Bit by Bit: July 2014

July has been an incredibly busy month.  Funny enough, it has been busy for every reason except gaming.  Once the final article for E3 2014 went up at the end of June, my life has consisted of endlessly working on a large report for an online course, picking up numerous shifts at my two jobs and volunteering for the university newspaper.  The little free time I had was spent away from the keyboard and either with friends trying to make the most of the summer or in front of a television re-watching Gundam Wing (one of my favourite animes) in its entirety.  To sum things up, Silver Bit has been the least of worries for the past month, but those priorities change now as I have a lot planned for August in order to end this summer as strong as it started.  Stay tuned to Silver Bit as the best is yet to come, I promise.  Before we get ahead of ourselves, let us look back at the month that was July 2014.

Game of the Month
When I snuck in some time to play games, there was one game which dominated my time.  If you paid attention to Silver Bit at all during July, you would have seen the review of said game posted a couple weeks ago.  Yes, Shovel Knight is the Game of the Month and rightfully so, the game is phenomenal.  Even after completing the game on Normal, I return to play a few levels in New Game+, search for hidden music sheets and maximize my treasure count.  I can rant and rave about Shovel Knight for hours on end, but I highly recommend reading the review to get my full opinion on the game.  If you are already enjoying Shovel Knight especially the music, the soundtrack and arranged album for the game are both available on composer Jake Kaufman's Bandcamp for any price you would like to pay.  Both albums work as excellent accompanying pieces to Shovel Knight and are highly recommended to anyone who enjoys video game music.  With that all said and done, I cannot stress how wonderful Shovel Knight is.  It is a game that needs to be experienced and at the low price of 15 dollars, there is no excuse to miss out on this adventure.

Most Anticipated Game of the Month
July 17th marked the start of the most anticipated beta in years, the Destiny beta.  The last time a beta was so highly anticipated was way back in 2007 with the Halo 3 beta and coincidentally the Destiny beta comes from the studio that originally created Halo-- Bungie.  A mere pre-order for Destiny gave you full access to the beta upon its release.  Even with that extremely low barrier of entry, those already in the beta received two addition beta codes in order to encourage others to play the beta and gain access to all the content in the beta including the cooperative strike mission (Destiny's equivalent to raids found in other massively multiplayer online games).  If you owned any Microsoft or Sony console, there was no reason not to play the Destiny beta during the last two weeks of July.  While I will be going into much further detail in an upcoming edition of First Byte, I want to share some of my initial thoughts on Destiny here.  Considering my youngest brother hogged the PS4 almost day and night to play the beta, I enjoyed the limited time with Destiny I snuck in between his long sessions.  It blends the expertly polished gameplay of Bungie's entries in the Halo series with the unique RPG elements of Borderlands to great success.  Nowadays, the FPS genre is full of shallow experiences that aim to imitate the latest Michael Bay action movie rather than create a compelling game with actual depth that Destiny feels so refreshing.  While I do not have a high opinion on the current direction of the genre, Destiny stands out as a first-person shooter that I am actually excited for and in all honesty that does not happen often.  I cannot wait to spend some quality time with Destiny come September unless my brother decides to commit every waking moment to playing the game.

Video of the Month
Another month, another Smash Bros. reveal.  This time around we did not get just one new addition to the roster, Nintendo dropped three.  Newcomers Robin and Lucina from Fire Emblem Awakening join the returning Captain Falcon as the newest members of the Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U roster.  The reveal trailer blends the anime-style graphics of Awakening's cutscenes with gameplay footage from the new Smash Bros. in a way that makes both art styles compliment one another.  Much like the other reveal trailers, the video speaks for itself.  So sit back, relax and let Mr. Sakurai take you for a ride.

Hump Day Music: Flossophy Impressions

When I updated Silver Bit six times a week back in 2012, Hump Day Music was one of Silver Bit's staples much like Bit by Bit.  Every Wednesday, I would share a piece of video game music or music loosely related to video games to help readers get through the middle of the week.  As things got busier, Hump Day Music sadly became a thing of the past.  I could never update Silver Bit enough to keep Hump Day Music as a recurring article.  After picking up Brentalfloss' newest CD Flossophy a few weeks back and listening it on repeat ever since, I am glad to bring back Hump Day Music for a special review of this CD.

For the uneducated, Brentalfloss is a musician who became popular amongst gamers for his "With Lyrics" videos which add lyrics to video game music from games like Mario, Mega Man and Castlevania.  Flossophy is Brentfloss' third studio album following What If This CD... Had Lyrics? and Bits of Me.  Flossophy contains twenty tracks including album versions of songs previously released on Youtube, iTunes and Bandcamp like The Team Fortress 2 Song and Cave Story with Lyrics and brand new, never before released songs such as Earthbound with Lyrics and Metroid: Fight for Love.  The album has a great variety of tracks that range from comedic songs to serious songs and fast blood-pumping songs to slow soothing songs.  The album's variety makes each track feel special and fill a different void.  There are no songs that sound the same or produce the same feeling within the listener.  First and foremost, Flossophy is made for those who love video games and video game music.  With that audience in mind, there are a lot of great jokes and parodies found throughout the album.  From giving light to the downfalls of modern console releases to making fun of how awkward the messages transferred through StreetPass are to portraying the Link from A Link to the Past as a self-centered obnoxious hero, there are plenty of jokes and parodies to keep any gamer smiling throughout.  Aside from the variety, jokes and parodies, one's enjoyment of Flossophy will come from the songs themselves.  The selection on this album are some of Brentalfloss' best.  While every track on Flossophy is at least worth a listen, there are seventeen this writer believes are well worth listening to more than once.  Among those seventeen, the tracks that stand out above the rest are Super Mario Land with Lyrics, Ken's Theme with Lyrics, Cave Story with Lyrics, Zidane to Vivi, Ballad of the Mages and Metroid: Fight for Love.  Like with most albums, there are a few tracks that add little to one's enjoyment of Flossophy.  In particular, those tracks are Game Launch Rock!, The Game Over Tinies and The Bioshock Song.  Each track tries to be drastically unique, but the attempts do not resonate like the other tracks on the album.

Although it may be for a niche audience, Flossophy is a great album and serves as a excellent homage to the video games that inspired it.  No matter if you pick the album up digitally for ten dollars or physically for thirteen plus shipping and handling, Flossophy is well worth the asking price.  If you are interested, you can pick the album up digitally on iTunes, Bandcamp, Amazon and Google Play and physically from Level Up Studios website. Hump Day Music would not be complete if I did not leave a song for everybody to enjoy.  In particular, one of the songs featured on Flossophy--Ballad of the Mages.