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The game's title is extremely misleading. Adventure ReBirth resembles Rondo of Blood more so than Adventure, both in terms of level progression (there are alternate paths to the boss, and key sub-weapons unlock doors) and play control (control is looser, with less precision required). Youll also find breakable walls and mini-bosses. This is an old-school Castlevania title, so there is no Metroidvania exploration here. The action is broken up into six levels with the final one consisting of your final confrontation.
ReBirth is relatively easy compared to other old-school Castlevania games, although things start getting hairy around the latter half of the fourth level. Thankfully, you can set the number of lives and difficulty before starting the game, and you have unlimited continues. Despite all of this, you cannot save your game. This isnt much of a problem considering that Castlevania ReBirth clocks in at barely over an hour long, but you'll definitely have to set aside some time to play through it. The inability to save isnt as punitive as in, say, Bubble Bobble Plus, but it's a throwback game mechanic that hard to appreciate in this day and age. The overall difficulty is probably on par with Super Castlevania IV, though ReBirth obviously isnt as long as the SNES classic.
The game itself is a colorful mishmash of previous Castlevania titles, with only a few references to its namesake. It looks like a Super Nintendo-era game with a brighter color palette. Some frustrating series trademarks remain intact, such as accidentally jumping through staircases, ill-placed enemies in precarious platforming situations, and knock-back. These throwbacks are all painfully omnipresent in the clock tower level (a series tradition!), but fans of the series will begrudgingly accept them and power through. Some of the bosses are a little cheap in their attack patterns, especially Draculas final form. Once you beat the game, youll unlock Classic mode, which makes the jumping stricter and the game harder overall. Otherwise, replayability comes from finding all of the alternate paths, netting a higher score, and dying less. Were you expecting a New Game Plus option? Remember, this aint Symphony of the Night!
I would be remiss in failing to mention the excellent soundtrack. In a series known for its musical scores, this entry trends high, remixing classic tracks in new and enthralling ways to produce memorable music that holds your attention throughout.
Definitely one of the best WiiWare titles yet, Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth is well worth your time and money. Even those who dont particularly like older Castlevania games (like our own TYP) will find this particular game much more approachable than others of its ilk. Konamis got a real good thing going, and lets hope they keep this Rebirth series alive.
Pros:
Lastability: 6.0
You have to be the kind of player who likes a challenge to keep going back. There are no meaningful unlockables (no concept art? Come on!), which provides little motivation to return. IReBirth is also a very short game.
Final: 9.0
The best old-school Castlevania ever? Its very possible.
This is basically a 3D fighter with simplistic controls. X and Y are your attack buttons, B is jump, and A is special attack. You can cycle through your special attacks with the L and R buttons, and when your power gauge has filled (either naturally or by holding down L + R), you can unleash a stat boost, new weapon, or summon. This sounds incredibly simple, and it is, but there are little touches that keep things fresh. For one, you will often be holed up in a room with three other guys, and they will attack from all sides. You can tap them to change your target (which is awkward), or you can just press down and X to perform a breakdance-style kick move, knocking down everyone around you. You can also double tap in any direction to dodge in that direction, which is very useful for avoiding powerful attacks from the front and taking advantage of any lag that follows the attack.
Kamen Rider is broken into variations on this theme: mission mode, one-on-one, and what appears to be a survival run. Nothing is explained, so youll have to figure a lot out on your own. The instruction manual, gives you the button layout and bids you good night. Thankfully, Kamen Rider is easy to learn. Youll unlock the majority of new content in mission mode, where you select a fighter and then start pummeling fools. Experience, new specials, and additional characters are unlocked here.
While most mission goals are as simple as kill everybody before the timer runs out, youll start getting more complex goals in no time, such as defeating your opponent with a summon or other special attack. Mission mode sort of resembles the same mode in the Soulcalibur series, but without the dumb story. In fact, Kamen Rider seems to lack any sort of plot, which is probably a positive.
The game looks incredible; better than most N64 fighters, in fact. The character models are large and impressively detailed, and are animated smoothly. Despite having four or five characters onscreen at once, I never experienced slowdown. Backgrounds are static images, but they rotate to give the illusion of depth. Happily, both the Kamen Riders and their enemies are quite different. Although a few pallette swaps are present, for the most part they are quite distinct (you will end up fighting way too many Red Minions, though). The sound, however, is noticeably obnoxious. The same faux-metal tune plays throughout most of the game, and your characters phrases are terrible. One guy, who doesnt even have a sword, says Ill cut you! all the time. Sure, you can use a special attack to give him a sword, but it's still a cringeworthy oversight.
The game is surprisingly goal-oriented, doling out new special attacks and characters at a steady clip. You can play through the mission mode with every character, although no differences are apparent in the layoutyou do this for the special unlockables. Whats really unfortunate is that Kamen Rider features no multiplayer of any kind, whether local or online. Youd think that the appeal of mixing and matching special attacks to fit your own play style would be a natural fit for multiplayer, but unfortunately that isn't the case.
Kamen Rider is an excellent solo fighter. While it lacks a multiplayer component, it's technically impressive and full of content. Its definitely worth checking out.
Pros:
Lastability: 6.0
How long this game will last entirely depends on how much you want to unlock, or how many fights you are willing to put up with.
Final: 7.0
The repetitious solo modes and complete lack of multiplayer hurt what is otherwise a fun and great-looking game. If youre in the mood for a 3D fighter on the DS, Kamen Rider may be the ticket.
I don't know if any of you readers have heard of Pixelblocks, but they're pretty awesome. Imagine 1x1 Lego blocks that can slide against each other OR stack. They're awesome not just because you can make 3D versions of your favorite video game characters (NES and GBC), but also because these figures will be to scale. I've already whipped up a bunch of pixelblock characters, including several Mega Man bosses, Super Mario characters, and NES-era Samus. I'm currently on a Shantae kick, so I thought I'd sculpt everyone's favorite half-genie heroine.
What would happen if Shantae met the Mario Brothers?
"Hello, boys!" (Lady GaGa's "Just Dance" comes on)
"Holy a-moley! Princess Peach never a-danced like this!"
And now Shantae is back at the computer.
So, in summary, Pixelblocks are awesome and you should check them out. Second, Shantae is awesome, and I can't wait for the DSi sequel. You can see more of my Pixelblock creations on my Facebook page.
While it's tempting to immediately think of Academy as Harry Potter with soccer, that's an overly simplistic comparison. There's actually not much Hogwarts to be found here. Instead, it's more like a Tiger Woods game. Because the game takes place at a soccer school, you'll spend an inordinate amount of time talking with your fellow students (literally reading scrolling text) and, bizarrely, taking tests (what does the A button do?). You will also buy useless inside information from the "Shady Kid" and accessorize your players with stat-boosting equipment. What this amounts to is an incredible amount of menu navigation.
Luckily, when you're not listening to irritating Simlish-esque sounds while you read text, you're usually playing experience-boosting minigames. These are usually simple exercises like goal-kicking or tackling. Despite the controls, the mini-games are usually pretty fun. They teach you the finer points of the game and your skills on game days improve based on the experience you get during the mini-games, which. often involve Rabbids. The tackling one is especially fun because you can take out your frustration toward Ubisoft's Rabbid over-saturation on the critters themselves cathartic!
Sometimes you'll get to actually play soccer. The field takes place on a rotating globe, similarly to Animal Crossing games. Why the developers would choose this perspective over a more traditional Sega Soccer Slam or Mario Super Strikers horizontal perspective is beyond me, but as it stands, you'll be frustrated by unseen opponents stealing the ball out of nowhere and kicking the ball to teammates you can't really see. The perspective is the single most annoying thing during games. Almost as annoying is the single energy bar that's used for all strategic moves on the field. This bar is depleted when you run, dodge, and use special moves. Since it's all dictated by one bar, you'll rarely use special moves because running and dodging are integral to controlling the ball.
Actually maneuvering the ball downfield is an activity fraught with danger from unseen opponents (and you can't pass back, only forward), but when you actually do get the goal in sight, aiming your shot is surprisingly tough. Ideally, this is where the pointer would come in, but no. Instead, you aim with the analog stickthe same analog stick you're using to move your character toward the goal which is not ideal. You can charge up a shot by holding down the B button, but during the brief period of charge-up, you'll often have the ball stolen from you. Special moves are actually pretty cool, but aren't very practical. For example, one dude turns into a whirlwind and spends about five seconds knocking dudes over. Sadly, the ball doesn't go anywhere, so while flashy, the whirlwind doesn't help move the ball downfield or into the goal.
Thankfully, your opponents are often complete morons who can't make a successful goal to save their lives unless you sit back and let it happen. Because games don't last very long (five minutes is common), it's easy to score a single goal and spend the rest of the game playing keep-away, then come out the winner. Sometimes you'll be treated to an appearance by an Ubisoft all-star, such as the Prince of Persia or Altair, and if you force yourself to play long enough, you'll unlock them for your team.
The graphics aren't poor in fact, they look quite good. They're vibrant and colorful, with good animation and particle effects. However, the characters are hyper-stylized in a manner that looks vaguely creepy. The only character models that look believable are the Ubisoft all-stars because we're all familiar with them. The music is upbeat, and the sound effects are convincing, but what's with the bizarre Simish-like jibber-jabber that the people are speaking?
Academy of Champions is heavy on Wii accessorizing, but light on delivery. It supports the Wii MotionPlus as a way to deliver high or low shots (tilt the Remote up or down) and the Balance Board to perform a mini-game that's reminiscent of the soccer ball dodging balance game in Wii Fit. For all intents and purposes, though, the game is perfectly functional with a normal Wii Remote and Nunchuck.
So while I don't hate Academy of Champions to the extent that our man Neal did, I sure don't like it. Overly simplistic and surprisingly light on soccer itself, the game never manages to capture my attention or motivate me to keep playing. There are better soccer games out there, including that old GameCube favorite, Sega Soccer Slam.
Pros:
Lastability: 8.0
The game is fairly lengthy, involving four terms of 30 days each. Rewards do come pretty regularly, mostly in the form of new special attacks, stat upgrades, or accessories. However, the game itself is dull and at times frustrating, so you may tire of it before the trophy cup is awarded.
Final: 6.0
Academy of Champions fails to rise above most of gaming's soccer benchmarks, and so does not justify its existence. There are better, cheaper, often older soccer games out there.
