Now with a strange name like Dustforce one must wonder: Exactly what is this game about?.For those of you who have played platformers like Super Meat Boy, or the iOS version of Mirrors Edge , this has the same basic concept, which is getting form point A to point B as quickly as possible. What makes this game stand out however, is the way you go about it.  Your main objective lies in covering these two bases; First is Finesse, because minding how fast you complete a level affects your score (and combo meter), and the second lies in how thorough you are. Called Completionism, the second rating is based on the number of enemies you’ve defeated along with just how much of the level you’ve cleaned up. Now, I know the concept of cleaning dirt seems like a bad idea in a game, but it’s the way that the levels are situated that the magix lies, as some of the more challenging spots to clean need skill and perfectly timed jumps to reach.

The game has over 50 levels varying between two types, the first being basic exploration types to see what the worlds and the music sound like without any stress. The other types are meant to test your determination and and to see how fast you can get to the end of the world.  Once the world is beaten, your time is recorded and so is your score, and a scoreboard appears with others from around the world. This is great because it not only shows the times that other players have had, but even includes replays to see how they completed the course, which adds to the replay value after you’ve picked up a strategy ot two. There are 4 areas that make up the world, the Forest, the City, an Old Mansion and a Lab. Each one is unique and could easily stand on their own as a individual game. f(For a more detailed account of the 4 playable characters, check out this video, as they each have special talent, and a different means of attacking the creatures.)

This seems to be the online version of the multi-player, though if you’ve already conquered the levels packaged in, Hitbox Team has promised that there is a level creator soon to be released. Not that you’ll need it now, since to just get access to the really hard levels, one must be able to get the highest score which is a double S, and once achieved you end up with a key, either Silver or Gold, for unlocking purposes. There is also a local multi-player, but if you aren’t willing to share a keyboard, it is a great game for LAN which is something that has seemed to disappear in this age of online play.

The very last part of the game that I truly enjoyed was the music. Reminiscent of the older days of gaming with a very chiptune, almost 16-bit but with a modern flavor, the music manages to be subtle but very prominent at the same time. Any one who enjoyed the Cave Storysoundtrack will love this sound track as well.

In conclusion, Dustforce is an amazing game to have fun for you, your friends, and I say you have no excuse to not pick it up on Steam for $10.00. Aside from a small gripe that begs for update with some controller support for easier local multi, I have to give it a 9 out of 10.

Rating: 9.0

For more info, check out Dustforce by Hitbox Team.

You can find all the details about the tour here.

With everyday music, some can already be pointed out as the calling card of a current or former wrestler. Whenever I hear Enter Sandman by Metallica, right away I envision the Sandman, staggering through the crowd with a kendo stick on one hand a beer in another, and another half dozen cans of beer throughout all of his jean pockets. Straight edge superstar CM Punk set off a frenzy at iTunes once he debuted his new entrance theme, which was a throwback to his time in Ring of Honor. Cult of Personality made an impact on the charts years after it was first released, thanks to the power of CM Punk and the WWE. Some well established bands even helped pen tracks for the sole purpose of promoting a certain wrestler, such as Triple H and the three Motorhead themes he has used over the years (The Game, Line in the Sand for his faction Evolution, and King of Kings) and Edge with Metalingus from Altered Bridge (IMO the greatest entrance theme ever in life.)

If you think having a famous or catchy entrance theme isn’t something worth clamoring over, I direct your attention to probably the single greatest entrance in wrestling history:

Space Channel 5 – Spaceport: Introducing Ulala

Street Fighter Alpha 3 – Shin Bison’s Theme

Lost Odyssey – Roar of the Departed Souls

When I first heard this one, I immediately thought of “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels, mainly from older themes he used in TNA. There are quite a few parallels between this theme and the track from Lost Odyssey, from vocal portions to instrumentals. I would crop the intro about thirty seconds however, which leaves enough time for a build up and an entrance to follow. I’ve heard conflicting reports about Daniels winding down his career though, but in any case, the theme seems to fit him well, both in resemblance to his older entrance theme, to the bit of complexity to its composition representing the kind of in ring move-set and talent that Christopher Daniels showcases week in and week out.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night – Gates of Spirits

Taken as either a demented or a somewhat supernatural type heel theme, this track from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night reminds me a bit of two wrestlers, though one in a faint sort of manner. The first wrestler I think of is Sycho Sid from back in the WWF days. The guy in general seemed like a loon, but if you heard one of his promos, you’d be convinced that he’s been hitting some kind of illegal drug hard. Not Ultimate Warrior hard, but close.  His entrance theme had a psychopathic tinge in it, which for some reason I can see this video game track fitting in well enough. The second guy that the track could fit (in a faint respect) is the Boogeyman. His actual theme is a bit more frantic and unsettling though, but oddly enough, I still thought of this gimmick while I heard this song.

Wrestling entrances can be plausibly linked to the use of video game music. While there may not be a myriad of suitable tracks for the number of talents throughout the industry, they are as logically sound and completely feasible as using a movie soundtrack, or an already established song from the CD of a hugely popular band. Did you know of any video game songs that would fit right in with the persona of a current of former grappler? Lets us know with a comment below and perhaps share a link to these songs!

Turntable.fm is a new website that was founded in May 2011 for Windows, Mac, and iOS so far. Currently only available to the US due to copyright laws, It allows users to take turns playing songs for each other by allowing them to ‘DJ’ in an interface based room with avatars, and a chat box. You can add other DJ’s song’s to your queue by snagging them while they are playing, the site is also linked with amazon, iTunes, lastfm, spotify, and rdio.

Turntable will check your friend’s list from Facebook or Twitter to track which rooms your friends are listening to music in so that you can join in if you want. You can create a room, or join one that is already made. Once you’re in, you’ll see 5 DJ tables at the front of the room. If no one is occupying it, you can click on it to start DJing. Turntable will allow you to upload mp3s from your computer, or search their database. When it’s your turn, whatever song is at the top of your list will play automatically.

So how do you know you’ll find good songs here? The answer is that each song played can be rated by the audience while it’s playing by hitting the awesome or lame button at the bottom. Whatever the score was at the end of the song is recorded in the room history. DJs get points for playing awesome songs, and lose points for playing lame ones. These points allow them to get new avatars. As of right now there aren’t a lot of them, and I’m happy to say that the focus of turntable is definitely on the music, not what you can gain by playing it.

What really keeps me interested in this site, is the community. You’ll often find people settle on sticking around the same rooms from day to day, and after a while become friends. People who are upcoming or already popular DJs have been frequenting the site and playing their original tracks, Sir Mix A Lot came on and played his favorite hip hop tracks for a day too. My work buddies even caught on, and now they play music for each other while they work. It truly is a unique interactive experience.

Some people ask, “Is this illegal?” and while it has not been thrown in to the limelight, you will find some restrictions as they operate under the DMCA. If you are the only one DJing in a room, you can only hear a preview for your song, which makes it so you can’t use it like an MP3 player and play for yourself. There has to be at least one other DJ at the table. There is also a limit on how often a song can be played per hour. In July 2011, TTFM signed ad deal with the ASCAP to ensure songwriters, composers, and publishers would be compensated for their songs being played on the site, making it entirely legal.

I decided to put together my top 5 all-time ending themes. Surprisingly enough, everything listed is 32 bit or older. To be completely honest, composers working with the limited technology at hand, managed to create some of the most memorable and emotionally charged tracks. There are a couple of selections here that are aided by a more complex arrangement, but for the most part, older systems that relied on lesser powered composition tools managed to captivate in a more profound manner than today’s more elaborate themes.

Once again, some of these videos may contain a **SPOILER** within them. I’ll make mention of it if they do, but I won’t give anything away from them (other than one of the titles featured, which has an obvious ending.) You can more or less hit play, scroll down and avoid seeing anything that could spoil a possible future experience. Then again, most games here are not necessarily obscure.

Honorable Mention: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)

At the last minute, I was reminded of this composition. This clip holds the entire musical entry to the ending, though after 3:55 is where I felt the piece excelled the most. This video has a couple of static images, though nothing that ruins the ending (with it being a Zelda title, can you really expect that much of a deviance from the norm?)

5. Street Fighter II (SNES)

The music overall in Street Fighter II was completely memorable. From stage themes to character endings, if you hear it once, it sticks to you for the rest of your life. My favorite happens to be the end credits theme. I have not tried for a while, but I believe you can get this end theme on the hardest difficulty. If you go undefeated, you get a special character sparring to go along with the music. This video shows just that. I can remember that an eight star difficulty was brutal at times, so this sorta celebratory theme feels like an audio reward for the hardships faced. Again, 16 bit musical compositions are not the most elaborate, but with what was provided, Capcom managed to make one of the more memorable end themes out there.

4. StarTropics (NES)

Still one of, if not the most underrated and under appreciated first party Nintendo titles ever, StarTropics was a mix of brilliance, comedy and some impressive, although repetitive music. While many portions of StarTropics were very reminiscent of titles such as The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy, it was a fantastic experience, marred only by the forcing of a strict game plan (even if you know certain solutions to puzzles ahead of time, you still have to partake in the quest to unveil the answers.) Regardless, it’s a game that should definitely be played. The closing theme, while looped for the most part, as well as simplistic, touts a sense of victory and closure. Going along with the piece is a slideshow of sorts, detailing the most impactful moments of Mike’s adventure. These are indeed **SPOILERS** especially towards the end, where some of the more outrageous moments are documented in the beautifully drawn images. You can hit play and scroll down to give the song a listen, but if you have not beaten StarTropics, the slideshow crawl will spoil key pieces of the game.

3. Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario World 2 (SNES)

On the short list of one of my all-time favorite video games, Yoshi’s Island was generally met with a more mixed emotion than anything. The focus on Yoshi over Mario was a departure from the norm, though not as extreme as the US version of Super Mario Bros. 2. A good number of gamers couldn’t get past the cries Baby Mario belted out when separated from Yoshi. Overall, the deviance from the norm was a refreshing change of pace, as well as the cartoon-like visuals and all around powerful musical bits. The ending in particular was a powerful piece to me, as the stork carries both Baby Mario and Baby Luigi away through the clouds, with a mellow, yet emotionally charged piece. The video below contains no spoilers, though was there any doubt that the babies would be reunited?

2. Resident Evil (PSX)

The game that started a powerhouse franchise wasn’t known for its musical accomplishments; moody sound effects and poorly acted vocal performances took center stage here. It came as massive shock when I finally defeated Resident Evil, and heard the end theme provided. In some ways, thanks to the nature of the game and the franchise as a whole, it didn’t really fit that well. Thanks to the power play from the stringed instruments, it came off as a reward for the long, oftentimes difficult (back in the days) road that was just traveled. One of the rare times I broke out the air guitar for anything! This video contains some **SPOILERS** in the form of the highlights being replayed in brief clips. Nothing too major, but they can be considered spoilers regardless.

1. Suikoden (PSX)

For me, Suikoden is a representation of several all-time notions. For fourteen years now, it’s been my all-time favorite game. The soundtrack is my all-time favorite, with each piece so masterfully composed, dripping with emotion and mood. The two part end theme that precedes the credit roll (though the ending in general is a quasi-credit roll in of its self) are two of the most powerful pieces ever. It’s hard to fully explain exactly why these two tracks are so profound without spoiling the ending. The cohesion between what just transpired, the first part of the end theme which leads into the finale, brings literal chills every single time I watch it unfold. Even hearing both parts without viewing the events leading up to it, makes the hairs on my body stand on end. I won’t gush over Suikoden, but to be perfectly honest, while the visuals and gameplay may not have been stellar, having a masterful story with a musical package that perfectly compliments every single minor and major event, is almost non existent in gaming these days. If you truly want to absorb the feelings, the uncertainty, the sadness and the triumphs of the end theme, I implore you all to play through this gem. Veterans of Suikoden will understand the two themes more, but they are so beautifully made, that you could potentially “understand” what the songs mean without having prior knowledge of the events leading up to them.

These two video contain no spoilers, as they are static images with the music playing. Play them in the order that they appear below.

BioShock

At number 10 I pick Bioshock because quite simply there are some looks that Gaga has used that makes her look as if she came straight out of Rapture. Combine that with the fact she has that retro-esque look to her. You’d wonder if she was really on Atom. I also could see her performing for Sander Cohen as one of his master pieces.Both Gaga and Sander are huge believers in pageantry I am sure they would hit it off since Gaga’s imagery sometimes (a lot of times) is pretty dark and I think she’d be really famous after Rapture goes to hell. I think her boss fight would be pretty cool with her Rah Rah Rah’ing or just singing to you over the P.A. while her little monsters stalked you through her section of Rapture.

A-A-Atom face her A-A-Atom face

Bayonetta

At number 9 I do agree with CNN that Lady Gaga belongs in Bayonetta.Just google any of Gaga’s videos and then watch this.

Even after watching the Madison Square Garden concert. I couldn’t help but want to play Bayonetta right after. Sadly the fact remains Bayonetta is a better dancer(Sorry Gaga). Also just take a look at a background dancers and look at the Bad Romance video. They fit right in with this little number plus it’d be cool do see an actual rendering of the fame monster and the disco stick would make for an interesting weapon.

Maniac Mansion

At number eight, I went old school and dug up Maniac Mansion. Not there’s any sort of music routines involving sandwiches or hot sexy inmates. But the game is very quirky and I think Gaga’s character along with many of her outfits would fit in that mansion quite lovely. I think her character would probably be really the normal one in this game to throw everyone off.

My, my Telephone

Besides Gaga plus tentacles is a good thing as we found out a MSG during her concert when the fame monster removed her clothing. It’s a win-win for our logo and tentacles everywhere.

SSX tricky

At number 7 SSX Tricky made the list because Bif Naked, Macy Scott,Jim Rose, Lucy Liu, Oliver Platt and Billy Zane voice acted for this game. Look up those names on Google images and then wiki them (I’ll wait.) Now tell me she doesn’t belong on that cast. She’s a screamer, her alternate outfits would be wild. I’d love to see her uber-tricks (giggty.) It would be a reason to also remix some of her music and include it in the game. Check out the opening, you could easily squeeze some Gaga in there of Psymon because they are so close in design anyway.

Castlevania

Castlevania is the obvious choice for Gaga. The reason why it’s 6th on this list because between all of Gagas outfits it’s tough to see if she’ll be a common enemy or a boss based on her outfits. I know for sure she’d be some type of vampire or succubi. Just take a look at the Alejandro video.

Take a look at this boss fight from the newest console Castlevania game, Lords of Shadow and tell me Gaga doesn’t belong in this world.Gaga would wear this to an awards show.

Team Teamwork has been working with electronic music production since 2007 with the initial intensions of working with traditional mashups. “I originally set out to make a remix album of mashups of rap songs and Justice’s †. In figuring out how to make that work, I learned why that was an awful idea and I decided to try sampling other things.” This lead to the creation of “Good-ass Remixes Vol. 1,” a hip hop remix album that is a little more straight forward (but altogether awesome, as the title implies).

Like many collaborations of ideas the video game mashups occurred through happenstance. “One day I was really frustrated with not being able to find a sample to use. Serendipitously, my girlfriend was playing Ocarina of Time and I noticed that the Overworld theme was around 80-90bpm, which is perfect tempo for hip hop. So I tried using that as a sample, and it worked so well that I set a goal to make an entire album using OoT-based samples.” The result was the aptly titled “Ocarina of Rhyme”.

Team Teamwork’s third album “Vinyl Fantasy 7” took the idea of video game hip hop beats just a bit further. The general idea stayed very much the same as “Ocarina of Rhyme,” but the production quality improved.  “Between OoR and VF7, a friend taught me about compression and EQing. And I spent a lot more time on the mixing of VF7.” This insistence on improvement carried through to his newest album. “On SNSG, I spent about twice the amount of time as OoR and VF7 combined on mixing and had an engineer friend help me with mastering. “ The difference is noticeable, with “Super Nintendo Sega Genesis” having a much broader range of frequency and complexity. Listening to a track from “Ocarina of Rhyme” next to a track from “Super Nintendo Sega Genesis,” it is apparent what a difference this extra work and time can make.

While these albums may strike a chord with hardcore retro gamers, Team Teamwork never personally identified himself as a ‘retro gamer.’ “I actually didn’t know a whole lot about the SNES or Genesis soundtrack worlds going into this project. I didn’t have an SNES as a kid and I sometimes borrowed my aunt’s Genesis.” That’s not to say that there has not been any context with the games he has based his project upon. While he may not have known everything about the 16-bit era of video games he did have some experience with the source games for “Ocarina of Rhyme” and “Vinyl Fantasy 7.”

While these 16-bit games may trigger a sense of immediate nostalgia for gamers, this reaction is not the reason Team Teamwork does his thing.  In fact, the video game music is far more for aesthetics than nostalgia or reference.  Team Teamwork samples “video games for beats because it seems like a largely untapped area with great samplable material – as opposed to sampling soul, new wave, Brazilian funk, or whatever.”

Much like the games that the source music comes from, Team Teamwork’s music is fun to listen to. There are no heady ideas to pull out of it, nor absurdly complex mathematical aspects to decipher. In a way, the music has done just what the source material achieved so many years ago: it presents something seemingly simple and makes you want to experience it again and again. This is a fantastically difficult result to attain in a medium in which redundancy is a core component.

It is easy to tell that I am a fan of the projects Team Teamwork has undertaken over the last few years and desire to hear more, but not everyone has warmed up to the mashups like myself. “There is a lot of nerd-outrage… It’s mostly from kids that hate rap and see anything that puts rap with their precious memories as blasphemous.” It is important to remember that these ideas and games belong to the culture at large, and are not propriety of our past. It can be difficult for us video game fans (or hip hop fans) to severe our conceptions of those songs we love so much and hear them in a new context. But the ability to disassociate your conceptions and absorb past ideas born anew is an ever more necessary skill in this increasingly Meta, postmodern cultural landscape.

It’s an interesting experience to hear Childish Gambino rap over a track from “Streets of Rage.” Yet, in my opinion, it feels oddly natural. Anything with a 4:4 beat structure is able to be remixed. Any of the songs we knew so well as kids can be used to create something new. Let’s not fight the tide. If anything, Team Teamwork will continue to make music that he would like to hear. As of now, I find that I have similar sensibilities, so I look forward to what comes out down the line.

Oh, and its good to know that Team Teamwork had the same reaction when he found that Dr. Octagon matched up with Yoshi’s Island. “I yelled ‘AWWW YEAHHHH’ as soon as I had the Yoshi sample beat mapped with the vocal.”

Check here for the full interview next week!

Click here to visit Team Teamwork’s website (where all his music can be found)

Click here to see Team Teamwork’s twitter

We all have them; audio, video or other means of media that we kinda enjoy, despite how poorly constructed they are. We fully acknowledge how rancid some of these pieces of crap are, yet cannot help ourselves to find some kind of solace within them. From train wrecks of a movie, to musical molestations of the soul, to the video games that are so bad, they can give you leprosy. Here are a few in music, movies and gaming that I consider “guilty pleasures”. Media panned by many, even from my own perspective, yet cannot get enough of them.

Movies

Dungeons & Dragons

Released in 2000, Dungeons & Dragons gave nerds a reason to exit their basements, venture into the sunlight and take a trip down to the local cinema. It’s a shame that it didn’t do the game any justice, nor did it do film making as a whole any kind of favors. Hokey acting, wasting the talents of Jeremy Irons, special effects that even first generation Sega Saturn games could run rings around and a story you just don’t really give a damn to follow, were all major factors as to why the movie was a complete flop. Yet regardless of the fact, I enjoy watching it. Part of the reason stems from the fact that Dungeons & Dragons almost always puts me to sleep just as Ridley and the gang are apprehended by the thieves guild they were hunting down. Another reason was Marina, played by Zoe McLellan, who is by far one of the sexiest chicks I’ve seen in a movie. Long, silky hair, big beautiful eyes, Zoe is absurdly attractive and gives me a reason to watch as much of it as I can before I fall asleep. But the main reason why I find myself coming back to this film time after time has to do with its setting. Even if the experience is a complete flop, fantasy films, games, books and so on, seem to grab hold of me and keep me captivated enough to shake off the complete failures that they might be. Dungeons & Dragons is one of the most extreme cases of this phenomenon. Deplorable acting? Sure. Cheesy special effects? Definitely. A fantasy world that’s pretty absurd, yet I can’t get enough of it? Sadly.

Masters of the Universe

He-Man & The Masters of the Universe was an epic animated series in the 80′s. A prince of a far away land that can transform into a tanned, half naked version of himself by wielding a magical sword was….strange for its time, but the poorly animated action and somewhat generic struggles of good and evil were all us kids needed. Well, that and the kick ass toys released as well. But in the mid to late 80′s Hollywood released a live action movie based on this cartoon which, for the lack of a better term, sucked. Dolph Lungren’s accent was harder to discern than the plausibility of a white prince that turns into a tanned S&M wannabe that fought the evils of a guy with a skeleton skull for a head. What’s worse is how so much within the movie had no real connection to the animated series, such as He-Man never changing to Prince Adam, no Orko, the lack of the cartoons rogue gallery outside of Beast Man and Evil Lyn, the location of most of the film taking place in New Jersey, and Courtney Cox being the only thing worth lookingat. Yet despite its lack of faithfulness to the show, I watched Master of the Universe constantly when I was younger, and to this day I still find myself putting the film on. This is more of a case of “it’s so bad, it’s good” than anything else, as Masters of the Universe failed in story telling, costume design, acting and everything else, yet retains a certain charm that only a god awful piece of cinematic filth could.

Street Fighter: The Movie

Strike 1 – a Belgian with a thick accent playing the All-American William F. Guile. Strike 2 – a dying movie legend Raul Julia playing the menacing and powerful M. Bison. Strike 3 – little to nothing to do with Street Fighter. This is what happens when Hollywood is allowed to rape one of the biggest cash cows in gaming history. About the only thing that looked authentic was Zangief, played by Andrew Bryniarski, who was in fact, Russian, though is 6″ shorter than his video game counterpart. Everyone else, from the Australian singer Kylie Minogue playing the British Cammy, to Wes Studi, a Native American actor playing the terror from Thailand Sagat, and being 2′ shorter than the in-game warrior, were examples of some of the most poorly casted characters in cinema history. Yet despite the poor casting, lack of a Street Fighter feel, and just a general disregard of the fans and lore, Street Fighter: The Movie is something I legitimately enjoy watching. I even enjoyed it back when it was released in theaters, knowing full well that I had just witnessed a complete and utter sodomy of a franchise I loved so dearly. The fight scenes are pretty painful to watch, as well as cheesy as hell (especially the flaccid shoryuken Ken gives Sagat nearthe end) and the acting is across the board garbage, but its cheese is what keeps me coming back for another bite. Raul Julia left us all way sooner than he should have, and his talents far exceeds everything from this film combined, though I think if he hadn’t been a part of this cinematic gang rape, I probably wouldn’t come back so often. His over the top performance is worth experiencing time and time again….even if it pains the soul to view Street Fighter: The Movie as often as I do.

Titan AE

Don Bluth was an animated God amongst men. With work ranging from the video game series of Dragon’s Lair, right on through to the outright epic Secret of Nimh, Dom Bluth had his share of amazing animated wonders. Unfortunately, the later years of his career were not so kind, as he helped to birth someof the strangest and just plain abhorrent pieces of animated filth, such as A Troll in Central Park and Rock-a-Doodle. Titan AE, released in 2000, was a mixture of slick cartoon animation, along with somespiffy computer generated sequences mashed in. Add in a vastly underrated soundtrack and you have both and audio and visual thrill. So what’s the problem then? Many felt the story had no hook, or didn’t take its self as seriously as it should. A lot of folks also thought the characters were rather bland, supplying no real means to care for their adventures. I kinda agree, yet disagree. Even though these aliens that are after Cale (voiced by “MATT DAMON!”) basically destroyed Earth with little effort, at no point do they truly feel as monstrous or feared as they should be. Even the revelations later in the movie were as obvious as they could have been, building no sense of surprise as they develop an hour after you saw it coming. But there’s something about the audio and visual mesh that’s so pleasing. So what if it’s predictable, unconvincing and lacks an emotional attachments to the characters within the story; the artwork as a whole is quite enjoyable, and the musical bits mixed in with them are fantastic. Definitely not a film to take seriously, but even with its flaws, Titan AE keeps you sitting through the predictability just to see the pretty pictures interlude with the musical segments.

Music

Metallica – St. Anger

Music fans in general have hang ups with Metallica. Everything after the Black album was, in their minds, a “sold out piece of crap”. The funny thing is that my first Metallica CD was Re-Load, which, to this day, remains one of my favorite albums. I don’t follow people like sheep, disregarding anything and everything a group has done because of their blasphemous feelings that they “sold out”. If it’s something to my liking, I’ll come back time and time again. Regardless of everything that was said, yes, the album St. Anger was an auditory abomination as a whole. I did however, really enjoy St. Anger. While the snare drum sounded like a mixture between the banging of the inside of a garbage can and an 8-bit video game crash sound byte with mostly the same lyrics being sung throughout, I found the tone and pacing something to my liking. Usually any time I’m in an excessively pissed off mood, I’ll pop this track on, get the most vicious chills during the opening string piece, and proceed to just get absorbed into the whole song, culminating into an explosion of whatever anger and frustration I had, freeing me of its bonds. Sure, the album is rancid, and most of the lyrics sound like something an angry 7 year old would conjure up (“I’m madly in anger with you!”) but I cannot deny its powers of fueling my anger and rage into one massive ball, and blasting it out of me completely.

Ricky Martin – Livin’ La Vida Loca

I….honestly cannot explain WHY I am so fascinated with this song. It’s not even the Spanish version either! For over ten years, Livin La Vida Loca is a song that has had unnatural powers over me. It’s bad enough that it’s Ricky Martin, but the fact that I always forget that he was in one of the big time Spanish boy bands Menudo, makes me feel even dirtier. While it’s not necessarily hated across the board, it’s Ricky Martin for Christ sakes! It’s impossible for me not to get into the pace, the instrumental pieces and the red hot celebratory mood it puts me in whenever I pop this song on. It’s evil. It’s sickening. I cannot funny justify any reasoning’s as to why I love it!

Limp Bizkit – The Propaganda

Some would argue that after their second album, Limp Bizkit became a mainstream whoring of Vanilla Ice proportions, providing little substance with a catering to the more feeble minded mainstream music fan that will eat up anything off of MTV or other multimedia crossovers. I do agree partially, feeling that after Chocolate Starfish & The Hot Dog Flavored Water, the quality dropped off significantly, withamassive flop in The Unquestionable Truth. I think the only thing that was unquestionably true about this album was the lack of quality and quantity. Barely a half dozen tracks, with all but one being some of the most  off paced drivel I’ve heard from such a big named group. Hell, I can fully recognize that The Propaganda isn’t really a good song either, however it’s the only one with some semblance of lyrical pacing and a somewhat hypnotic beat to it throughout the absurdly long track. It’s something I’d expect to see a WWE superstar come to the ring with. Hell, it was my entrance theme in WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2008 for my created character. Although I can find a way for the beat, lyrics and flow to match up with the likes of a fighting game or an MMORPG, and somewhat get into it, I do recognize how piss poor the album and song is, yet for the most part I just don’t care.

Gaming

Silver Surfer (NES)

Silver Surfer has been covered to death by so many critics of various stature throughout the last few years. I even went into a bit of detail as to whether some of the lambasting it received was justified or not. The game was brutal, offering up a mixture of legitimate, unfair and nonsensical challenges throughout, with absolutely no relenting on the CPU’s behalf. For these reasons, many have discredited Silver Surfer completely. I on the other hand, do recognize that it’s quite flawed, yet I find myself coming back more often than I realize. Even when I was younger, I would have marathon sessions with Silver Surfer, killing lazy Sunday’s by actually going out of my way and beating the game. It’s a sadistic challenge, and at times is outright unfair, yet it’s such a guilty pleasure. I was never really a fan of the comic book series, nor was I thrilled with the cast of characters featured within the pages of this Marvel comic (outside Thanos and anything to do with the Infinity Gauntlet) but I have always found some kind of appreciation for how badly the developers wanted people to emotionally molest anyone that dared to play their game.

Friday the 13th (NES)

Yet another game I have reviewed, and one I fully accept as being the cream of the crap. Just about everything that can go wrong for a video game, is present with Friday the 13th. Stiff controls, looping music, asinine random elements to the experience, etc. I bought this game when I was 11 years old, before there were ratings for the video games we purchase now, as well as during the days where it seemed even Nintendo Power wouldn’t dare give it much of a time and effort in terms of coverage. Strangely enough, I will revisit this game maybe twice a year. Not just for a few minutes, but for hours at a time. At some points, I’ll even get into it, finding some kind of joy in the cheese of it all, with full knowledge of how terrible the experience is throughout. Yet I’ll go into those god forsaken caves, which have no kind of mapping system, and get lost within the caverns for chunks of time, trying to recall where some of the heavy hitting weaponry were placed. I really have no idea what keeps pulling back to the pits of heel known as Friday the 13th, and why I sometimes find myself having a bit of fun at the expense of my sanity.

WWF Attitude (PSX)

While not severely panned by critics and gamers alike, WWF Attitude was definitely one of those games that had obvious faults to it. The cumbersome button commands to execute the most elementary moves were one of the most significant issues that dealt an X-Factor to gamers who tried to play this grappler. The silly stances and standing animations given to each wrestler added another blow to the chin of authenticity, although during the 32 bit era, it was as good as one can expect (until WWF Smackdown was released later on). Back in the late 90′s/early 2000′s, I ran my own dinky gaming site called Tyrant’s Hell Hole, in which I actually had an interview with one of the developers for the game, before the title was released. After it was released, I had proclaimed it to be the best game I had ever played, giving it a perfect score, something that in hindsight, I thoroughly regret. While I was much younger and much easier to impress, I really did enjoy WWF Attitude, from its awesome Career Mode to its impressive creation modes. Years later, I fully recognize WWF Attitude as a turd nugget, yet I still enjoy popping it in every so often, not only seeing how far wrestling games have evolved, but to play a good number of matches for fun. The controls are Mortal Kombat annoying yes, the commentary is spazz-tastic and the goofy character animations and stances are laughable, but the presentation is quite stellar, even years later. Creating a PPV witha roster of wrestlers that blows away today’s line up, and watching each match unfold in front of you, is exiting, as well as a lot less frustrating than controlling things yourself. Hasn’t aged well, and even at birth it seemed to have its defects, but I always find a way to come back to it more than any sane man or woman should.

How about you? What are your guilty pleasures? Leave a comment below and share with us all! Don’t be afraid — we all have them!