From the company that gave us Street Fighter II to the one that constantly trolls MegaMan fans, Capcom sure has had it’s ups and downs over the years. Well actually no I’m lying, Capcom were nothing but pure awesome up until they closed down Clover Studios and joined the “HD era” of gaming. Since then their games have taken a hit in quality with both internal and outsourced efforts having left much to be desired, especially considering this is Capcom we’re talking about. If I were to discuss all the mistakes Capcom have made in the last generation then this post would be a weekly feature for the next 6 months.
I don’t consider myself a Capcom fan these days, sure I’ll be first in line to download any of their classic titles on the Virtual Console, PSN or XBLA but the Capcom logo means nothing to me anymore. The two main culprits responsible for utterly sealing Capcom’s demise from relevancy in my opinion were Street Fighter X Tekken and Resident Evil 6, the former had major issues regarding DLC whilst the latter was just plain old shit that somehow retroactively made Resident Evil 5 good. How is that even possible?
Street Fighter X Tekken was a game that suffered from many issues, a number of which were concerning the gameplay (gems anyone?) but it’s Capcom’s “DLC” that pissed off everyone. Locked away within the Street Fighter X Tekken disc were TWELVE hidden fighters that could only be unlocked after you bought the “DLC”. The “DLC” itself was nothing more than a 108Kb file that basically told your system “okay, this idiot actually paid for it, unlock the characters“. Back in my day we called this a “cheat code” and it sure as hell didn’t cost £10 on top of a full priced game.
Even more amusing is the fact that Pac-man and MegaMan will never be available on the Xbox 360 version of Street Fighter x Tekken… even though they’re unsurprisingly on the disc already. From “DLC” you pay to unlock to “DLC” you’ll never get the mere opportunity to unlock, no one has handled DLC worse than Capcom… not even horse armour.
Despite Capcom’s continued fail over the years they have managed to sneak in some not so terrible releases with Street Fighter IV, Dragon’s Dogma and most recently Phoenix Wright Dual Destinies. Much to my surprise Phoenix Wright was not only a solid entry in the series, I would go so far as to say it’s one of the better games in the series. In my review I referred to the game as the best thing Capcom have done in years. Never the less every time I played the game I couldn’t help but notice the ever daunting DLC option within the main menu, what terrible DLC practices were Capcom planning I wondered to myself. Some free character costumes were available but surely that was an attempt to cushion the incoming blow.
Eventually Capcom announced details of the DLC and it seemed innocent enough, it would be arriving sometime after the release of the game and promised to deliver an additional case for fans to enjoy for the fair price of £3.99. The game itself never saw a retail release yet Capcom only asked £19.99 for it even though all mighty Nintendo themselves had no problems pricing their sh*t at a stupid £39.99. That’s £23.99 for a full game AND the additional DLC from the same company who locked away twelve characters and charged you £10+ for it. At this point there was no doubt in my mind, there had to be a catch somewhere…
Guess what? There’s isn’t any!
The Phoenix Wright series for those of you who don’t know normally contains either four or five cases/episodes and the final completion time is usually somewhere close to 20 hours depending on the player. The final completion time for me in Dual Destinies was 31 hours to finish all five cases found within the game so as far as the series goes, Dual Destinies is already the best value for money. More importantly however is that you certainly feel that you got your money’s worth, none of this “we purposely held back content rubbish“. It’s a complete stand alone experience that doesn’t leave you thinking that something is missing but rather that something extra is waiting for you should you want it.
So why is the Phoenix Wright Dual Destinies Turnabout Reclaimed DLC so great? Well there’s a number of reasons so let’s break it down.
It ADDS to the game, not take away from it
One of the reasons why Turnabout Reclaimed works is because it doesn’t feel like a chunk of content specifically removed from the game in order to be sold separately at a later date. Turnabout Reclaimed is an ADDITIONAL episode case that you can choose to experience if you wish. It doesn’t dramatically enhance the main game nor do you feel lost without it, it’s truly an optional extra. This isn’t some f**king map pack that you have to buy because everyone else has it and you don’t want to get left behind. Whether you buy it or not doesn’t affect Dual Destinies in any way, it’s simply there if you want it and doesn’t hurt anyone.
It doesn’t feel like DLC
Expanding on my earlier point, Turnabout Reclaimed doesn’t feel like a DLC expansion. In my experience I’ve seen games offer some solid DLC expansions yet almost always I know I’m playing some kind of meaningless spin-off story. Developers/Publishers often talk about how DLC is a great opportunity to expand the story/game yet no one seems to have the balls to commit to it. Here’s an example.
- Gamer: That game was awesome, couldn’t believe X character died. I wonder where the story goes next…
- Developer/Publisher: I see you liked our game. You know, in our upcoming DLC you can find out what the racoon on the side was up to in the events leading up the X’s death?
- Gamer: I don’t care about the raccoon’s perspective on things.
- Developer/Publisher: …
- Gamer: And why the f**k does the raccoon’s perceptive on things DLC cost 1/3 of the full game’s price?
If you’re going to do story based DLC, AT LEAST make it seem like what we’re playing has SOME kind of relevancy to the grand scheme of things. There’s a reason no one gave a s**t about Enter The Matrix, no one cares about the supporting cast and meaningless side stories. Don’t even get me started on Alan Wake’s DLC, they were SO SCARED to expand the story in anything BUT a sequel that they treated the DLC as “dream sequences” that may or may not have happened. If you weren’t willing to commit, maybe you shouldn’t of bothered in the first place.
It’s not a watered down experience
Again, further expanding on the previous point. Turnabout Reclaimed is truly deserving of being called a worthy expansion, a real extension of the main game. Turnabout Reclaimed doesn’t hold back in terms of content nor length, this isn’t lessor version of what you experienced in the main game. In fact if Turnabout Reclaimed were in the main game it would be one of the best episodes period. There’s none of this “short story” feel nor reduction in production values, Turnabout Reclaimed is every bit as good as the main game and doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb.
Maybe my expectations are too high but why can’t reach reach a point where some kind of DLC is one of the most anticipated releases of the year? Look at the upcoming Last of Us DLC, I’m more excited to check that out than I am some fully priced retail releases.
It’s not afraid to get silly
It seems developers/publishers look as DLC as a way of making some easy money by making sure no stone is left overturned. Instead of looking to see what stories you can squeeze out of the main game, how about going in a completely different direction all together? Making games can be expensive and I understand that sometimes you have to “sell your soul” a little in order to appeal to that mass market but damn it, DLC is the perfect playground to break free and go nuts.
We saw Red Dead Redemption get silly with the “Undead Nightmare” DLC and the end result was great. Turnabout Reclaimed has you DEFENDING A WHALE IN COURT! If you can’t think of a worthwhile DLC expansion that isn’t a watered down, lessor version of what you already played, then go in the opposite direction. I couldn’t give a damn about Battlefield 4 but add in that rumoured dinosaur DLC and I’m there, DAY ZERO!!!
It’s not a rip off
The major problem with DLC expansions is that the pricing is always wrong, ALWAYS. You’re always being overcharged for stuff that rarely ever passes the two hour mark or offers any kind replay ability. Developers/publishers are perfectly content working on a game for years and then charging you a normal retail price at the end. When you comes to DLC however it seems like you’re suddenly paying premium prices for their “oh so precious time”. The £10 you’ll spend on half assed DLC could be used to buy a full on eShop/XLBA/PSN title, surely there’s an injustice in there somewhere. The DLC should be HALF the price of an eShop/XBLA/PSN title since it already requires you to own the game in the first place but everyone is a greedy bastard these days so that will never happen.
Turnabout Reclaimed dodges all of these potential issues and comes in a very reasonable £3.99, it’s the kind of price point that makes makes DLC look very appealing. DLC shouldn’t be an investment, it should be a casual “hey there’s more content, I liked this game so I’ll check it out“. Turnabout Reclaimed also offers good value for your money, the £3.99 I paid delivered me over six worth of entertainment. It makes me happy, it makes me want to recommend the DLC to others and it makes me write positive posts like this one to praise it.
Now take a look at Bioshock Infinite’s Burial At Sea Episode One DLC. It’s £11.99 for ONE part of a TWO PART DLC and it lasts a mere two hours. For that kind of price I’ll just go to Nandos with some friends and spend my two hours down there instead. In fact, that’s what I did last week. Peri Peri Chips >>> Ugly Smoker Elizabeth
In conclusion I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Phoenix Wright Dual Destinies and now once again with it’s highly amusing DLC episode. Originally I wanted to do a review for it but it’s hard to discuss it without getting into spoiler territory. I did however want to make sure that I showed a little love for the guys at Capcom, we all give them a hard time these days but it’s always important to acknowledge when they get something right. Not only have they done right by themselves but they’ve also given the games industry a fine example of how to do DLC.
Phoenix Wright fans I urge you to check out Turnabout Reclaimed, you won’t be disappointed.
