It's News to me

I'm not sure how I'm only hearing about this now, but it's news to me. Electronic Gaming Monthly Magazine is making a comeback. Evidently, this announcement was made back in May. So how did I only hear about it two days ago at The Escapist?

I did a little digging and found that there really isn't much information on this topic... Why the hell not? This is EGM; people were DEVASTATED when publication stopped last January, myself included. Now they're coming back? This is HUGE. EGM was a monolith of iconography in video game magazines. People should be throwing fliers out of airplanes about this.

Well, I'll be buying forty subscriptions once the magazine becomes available again. Now let's talk about a game called Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble. If you own a PSP, you need this game. Hurry up, because it's another Atlus title. As I mentioned once before, Atlus games disappear fast. This isn't the kind of game to which you say, "I'll pick it up in six months when the price goes down." Bad idea. Atlus games typically go up in value because they're only made in limited quantity. Chances are you'll be paying more if you wait.

Kenka Bancho is a tongue-in-cheek, beat-em-up game with a straight-forward plot and addictive gameplay that's deeper than it appears. Few portable games satisfy the criteria of being both engaging and easy to put down once the eight hour car ride, wedding toast, or eulogy ends.

You play a local highschool badass on a class trip to Kyouto. It just so happens forty-seven other badasses from forty-seven other school districts are on the same class trip. You have seven days to... well, do pretty much whatever the hell you want. On my first playthrough, I thought the objective was to simply track down and beat up the other banchos, but that's just one thing you can do. There are different events to unlock, secrets to find, even romances to pursue(if you're a pansy). Plus, there's "Night Out," a co-op mode where you can do special missions with your bancho buddies.

Kenka Bancho doesn't exactly break new ground. The game is pretty simplistic, sometimes too much so. I mean, it's a beat-em-up; it shouldn't be complicated, but I wish combat wasn't so monotonous at times. If you're looking to beat every bancho, you need to collect itinerary. You do that by beating up other tough guys... A LOT. Busting skulls is fun, but if you're looking for someone's specific itinerary and you keep getting the same one, it can get stale. As you level up you learn new fighting moves, most of which are only marginally better than others. It seems the purpose of changing your fighting style is mostly cosmetic, which is a bit gimmicky.

The one truly irritating part of this game is the travel system. You can walk, take the train, catch a bus, or call yourself a taxi("I'm a taxi!" That's one of the game's jokes not mine.), all of which will bring you to different destinations. For whatever reason, the only way you can view the map of Kyouto, and thus figure out where to go and which form of transportation you should use, is to actually board a bus, train, or taxi. Now there are several aspects of this game that are kept "secret," but they're nothing that's going to hinder your progress. There is no right or wrong way to play this game, and finding out all of the possibilities is part of the fun. However, "map" is not something that should be kept mysterious. Time is precious in this game, and wasting it trying to physically find a place to view a map is just needless frustration. So I, personally, wound up drawing my own. Yeah, I'm that badass.

Kenka Bancho is a paradox. It's simple, yet complex; parody, but sincere, and at times it's just downright strange. It's a game made by tough guys, for tough guys. Check it out.