and interchange between fights. Some can be used to daze enemies through cooperative attacks, while others do more damage depending on where you attack enemies from. You can also play as any character in your party, and while the game does try to push you away from doing so, is actually great to do since changing party members will help build affinity between them, as well as building a character's skill links and provides more gameplay variety. Every character plays right, if that makes any sense. There's no bad character to play as in the game, and while they have similar movement speeds and combat bars, you'll quickly adapt to their various tactics. It's also helpful that the game does have a rather catchy soundtrack.

One of the highlights of any JRPG and any Nintendo game is the music, and Xenoblade Chronicles is no exception. Each area and battle provides a newly orchestrated track that has a different feel to it than the last. While one may be epic, one is mysterious, while another is calming. They all perfectly fit the game, the areas they represent and the graphics, which is one of the game's middling points. The game has a lot of pretty vistas and jaw-dropping areas to look at, but the game also does have some ugly spots, most notably character faces and walls in some areas. While the faces look like something out of a mid-range PS2 game, the textures look like something out of a Nintendo 64 game trying for realism. It doesn't look good at all, and really brings down the game, if only ever so slightly.

One bad point I can bring up about Xenoblade Chronicles is the story, which is completely generic. While you have a great world, great characters and atmosphere, the threads around it are pretty dull and you'll definitely feel like you've seen them before. While the driving force behind Xenoblade Chronicles is the characters, the story will leave you wanting to do other things from time to time, even though they are mostly fetch quests. But those do inevitably help you raise affinity in areas, which can gain you more XP, which is always a good thing.

Overall, Xenoblade Chronicles is the best JRPG released this generation. While it has a somewhat clunky menu system that will lead you to an online guide or wiki, it is still a sight to behold, and will leave you wanting to come back for more until you do everything.


Score: 9 out of 10

+ Well Realized World
+ Awesome Soundtrack
+ Great Characters

- A generic story
- Involved to point to the point of Confusion
- Poor Menu Interface

Spelunky Review (Xbox 360)

Spelunky is an Xbox Live Arcade title for $15 that was originally released on PC in 2009 as a freeware title. The XBLA version has been revamped with new graphics, enemies, locations, traps and other goodies to make the $15 asking price a bit more palpable. Spelunky can be described as a rogue-like game, where levels are randomly generated and you are asked to traverse them. The premise of Spelunky is simple: Traverse a series of caves to reach Olmec's treasure and escape victorious. But more often than not, the player, and the title, are not successful in creating an enjoyable experience.

Spelunky can best be described as tortuous. The game will do everything in its' grasp to end your ruin, which will on average, be less than a minute. While the game isn't terribly long if you beat it, roughly 25-40 minutes depending on your luck, it will take you longer to do so than beating Battletoads for the first time. It's an apt comparison since the game is punishing at almost every turn. While you'll be able to escape the first area of the game after a couple of hours or so consistently, it becomes a strict test of trial and error that will test the time and patience of many players. Only for a few will the pain and frustration of randomized dungeons offer the tiniest sliver of glee.

Spelunky does offer some good, however. The art style is attractive, the music is catchy and upbeat. The controls are tight, and easy to understand once you get accustomed to them after a few minutes. There's a lot to do and see in Spelunky, if you survive long enough to see most of it. But overall, it's not something that I can highly recommend. The difficulty of the game is too punishing and really outweighs the enjoyment you'll have for this title over the long run. If you thought Super Meat Boy, another 2D platformer was too easy for you, then Spelunky is right up your alley. But for most people, this won't be the case.

Score: 6 out of 10

+ Great Graphics
+ Catchy Music
+ Good Controls

- Extremely Punishing Difficulty
- Too reliant on trial and error difficulty
- Randomized layout leads to unwinnable situations sometimes

My Thoughts on the Wii U

Nintendo is a company that is always veiled in mystery. While the games they release are usually of top tier quality, every once in a while they make you question their strange rationale, even if it doesn't make any sense. Last year at E3 when they first showed off the Wii U, it made people wonder if the tablet controller was an add-on or not. A full year of secrecy and tons of rumors later, many eager gamers hoped Nintendo learned their lesson and would put on a better show. To their dismay, it was terrible. Not only did it not have anything spectacular to end with, but it was terribly paced, counter-productive and still leaves many mysteries to unanswered questions.

The biggest question after E3 is third party support for Wii U. While Nintendo was supposed to unveil their full launch lineup at E3, they not only decided to not include third party support from Japanese companies like Sega and Capcom, but some Western companies like EA and Activision as well. The latter 2 produce games like Skylanders and Call of Duty (Activision) with EA producing Madden, Fifa, Dead Space, etc. The important thing to note about this is that the last time Madden did not appear on a home console at launch is the Sega Dreamcast. This in part led to that system's discontinuance and Sega dropping out of the hardware business. If Madden doesn't come to Wii U, it is ultimately a sign of platform weakness for Nintendo. Third party support hasn't been strong on Nintendo platforms, and while there were reassurances that things would finally change with Wii U, to most, it feels like more of the same from them.

Another problem facing the Wii U is their online infrastructure. All of what you see in the Wii U's interface doesn't seem very user-friendly and instead comes across as a big marketing attempt. In addition, while Nintendo has confirmed user accounts via Miiverse, they have yet to provide a clear cut explanation on friend codes. We've heard that they exist, they don't exist, and they exist in some form, but better than ever, whatever that means. Also, we're still waiting for Nintendo to add meaningful online functionality to their games, i.e. cooperative and competitive multiplayer for games like New Super Mario Bros. U and Pikmin 3, both of which have local multiplayer, but not online. It's an expectation that many have, but Nintendo never wants to try and take that leap, disappointing many fans, leaving others feeling aggravated and see Nintendo as lazy in their attempt to reach the core gamer.

Speaking of games, where were Nintendo's? We had the long awaited announcement of Pikmin 3, which looked good but not great. We had New Super Mario Bros. U which looked cleaner but less fun than New Super Mario Bros. 2 for 3DS, and releasing only a short while after it this year. Then we had the long demonstration of Nintendo Land, a mini-game collection based on core Nintendo franchises. I won't judge the game until I play it, but it definitely leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouths to end off their Conference with. Given the limited amount of games coming out at launch, they failed to show games beyond this year. It put a lot of fear in Nintendo fans about the future of the company, myself included.

Going into E3 I said I would not buy a Wii U for Pikmin 3 or New Super Mario Bros. at launch. After E3, I'm not going to buy a Wii U at launch unless I start hearing some really good things. The lack of Retro's game, a Zelda, a Metroid, heck even a DK Platformer, fails to garner any excitement for me. I want to buy a Wii U, I really do, but Nintendo, you have to give me something more than a barrel full of promises and a jar full of tears before I put money on you again.

The Last Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy has been a long-standing series for Square Enix ever since it saved the company back in 1987. But after 25 years, it feels as if the end is near. Ultimately the series has been in decline since 7, or at the very least X. VIII had major storyline problems that people call out to this very day, X-2 is extremely japanese, and XII's story falls apart near the end. In 2010 came Final Fantasy XIII, a story that, by and large, most people didn't like. I thought it was okay, but ultimately suffered from pacing problems as well having a hard time conveying information that should be thrust upon you in the first 4-5 hours, instead of at the halfway point. The story also had some questionable characters, well scratch that, most of them were questionable. The only good character that was understandable to a lot of people was Sazh, a father looking for his son who had become a L'Cie, or a slave to a God. After having his son turn to crystal in front of him for fulfilling his focus, Sazh has to wonder if he should carry on or not. He's ultimately the best the story has since it feels like he doesn't belong there.

The rest of the cast tries to find out what their mysterious focus is from the Gods that imprisoned them, but are dicks and won't help them. It ultimately boils down to 'save the world or become an evil monster.' But from there it's mostly terrible dialog that prevents most from caring about anyone since it just ends and still leaves you wondering why they spoiled the game's ending on the game's logo. It was ultimately a disappointing game, but left nothing undone and you felt closure at the end of it...until 2 years later when Square Enix decided that you needed more Final Fantasy with XIII-2, the sequel no one really wanted. The focus of the plot revolves around Serah, Lightning's sister, who gets magic anime clothes at the beginning, time travelling around with Noel, a boy who's from the end of the universe and stole MC Hammer's parachute pants. Needless to say, time travel was not handled well here. Instead of trying to have events that shape the past and future through gameplay events, the game's writer decided to go the Metal Gear Solid 4 route and have one single thing be the answer to everything. This game's answer to the Nanomachine is of course the Paradox.

I don't really think there's much more to be said than that, but there is. A villain, tied to Noel's past of course (or would it be future in this case, I'm not sure) is trying to kill the Goddess Etro and end all Paradoxes, which will coincidentally destroy the world. The premise isn't bad, but everything that goes on in it is terrible. The story and dialog are terrible, while the gameplay mechanics two steps forward but with one step back (focusing on multiple enemies, the leader dying doesn't equal game over and limited paradigm options), with a poorly optimized frame rate, in addition to loading times that are frequent and through the roof. While the game feels like a true episodic release given a lot of rehashed material such as character models and music, it still feels relatively cheap. I don't think the game's bad, but it definitely feels like Square has forgotten what made Final Fantasy great in the first place.

A story saved Square Enix. That story's name was Final Fantasy. A story is killing Square Enix. That story's name is Final Fantasy.

My Zelda Symphony Experience

Last year at E3, Nintendo announced the Zelda Symphony series to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the series. There were three events held across the globe, one in Japan, Europe and North America. Earlier this year a few more tour dates were announced for locations such as Dallas, Montreal, Phoenix, Colorado and Atlanta. This past weekend The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses was held in Atlanta, GA and I traveled down to experience it. Even though Skyward Sword featured a sampler CD of the music being played there, I didn't listen to it on the chance that I'd be able to go to one of the concerts. After being there in person, I can truly say it was worth it, and one of the best things I've ever done in my life.

I got to the event two hours before-hand, knowing that the center would open 90 minutes before showtime. The next 75 minutes basically revolved around me and almost every Nintendo fan there pulling out there 3DS's and getting Street Passes for the duration. Overall I got around 160 Street Passes, getting all Puzzle Swap Pieces except for one Mario Tennis Open Pink Piece, clearing 3 rooms in Find Mii 2's Secret Quest and filling all of my Street Pass Data for Kid Icarus: Uprising, Mario Kart 7, Super Mario 3D Land, Super Street Fighter 4, Nintendogs+Cats, Resident Evil: Revelations and Dead or Alive: Dimensions. This is the benefit of getting there early, getting souvenirs and then going up and down the line you were just in for passes. Since you can only hold 10 Street Passes per wave for the Mii Plaza, it was imperative to get as many Passes as possible. After getting enough Passes, I went to my seats in the upper deck.

Before they began, they announced that a replacement conductor would take over for the regular conductor; the replacement was the woman who conducted the music people got with first shipment copies of Skyward Sword, so that was a bit interesting to say the least. Over the course of the night, ten pieces of music were played, in addition to three encores. The interesting part of how to note that these songs basically told the story of each individual game throughout each of the main movements. There were also a few pieces to get the audience and orchestra warmed up, which included music from Zelda dungeons, Kakariko Village and various Ocarina songs, the last of which they mentioned they didn't usually do. Overall it was a nice warm-up of things to come.

Next were the first two movements, beginning with Ocarina of Time, which was then followed by the Wind Waker. In terms of music, these are definitely the most prominent Zelda games in that regard. The movements themselves basically told a thin story of the game at hand from beginning to end. Ocarina of Time started in Kokiri Village and ended with the triumphant battle with Ganon. Needless to say, it was great. What followed was a bit of a disappointment for me, the Wind Waker. Starting off with the triumphant opening scroll and music from Outset Island, it quickly went to the Forsaken Fortress and then ending with the battle for Hyrule under the ocean. The only reason I call this a disappointment was the lack of the magnificent Dragon Roost Island, which by all accounts, is the best piece of music in that game. But afterwards, a short intermission was had, which was followed by another overture and the next two movements.

When the announcement came down that Twilight Princess would be played next there was a slight applause, almost as if those in the crowd were expecting another game to be there. However, the last movement announced was one everyone could enjoy, "We're giving you a Link to the Past" the announcer said, which was met with arousing applause and cheers from the crowd. And that's really where the difference in the show was found. I thought Twilight Princess' movement was quite short, despite having some of the best music in the series. It quickly took us from the beginning of the game to Hyrule Field, then Midna's Theme and before long it was at the final fight with Ganon before the final track. While it was great, I longed for just a bit more. It felt bittersweet. But for the last movement, the best was definitely saved.

A Link to the Past is regarded as the beta to Ocarina's masterpiece. However, I'd say the former is the superior, and this movement, at least in some way, proved that. Starting with a rainstorm, moving quickly to Hyrule Castle and then the 3 early dungeons, it moved to the Dark World. While inevitably it came to end with Link's fight with Ganon and the second credits theme, I wish that the first credits theme was played. But considering what was coming, it probably would have ruined the rest of the show.

After the final movement, it was announced that an encore would take place, which would be Link's Awakening. I found curious that this was the only song throughout the night that failed to have a visual aid with it. I wondered why, but it didn't really bother me. The movement, while ending with the Ballad of the Wind Fish, didn't seem like I remembered it all that well. It was alright, but I sort of expected something a bit more familiar. Thank goodness that familiarity was met with a second encore with Ocarina of Time's Gerudo Valley.

I really like how this song was handled by the Conductress. Throughout the entire song she just used her stick without her left hand, really showing her mastery of what she does. She seemed really into it as well as it seemed very natural for her to control the tempo of the song, which was pretty upbeat. What also surprised me is how the song played, and while the beats were definitely the same, it sounded differently than I thought it would. Afterwards, everyone on stage received a standing ovation for the performance, and that was the end.


Except for one more song. After the host drug the Conductress back on stage, it was said that the evening's Concert was not ordinary, and deserved a third and final encore. Something the fans wanted, and for that, would be rewarded. The final movement of the evening was The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. This is the song I had secretly been waiting for all night. My favorite Zelda game with orchestrated music. Like before, the song told the story of Majora's Mask. Starting with Link losing his horse, get warped to Clock Town, trying to fix the world before the ever-increasing doom of the moon destroyed it, followed up by the Oath to Order and the final fight with Majora before the ending piece. What I noticed about this song that was particularly amazing was how it managed to get darker and creepier as the song progressed, simulating the game's 3-day mechanic until the Oath to Order was played. It was a statement to why Zelda music was so great, and why this Symphony does exist.

If you're a Zelda fan, a Nintendo fan, a video game fan, whatever. You should try to make it to one of these before the tour finishes. While I have a feeling they were recording Atlanta's Concert for a future disc release, there's nothing quite like seeing it live.