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.

Most Anticipated Games of the Next Half

Just last week, this writer reflected upon his favourite games from the first half of 2013.  While there were some great games already available to play, there are some stellar ones coming out in the next six months.  The summer is definitely slow on releases, but the holiday season sure makes up for the slack.  There are the regulars like Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed that rake in the big bucks yet are losing traction with more gamers with each yearly release.  The most exciting new releases of the upcoming months are sequels that have not been diluted by a yearly release schedule or brand new experiences that uses new interesting ideas to grasp our attention and money.  Here is this writer’s list of his most anticipated games of this Summer and Fall.  

Splinter Cell:  Blacklist

Splinter Cell: Conviction was one of the games that this writer bought an Xbox 360 just to play.  While some of the Splinter Cell hardcore were not fond with Sam Fisher’s new direction, yours truly found Conviction unbelievably fun.  The stealth was smooth, the guns felt great and the Mark and Execute system made clearing a room of enemies such an adrenaline pumping experience.  With Blacklist, Ubisoft Toronto looks to expand on what made Conviction so much fun with the Killing in Motion system.  Killing in Motion allows Sam to string together stealth kills with the Mark and Execute moves in one fluid motion.  Along with an interconnected campaign that allows you to access both single and multiplayer levels from the same mobile base and the return of the Mercs vs. Spies multiplayer mode, Blacklist is shaping up to be one of the standout games of the Summer.

Rayman Legends

Ubisoft broke many hearts with the seven-month delay of Rayman Legends and the loss of Wii U exclusivity.  The thought of Ubisoft’s betrayal still stings, but this French publisher has at least made an effort to mend the bridges they burnt with the free Challenge App on Wii , which gives early access to Legend’s multiplayer Challenge mode.  There are both weekly and daily challenges in various difficulty levels to complete and earn trophies in order to increase your Awesomeness level.  Having this leaderboard-focused multiplayer mode along with an incredible single-player should easily keep Legends stuck in many disc drives for months after release.

The Wonderful 101

Put the vast number of controllable units from a game like Pikmin with the B-movie superhero hijacks of Viewtiful Joe and the result would be Platinum’s Wonderful 101.  The first game in Nintendo’s exclusive deal with this extraordinary Japanese developer, The Wonderful 101 has the player taking control of one hundred different superheroes much like Captain Olimar controls Pikmin.  While it is neat to control the entire horde of little heroes, Wonderful 101’s hook comes from all the various ways you can use these heroes' Unite powers, which are activated these by drawing a different symbols on the Gamepad’s touch screen.  These Unite powers allow these heroes to form into either a ladder, a sword or even a giant fist.  Each of these Unite powers can be used to interact with the environment or fight off all the enemies that stand in your way.  The Wonderful 101 looks to be the beginning of a beautiful partnership that this writer hopes to see continue in the years to come.

Watch Dogs

Chicago is your playground and weapon.  In the world of Watch Dogs, the Windy City is in the palm of your hands and you are free to do whatever you want with it.  Hacking into the city’s systems to spy on strangers, evade the law, complete your agenda and cause as much chaos as humanly possible are some of the activities you can get up to in Watch Dogs.  Funny enough those activities are only the tip of the iceberg in this open-world.  Watch Dogs immerses the player with multiplayer that seamlessly integrates with the single-player campaign.  No need to log into a separate lobby to play with others, just have to be connected to the internet or playing on the companion app for iOS and Android platforms.  The potential of Ubisoft Montreal’s newest venture is limitless, which has this writer and many others excited.

The Legend of Zelda:  A Link Between Worlds

It has been ages since Nintendo has delivered a proper top-down Zelda adventure to gamers.  The announcement of true return to the top down format with A Link Between Worlds left many including yours truly weeping tears of joy.  On top of the return of the top-down perspective, A Link Between Worlds is a direct sequel to A Link to the Past, a game among the top echelon of the Legend of Zelda series.  The brand new mechanic in A Link Between Worlds is Link’s ability to merge with the wall as a painting.  This mechanic opens up the door for some unique platforming-like puzzles for the developers at Nintendo to test gamers with.  Much of the game is still under wraps by the Big N, but what has been shown so far looks very promising.  No matter what, A Link Between Worlds should be a stellar game to wrap up the 3DS’s phenomenal year.

Off the Newsstand: Nintendo Power Issue 277

With all that came out this past March, there has been no room for yours truly to look at the latest issues of the various gaming magazines I read.  Also for a good few weeks in March, I was without a magazine to read.  That was until this past week when I received the newest issues for all my subscriptions (Nintendo Power, Game Informer and Electronic Gaming Monthly).  Now I at least have some reading material for the coming weeks.

With Epic Mickey: Power of Two announced earlier in the week, it came as no surprise that the exclusive Nintendo Power teased in Issue 276 was no doubt Mickey's return to the Wii.  Well Epic Mickey: Power of Two was not the only Epic Mickey to be covered in this huge cover story.  Nintendo Power got the first details on Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion for the 3DS, which is the spiritual successor to Castle of Illusions for the Genesis and will release alongside Power of Two this fall.  While nothing too in-depth, this cover story was very enjoyable.  It gave readers a nice look of what these Epic Mickey games will be about when they release later this year.  This cover story had two really good interviews with the creative directors on these games, Warren Spector and Peter Ong, which are both interesting reads.  Like most issues of Nintendo Power, Issue 277 is 96 pages packed with great content.  Apart from the cover story, you got a retrospective look at The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past to celebrate 20 years since its North American release, an extended hand-ons look at Mario Tennis Open with accompanying interview with the game's producer and lead designer, a look back at the Nintendo 3DS's first year and an in-depth profile of Hironobu Takeshita, producer at Capcom and creator of a little Wii gem known as Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure.  Issue 277 also has reviews on two big Nintendo games, Kid Icarus: Uprising for 3DS and Xenoblade Chronicles for Wii.

Another all around solid issue from Nintendo Power.  Nintendo Power has been on a roll as of late and personally I hope it keeps going.  While Nintendo Power does cater more to the big Nintendo fans such as myself, it does provide a great read for anybody who owns a Nintendo system or handheld.