Messages

11351

Nintendo Gaming / Re: The House of the Dead: Overkill

« on: March 11, 2009, 10:53:23 PM »

I actually picked this game up last Friday, but after a half hour of rather painful Wiimote play it became extremely obvious that the only way I was going to get any joy out of the game (after a half hour my wrist was suffering from a bad case of Wiimote arthritus) was to get a 3rd Party peripheral like the Perfect Shot.

While I was out today picking up Madworld, as it so happens that GS also happened to have a Perfect Shot. There being no GS near my home that carries them right now, I picked up the Perfect Shot as well. Good thing, too, because after a rather disappointing sports night I decided now was a good night to break in the Perfect Shot on House of the Dead: Overkill. Wow, what a difference the Perfect Shot makes in the game, as the game dramatically turned around for me from a stylish but painful and simplistic arcade shooter into a completely awesome light gun shooter. Seriously, the Perfect Shot fits my hand like a glove, and it feels just as good in practice as the old NES Zapper (only the Perfect Shot actually works consistently). Overkill is just plain fun, and I really appreciate that while it's a really short game (In just over an hour of play I've completed the first two levels and played the first again with more mutants), they've left plenty in there for you to do with lots of stuff to unlock via in-game achievements. Definitely the most fun I've had with a Wii game in ages, and with the Perfect Shot being such a vast improvement over the Wiimote for this kind of game...I might just pick up a used copy of Umbrella Chronicles and continue my old game. Accuracy is so much easier with a real gun trigger and steady grip...

For the sake of players who don't keep up on Wii peripherals, they really should have put a label on the game saying that the Perfect Shot is not only recommended for this game...it's absolutely required.  The Wiimote is just not built well to handle fast-paced shooters that rely on the B button and quick Wiimote movement.

11352

TalkBack / Re: Famitsu Unveils Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles

« on: March 11, 2009, 08:13:48 PM »

Like I said in the rumor topic, "meh, whatever."  I liked Umbrella Chronicles, as it felt like the old-style Resident Evil games...only on rails.  I never finished it because I only had a few missions left to unlock and I got bored trying to meet some of the insane S-rank objectives.  That this game will be on rails doesn't really bother me as much as that it's yet another "Not Resident Evil" game from Capcom.  They know we want a new RE4-style Resident Evil game, and the sales reflect that, but they just wont' give us one.  Instead, like every other fracking 3rd party on Wii (except for the fluke that is Dragon Quest X), they decided we really didn't want the big AAA true installment of the beloved franchise.  No, instead we want the experimental spin-off.  Well, frak you, Capcom.  I'm so sick and tired of this nonsense, so much that I'm starting to wish Nintendo went back to its 1980s-style of ruling the games on its console with an iron fist.  Yeah, it'd piss all those companies off, but at least we'd for a time get the games we actually want.  I'm so sick of "settling" for games when it comes to Wii.  We never get what we actually want, so instead we are left to "settle" for what we have.  Bleh.

11353

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Upcoming Resident Evil game for Wii thread

« on: March 11, 2009, 01:59:44 PM »

Yeah, comparing Capcom to the almighty Ubisoft *ding* is going a bit far.  Yeah, Capcom doesn't tend to give us what we want on Wii, but at least the stuff they put up is largely worth playing.  Ubisoft'zzzz on the other hand...*ding*

11354

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Upcoming Resident Evil game for Wii thread

« on: March 11, 2009, 12:38:22 AM »

Famitsu - 3/13

New:

Atelier Rorona [PS3]
Biohazard - Dark Side Chronicles [Wii]
Adventure Island [Wii]
Professor Layton and the Devil's Flute [DS]

... Sequel to Umbrella Chronicles is what it sounds like.

Meh...whatever.  I wouldn't mind a sequel to Umbrella Chronicles, but I'm really sick of Capcom just using its Wii fanbase to pay for its PS3/360 projects.

11355

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Upcoming Resident Evil game for Wii thread

« on: March 10, 2009, 01:36:39 PM »

I actually liked Code Veronica a lot unlike many others. I was however, also the weirdo who liked Phantasy Star III. I would love to see those creepy siblings again on my Wii.

I thought Code Veronica was a fine game, but of all the Resident Evil games not to be remade for a near-current Gen System, it's the most pointless.  As a DC/PS2/GC game, it already looks pretty decent on Wii.  By comparison, RE2 and RE3 look pretty primitive.  Besides, RE2 is the vastly more popular game, so if Capcom was looking for a license to print money you'd think they'd go there first.

The more I think about this rumor, the more I think this is going to be an Umbrella Chronicles sequel, with sections exclusively focused on RE2; 4; and Code Veronica scenarios (and maybe RE5 scenarios, just to piss us off).  That would showcase the 2 most popular games in the series, and would probably make a lot of RE fans happy.

11356

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Should "New play control" Wiimakes be extended to Pre-GC games?

« on: March 10, 2009, 01:29:34 PM »

If they were going to go out of their way to add Wii Controls to old N64 games, they'd have to do so much work to pull that off that they might as well just remake the entire game altogether ground-up for Wii (ala the Resident Evil 1 remake).  And NES and SNES games are just fine as they are.

And honestly, there are a very few assortment of pre-GameCube games I can think of that Wiimote controls would actually benefit, and most of them are 3rd party. 

For example, Wii controls would probably made Jet Force Gemini actually playable during big firefights. 

GoldenEye would probably benefit a great deal, but there could be licensing problems there.  Besides, the game's graphics have aged really badly.  Ditto for the Turok games.

Ogre Battle 64 could be made a lot more user-friendly with pointer controls (and the 2D graphics have aged very well), but that's Square-Enix's department and they hate the Ogre Battle franchise (as evidenced by the fact they've done nothing with it since they acquired the franchise).

Sin & Punishment could actually be rendered playable with Wiimote controls, but as it's already been released on VC with a sequel on the way...rather pointless.

Doing NPCs for the N64 Mario and Zelda games would be pointless since both series have really similar installments already available on Wii.

I could go on, but really...GCN ports are more than enough unless Nintendo feels like all-out remakes.

11357

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Upcoming Resident Evil game for Wii thread

« on: March 08, 2009, 08:29:43 PM »

Of all the Resident Evil games to remake, why Code Veronica?  It wasn't a bad game by any means, but it's nowhere near deserving of a remake over 2.  And unlike Resident Evil 2, Code Veronica is ALREADY in 3D with modeled environments.  And yeah, I assume it's a remake, because this is Capcom and they don't make "new" new games very often.

11358

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Upcoming Resident Evil game for Wii thread

« on: March 07, 2009, 11:47:55 PM »

The new game will be....

Mario and Leon at the Zombie Olympics!

No no no...

It will be Spyborgs: RE edition!

Nah, Super S.T.A.R.S. Fighters: Turbo REmix Edition! (I would put HD in there, but we all know Nintendo's stance on HD, so the PS3 and Xbox 360 ports would have that in the title).

11359

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Upcoming Resident Evil game for Wii thread

« on: March 07, 2009, 10:03:05 PM »

You know what I would consider an announcement that would make gamers very, very happy?

Remember back in 2001 when Capcom announced the RE 1 remake would be GC exclusive, and all the RE titles would be on the GC? If this new announcement is anything like that then that would be pretty epic.

But not holding my breath.

Hell, remember the Capcom 5, all of which were supposed to be GameCube-exclusive and in the end 1 was canceled (Dead Phoenix); 3 were ported to PS2 (RE4, Killer 7, Viewtiful Joe); and only P.N.03 was left exclusive to GameCube? And of the ports, RE4 and Viewtiful Joe got new then-exclusive content on the PS2 versions.

11360

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Upcoming Resident Evil game for Wii thread

« on: March 07, 2009, 09:53:36 PM »

Its amazing how ONE game announcement can affect every other announcement.

I mean, if EA hadn't said anything about Dead Space on Wii UC 2 would have been announced and people would've been happy. But now, every time a company announces a game the first thing people say is "It will be a crappy on rails shooter".

That's why I think Capcom should be careful when they say "gamers will be very very happy" because even the smallest thing can make the fanbase ass-plode with anger. Not to mention that people are still pissed over Dead Rising Wii.

Not to mention that time in which one of Capcom's PR people tried to blame gamers for Okami and Zack and Wiki not being profitable enough.

Once more, Capcom is walking a fine line.

For the record, I actually liked Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles.  It felt like the original Resident Evil games...just on rails.  But as much as I liked Umbrella Chronicles, Capcom only gets to do that once.  From here on out, when they're releasing the likes of Resident Evil 5 with all the AAA production values and effort on PS3 and Xbox 360 and releasing crap like Chop Till you Drop on Wii, they don't get to release another of these wacky side projects on Wii until they give us a real Resident Evil title in the mold of RE4 Wii.

11361

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Upcoming Resident Evil game for Wii thread

« on: March 07, 2009, 09:49:39 PM »

After the Dead Space fiasco, I'm treating this as Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles - Raving Zombiezzz Minigame Spectacular (blast zombies with your butt!) until Capcom says otherwise.  If I start actually hoping for something good and it doesn't turn out to be...

1.  A complete remake of Resident Evil 2

And/Or

2.  A Resident Evil 4 Wii-ized port of Resident Evil 5

...that would put me in a bad mood for days.  Wii 3rd parties have yanked my chain so many times on these lame franchise spin-offs that it's hard to care anymore when a company says they have something for "us" in development, because only maybe 1/10 times does it turn out to be anything worthwhile.

Don't forget option 3: A completely new RE game in the style of RE4/5. That would be nice as well. It would make me 'very, very happy'.

Indeed, but this is Capcom we're talking about.  Wishing for a brand-new, tailored-for-Wii-audiences AAA Resident Evil title is wishing for the stars.  It's not going to happen...at least not until they've sucked every last penny out of us they can rehashing stuff they've already made.  I hope I'm wrong, I really do.  But this is Capcom we're talking about.

11362

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Upcoming Resident Evil game for Wii thread

« on: March 07, 2009, 09:39:55 PM »

After the Dead Space fiasco, I'm treating this as Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles - Raving Zombiezzz Minigame Spectacular (blast zombies with your butt!) until Capcom says otherwise.  If I start actually hoping for something good and it doesn't turn out to be...

1.  A complete remake of Resident Evil 2

And/Or

2.  A Resident Evil 4 Wii-ized port of Resident Evil 5

...that would put me in a bad mood for days.  Wii 3rd parties have yanked my chain so many times on these lame franchise spin-offs that it's hard to care anymore when a company says they have something for "us" in development, because only maybe 1/10 times does it turn out to be anything worthwhile.

11363

TalkBack / Re: Virtual Console Recommendations: Virtual MAN-BEAMS: The March of the Black Consoles

« on: March 07, 2009, 07:12:44 PM »

Yeah, I'm not terribly fond of the original Ogre Battle.  After an easy first few missions, the game just get sadistically difficult and the reputation meter is just impossible to manage.  This is a game designed to kill the player and crush their soul, and while I applaud it's no-nonsense approach I've never gotten further than the Pogram Forest level because of it.  There's plenty of great concepts in the game, but most of them wouldn't really shine till Ogre Battle 64 years later.  Ogre Battle's a game so niche it might actually benefit from being released right now when so much recent stuff on the VC has been utter crap and the Wii's going through a bit of a lull right now.  Hopefully, though, my $8 download of this game will entice Square-Enix to bring the other games in the series over, especially Ogre Battle 64 (which is easily the best game in the series).

11364

TalkBack / Re: New Harvest Moon for Japanese WiiWare

« on: March 05, 2009, 01:50:16 PM »

Ok...so they're basically turning Harvest Moon into the Retail Shop mini-game from Theme Park?  Meh, if I want to play a Harvest Moon game these days I'll check out the latest Rune Factory.  What is this?  Harvest Moon: City Folk?

11365

TalkBack / Re: A Boy and His Blob are Back

« on: March 05, 2009, 12:00:39 AM »

Hmm...I'd say the graphics are about on par with Warioland: Shake It.  So pretty good, but at this point I'd hope for a little more bar-raising than "pretty good" with the likes of Shake It and Muramasa on the Wii.  Still, you can definitely see some areas where they're reimagining screens from the original game, and I definitely like this version a lot better.  The character design for the Main is pretty interesting, almost vaguely Earthbound-ish.

11366

TalkBack / Re: A Boy and His Blob are Back

« on: March 04, 2009, 05:29:21 AM »

Looks cool. Talking about attacking enemies, I wonder if there's an Ovalqwik flavoured bean that makes the Blob pull out a plasma cannon and vaporize anything in his path...

Well, that would so totally awesome that it would probably lead to an instant inclusion in Screwattack's Armory.

11367

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Official Virtual Console Mondays Thread

« on: March 04, 2009, 05:15:07 AM »

I still own my copy of Ogre Battle 64 and my Nintendo 64 to run it.  But my TV's input jacks are completely full between my DVD player; Wii; computer; and PS2 so I have nowhere I could put my N64 even if I wanted play it.  Plus, if it gets put on Wii I can play the game with a wireless controller in component video.

Hopefully, this is a sign that Square-Enix is thinking about putting more of their lesser-known stuff out there.  Wasn't Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together released in Japan as well?  Sadly, I highly doubt we'll get that one, as S-E would have to localize it since I'm not sure if the Playstation version ever made it over here.

11368

TalkBack / Re: A Boy and His Blob are Back

« on: March 04, 2009, 05:05:00 AM »

Cool, though i hope that it's better-designed than the original game (which managed to take a cool concept and ruin it with frustrating and confusing design).  2D's definitely the way to go here, as stylized stuff seems to look best on Wii and there aren't many 2D games made these days anyway.  Hopefully the 2D artwork can compete with what we've seen out of titles like Warioland: Shake It and Muramasa, though I somehow doubt it with the latter.

11369

TalkBack / Re: The Week's Virtual Console and WiiWare

« on: March 02, 2009, 05:04:18 PM »

Reposted from the Virtual Console Mondays Thread:

"Ogre Battle!  **** YES!  SOLD...in a few weeks when I get paid and can afford it.   

Truth be told, while I like the concept of the original Ogre Battle and the stuff it pioneered for the series I don't really like the game all that much.  I'll buy it anyway because maybe I'll like it better now than I did back in the SNES days (when the ludicrously difficult-to-manage Reputation meter just caused me to quit playing shortly after the Pogram Forest level).

But the main reason I'm buying this is to hopefully prod Square-Enix to release the other Ogre Battle games over here, particularly Ogre Battle 64 (my favorite game in the series by far). "

11370

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Official Virtual Console Mondays Thread

« on: March 02, 2009, 12:20:14 PM »

Ogre Battle!  **** YES!  SOLD...in a few weeks when I get paid and can afford it.   

Truth be told, while I like the concept of the original Ogre Battle and the stuff it pioneered for the series I don't really like the game all that much.  I'll buy it anyway because maybe I'll like it better now than I did back in the SNES days (when the ludicrously difficult-to-manage Reputation meter just caused me to quit playing shortly after the Pogram Forest level).

But the main reason I'm buying this is to hopefully prod Square-Enix to release the other Ogre Battle games over here, particularly Ogre Battle 64 (my favorite game in the series by far).

11371

TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Unveils New Classic Controller, the Classic Pro

« on: February 26, 2009, 08:05:42 PM »

Alright, now that I'm home and on a computer that can see that image of the new Classic Controller (I guess my work's firewall blocked it), I like this new design a LOT.  It basically fixes 3 out of the 4 things that really bugged me about the original design:

1.  The cord now sticks out of the top.  Oh happy day.

2.  With the prongs now on the left and right sides of the controller, it won't be so incredibly awkward to play games that use the 2 control sticks...not to mention hand-cramping.  After years of playing 3D games with controllers like the GameCube controller and dualshock, it just feels wierd for both my thumbs to angle DOWN to use both sticks...not to mention having no good place to grip to the controller when you do that.  With the new grip prongs, though, I can more comfortably grip the controller and slide my thumbs UP to use the sticks.  That makes a world of difference.

3.  The really tiny LZ and RZ buttons, which feel really wierd to push in.

The remaining issue being the rather floaty (compared to the GameCube controller and Dualshock) Analog Sticks.  I hope that's fixed in the new design as well.

You know, I half-jokingly suggested the Dreamcast-to-VC possibility, but you have to admit that's not all that unlikely with how cozy Sega's been with Nintendo since they turned 3rd party.  Besides the storage issue, though, the biggest problem I could see with them doing that is that most of the games worth playing on the Dreamcast have already been ported to other systems, including the GameCube.  Skies of Arcadia, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, etc.  I know that's never stopped Nintendo before when it comes to the VC, but it could be a factor.

11372

TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Unveils New Classic Controller, the Classic Pro

« on: February 26, 2009, 02:42:14 PM »

I'd love to try this new Classic Controller on GameCube games (just for the ease of having a wireless GameCube controller without destroying my only Wavebird), but oh wait...it doesn't recognize anything other than the GameCube controller when in GameCube mode.  Well, there goes that.

Yeah, unless they were planning on making this thing work for Dreamcast games or something (now that would be an interesting addition to the VC, though too large unless Nintendo implemented a real hard drive or whatnot), this is obviously intended to make the Classic Controller more user-friendly for Wii game usage.  I can't view the picture, but is the wire still sticking out of the bottom of the controller or is it sticking out of the top where it bloody belongs?

11373

TalkBack / Re: Wii Exclusive Dead Space Extraction Goes On Rails

« on: February 19, 2009, 09:52:11 AM »

"meh."  That pretty much sums up my reaction to this news when it was released.  I don't want yet another wacky spin-off game in an established property from other consoles, and I especially don't want an on-rails shooter.  I have nothing against an original made-for-Wii-from-the-ground-up Dead Space game, but this?  Meh, no thanks.  It just reeks of the developer shirking the challenge of developing a unique 3D horror exploration/shooter game that plays to the Wii's strengths in favor of something easier and cheaper-to-produce that they won't have to try as hard on.  To be fair, if that trailer is actual in-game footage (and I'm somewhat skeptical of that), the game at least looks excellent (graphically) for a Wii game.

11374

TalkBack / Re: This Week's Virtual Console and WiiWare

« on: February 11, 2009, 03:34:18 PM »

Well, I decided "what the hell" and went and downloaded LIT anyway, since the reviews seem to be averaging about a 7 or so and I could use a good puzzle game after the hack-and-slash wonderland that was the Kingdom Hearts game I just completed (the PS2 remake).  Well, I'm on the 17th floor (of 30, not counting boss floors) I'd say the reviews have this game just about nailed: it's good, but it has a lot of problems.  While most of the early puzzles are rather intuitive and you generally have a good idea how to start a room, it's pure trial-and-error to get beyond that.  Often times what the game wants you to do is the exact opposite of what you'd think you should do, so you end up taking out windows or turning on lights in the wrong order.  The game also has a wierd sense of logic when it comes to where you can and can't go when it comes to the darkened areas: most times, if you so much as step a foot off your safety path you instantly die.  However, there are times (usually involving a placed flare) where the game will allow you to walk over darkness patches so long as they're small and you quickly run over them.  Also, if there happens to be an item or lamp inside the darkness but near enough to trigger your context-sensitive icon, you can reach out and grab it with impunity.  This is not true of doors, however.  It can also be very hard to keep track of the path you're running on, especially if the path is towards the back of the room and away from the camera.  You see, not only do you have just a small sliver of ground to run on most times, but the path isn't constant.  Yeah, where you can step doesn't change, but the darkness occasionally oozes over the moonlight to obscure your view of the path.  The sheer number of times I've died so far from accidentally running off a path when I was dead sure I was running a straight line...

Oh, and thanks developers for putting an explosive item in the game (the Cherry Bomb), and then designing levels so you have to be extremely exact where you throw it (9/10 so far away from a window that it's just barely in the blast radius) so you don't take out any nearby lights that you can't see in the dark.  It also took me several levels to notice that your character faces whatever direction your Wiimote cursor happens to be pointing, a vital thing to know when it comes to setting flares properly that the game doesn't bother to explain (hell, there's not explanation of anything, including this "story" the game seems interested in).  No, the write-up in the manual doesn't count, because it's not actually in the game.

Bosses are REALLY trial-and-error based, as the game gives you no indication how you're supposed to deal with them and very little time to study the situation to form a plan (I just dealt with these two demon doll sisters, and the way you dispose of them is very different from the previous 2 bosses).  As soon as you start the process of taking down a boss, you pretty much have to keep moving through the motions until you've disposed of them...which is easier said than done.

Overall, it's a clever puzzle game with very good atmosphere and sound work, though the girlfriend on the phone's starting to get on my nerves with her cheesy acting.  Still, there's good use of the Wiimote microphone for those one-way conversations ala No More Heroes.  And finally gettin a puzzle right is suitably satisfying.  So yeah, I'd say 7//10 on average is a fair assessment: it's an interesting experiment, but the actual product is very rough and needed polish (which oddly the developers themselves admitted to the IGN crew).

11375

TalkBack / Re: This Week's Virtual Console and WiiWare

« on: February 10, 2009, 10:47:06 AM »

I think I'll wait for a couple more opinions before I dole out my 800 points.

Yeah, same here.  I've been burned on WiiWare before (Lost Winds), so I'm very cautious now about casually purchasing games on the service (even ones with good critical hype).  I still have 1000 Wii Points left over on my account from when I picked up Mega Man 9 around Christmas, which I've been saving for if (heaven forbid) particular SNES or N64 games hit the VC (Earthbound, etc.).  But it seems they're not coming as the VC is currently mired in obscure Genesis and Master System games I don't care about, and my Wii hasn't seen major use outside MM9 (and a little Warioland Shake It) in about 8 months.  Every once in a while I feel in the mood for a good puzzle game (I'd buy World of Goo if I wasn't 500 points short), and LIT looks fairly promising (if a bit basic).  I'm curious how long the game is, though, and just how much story the game has (the trailers seem to indicate there might be one but the gameplay just looks like puzzle gauntlets in identical-looking rooms).

I don't know...if even IGN can't pretend it's a fantastic game that doesn't bode well for it.