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[House of the...Biohazard?]

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TalkBack / REVIEWS: Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles

« on: December 03, 2007, 09:51:00 AM »

House of the...Biohazard?
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=14923

 While the Wii might not be getting Resident Evil 5, Capcom was kind enough to produce an exclusive game for us Nintendo gamers. That game is Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, which encapsulates the early storylines of the series and throws in a new one for good measure. The game is basically a rail shooter, and the horror atmosphere inevitably leads to comparisons with the House of the Dead series…which Umbrella Chronicles is clearly inspired by. Capcom, however, has done an admirable job in making RE: UC a fun, surprisingly deep adventure that will please not just fans of the series, but Wii owners looking for the next great action title. Umbrella Chronicles includes various areas from Resident Evil Zero, Resident Evil (the GameCube remake), and Resident Evil 3, as well as several bonus missions and a new "chapter" in the RE saga. At the game’s outset, you select a character, your subweapon, and which stage you want to tackle. Then it’s off to the rails!    

For those unfamiliar with "on-rails" shooter games, the basic idea is that you do not control the movement of your character, aside from some limited "looking around." Rather, you are in complete control of the character's gun and grenades while undead beasties and biological weapons attack at every corner. Umbrella Chronicles makes great use of the Wii Remote, although pressing B instead of A to fire your gun takes a bit of getting used to after playing Metroid Prime 3. Umbrella Chronicles expands Resident Evil 4’s action and dodge mechanics. Pressing A while the target is over various shiny things will result in you unlocking new guns or files that further the plot. Boss fights are a combination of good aiming and quick reflexes (think about the Krauser knife fight in RE4).    

Each stage is divided into two not-necessarily-equal parts, and the halfway point is auto-saved, so when the stages start getting a bit long in the tooth (as they do late in the game), you can take a break and continue later. After finishing a stage, you are ranked from S to D, based on various criteria, and are awarded a certain number of stars that you can use to upgrade your guns.    

Umbrella Chronicles puts an enormous emphasis on shot accuracy. Each enemy in the game has a specific weak point, and you should try to shoot it for massive damage. That weak point is generally somewhere on the head, although there are a few enemies (like Leech Mimics) that either don’t have a weak point, or it’s just hard to find. Grenades are good for clearing out a big group of undead, but I found aiming to be a little tricky—your grenades will bounce farther than you think they will. And like most other RE games, it takes a quite a few shots to down a shambling zombie if you’re not right on the mark. The different guns generally fall into three classes: handguns, machine guns, and shotguns. There are some specialty weapons, like revolvers and a grenade launcher, but I didn’t find them to be worth the trouble, especially given their low ammo capacity.  The game stays amazingly true to the RE games, and each boss fight is a memorable experience (although some go on for too long). You’ll battle such famous creatures as the giant scorpion (RE0), Tyrant (RE1), and the Gravedigger (RE3). The bonus missions add new bosses to the series and fill in some of the plot holes that have dogged the storyline (like how Rebecca got into the mansion). Sadly, other plot holes inevitably open up. It’s kind of cool that your character and your partner talk to each other throughout each stage, so there’s a real feeling of immersion—you only know as much as the characters do. Shooting various environmental objects will often net you Umbrella Files that you can read from the main menu.    

Co-op is where the game really shines. Get two Wii Remotes, two Nunchuks, and a buddy and go nuts! The game doesn’t throw extra enemies at two players, so team efforts are a little easier than the solo game, which can, at times, be quite difficult. Boss fights become a little bit too easy sometimes, when one player is knocking the boss away while the other player constantly fires at its weak spot, but that’s why it’s fun, too. If you don’t have any friends, you can cheat and duel-wield, which is a whole different kind of fun (although a little tricky).    

Now, there are some complaints to be had. First and foremost, RE2 is not included in the game. Neither is RE4, but we just played through the Wii version of that game, didn’t we? At any rate, the omission of RE2 segments is unusual to say the least. Another complaint is that many enemies have extremely small weak points. For example, in order to blow the head off a zombie, you have to shoot it right at the top of the forehead. That becomes difficult when the shambling undead lurch, dip, and stumble at every turn. Once you get the hang of finding that weak spot, it’s actually much easier to stay "on target," but the learning curve for weak points is severe.    

Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles is a real treat, and I can’t recommend it more. Unless you have an aversion to rail shooters, you’d be silly not to at least give this game a rental. It also makes for a wonderful summary of the major points in the complex RE storyline, so players new to the franchise can warm up to the current situation.

Pros:
       

Nicely summarizes the main RE storyline

 

Co-op is amazingly fun

 

The old-school arcade vibe is appreciated and works wonderfully

 

Lots of unlockables and, thanks to the ranking system, replay value

       Cons:
       

Graphics haven't evolved much since RE0 and RE4 on the GameCube

 

Some of the main bosses repeat in the bonus missions

 

There are times where the sheer number of enemies will frustrate the solo player

               Graphics:  8.0
       Not the best I’ve seen on the Wii, but it looks darn good for a GameCube game. Everything is a little bit too dark, although the water effects are nice, and the monster designs (while very little is actually new) are spot-on. Some of the creatures have somewhat jerky animations, though. I say it’s on par with RE4.

               Sound:  9.0
       The music is present, but not overbearing. In fact, I often didn’t notice it, but there is lots of ambient noise and a ton of spoken dialogue. I’ve never really liked Wesker’s voice, but it would seem that the entire cast from the GameCube games is reprising their roles for Umbrella Chronicles. Carlos (from RE3) certainly isn’t Mexican.

               Control:  9.0
       Press B to fire, and wiggle the Remote to reload. That’s honestly all you need to know! The controls are awesome in their simplicity. This game is compatible with the Zapper, if you care.

                      Gameplay:  8.5
       I like rail shooters, because I’m not good at first-person shooters. Thankfully, half of the job is being done by the computer (the moving), and I’m quite good at the aiming and the shooting.

 

       Lastability:  9.0
       It’s almost criminal how many things you can unlock, although the vast majority will be interesting only to the RE hardcore among us. Still, the plentiful bonus missions, guns, and info files will keep you going long into the night. It’s incredibly fun to go back to older missions after upgrading your weapons and improving your aiming technique.

 

       Final:  9.0
       It’s very hard not to like this game. Aside from some graphical irks, it’s just about the perfect rail shooter and an obvious choice for Wii owners looking for some action. If you like Resident Evil, it’s a no-brainer. If you’ve never played Resident Evil but like House of the Dead, it’s also a no-brainer. If you’ve never played either series, at least give Umbrella Chronicles a rent. It’s something special.      

[A look back on developing Metroid's greatest trilogy.]

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TalkBack / Retro Studios Retrospective

« on: November 28, 2007, 05:36:17 AM »

A look back on developing Metroid's greatest trilogy.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=14884

 Ever wonder how those awesome Metroid Prime games were developed? How a first-time Texas developer was able to take the reigns of one of Nintendo’s most important franchises? Why Metroid Prime 2 feels a whole lot like Link to the Past? Gamasutra sat down with Retro Studios’ president and CEO, Michael Kelbaugh, to discuss those and many other issues. Here are some highlights from that interview:    

When they were approached by Nintendo to develop Metroid Prime, Retro was already in the preproduction phases for an RPG, a racing game, a football game, and an action-adventure. All of those projects were scrapped once Nintendo gave them the go-ahead.

 

You might remember that the first screens of Metroid Prime were from a third-person perspective. That view was switched to the familiar first-person view because Mr. Miyamoto, who was heavily involved in the first game, felt that exploration was more intuitive from a first-person perspective.

 

Not surprisingly, the team used Super Metroid as a base for Metroid Prime, but the Morph Ball was almost ditched during development. Making the transition from first-person to third-person sphere proved very difficult. Miyamoto, however, put the entire project on the line for the Morph Ball. Get it right, or you can’t make the game! Well, they got it right.

 

The Scan Visor was added basically at the last minute, because NCL thought that something was missing from the exploration aspect. They were the ones who suggested the Scan Visor, which has remained a staple of the series.

 

But the Scan Visor has its dissenters! Western gamers apparently can’t stand the Scan Visor, while Japanese gamers love it. Retro tried in subsequent games to give the visor a wider appeal, with tips on defeating enemies or rewards for scanning everything.

 

For Metroid Prime 2, the team wanted to focus on a theme rather than just a new setting. After speaking with one of the producers for Link to the Past, the Retro team decided to go that route.

 

But Retro pushed Echoes in the hardcore fan direction, alienating more casual and new gamers with Echoes’ brutal difficulty and non-linearity.

 

Right after development on Echoes was wrapped up, Retro was discussing how to improve the formula for Corruption, which is when they were shown the Wii Remote. Lights instantly went off, although one sticking point early on was the Remote’s lack of buttons.

 

For a 2004 TGS demo, the Retro team retrofitted Echoes with the Wii control scheme, and surprised themselves with how versatile it proved to be. Maybe this motion-sensing thing wasn’t so crazy after all…

   

Click the link above for the full interview.

[It's your duty, soldier, to please that booty!]

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TalkBack / REVIEWS: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

« on: November 25, 2007, 10:25:30 AM »

It's your duty, soldier, to please that booty!
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=14860

 I really can’t stand war games. As a sub-genre of the first-person shooter, war games have milked the Greatest Generation for all it’s worth, making us storm Omaha Beach at least once a year. Shooting Nazis is fun, sure, but eventually it becomes cliché. I’m also genetically predisposed to sucking at FPS games. If you stuck me in front of an Xbox 360 with a monkey who has never played Halo 3 before, the monkey would win nine times out of ten. If it’s not called “Metroid Prime," I am horrible at it.    

Having said that, you can only imagine my shock (and awe!) when I became completely enraptured in Activision’s Call of Duty 4, which is making its rounds on the more modern consoles. I didn’t play it on the PlayStation 3, 360, or PC, mind you, but I just sat, enthralled, watching my friend play on his PS3. I hoped that CoD4 would show up on the Wii (seems like a good fit), but alas, such is not the case. So when I received a copy of CoD4 for the Nintendo DS, I was surprised and excited, but also a little concerned. If Activision passed on the Wii for hardware reasons (and I don’t blame them), then how would the DS game handle?    

Ladies and germs, Call of Duty 4 on the DS is absolutely incredible. It is a nonstop thrill ride that literally does not stop until the credits roll. Just like the military forces it strives to evoke, CoD4 is fast, efficient, and responsive. It is, without a doubt, one of the best DS games I’ve had the pleasure of playing.    

The plot centers around stopping a Middle East extremist named Al-Asad, who may have Weapons of Mass Destruction. Al-Asad may have financial ties to a businessman in Russia, who is attempting to bring communism back into fashion. You play as American and British troops in both areas, switching back and forth between protagonists, and each “storyline" takes place at the same time. The Brits are trying to find the Russian backer while the Yanks are going after Al-Asad. The plot is told through slideshow cutscenes which occur between missions. While not especially engrossing, the slides get the job done. Interestingly, most missions find you fighting in parallel to the console teams. That is, while the PS3 squad might be infiltrating a tanker’s belly to find a nuclear bomb, the DS version has your squad providing cover on the deck while disarming missiles. It’s like watching the same movie from two different perspectives. This is a very cool dynamic, especially if you’ve experienced both the console and DS versions of the game.    

Most of the gameplay is wrought through an interface lifted directly from Metroid Prime: Hunters, another DS FPS I really liked. The stylus navigates the Touch Screen (which also serves as a map) in order to aim on the upper screen, the R Button fires your gun, and double-tapping X or B lets you run and crouch, respectively. The Touch Screen also has icons for your main and secondary weapons, and grenades. Instead of jumping, double-tapping the Touch Screen switches your view to ADS mode (aiming down the sight) which, in theory, gives you a more accurate shot (more on that later). You can exchange your currently-equipped weapon for a gun lying on the ground by tapping a hand icon, and you can occasionally call in air strikes by tapping a binocular icon. By tapping your currently-equipped weapon, you can reload it. A few bomb-defusing sequences have you hacking security codes and defusing bombs. The latter task, while under a beeping timer, has a real sense of urgency to it.     While the controls are, for the most part, incredibly tight, there are some areas that could use improvement. ADS mode brings up a 2D “frame" which does little more than obstruct your view of the enemy, and it’s not noticeably more accurate than firing from the hip. Part of the problem is that you’ll want to use ADS mode for long shots, but the enemies tend to pixel out at a distance, so it’s not always clear what you’re shooting at. Also, ADS is activated by double-tapping the Touch Screen, but due to the constraints of the Touch Screen’s size, you’ll often be removing the stylus and putting it back down, and the game will sometimes register a double-tap, bringing up ADS when you don’t want it. This doesn’t really adversely affect the gameplay, but it’s a slight flaw nonetheless. Actually, if you want to be more accurate, just crouch. Also, ADS sensitivity can be turned down from the options menu.    

Thankfully, there are enough gun types around any given area that you never need to worry too much about not hitting enemies. The FPS areas range from the wide-open spaces of a ruined Middle Eastern city the confined quarters of a luxurious mansion in Mother Russia. There are some areas where finding cover becomes a priority, but thankfully your enemies rarely run after you. If you’re hurt, just backtrack a little and rest. The FPS gameplay is engaging and exciting, and its fast pace is almost exactly like the tone set by CoD4’s big console brothers. Although I wish there were a few more spots for air strikes, the gunplay is second to none. These sections only become tedious in the last few missions, when your guard is constantly up, and enemies fill the halls. But even then, you adrenaline is pumping.    

And then you’ve got the uber-awesome missions. You know, like the one where you’re the gunner on a helicopter, spraying Arab militia from here to kingdom come. And the coolest mission on the console versions is back in full force here—you’re manning a 105 mm cannon, firing it with wild abandon at enemy troops while your boys on the ground scout out enemy encampments.      

The graphics are fantastic considering the hardware this game is running on. Enemies animate fairly smoothly—the game looks noticeably better than N64 games like Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, and without the slowdown that crippled the latter. Although there are no real lighting effects to speak of, the overall color palette is light enough that you won’t have trouble seeing enemies, especially since your map’s sonar often detects them (as red dots) before you’re shot to hell. Some sequences, like the opening gunner mission, boggle the mind with their technical skill. You’d expect some chugging or environmental popup while zipping through a canyon, firing on enemy troops while helicopters fly overhead, but nope! It all looks absolutely beautiful, all the time.    

Adding to the impressive specs is a boatload of spoken dialog. To get the most out of the game, in fact, you’ll want the volume turned up all the way, as objectives are often given to you over the speakers rather than in a text box. During the critical air support missions in particular, a good ear is an absolute necessity. There’s no noticeable musical score (aside from a few critical missions), but you’ll be too busy paying attention to gunshots, vehicle noise, and your commanding officer to care. My only complaint with the sound is that many of your fellow military officers sound like high schoolers, not the rough-and-tumble Marines you keep hearing about.    

I’m sad to report that CoD4 on the DS has no online multiplayer. There is both single and multi-card play, although the available game types are a bit lacking (deathmatch AND team deathmatch? Who’da thunk it?). And unlike Metroid Prime: Hunters, there is no stat tracking. The lack of Wi-Fi play really hurts CoD4, and limits its lastability, but I can’t really knock the solo effort.    

But the game’s biggest strength is in how well it establishes the tone and feeling of the console CoD4 games. The fast pace, mission structure, and gameplay are all distinctly Call of Duty, and everything performs beautifully. In addition to that, CoD4 on the DS is just a damn good game and will keep you entertained for quite some time.

Pros:
       

Invokes the atmosphere of the console games with great success

 

Gunner missions are too cool for words

 

FPS controls are tight and responsive

       Cons:
       

No Wi-Fi multiplayer

 

Machine guns are too inaccurate at long range to be of any use

 

If you’re not dead-on with your headshots, it can take a few clips to down enemies

               Graphics:  9.0
       While I take some issue with the draw distance, CoD4 looks and performs extremely well. There’s never any noticeable slowdown, even when enemy soldiers flood the screen. The ambient effects, like explosions, gunshots, and overhead helicopters, are very impressive.

               Sound:  8.0
       Music will kick in during particularly critical sequences, but for the most part you’ll be hearing your COs, gunshots, and enemies yelping as you shoot them in the face, which is exactly what war sounds like.

               Control:  9.0
       Nary a hitch, aside from the aforementioned ADS trigger. The layout of the Touch Screen can be reversed for you left-handers in the options menu.

                      Gameplay:  8.0
       The gunner missions are so awesome I would have liked to see more of them. The FPS missions, though, are intense and entertaining, and I wouldn’t trade them for the world.

 

       Lastability:  7.0
       After you beat the normal difficulty, you can go for hard mode (and it really is tough) or play your favorite missions right away in quick play. The lack of online multiplayer, though, is a real stumbling block. I can see myself popping this game in on plane rides, though, or when I game from the throne. It definitely has “pick up and play for short periods of time" written all over it.

 

       Final:  9.0
       While not without its flaws, CoD4 is true to the spirit of its console counterparts and manages to be a kick-ass game in its own right. If you’re looking for a good FPS on your DS, or you just want to see what the fuss over CoD4 is about, check this game out. You won’t be sorry!      

[Genre grandaddies could show up on our beloved handhelds.]

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TalkBack / Wolfenstein, Quake, and Doom May Hit the DS

« on: November 15, 2007, 04:00:45 PM »

Genre grandaddies could show up on our beloved handhelds.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=14817

 In an interview with Chris Kohler, id Software's John Carmack and Anna Kang said that they would like to bring Wolfenstein 3D, Quake Arena, Doom, and a few new intellectual properties to the Nintendo DS. Their primary concern is whether an M-rated game would actually sell on the DS.    

 Wired News: What do you see as being the audience of the DS right now?    

John Carmack: There's a thing that's under debate right now, where we've seen statistics saying that half of them are over 16. The Game Boy was always stigmatized as being strictly a kids' platform, and it was uneducated consumers where the games were usually bought by Mommy for little Johnny without looking at reviews or anything like that. So we looked at getting into the original Game Boy market and decided that it just wouldn't be a good place for id Software, because we thought it was driven mostly by branding, either as a Nintendo title or as a heavily licensed title that ties in with a movie or toy or something. And we didn't think we'd have a whole lot of leverage there.  The DS is selling like gangbusters, has trended a little bit older, and with the Internet covering everything on there we think that the quality of a game will make a bigger difference now      

Check out the full Wired interview for more on id Software's thoughts on the cell phone and DS platforms.

[Vivendi is ready to continue the series in video game form.]

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TalkBack / Get Ready to Bust Some Ghosts

« on: November 15, 2007, 03:59:18 PM »

Vivendi is ready to continue the series in video game form.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=14816

 It seems that no 80’s license is safe, kiddies. Variety reports that Vivendi Games and Sony Pictures have made a deal to continue the popular Ghostbusters franchise on home gaming consoles. Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson have all jumped aboard to lend their likenesses and voices to the game. Additionally, Aykroyd and Ramis are developing a plot and script, which will take place sometime after the events of Ghostbusters 2.    

Sadly, Wii and DS gamers may get the shaft in this deal, as the "hardcore demographic" is being targeted for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC versions of the game, while Vivendi itself isn't even developing the Wii and DS games. Instead, rookie developer Red Fly Studio is. Along with the PS2 version, the Wii and DS games promise to be more "family friendly" than the 360, PS3, and PC offerings. It is not clear whether the Aykroyd/Ramis script will be a part of the Nintendo games.

[It hurts when I bee.]

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TalkBack / REVIEWS: Bee Movie Game

« on: November 15, 2007, 04:52:41 AM »

It hurts when I bee.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=14812

 I haven’t even seen Bee Movie yet, and I’m already sick of it. Jerry Seinfeld’s "TV Juniors" pop up on NBC every fifteen minutes, and one of my favorite shows, 30 Rock, shamelessly hawked the film during its season premier. And then, of course, you’ve got the games on every platform known to man. They’re resurrecting the Dreamcast for a port! [Editor's Note: Not really.] While you may have seen my colleague’s earlier review of the Wii version, I can assure you that Bee Movie Game for Nintendo DS is just as, if not more, boring as its console counterpart.    

Just like all the other versions, you take control of Benny B. Benson, a bee who wants desperately to become a "Pollen Jockey," which means collecting pollen for his hive, New Hive City. The player is thrust right into this dramatic event, as Benny is on his way to jock training. But wait, before you get with the pollen collecting, you have to engage in menial tasks. True, these tasks basically set you up for the entirety of the gameplay, but after mastering the game’s initial fifteen minutes, you will have all the skills you need to beat the game. That, my friends, is not promising.    

What Bee Movie Game amounts to is a series of boring fetch-quests. You are thrust from one fetch quest to another, often with mindless fetch-questing in between main fetch quests so that you can earn enough pollen (money) to train with the jockeys for the umpteenth time so that you can level up your skill set…which just means access to newer fetch quests. The typical gameplay segment unfolds as follows:    

1) Get assigned a task, like collecting so many doodads. Collect those doodads while avoiding dogs, frogs, birds, water, and various other bee-killing organisms.
 2) Report back to whoever gave you task. Go find the next guy to give you a task.
 3) Find out that your skill set isn’t up to par with the requirements of the new task.
 4) Grind for pollen by smacking your face into red flowers over and over again.
 5) Go train with the jockey teams (more on this later). Level up your skills sufficiently to be accepted for the new tasks.
 6) Go collect a bunch of doodads.    

This is basically the entire game. And when I say "grind for pollen," I mean that you smack your head into plants to make pollen fly out, which you then collect. This wouldn’t be so horrible if each training session didn’t cost 500 pollen bucks. If I have to spend between five and ten minutes smacking my head into flowers repeatedly, only to be "rewarded" with a 30-second mini-game, I’m not a happy camper!    

The mini-games themselves are sort of interesting. In one, you must keep track of two bouncing balls, tapping them only when they turn blue. In another, you draw a line trace a line quickly on the Touch Screen. These mini-games are generally fun, but they never last very long, and the rewards are barely worthwhile. The most interesting gameplay aspect comes from the "three tier" system of flying. When Benny is outside, you can press X or B to switch from low to medium to high flight paths (well, after you’ve trained enough). Certain areas can only be reached at the higher altitudes, and each tier has its own dangers. If only the gameplay involved something other than slave labor, this would be an interesting game mechanic. I can easily see a shooter-type game being built around the three-tier system, or even a simplistic racing game.    

The different levels are interspersed with cut-scenes in which a news reporter bee interviews Benny about his adventure. This is how the story is told. I could care less, because each new level just brings new boring fetch quests to complete. As in "ooh, now instead of collecting special pollen, I’m collecting candy." It eventually becomes ridiculous in its repetitiousness.    

At least the game looks pretty good. Everything is in 3D, albeit low-res 3D. Benny animates very well, especially during the mini-game cut-scenes. The colors, however, tend to be bland and boring, and the camera could’ve been pulled back a little more. There is an interesting depth illusion in the hive itself. Jerry Seinfeld even does some extremely limited voice work, providing the "oofs," "wahoos," and "ouch" effects for when Benny gets eaten by a sparrow or he completes a fetch-quest. But my favorite comedian can’t save this rushed DS tie-in. I’ve heard good things about the movie, but I can’t recommend the game.

Pros:
       

Three-tier flying system

 

Unbelievably easy to play

       Cons:
       

Graphics bland; sound even more so

 

Three-tier flying system completely wasted on chore-boy bullcrap

 

Easy to play in this case means mind-numbing

               Graphics:  6.5
       Aside from our titular buzzing hero, the game looks boring, even though it’s in 3D. The colors are bland, and many of the enemies look botched or animate poorly.

               Sound:  3.0
       There is no music where there should be music. Some actual voice work from Jerry would’ve been appreciated, as little exclamations don’t really get the job done.

               Control:  7.0
       The three-tier system is interesting but wasted. Picking up and dropping things, while easy, becomes tedious very quickly.

                      Gameplay:  5.0
       This is a routine fetch-quest game. You have missions involving collecting things and grinding for pollen. Sound like fun?

 

       Lastability:  3.0
       Both my DS and I were extremely happy when I stopped playing the game.

 

       Final:  4.0
       The biggest disappointment is that the three-tier flying system really does have legs. If Bee Movie Game was a different kind of game (rather than a generic fetch-quester), it might have taken advantage of this unique idea. But as it stands, the three-tier system serves only to give you access to more fetch-quests.      

[Nintendo’s newest Wii channel is pretty freakin’ awesome.]

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TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Check Mii Out Channel

« on: November 12, 2007, 08:19:26 PM »

Nintendo’s newest Wii channel is pretty freakin’ awesome.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=14790

 The blue light was on when I got home from a marathon Call of Duty 4 session on Xbox 360 last night, so I eagerly switched on my Wii and discovered, thanks to a note from Nintendo on my Wii Message Board, that a new, free Wii Channel had been added. I hit the Wii Shop, downloaded the Check Mii Out Channel, then spent the next hour completely mesmerized by its charms.    

Arguably, Look at Mii is Nintendo’s first real foray into creating an online community. As you can well imagine, one of the fixtures of the new channel is to upload your own Miis onto a database, where Miis from around the world can be seen, as can information on the creator. You can also upload funny Miis and get ranked on how good your funny Mii is. You can look at dozens of Miis from your region as well as around the world. You can sort them in various ways, and even download Miis you especially like onto your Wii. It was hard not to resist the striking Jack Black and Walter (from Big Labowski) Miis.    

As I clicked through the pages and pages of Miis from around the world, I was struck by a few things. First, people are a lot more creative in making Miis than I am. There were designs I didn’t even know were possible. Also, Adolf Hitler is an amazingly popular character to design, which is rather disturbing. I thought I was being unique when I spent a half-hour making Mr. Garrison from South Park, only to find that he was another incredibly popular character, as was Kenny from the same show.    

The other side of the Check Mii Out Channel is the contests, in which Nintendo gives you a theme and you are supposed to make a Mii that fits the theme, then upload it to the contest page. The current theme is “Mario without a hat," which is certainly an effort to gear up excitement for Super Mario Galaxy’s imminent release. I thought my Mario was quite good, but we’ll see how well it fares overall in five days when the contest ends.    

There are a few problems that dog the Look at Mii channel, though. Perhaps most irritatingly, your uploaded Miis are given an ID number which is akin to the much-ballyhooed friend codes, except each of your Miis has its own code. And if you don’t write that code down somewhere, it becomes next to impossible to find your Mii among the thousands that have already been uploaded by now, especially when your character is as popular as Mr. Garrison. I think you should be able to check on all of your Miis simply by clicking on your Mii Artisan Info icon, which lists how many Miis you have created and what your overall rank is.    

Also, in an effort to allow people to remain anonymous, and because Nintendo thought that people would upload themselves onto the Check Mii Out Channel, individual Miis do not have full names—only initials. So if I were to upload myself, I would be Z.M. instead of Zachary Miller. I don’t mind that so much, but when people are making funny Miis, it would be helpful, many times, if I could see the full name of who that Mii is supposed to be.   And while people are being very creative with their Miis, it’s becoming obvious that certain Mii options—noses, and eyes, for instances—are far too limited. I could never really get Mr. Garrison’s eyes right, because all of the Mii eyes have enormous pupils. I hope that, in the future, Nintendo releases some new content for the Mii Channel itself.    

Overall, though, it’s easy to waste a lot of time on the Look at Mii channel, and I like it. Like I said, it looks like Nintendo is starting to acknowledge the need for an online community that is not hampered by a horrifying friend code system (although that problem persists to some degree here). While I didn’t spend too much time with the Mii Channel before, I am now motivated to get my creative juices flowing. The entire South Park cast? I think I’m up to the challenge!

[Actual alchemy seems simpler.]

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TalkBack / REVIEWS: Fullmetal Alchemist: Trading Card Game

« on: November 10, 2007, 11:29:13 AM »

Actual alchemy seems simpler.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=14780

 Full Metal Alchemist (FMA) is my favorite anime series. I could tell you all the reasons why, but that’s not why you’re reading this review. I have previously been disappointed with the poor video game adaptations of this series—two on the PS2 and one on the DS—but I was intrigued when I learned of an FMA collectable card game (CCG) for the DS. I love the Pokemon Trading Card Game on the Game Boy Color because it allows me to play the game without going broke at the comic shop. I was unaware that FMA had spawned its own CCG (perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised), but after doing some research, I learned that the physical card game was introduced to our shores around the same time the American anime hit Adult Swim. Various expansions were released throughout the anime’s run, with another celebrating the movie's release. The card game has fizzled since its source material tipped its hat goodbye, but since I've played others with a level of dedication some might call obsessive, I was eager to try this one on for size.    

The FMA CCG is the most complicated CCG I’ve ever played. The Universal Fighting System (UFS) game has nothing on this. It makes the Pokemon CCG look like Go Fish. The closest thing I can compare it to is the old Star Trek/Aliens. vs. Predator systems of yore, and even those can’t compete in terms of pure complexity. The game includes over 500 individual cards, faithfully translated from their physical forms to electronic duplicates, so I can only assume that the entire FMA CCG is in FMA: The Trading Card Game. And it seems like all 500+ cards have about 20 different attributes. Character cards have so many special abilities and numbers that it’s incredibly hard to keep track of who can do what and when.    

Part of the problem is that, like any electronic translation of a physical game, you cannot just look down at your card to see what it does. Rather, in this DS game you have to tap a card, and then tap “Detail." After you go back to the main screen and look at another card, you’ll forget what the first card did. I was constantly checking all my cards before making a move, so the game moved at a snail’s pace. That said, at its core the game is quite good. It’s definitely got an FMA feel, and I like the idea of winning locations by knocking your opponent’s attribute pool down to nothing. That’s how you win, by the way. Rather than fighting one-on-one or taking control of your opponent’s base, you and your opponent fight over specific locations. Locations have specific attributes which control the flow of that turn (think Final Fantasy Tactics Advance), and in each turn, you are battling over a different location. All of the characters you control add up their attributes (Strength, Wits, Alchemy, etc.) into team totals, and the location is won by having more of a certain attribute than the defender. If that sounds complicated, you should not play this game. That’s the basic premise, and all of the cards you pull from your draw pile influence that eventual outcome.    

The biggest complication, for me anyway, is that while a location card may require you to score, say, +3 Wits over your opponent at the end of the round in order to win that location, the location may also require that your fights be determined by some additional factor, like strength or alchemy. And then there are situations where your team totals will influence a fight, and other times when a character’s individual stats will be more helpful, depending on how many allies you want to send into battle. There are also four playing fields to manage…just on your side. The complexity goes on and on.    

But after going through the tutorial about four times, the rules begin to click for me. Strategies change as you realize that concepts found in other CCG’s just have different names in FMA. Once I got it through my head that trying to knock out all of my opponent’s characters was not necessarily the best way to win locations, I started to enjoy myself. Rather, it’s more important to keep an eye on the team totals, and only fight if you really have to. If you fight and lose, your team total goes down. I found that if I have more of a particular attribute before a fight, I’ll just defend. If I need to knock a few of my opponent’s characters out to lower his team total, then I’ll actively fight.    

The game has several modes, all of which have you dueling with either computer or human opponents. You can play against someone locally via multi-card play. Nintendo Wi-Fi is also fully supported—good luck finding opponents. You can fight practice duels that have no bearing on the single-player story mode (which just amounts to winning duels and then getting booster packs), you can construct fantastical decks from the entire series lineup, and you can read about the characters in the game. Deck-building is a bit of a chore, as your default screen is your collection, and you must click-and-drag cards you want into another screen. This card swapping aspect, plus the fact that you can have between 60 and 120 cards in your deck, makes for a tedious deck-building process. Fortunately, the pre-built decks are fine on their own. Even so, hardcore enthusiasts can spend hours building the perfect deck for multiplayer matches.    

Like any CCG, your level of enjoyment will depend entirely upon your patience with CCG’s, and how complex you like them to be. If you like CCG’s and strategy, you’ll probably greatly enjoy this one. And if you are one of the proud few who played the physical FMA card game, then this is a no-brainer. But if gin rummy and Texas Hold ‘Em constitute the bulk of your card-game playing, you should shy away from this one.

Pros:
       

Captures the spirit of the anime series beautifully

 

There are levels of complexity here that I haven't yet begun to explore

 

The satisfaction eventually wrought is awesome!

       Cons:
       

Did I mention how complex the game is?

 

The learning curve is an 89-degree slope

 

Having to constantly check your cards slows the game considerably

               Graphics:  8.0
       Having never played the physical card game, I can only assume that card images are faithfully reproduced. The play area is kind of crowded, but that’s more the card game's fault than the technology.

               Sound:  6.0
       I like the voice work, which changes depending on which FMA character you’re playing as. The music is straight from the show, but, maddeningly, the tracks repeat endlessly, and you’ll turn the volume down quickly.

               Control:  7.0
       It’s all done with the stylus. You can use the L and R buttons to streamline the detailing and turn-passing process. The lack of an undo button makes the game incredibly unforgiving.  I often inadvertently played a card because the touch screen registered a single tap as a double-tap.

                      Gameplay:  7.0
       This game is incredibly complex, almost to the point of being unplayable for those unfamiliar with CCG’s. Once you do get up that giant learning curve, though, the strategies start popping up and the fun starts. You just have to want it!

 

       Lastability:  8.0
       With over five hundred cards and several unlockable single-player decks, there’s a lot of fun to be had here. But again, you have to be CCG fan.

 

       Final:  7.0
       The tutorial does an average job of teaching new players how to play: it explains the basics but doesn’t go into the specifics with enough detail. So if you are up to the challenge of figuring the ins-and-outs of this CCG on your own, you'll have fun. If you aren't, FMA: The Trading Card Game is not for you.      

[Comparing Mario to food, gardens, and tea tables!]

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TalkBack / Iwata on Super Mario Galaxy

« on: November 07, 2007, 02:59:36 PM »

Comparing Mario to food, gardens, and tea tables!
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=14758

 On the eve of its Japanese release, Satoru Iwata sat down with former Nintendo Dream writer Akinori Sao to talk about Super Mario Galaxy (for the entire interview, click the Related Link above).  Here are the juiciest tidbits:    

    •   The concept for Super Mario Galaxy was born from the famous “128 Marios" demo at Space World in 2000. That demo showed an appropriate number of plumbers walking around a saucer. Iwata wanted to turn that concept into a game, but did not think it was possible at the time, given the technical challenges of producing a sphere.    

•   Incredibly, the Mario Galaxy production team’s previous effort was Donkey Kong Jungle Beat!    

•   The whole idea of having Mario wandering around a sphere didn’t initially focus on a galactic background. Rather, the stars and nebulae were added after the team realized that, when you put Mario on a sphere, he looks like he’s walking around a planet.    

•   The team really did hope to have Galaxy done within six months of Wii's launch date.    

•   Super Mario Sunshine originally had several options for camera control, but the team quickly realized that test players did not like being forced into a single camera option. In Galaxy, the inherent problems of a 3D camera were a big focus.    

•   Another huge focus in Galaxy was to simplify the controls. The team realized that jumping in 3D space is trouble enough—but precise jumping on a sphere? Thus, Mario’s new spin move was created.    

•   The Co-Op mode in Galaxy was created with the intention of allowing players to help each other, not compete or lose track of each other.    

•   The game allows six save files so that everybody in the family can play.

[The best of both worlds.]

4035

TalkBack / REVIEWS: Tony Hawk's Proving Ground

« on: November 05, 2007, 01:33:53 PM »

The best of both worlds.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=14741

 Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground is the ninth game in the Tony Hawk series, and one would think that the formula is getting stale. You can only grind around various cityscapes for so long, after all. And to be honest, the reviews of Tony Hawk games for the last few years have been a little lackluster. So it was with some apprehension that I popped Proving Ground in my DS, as I didn’t really know what to expect. Happily, the game far exceeded my expectation. To understand where Proving Ground is going, though, it’s important to know where Tony Hawk has been.    

I followed the series up through Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4, and I felt like that game took a real turn for the worse. THPS3, though, had a pretty simple concept: You have two minutes to skate around an environment, completing goals and gunning for a high score. While exploration was encouraged, it was finding the perfect combo line that really motivated you. Toward the end of my THPS3 days, I was grinding around entire maps, racking up point totals which skyrocketed toward the stratosphere. But what was really great about THPS3 was that everything was doable, and the game moved along very quickly. As you experience with the control scheme grew, you found yourself revisiting previous maps to best your old high scores. The formula never got old.    

THPS4 changed all that. Rather than dropping you into an environment with specific goals to complete, you were free to roam the map at your leisure, finding combo lines on your own and generally getting a feel for the place. When you felt like actually accomplishing something, you need only interact with one of the many NPC’s scattered around the map, and they would give you a task—an often ridiculous task. For the most part, these challenges mimicked those in THPS3—get a certain score, do a certain trick, grind a certain line. But others were just plain stupid, like ride a shopping cart down a steep incline while avoiding barrels, or grinding off a rhinoceros’s back. The more inane the task, the more difficult it became to complete. As a result, I found myself constantly restarting certain goals, my teeth wearing down with every tap of the Start Button, sometimes upwards of a dozen times. THPS4 was kind of like Tony Hawk meets Jackass. Of course, the inclusion of Bam Margera into the game surely influenced its content.    

So I turned away from the franchise after THPS4, thinking it would never get back to its roots. With Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground on the DS, though, it looks like Neversoft is beginning to see the light. The game, which is surprisingly robust, allows players to choose between Career and Classic modes of play, which simulate the experiences of THPS4 and THPS3, respectively. I’m thrilled—finally, after all these years, I can go back to the gameplay style I love.    

Career mode puts you in the shoes of an up-and-coming skateboarder who is building his own skate park. Your ultimate goal is to learn from the masters, go pro, and earn money to further improve your park. As you travel to different cities and locations, you can explore the amazingly large environments and talk to NPC’s in order to access goals. These tasks range from relatively simple (do this trick off a certain jump) to virtually impossible (follow a cameraman who zig-zaps around, doing certain tricks while you’re “in range" or else it doesn’t count…while on a timer). Thankfully, the goal system is a smidgen forgiving, as you are ranked based on how well you accomplished the goal. You earn cash and unlock a variety of things by completing NPC goals.    

And then there’s Classic mode, which uses the same environments, but gives you the two-minute timer and set goals that THPS3 did. The goals are never ridiculous, and can all be accomplished within a few runs of the map. Accomplishing a certain number of goals unlocks the next map, so there’s always an impressive amount of variety to be had. Sick of trying to grind a certain line in the museum? Go back to the harbor and find that secret tape.    

Customization in Proving Ground is just as rampant, if not moreso, than in console Tony Hawk titles. Everything from the hat you wear to the color and design of your board and the pieces in your skate park are up for grabs. Thanks to the DS’ touch screen, you can design your board logo yourself, although the draw area is a little small. If you’re good at drawing pixel pictures, you’ll have a blast. Otherwise, go for one of the pre-drawn designs. You can also unlock various costume choices and fish-eye camera videos, just like in the console counterparts. The sheer amount of content on this game card is frightening.    

There’s also a simplistic wireless mode, in which you and three other skaters roam around one of the game’s environments, trying to out-score each other. It’s fun, and a great place to test your mad skillz, although I kept getting booted off the server via error code. I’m not sure if it was just my game or the service itself, but it was annoying. I don’t have the problem in any of my other Wi-Fi capable DS games.    

The graphics are impressive considering the hardware this game is running on. While the character models are, perhaps, the ugliest human polygonal objects to ever grace a screen, the environments more than make up for any lackings in the character model department. Each map is distinct, colorful, detailed, and huge! There are combo possibilities everywhere. And I’ve got to say that no matter how awful your character looks, they animate incredibly well. All of the tricks and the animations that go along with them from the console games have been translated extremely well to the DS.    

The controls falter a little due to the unnecessary use of the touch screen in performing special tricks. In previous Tony Hawk games (and, to a limited extent, this one), special tricks could be triggered by inputting a certain button combo (left, right, X, for example). Here, however, your “best" tricks are activated by tapping a floating symbol on the touch screen. This forced use of the touch screen kind of takes you out of the moment, though, and instead of watching where you’re going during a grind line, your eyes must zip downward so you can see where the symbol is, tap it, and hope that your character performs it without bailing first. More often than not, I bailed while attempting to perform a touch screen trick. There is also a new “Focus" technique, also activated via touch screen icon, which slows the action down for a few seconds when your special meter is full. While I’m not quite sure what advantage this gets you, it certainly helps during speedy grind lines, as it helps you plan your next move.    

Overall, Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground is a great game. It will appeal to both the old-school THPS fans (like me) and the newer crowd who are more familiar with the post-THPS3 games. For skating fans who like gaming on the go, Proving Ground is a worthy choice.

Pros:
       

Brilliant mix of timed and goal-driven gameplay

 

Online multiplayer is the real proving ground

 

Customization options up the wazoo

       Cons:
       

Character models that only an emotionless mechanical construct could love

 

Touch screen tricks will make you bail more often than not

 

Career goals are freakin' impossible sometimes!

               Graphics:  7.0
       Shoddy character models, but the environments are gorgeous and eye-poppingly detailed. I wasn’t aware that the DS was capable of such impressively large, 3D environments.

               Sound:  9.0
       It’s a good soundtrack, containing only one song I didn’t like (“Bear in the Air"). The various sounds your board makes when it meets metal or pavement are well implemented. There is even some spoken dialog! I do miss the hilarious screams and groans that your character would make upon meeting the blacktop during a bail, though.

               Control:  8.0
       If you played THPS3 and 4 on the ‘Cube, using the tiny D-Pad, you will be right at home with Proving Ground. The touch screen options, however, leave much to be desired. Also, a few too many moves are mapped to the R Button, and now the L Button is solely available for rotating during a grab trick (aside from left and right on the D-Pad, which doesn’t help if you’re using an up or down grab trick).

                      Gameplay:  8.0
       Should appeal to everyone who likes the Tony Hawk games. Some of the Career challenges are ridiculously difficult, and some of the Classic goals are hampered by an unfortunate environmental layout, but it’s nothing a Tony Hawk vet can’t achieve.

 

       Lastability:  9.0
       There’s just a ton of content here for the single player, and the multiplayer option is very fun when you’re not getting error codes!

 

       Final:  9.0
       It’s hard to find serious fault with Proving Ground. Yeah, the touch screen tricks aren’t well implemented, but it’s not like they’re required to move forward. The character models themselves look fugly, but their smooth animations and the gorgeous maps make up for that. And “Bear in the Air" is forgiven thanks to “Heart Attack."      

[Rockstar should stick to killing hookers.]

4036

TalkBack / REVIEWS: Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis

« on: October 30, 2007, 08:10:44 PM »

Rockstar should stick to killing hookers.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=14716

 A long, long time ago, in a rec room far, far away, I whittled away my entire youthful summers playing ping-pong and air hockey. Even today, I cannot pass up the opportunity to play either casual sport. When the Xbox 360 version of Table Tennis was first released, I admit to being a little sad that I did not own said console. Now Rockstar has ported the game onto my precious Wii, with the motion controls that would surely make a game like table tennis as fun as it could possibly be! But lo, fun times were not to be had, as I realized with some disappointment that table tennis, at least in Rockstar’s world, is the driest, most boring sport of them all, surpassing even baseball (ooh, burn!).    

The instruction booklet makes a big fuss about how table tennis became an Olympic sport in the late 80’s, but Table Tennis makes no effort to make you feel like you’re playing an Olympic game. There are no actual table tennis players, which boggles the mind. There are only a multitude of ethnicities represented, all of whom are known on a purely first-name basis. After choosing your character, you can select from a less-than-exciting array of jersey colors, most of which must be, you guessed it, unlocked. You then begin a match, which is where the fun begins.    

You can choose either Tournament or Exhibition. There is no Career or Story mode. You will not move up the ranks from somebody’s garage to the Olympic stadium. Instead, you are thrown in a human vs. CPU (or human vs. human vs. CPU) tournament that can go for as long as you can stand, or a human vs. CPU (or human vs. human) best-of-three ping-pong-off. You do not gain stat increases after numerous wins, and there is no story progression. You simply pick your character, then pick the computer’s character, and begin the match. Table Tennis is not a game in which you progress in any meaningful way, as you do in virtually every other sports game. This is not Tiger Woods, nor is it Mario Tennis.    

Let’s talk about the motion controls. There are three control styles: Standard, Control Freak, and Sharpshooter. None of them really get the job done well. In Standard mode, all you have to do is lob the Wii Remote as the ball flies toward you. Unfortunately, your swing is not 1:1, meaning that merely jabbing the Remote toward the screen results in your character making the hit. That would be fine by me, except that the computer controls your character’s movement. There is also some annoying lag time between your swing and the onscreen character’s swing. Control Freak is a mess, requiring the Nunchuk to move your character manually while you continue swinging with the Remote. In theory, that sounds great, but in practice, it’s awful. Your character moves with all the grace and speed of a sumo wrestler, meandering left and right even as the ball flies well beyond his or her reach. The best control scheme is Sharpshooter, which is basically the same as Standard, but the Nunchuk’s analog stick allows you to aim your shot. This is a much better setup than the purely theoretical Standard method of aiming your shot by swinging, say, "up and to the right," which, in 3D space, has no real meaning. In Super Swing Golf, you are told that the left side of the Remote represents the head of the golf club. There’s no such indication in Table Tennis, so your "down and to the left" attempts are best guesses..    

Well, it’s a port of an Xbox 360 game, so it must at least look good, right? Like everything else about Table Tennis, though, the visuals disappoint. The Wii game is missing the impressive cloth physics, sharp graphics, and lighting effects which made the 360 version look so pretty. In fact, Table Tennis on the Wii looks sort of blurry and darkened. There’s no announcer, or ambient music (unless a match is getting really heated), and the characters do nothing but grunt and wince as they lunge for the ball.    

The thing that really shakes me about Table Tennis, though, is that Rockstar did virtually nothing to spice up the sport. Like I said before, there are no actual players or Career-type mode. There are no power-ups, and no stat improvements. The closest thing to "technique" you’ll find is in putting spin on the ball and using your focus meter, which actually doesn’t help very much. In all, Table Tennis is a game that just screams "lack of effort." Perhaps in the future, should Rockstar continue this franchise, they can do something to make the game more fun and appealing. There is some multiplayer appeal to be had here, but honestly, there are much better party offerings on the Wii.

Pros:
       

The only "realistic" tennis game on the market

 

While somewhat botched, the motion controls add some level of immersion to the experience

       Cons:
       

About as no-frills as you can get without being called "Gran Turismo"

 

No reason to play this game over, say, Tiger Woods or even Wii Play

               Graphics:  6.0
       The game has blurry visuals, bad lighting, no cloth physics. Also, there’s just not much to look at when you’re talking about two people and a little green table.

               Sound:  4.0
       What sound?

               Control:  6.0
       Motion controls add to the gameplay, sure, but they’re not perfect by any means.

                      Gameplay:  5.0
       You’re whacking the Wii Remote at an imaginary ball, and you’ll miss half the time because of the lag. The Sharpshooter control scheme works better, but honestly, this is a half-baked pie.

 

       Lastability:  4.0
       With no single-player mode to speak of, and a "this gets old fast" multiplayer option, there is no reason to keep Table Tennis in your Wii for longer than it takes to look through your GameCube and Wii games to find a better offering.

 

       Final:  5.0
       Ultimately, there’s just no reason to buy this game. Rent it if you love the sport, but be aware that the appeal fades very quickly. There are much better sports games out there, for both the casual player and the hardcore enthusiast. Heck, the Wii Play ping-pong game is better than this.      

[Expect plenty of cinematic zombie fodder in the coming years in the form of animation and live-action.]

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TalkBack / Capcom Plans CG Resident Evil Movie

« on: October 29, 2007, 03:56:19 PM »

Expect plenty of cinematic zombie fodder in the coming years in the form of animation and live-action.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=14705

 Biohazard: Degeneration will be Capcom’s first foray into CG film waters. The film is already in production in Japan in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, and will released in 2008 in the Land of the Rising Sun.    

According to Capcom, Degeneration will feature a brand-new storyline, and will not be connected in any way to the live-action Resident Evil films. So successful have the recent RE films been, in fact, that a fourth entry is already in pre-production.    

Resident Evil is not the first video game series to get a CG film translation. Square (before its merger with Enix) brought its epic Final Fantasy series to the big screen, only to be met with a poor reception.

[I guess he's wearing jeans now.]

4038

TalkBack / REVIEWS: Crash of the Titans

« on: October 26, 2007, 07:25:07 AM »

I guess he's wearing jeans now.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=14681

 Well, folks, like the mythical phoenix of olden times, Crash Bandicoot has risen from the ashes once again to take the form of "Crash of the Titans," a fully 3D adventure for the DS. I understand that a Wii version is also available. Having not played the console counterpart, however, I cannot comment on the accuracy of its translation to DS. The gist is that Crash of the Titans is a basic platformer with lots of tedious combat and an interesting gimmick. The plot is not entirely clear, but Crash’s old nemesis, Dr. Neo Cortex, has captured the mystical mask spirits of Wumpa Island, and he intends to use their energies to power his giant disco robot, the Cortexbot. Crash isn’t about to let that happen, no sir, and with some help from Coco Bandicoot and Aku Aku, a mask you save during the game’s opening sequence, Crash will bring Cortex down, using the very mutants he’s created to stop you.    

I will say right off the bat that I don’t like the storyline, which is not told very well. What, exactly is Neo Cortex going to do with a giant disco robot? Why can’t he just use a couple of D batteries to power it up? Why is there a horrible laugh track during the cut-scenes? And why does that laugh occur in places where no joke has been told? Perhaps I’m simply unfamiliar with the franchise’s sense of humor (the only other Crash game I played was the PSOne Naughty Dog original), but I kept longing for a way to skip the entire cut-scene—not just the spoken dialogue. Yes, by the way, there’s spoken dialogue, and it’s fairly impressive, but it adds nothing to the story.    

But it’s really the gameplay that saves "Crash of the Titans." Essentially it’s a collect-a-thon-platformer-brawler, and that’s a good thing. Crash can double-jump, punch, kick, and dodge (like in God of War!). Whenever Crash stuns an enemy through asskickery, he can "jack" them by slapping Aku Aku on the critter’s face. Crash now controls the enemy, who can do useful things like attack other enemies and, in the case of larger creatures, destroy large boxes and travel through water and/or lava. This gimmick works, thanks to the wide variety of creatures you can overtake. While it’s true that the enemy types boil down into half a dozen wireframes with different skins applied, and, honestly, the small enemies all have basically the same attack while the larger enemies have maybe three different attacks, possessing your attacker is always fun and useful. And while small critters can’t take the pummeling that big bruisers can, it’s always better to let a monster take the hits than Crash, who dies way too quickly from exposure to fists and feet. The same enemies also tend to get stronger later in the game, which feels kind of cheap and, at times, can be extremely frustrating.    

Amaze Entertainment, the developers of this game, tried to incorporate the touch screen as much as possible, but because you use the D-pad for movement and the ABXY buttons for jumping, punching, and kicking, actual touch screen interaction is awkward and, happily, not required. Ideally, you would "flick" the Aku Aku icon in the middle of the touch screen toward a stunned enemy in order to jack it. Just press B instead. With many enemy attacks, you can either press a big button on the touch screen (labeled "attack") or just press B. The most compelling attacks, though, come in the form of blowing into the DS microphone, which is actually fun (or you can just press B). When traveling to a different island, you must draw Crash’s destination on the touch screen, sort of like in Phantom Hourglass but without the intuitiveness. The game doesn’t always register your drawn path, so it may take several tries to successfully start Crash on his boat ride.    

While "Crash of the Titans" encourages exploration in order to find all doo-dads in every stage, the extremely linear level layouts inhibit that goal. Crash has several goals in each area, aside from merely getting to the end of the course. He must destroy all the crates in a stage, find a required amount of Mojo (wrought from defeated enemies and also found sitting around, like coins in Mario). Should Crash find the time, he can invest in bronze, silver, and gold masks, as well. And after beating a course, Crash can try a special event, which generally involves navigating a course by way of touch screen. Completing all the goals in a level nets you a gem. There are four gems in each level, and I can’t imagine what happens when you collect all the gems in the game. So you collect lots of things in order to collect other things. That’s deep.    

At any rate, collecting Mojo doo-dads allows Crash to upgrade his move set, health, defense, etc. These are not skills you will need for the game. I shudder to think how utterly powerful Crash’s kick would be at the highest attack level, but it’s pointless to imagine such a scenario, as most of your fighting will done on the back of a gorilla-like creature, whose own moves cannot be upgraded. And really, you can beat all the levels and all the bosses with minimal effort. This is not a difficult game. In fact, I beat it in about three hours. Of course, I didn’t collect every little thing.    

At the end of the day, Crash of the Titans is a mediocre game with some interesting ideas. Crash Bandicoot fans should enjoy it, but gamers looking for a decent platformer on their DS should look elsewhere.

Pros:
       

Good looking, genuine 3D graphics that are colorful and distinct

 

"Jacking" is an interesting concept

 

The gameplay is exciting and fast-moving

       Cons:
       

Despite the interesting gameplay, there is very little variety

 

The environments and enemy types all blend together

 

Crash looks nothing like an actual bandicoot

               Graphics:  7.0
       Can’t fault the 3D look, but I would have liked to have seen more varied environments and more distinct enemy type wireframes instead of more skins.

               Sound:  6.5
       Gotta love the hammy voice acting. The music is less than inspiring and fades rather quickly into the background.

               Control:  8.0
       This score would’ve been much lower, were I forced to use the touch screen instead of the B button during combat. The only place I can really fault the control is when making precarious platform jumps—it’s tough to tell how far I should be jumping.

                      Gameplay:  7.0
       It’s over before you know it, but Crash of the Titans manages to keep you on your toes, and even though you’ll find yourself doing the same thing over and over again, it never seems dull. There’s nothing quite like riding a gigantic sphinx and crushing fools with your giant stone fists.

 

       Lastability:  7.0
       If you want to find all the gems, you’ll be playing through stages several times to try to find all the required doohinkies and whatchamacallits. Also, if you have Crash or Spyro GBA games, try sticking them in the DS’s GBA slot before you turn Crash of the Titans on. You might get a bonus or two.

 

       Final:  7.5
       Crash of the Titans gets the job done well, but the job doesn’t last very long, and the employees tend to get repetitive motion injuries. That is to say, it’s a short game that has very little gameplay variety. Crash fans will eat it up, though, and younger gamers who like to collect ‘em all will certainly get their fill.      

[The candles are people's souls!]

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TalkBack / Kogi Igarash on Castlevania

« on: October 25, 2007, 02:23:50 PM »

The candles are people's souls!
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=14676

 Castlevania guru and cowboy hat lover Koji Igarashi recently sat down with Wired and http://www.destructoid.com/destructoid-interview-castlevania-s-koji-igarashi-50472.phtml>Destructoid for interviews. While the questions generally overlap, here are the meatiest tidbits for you:    

Sylvan White, the director of Stomp the Yard, has been tapped to helm the upcoming Castlevania live-action (not animated) movie. Igarashi is confident in White’s abilities, as the director is apparently a rabid fan of the games.

   

Another DS game is in development, but it will not follow the anime influence set by Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin.

   

Igarashi regrets creating a timeline for the series, saying that since Vlad only appears once every century, he finds it difficult to fit games into the continuity, because now it’s all official.

   

The candles you whip in Dracula’s castle to find pick-ups are actually people’s souls! If you get lost in Castlevania and die, you apparently become an immortal flame, cursed to remain alit forevermore, until a Belmont, Morris, or Belnades family member sets you free. As thanks, you should leave that person a heart, subweapon, or piece of meat.

   

Igarashi is very interested in creating a 3D Castlevania game that captures the atmosphere and exploration aspects of the 2D games. Because history repeats itself, Igarashi has taken some inspiration from the Metroid Prime games and says that he wants "to do something like that. Not exactly what they did, but something that takes it to the next level." And don’t hold your breath for whipping things with the Wii remote, folks.    

Check out the links above for the full interviews.

[Halo 3 tore up the charts, moving a lot of hardware with it.]

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TalkBack / 360 Outsells Wii for the Month of September

« on: October 21, 2007, 08:25:18 AM »

Halo 3 tore up the charts, moving a lot of hardware with it.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=14650

 In what must be a milestone event for Microsoft, the Xbox 360 edged out the Nintendo Wii by around 30,000 units this week. In terms of pure numbers, the Wii sold 501,000  units, while the 360 clocked in at just under 528,000. The DS came in third place, at 495,800, and the PSP continues to lead Sony sales, at 284,500 units sold. The PS2 is still a juggernaut, enticing some 215,000 people, while the PS3 continues to lag, selling a mere 119,400 units. Surprisingly, the Game Boy Advance is chugging right along, selling 75,000 units this week.    

Halo 3 is still dominating the software scene, having sold an amazing 3.3 million units by this week, while Wii Play has raked in 282,000 buyers, continuing to sell well months after its release. Phantom Hourglass has managed to sell 224,000 units in just a few weeks, and Metroid Prime 3 managed to sell 167,000 in its first full month since its release.

[Don't hold your breath for a holiday price drop.]

4041

TalkBack / No Price Cuts for the Wii

« on: October 12, 2007, 10:17:39 AM »

Don't hold your breath for a holiday price drop.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=14611

 Think $250 is too much for a Wii? Too bad! In an interview with Reuters, Nintendo of America’s vice president of marketing, George Harrison, confirmed that “We’ll stay at $249 for the foreseeable future. We are still selling everything we can make." So until Nintendo’s Wii sales start to decline, you’ll still have to shell out $250 for the console.

4042

TalkBack / RE:REVIEWS: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

« on: October 09, 2007, 08:32:31 AM »

Alright, I'm sorry. I may have overreacted. Being one of the new guys, I'm not accustomed to having my review torn to pieces by the masses I write for. Now, in all honesty, I think I backed up my criticisms of the game pretty well in the review, and that should be taken at face value. However, I have to compare to Wind Waker at the very least, because PH claims to be a direct sequel to that game. I expect some continuity. There is NONE. In fact, at the end of the game:

SPOILERS AHEAD

Link and Tetra wake up from a dream. It was all a dream. Well, it obviously wasn't a dream, because Linebeck survived, but overall, the entire storyline does not impact Wind Waker at all. I think this speaks to Nintendo's reluctance to move beyond the Wind Waker, into territory not ruled by Ganondorft, Vaati, or any other familiar element. They had to construct a dream sequence instead which will have no resonance in the continuity of the series. But whereas Link's dream in Awakening was thought-provoking and meaningful, I didn't get that feeling at the end of PH. It felt more like Nintendo copped out on me.

SPOILERS END

So yeah. I didn't like it in relation to the other Zelda games, but I also didn't like it on its own. I think my review was fair to the game. And keep in mind that my take on PH is MY take on PH. Like I said, other NWR staffers may disagree and love it.

Also, I don't mean to lump EVERYBODY into the fanboyism category. Obviously there have been a few of you (like Golden Phoenix) who have stood up to the review, but overall people are tearing it apart. Thus my reaction above.

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TalkBack / RE:REVIEWS: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

« on: October 09, 2007, 07:52:46 AM »

There's no point in defending my review at this point. I've seen almost nothing but seven pages of rampant fanboyism thus far. Just because I don't like this game AS MUCH AS other Zelda games does not mean that NWR's reviews are going down in quality. What does that even mean? You people don't agree with my review and all of a sudden the entire site is in question? Give me a break. You're all acting like I insulted a PERSON by finding fault with this game, and frankly, it makes me sick.

One of the most important aspects of reviewing a game, for me, is to compare that game to its peers. Phantom Hourglass fails to meet the high standards set by Wind Waker, Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, and, at times, Twilight Princess. And don't blame the technology. Link's Awakening, in my humble opinion, is one of the best Zelda games ever made, and it's an original Game Boy cart. Thusly, I cannot give PH a score as high or higher than any of those games. And I honestly did not like the Temple of the Ocean King. And you know, as I read other online reviews, I noticed that a lot of other gaming outlets didn't like it either, so it's not just me. And a lot of other people questioned the lack of D-pad control.

So I'm going to defend my review anymore. Nothing will be gained, and I'm not going to make anybody see the light. I did not like this game. That doesn't mean YOU don't have to. And other NWR staffers will be reviewing it soon, so maybe they'll like it, and you can just go ahead and read the review you want to read instead of mine. You know, the review that validates your point of view.

[Exploding penguins on the DS? Hey, it could happen.]

4044

TalkBack / NIS Wants Disgaea on DS in North America

« on: October 05, 2007, 02:20:15 PM »

Exploding penguins on the DS? Hey, it could happen.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=14529

 NIS hopes that its bizarre Disgaea strategy RPG series, as well as other NIS properties, will eventually hit the DS and Wii. NIS America's Phoenix Spaulding seemed hopeful, anyway:      "Back at Anime Expo, NIS Japan made a very brief mention about Disgaea on the DS. As far as I know, that's still planned, and I know they're at least looking at the others, like Wii, and maybe some other DS titles. I hope they do because so many of our fans, they're all DS kids. It really just makes sense to at least try it."      

   Disgaea has a small but vocal following.  The game features a chewy strategic center with suicidal exploding penguin glaze. Thus far, the series has been exclusive to Sony's machines. Spaulding notes that the DS game is "ready to go" in Japan, but its American fate is still unknown.

4045

TalkBack / RE:REVIEWS: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

« on: October 05, 2007, 08:56:43 AM »

The Majora's Mask comparison is more than justified. The first ten minutes of the game basically lay out the fact that Phantom Hourglass starts off basically where Wind Waker ends. The look is the same, you're still boating around from island to island. The core gameplay is the same. But it's a MUCH different game overall. You all know that Link's Awakening is a sequel to Link to the Past, right? The gameplay differences are nary any different. It's still top-down, you still get one item on the B button, there are still fetch quests, and there are still 8 dungeons.

Even Wind Waker is a sequel to Ocarina of Time, which is references CONSTANTLY throughout the story. And, in fact, the gameplay is exactly the same. It's a little easier, and the focus is different, but the connections are omnipresent, and the gameplay is basically the same.

Phantom is a sequel to the Wind Waker, but the Wind Waker's influences are only aethetic. This really disappointed me. I'M SORRY. The story failed to sweep me up like it did in Wind Waker (and Ocarina, and Link to the Past, and even Twilight Princess), the gameplay, like GP says, is hampered by the fact that your stylus is blocking part of the screen, and must I say it again? The Temple of the Ocean King sucks!

Look, when you compare this to the GREAT Zelda games of the past--Ocarina, Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, Wind Waker, and for some of you, Twilight Princess, Phantom just does not compare.  

[It's like Wind Waker without all the stuff that made Wind Waker so awesome.]

4046

TalkBack / REVIEWS: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

« on: October 05, 2007, 05:26:04 AM »

It's like Wind Waker without all the stuff that made Wind Waker so awesome.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=14526

 There are two kinds of Zelda fans in the world. There are those who appreciate the series for the exploration aspect. These people enjoy overturning the overworld, searching for Heart Pieces, secret holes, mini-games, and interesting characters. I include myself in this category, and we tend to think that Wind Waker is the greatest Zelda story ever told. And then there are the dungeon-crawlers, who find overworld shenanigans a tireless chore to the real meat and potatoes of the game: dungeons. These people seem to like Twilight Princess the best (yeah, I’m using modern examples). Personally, I couldn’t stand Twilight Princess for reasons I won’t go into here. Wind Waker, however, is in my Top 3. It’s my favorite video game in recent years. I still tool around with my original save file to this day, searching for that ever-out-of-reach final Heart Piece. Anyway, when I heard that Nintendo was crafting a sequel to Wind Waker on the DS, I was overjoyed. I was bouncing off the walls when my NWR colleagues recruited me to review the game. I received the game two days ago, and have been furiously playing it ever since. And I’ve got something to tell both the explorers and dungeon-crawlers among you: this ain’t the Zelda you know and love.    

The game opens with a brief (and very entertaining) storyboard explaining the events of Wind Waker and follows it up with a cinematic scene detailing Tetra’s kidnapping by an evil ghost pirate ship (I’m really not spoiling anything, folks). Link leaps overboard to save her, but he ends up in the briny depths, only to be rescued by a fairy named Navi… I mean, Ciela. Upon speaking with Ciela’s grandpa, Link learns that the ghost ship kidnaps people on a fairly usual basis, and if he wants to rescue his friend, Link must find the guardians of Power, Wisdom, and Courage. It's sort of like every Zelda game since Link to the Past. Our hero sets out with Ciela in tow and a questionable sea captain named Linebeck, who charters Link from island to island. Although a bit too talkative, Linebeck has his moments and eventually proves useful in your journey.    

As you may have heard, Phantom Hourglass has a unique control scheme which depends entirely on your skills with the stylus. Hold the stylus on the screen in the direction you want Link to run. Tap enemies or make a horizontal line to make Link attack with his sword. Draw a circle around Link to do a spin attack. Trace the path of your boomerang, set a course for your boat, aim bombs, rocks, and arrows…it’s all done with the stylus. The only button you’ll ever press is B, and that’s to quickly bring the map screen down for you to write on. This is one of the best aspects of the game, in fact: writing on your map. You can take notes, point to important locations, and just plain scribble all over your maps. In one memorable instance, you’ll have to trace the outline of an unmapped island, then mark the locations of four Gossip Stones to solve a riddle.    

Unfortunately, the stylus control takes some serious getting-used-to for Zelda veterans. Any kind of D-pad control scheme (even one for left handers using the ABXY buttons) is absent, and while Nintendo’s goal was to make the process more streamlined and intuitive, I never forgot that I was holding a stylus, dragging and tapping it on the screen like a monkey to make Link move. Using items is a chore, for example, because you must first tap "Items," then tap the item you want, then tap the item window, the use the item. God forbid you should have to switch items in the middle of a fight. Furthermore, because I can’t draw a straight line to save my life (with a tiny stylus, anyway), my ship and boomerang routes often look more like desperate squiggles than methodic attempts. I certainly appreciate what Nintendo is trying to do, but in practice the control scheme is a little awkward.  I must praise the amount of experimentation in Phantom Hourglass, though. You’ll be "stamping" your map by closing your DS, yelling at a shopkeeper, blowing out candles, and using the top screen to see what your enemy sees. It’s a shame that none of these unique applications are used more than once or twice, but there’s always something new to try, and Phantom Hourglass goes out of its way to demonstrate the unique gameplay possibilities afforded by the DS.    

The much-lauded (or laughed-at) Wind Waker aesthetic is in full effect for Phantom Hourglass, albeit in a low-res sort of way. The game really is in 3D, though, and it’s good-looking 3D. Characters are just as expressive as they are in Wind Waker, and the primary colors and simplistic texturing are still there. Looks aside, however, Phantom Hourglass is an entirely different game. This is both good and bad. I was worried, frankly, that Nintendo would somehow bring Ganon back into the game, even though he’d been stabbed in the head and turned to stone by Link just before the beginning of this game. And if not Ganon, we’d get Vaati, that awkward fill-in villain whose ties to the greater series continuity have always been in question. Instead, we get a brand new storyline featuring a brand new antagonist, which is a huge plus. Sadly, though, after the game’s opening sequence, there are no plotline or character ties to Wind Waker. Phantom Hourglass lacks the mythos of Wind Waker, and it can’t decide whether it wants to be an entirely separate game or not.    

Phantom Hourglass’s gameplay flow also mimics that of Twilight Princess more so than Wind Waker. This DS game is basically a dungeon crawler, and trips to other islands exist only so you can learn about where the next dungeon is. Sure, there are some token "new islands" to discover, but their contents are rarely very exciting. I greatly enjoyed the freedom offered by Wind Waker. If I wanted to, I could forego the main quest for days and explore instead, completing my map of the Great Sea, finding neat stuff on interesting islands…you get the idea. Phantom Hourglass, however, does not meet that need. Instead, island-hopping is a practical matter. The weather conditions never change, the sea never swells, and you’ll rarely see another ship anywhere. I’m sure this is due to hardware limitations, but I really miss that aspect of Wind Waker.    

Even Twilight Princess fans, though, will be groaning in agony about the Temple of the Sea King, a horrendous chore of a dungeon which I’ll have to use some apt comparisons to illustrate. Remember how, in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, you were often asked to travel to Dark Aether? It had an acidic atmosphere that constantly drained your health, and to survive, you had to travel between safe zones, where your health would slowly go back up. But Dark Aether was never fun (until much later in the game). Well, imagine a Zelda dungeon like that, with typical dungeon puzzles. Now add invincible guards who wander the halls and have a Metal Gear Solid-like vision cone. If you’re seen by a guard, you usually die (unless you can get to a safe zone). Also, and this is the kicker, there’s a timer. Yes, a timer. When that timer runs out, your health begins to plummet. Oh, and I forgot to mention that you’ll have to traverse this dungeon several different times. In fact, each time you complete an overworld dungeon, you will have to go back to the Temple of the Ocean King and start from the very beginning, with all the puzzles reset, and a little bit more time in the hourglass (this gets a tad less severe later in the game), and go farther into the dungeon. After every overworld boss, you gain access to a new basement level, the theory being that you’ll eventually confront the game’s final boss.  The fact that you don’t get to start from where you left off is mind-boggling. Why Nintendo would make the horrifying decision to make players dredge through the whole freaking dungeon multiple times is beyond me. Is artificially lengthening the game their goal? Why not just put more islands on the map, or resort to that tired old light/dark world mechanic? I should mention here that Nintendo stripped a lot of Zelda mainstays from the game, including Heart Pieces, the dungeon compass, and wallet upgrades. These are all welcome changes (except the Heart Pieces), but the Temple of the Ocean King is beyond ridiculous.    

I guess I should mention the two-player Wi-Fi game. No, it’s not Four Swords. Instead, it’s a mini-game that mimics the Temple of the Ocean King! Need I go on? One player is Link, who tries to collect Force Gems and sneak past the other player, who is a Phantom (one of the giant invincible guards). The multiplayer does have the advantage of being single-card downloadable, but other DS games have much stronger Wi-Fi outings, chief among them Metroid Prime: Hunters and Mario Kart DS. By comparison to those meaty offerings, the multiplayer component of Phantom Hourglass seems like a tagged-on feature.    

It’s obvious that Nintendo has tailored Phantom Hourglass to a more casual, less Zelda-familiar audience. From the touch screen controls to the lack of connection with Wind Waker and the strip-mining of traditional Zelda items, you need not be a Zelda vet to enjoy Phantom Hourglass. At the same time, though, it becomes difficult to fully enjoy Phantom Hourglass if you are a Zelda vet. The lack of even an option for D-pad control tells me that Nintendo did not have their Zelda fan base in mind when they were creating Phantom Hourglass. And that’s okay, I guess. It’s still a decent game, but it’s also a game apart from the rest of the series. It just feels different, and I think it demonstrates that Nintendo is reluctant to sail into the murky waters beyond Wind Waker. The end of that game left a lot of possibilities open, but the path taken by Phantom Hourglass is, in all honesty, lame. Try not to think of Phantom Hourglass as a direct sequel to Wind Waker, and perhaps instead as a sort of pseudo-sequel, like Majora’s Mask was to Ocarina of Time. Then you might enjoy it more. Me? I am just sad to see so many great characters and gameplay mechanics left at the docks while Nintendo sailed into more casual waters.

Pros:
       

It looks great, with fully 3D characters and environments

 

The opening sequence made me misty-eyed with happiness

 

The touch screen controls aren't all bad; they just take some getting used to

       Cons:
       

The connection to Wind Waker is incredibly weak

 

Touch screen controls will feel awkward to Zelda veterans

 

The Temple of the Ocean King

               Graphics:  9.0
       I can’t really fault the 3D look, but the environments can, on occasion, look pretty bland (especially dungeons). There are no weather effects while on the open sea, and many of the character models look, for lack of a better word, unfinished.

               Sound:  6.0
       Again, why Wind Waker did not serve as some sort of basis, I don’t know. The inspiring ocean theme from that game is nowhere to be found here, except in a neutered, toned down form. The best music is in the intro, because it will make you remember all the awesome themes from Wind Waker. The individual islands generally have the same boring theme, and the dungeon theme is, perhaps, the worst theme in all of Zelda history.

               Control:  9.0
       By the end of Phantom Hourglass, you will have scratched the hell out of your touch screen. But aside from the somewhat awkward movement controls, by and large the stylus controls are welcome and unique. Writing notes on your map and drawing lines for your boat to follow are tasks that never get old.

                      Gameplay:  6.5
       I’m chalking up the gameplay problems to Phantom Hourglass’s two big failures: the Temple of the Ocean King and all the freaking dungeon crawls. Even if you like dungeon crawling, you will hate the Temple of the Ocean King and that stupid Phantom Hourglass.

 

       Lastability:  6.0
       Frankly, I never want to suffer through the Temple of the Ocean King again, so unless there’s some incredible unlockable feature that lets me bypass it in subsequent playthroughs, I do not see myself playing Phantom Hourglass again after I initially beat it. I’ll just play Wind Waker instead.

 

       Final:  7.5
       For a game that claims to be a sequel to the greatest Zelda story ever told, Phantom Hourglass retains very few of the features that made its predecessor so memorable. Nintendo just made some bizarre choices with this game, many of which will turn off Zelda loyalists like me. It’s a good game, but it’s just far too different from traditional Zelda games to warrant the same praise as its peers.      

4047

TalkBack / RE:Virtual Console Mondays: October 1, 2007

« on: October 04, 2007, 01:01:47 PM »

Query: If I downloaded Gunstar Heroes (which I did) and can only stomach its cheap hits, endless waves of enemies, and big, overpowered bosses...

Sidenote: It's in the same family as Metal Slug, ain't it?

Anyway: Would I like Sin & Punishment? Is it Gunstar Heroes in 3D, with all the cheap hits, waves of enemies, and overpowered bosses that its Sega cousin has?

4048

TalkBack / RE:IMPRESSIONS: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

« on: October 04, 2007, 12:58:26 PM »

Bah! Nintendo should've called it:

The Legend of Zelda: We (heart) Casual Gamers!

4049

TalkBack / RE:IMPRESSIONS: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

« on: October 04, 2007, 07:10:53 AM »

I swear to GOD, folks, I've written the review, and it's being edited by the...editors. However, even if it's ready RIGHT NOW, I can't post it because I'm at work. I'll do it at lunch! Promise!  

4050

TalkBack / RE:Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Released

« on: October 02, 2007, 08:19:49 AM »

Kiddies, it takes a little longer for review copies to get to Alaska, so I just recieved Phantom Hourglass on Monday (yesterday). That being said, I've been playing the hell out of it, and I should have a review written up tomorrow evening. Cross your fingers.