Topics

51

General Gaming / Anyone have Midway Arcade Treasures 2?

« on: November 03, 2009, 05:11:43 PM »

Not 1, not 3, but 2.

Specifically because it includes an arcade-perfect port of Primal Rage. I was this close to getting it on PSOne until a little bird told me it's not arcade-perfect, but in is, in fact, missing several animations.

Unacceptable.

So, does anyone have Midway Arcade Treasures 2 for PS2 or GC, and would you be willing to give/sell it to me?

52

TalkBack / So I Got a New Hat...

« on: October 28, 2009, 06:57:56 AM »

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/blogArt.cfm?artid=20209

  Back when Nintendo announced the Platinum rewards for Club Nintendo members, I was offered either a Mario hat or what amounted to a Punch-Out!! demo. I chose the former. Last week, I recieved a simple cardboard box in the mail for NOA (Nintendo of America). Realizing the significance of the parcel, I cut it open only to find a wonderful red hat contained within.    

A note suggested that the hat was not machine-washable, and that all dirt should be cleaned out with a wet rag. It is also, and this is strange, not meant to be worn as an actual hat. Screw that noise! I changed my T-shirt for these pictures, but you should know that the pants were already on.    

[On-rail shooters are dead; long live on-rail shooters!]

53

TalkBack / REVIEWS: Dead Space Extraction

« on: October 11, 2009, 11:02:00 AM »

On-rail shooters are dead; long live on-rail shooters!
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=20131

 I’m not going to lie and say that Extraction is anything but an on-rails, light-gun shooter, but I will tell you that it’s an extremely good one. Developer Visceral has been reluctant to call it that, preferring the phrase "guided first-person experience," but such taxonomic subtleties are meaningless the second you start playing the game. There is more camera shake than Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, but less than Darkside Chronicles, and it’s more engaging and cinematic than House of the Dead: Overkill, but for all its bells and whistles, Dead Space: Extraction is an on-rails, light-gun shooter. The thing is, it’s such an excellent game that I don’t care. It would seem that the "light-gun" genre is here to stay on Wii, but as long as developers keep the bar exactly this high, I have no qualms about it.    

Players need not necessarily play the original Dead Space to understand the story of Extraction, as the latter is a prequel, but it certainly helps. I would almost go so far as saying that Extraction was made with Dead Space fans in mind. Homages to the previous title are sprinkled liberally throughout—the opening mission takes place where the original game ended, for instance, its narrative imparting new weight on the final tense moments of the 2008 sequel. From there, the storyline moves along more or less as it was destined to, according to the numerous pieces of meta-fiction surrounding the games: the mining colony of Aegis VII discovers an alien artifact that causes the colony’s personnel to go violently insane. On top of that, the removal of the "Marker" unleashes a horrific alien infestation on the colony, which quickly spreads to the orbiting "planetcracker" mining vessel, the USG Ishimura. Your character is a police detective on Aegis VII called in to investigate a rash of murders and suicides. Along with an ever-shrinking group of survivors, you will explore both areas in an attempt to stay alive and find answers.    

The game is paced much like a horror movie with action overtones. A few terrifying reveals are connected by lots of corridor shooting. Once you find your way to the Ishimura, veterans of the original game will find many familiar areas lovingly recreated, and several new places as well. The script is uplifted by the dedicated voice actors, who take their jobs seriously and add much-needed weight to an otherwise cliché script. The action does, however, pull you in fairly early, and you will eventually succumb to the same sense of paranoia that has overtaken the other survivors. And I mean you as the player, not you as the playable character. That is an impressive feat for any horror game, much less one that marches you forward.    

As for the gameplay, Visceral has done a respectable job of giving the player lots of combat options, as well as preserving what made combat in the original Dead Space so interesting. Most weapons work best when aimed at the limbs and joints, as strategically dismembering your opponents provides the key to victory. An impressive range of weapons are available, most from the original game, and almost all have very distinct uses. Turning the Wii Remote on its side (gangsta style) activates the gun’s alternate fire mode. Sometimes the change is subtle, as in the Plasma Cutter (changing the orientation of the beam from horizontal to vertical), but other times, it’s an entirely different weapon. In the case of the Line Gun, alternate fire mode switches from a wide horizontal beam to spitting out timed mines. The Pulse Rifle toggles between being an AK-47 and a shotgun. Despite the robust selection of weaponry, players will quickly realize which weapons are useful and which ones are best left at home, as you can only carry four weapons at a time. I can attest to the infinite usefulness of the Plasma Cutter, while the Arc Wielder just takes up inventory space.    

Kinesis and Stasis have made valiant returns as well. By pressing A, the player sends out an energy pulse that acts as a magnet, grabbing pickups from any distance and certain environmental objects, which can then be hurled forward with B. Although opportunities for this kind of warfare are rare, they do conserve ammo. Often, because the game is on rails, you must be quick with the A button to grab rare weapon upgrades or crew logs. Stasis is a concentrated time-slowing ability. Pressing C while aiming at a particular enemy causes its movements to slow considerably, giving you time to chop it apart at your leisure or focus on more immediate threats. Stasis recharges naturally over time and is crucial for fighting off waves of bloodthirsty Necromorphs. Finally, shaking the Nunchuk activates a melee attack. It is almost useless in combat (you’ll waggle anyway to break free of enemy grapples) but contextually important, especially late in the game.    

The occasional hacking mini-game would feel tacked on if not for how it is handled. There will be times where you are asked to basically hotwire a locked door or computer console. It is a task akin to the soldering mini-games in Metroid Prime 3, but with minor electrical hazards. You will not groan with boredom while completing these tasks, because you’ll be simultaneous fighting off hordes of oncoming beasties. This is tense not only because you’re doing two things at once, but also because you have limited ammo. This sequence imparts a wonderful feeling of dread, though it’s used a bit too often and eventually loses its punch. Notably, a second player can pop in at any time with a second Wii Remote. The second player does not use the Nunchuk, and both players share health and ammunition. Do not play co-op with a trigger happy Dead Space newbie—you have been warned.    

Graphically, the game is top-tier and reminded me at every turn of the original Dead Space, which is still a very impressive-looking game. Sure, the occasional muddy texture mars the presentation, but character and enemy models are spot-on, and environments have been meticulously crafted to match the look and feel of the original game. The sewers of the Ishimura are particularly cool, featuring real-time lighting and water reflections on the walls. As I said, the voice acting is of high quality, and I’m happy to say that the sound effects are taken straight out of the original game. In all, Dead Space: Extraction suffers no prominent graphical or audio handicaps—high praise for Visceral, who should be giving classes to other developers on how to make a technologically impressive Wii game. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again here: the Wii is capable of a lot more than many developers realize, and art direction will make up for any relative hardware constraints.    

A few glitches are worth noting. There are a few times where textures either don’t load or load way too late: I noticed more than one enemy crawl out of a wall instead of a vent, for instance. Ammo sharing doesn’t always work in co-op, either. Plenty of spare ammo is available, but the second player is unable to reload his gun sometimes, forcing him to switch to another gun. The biggest bug I found occurred when my character simply turned around to look at a wall (instead of moving forward), got stuck, and forced me to restart the level. I haven’t experienced this since, though, so hopefully it’s an isolated incident.    

Also of note: the Dead Space comics (illustrated by Ben Templesmith)  have been digitized here and play like movies, with spoken dialogue and interesting camera effects, kind of like the PSP’s Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel. The comic book is important to the series mythos, as it is technically the "first" prequel among the franchise’s back-stories. Extraction takes place during and immediately following the events of Dead Space: Downfall. The game also offers a challenge mode with remixed maps, basically asking you to slay monsters for as long as you can before dying. It’s fun, but not as much as the main game.    

Dead Space: Extraction is a great game despite its few technical faults. It will appeal mostly to those who enjoyed the original Dead Space, but that should not stop those unfamiliar with the franchise from trying it, too. This is a well-honed, impressive light gun game with high production values and a lot of atmosphere. And I think Gabe hit the nail on the head when he said that using Stasis on enemies and then amputating all their limbs is just plain fun.

Pros:
       

High production values, including excellent voice acting

 

Retains the atmosphere and unique combat of the original game

 

Includes drop-in/drop-out co-op

 

Includes a digital version of the comic

       Cons:
       

Some glaring glitches

 

Co-op can be frustrating if you're not both on the same page

 

The main game is pretty short--around 8 hours

               Graphics:  8.0
       The texture pop-up is the only real low point here, but it’s not prevalent. Sometimes enemy movement (especially for "Scorpions") is a bit janky.

               Sound: 10.0
       Turn the volume up, because this one’s a winner. The convincing voice acting, ambient noises, and quivering strings combine to create a great horror atmosphere.

               Control:  9.0
       Everything works very well, although the second player is handicapped by the lack of a Nunchuk. Twisting the Remote to switch to alternate fire is particularly cool.

                      Gameplay:  7.0
       A few low points (extremely limited free-look time, sharing ammo and health in co-op, melee combat) slightly mar an otherwise incredible experience. Thanks to the story’s pacing, you rarely remember that you’re playing a light-gun shooter.

 

       Lastability:  6.0
       You can certainly go back through each mission and try for a higher score or higher difficulty, but there’s a dearth of meaningful unlockables. Challenge mode won’t hold your interest too long, but the digital comics are much appreciated.

 

       Final:  8.0
       I’ve played a lot of this genre on the Wii, and Dead Space: Extraction really surprised me. It’s definitely worth a try, even if you’re not familiar with the brand. It succeeds, first and foremost, in presenting a foreboding atmosphere, which is the hallmark of any good horror game, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that the gameplay is robust enough to hold it up.      

[Sheesh, where's the minotaur?]

54

TalkBack / REVIEWS: C.O.R.E.

« on: September 15, 2009, 09:01:34 AM »

Sheesh, where's the minotaur?
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=19955

 C.O.R.E. is a first-person shooter (FPS) that takes most of its cues from Renegade Kid’s far superior http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=17607" target=_blank>Moon, but fails to deliver an equal, much less superior, product in doing so. In addition to being as generic as you can get, it includes some very boneheaded design decisions that knock the overall experience way down.    

The plot doesn’t make a lot of sense. It's something about scientists experimenting with the remains of a meteor that landed in California. You are sent to investigate after communications with the lab cease. The story is told mainly by reading computer screens in-game, which are displayed on the bottom screen for you to read. This genre convention is not handled well here given the awful typeset, spacing issues, and lack of punctuation in the documents you read. I often found myself simply losing my place while reading these entries (imagine a small, compressed "Spider-Man" font), and I began skipping them altogether. It hardly mattered—once the half-scientist, half-alien enemies turned up, the immediate situation became fairly obvious.    

The game controls exactly like Metroid Prime Hunters, including double-tapping the touch screen to jump. The most ardent sin is not including any kind of map. CORE is a series of interconnected maze-like hallways, and you can get turned around very easily. I spent way too long walking in circles because I didn’t know where to go next or even where I was at the moment. Hunters, Moon, Dementium, and even Call of Duty 4 (DS) all have maps. The frustration ramps up when you find yourself in need of a key card or password to open a specific door. Finding the card is bad enough, but once you do, you’re forced to wander aimlessly, checking every door you come across for a very small card reader or digital lock. These aesthetic touches are painfully easy to overlook.    

At least the game looks good, right? Well, no. Technically, the graphics are on par with Moon, but without any imagination. Aside from a few interesting enemy types, you’ll be shooting faceless goons and out-of-place bosses (a crazy butcher? really?) most of the time. Some of the rooms are well-structured, and there are a handful of ambient lighting effects late in the game, but overall, CORE is as generic as it gets. That half-scientist, half-alien I spoke of earlier looks like a Headcrab zombie from the Half-Life games. The one real technical complaint is that CORE is ridiculously dark. Turning the DS brightness up doesn’t help; the game is just really, really dark in places. More maddening still is that CORE features a single musical track which repeats every ten seconds until your ears bleed. And when your character takes damage, he makes grunting noises that would dignify a Neanderthal.    

The weapons are somewhat interesting, but you run out of ammo very quickly, and enemies very rarely drop extra ammo. Most of your bullets and energy cells will be found in distantly-placed stashes which, when emptied once, are emptied forever. The coolest, most useful guns have the rarest ammo, of course. Rarer still are medpack stations, which, like ammo dumps, give out a single health boost. CORE features a bizarre health/shield system: you basically have two life bars that drain together until the shield bar is completely depleted, at which point you basically die after one hit. The shield bar doesn’t drain first, it drains at the same time, at almost the same rate, so when you’re out of shield energy, you’re on your last legs anyway. Both can be refilled at health/shield stations that only work a certain number of times before shutting off forever. The farther you get in the game, the closer to death you’ll be when you stumble into a randomly-placed health/shield station.    

The game basically unfolds like this: wander around in search of a key, strain your eyes to read a computer log, get really lost while trading bullets with generic bad guys, limp to a health/shield station, switch guns a few times because you keep running out of ammo, continue being lost, accidentally wander up to a keycard reader, repeat ad nauseum. There are much better choices out there for DS owners looking for some FPS action.    

CORE comes with single-card and multi-card multiplayer modes, but they are hampered themselves by the minutes-long download times, lack of bots (computer-controlled opponents), and inability to change game type on the fly. Moreover, the corridor level design makes the game less about killing and more about simply finding your opponents. There’s no reason to spend your pennies on CORE when several other, far superior, DS first-person shooters are sitting right next to it, like Call of Duty 4 and Moon.

Pros:
       

Single-card and multi-card download play

 

Looks generic, but otherwise okay

       Cons:
       

Multiplayer matches take several minutes to set up

 

Flawed health/shield system

 

Ammo, in particular, is scarce

 

Level design suffers because there's no map

               Graphics:  7.0
       There’s nothing awful here, but it’s very generic and often way too dark. There are a few instances of texture pop-up, but it’s rare.

               Sound:  2.0
       There’s only one musical track that repeats forever. Turn the volume all the way down.

               Control:  6.0
       The Metroid Prime Hunters control scheme is alive and well here, though a few actions are badly implemented. Jumping is virtually useless. Weapon zooming and crouching are mapped to buttons on the other side of the system from where your hand is.

                      Gameplay:  4.0
       Get lost, get shot a lot, repeat. Find that keycard! Get lost again! Oy vey.

 

       Lastability:  4.0
       You’ll have to force yourself to beat the solo campaign, but the multiplayer does offer some relief. If only matches didn’t take upwards of five minutes to load…

 

       Final:  4.0
       CORE suffers terribly in the shadow of its competition. If this were the DS’s first FPS game, I might understand, but it’s not, and there are too many things wrong here for me to recommend it.      

55

General Chat / Shrinkwrapped books at B&N

« on: September 11, 2009, 04:45:55 PM »

Happens at Border's, too.

So, explain this one to me. The following books were shrinkwrapped:

Batman: Mad Love (graphic novel)
The Dinosauria: 2nd Edition (science book)
Metroid Prime Trilogy player's guide (games)

But the following were NOT shrinkwrapped:

The Big Book of Breasts (photography)
Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds (photography)

How the frack does THAT work?

[If this is what it takes to stop Cobra Commander, I quit.]

56

TalkBack / REVIEWS: G.I. JOE The Rise of Cobra

« on: September 10, 2009, 10:40:45 AM »

If this is what it takes to stop Cobra Commander, I quit.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=19932

 I don't even know where to start with this one. Mindless, vapid gunplay? A top-down viewpoint where the camera is zoomed in too far? "Strategic" options that are so inconsistent that they are useless? Ugly graphics? Storyline segments that constantly get in the way? The complete lack of a health bar? The game is almost completely unplayable because it just straight up lacks fun. G.I. Joe is an old-school, sprite-based, top-down, shoot-'em-up . This may perk up a few ears—it's been awhile since any of us played Jurassic Park on the NES. Sadly, the genre has aged poorly, and the gameplay "additions" have only marred the experience further. Then there are the "subtractions," which I'll get to.    

Each mission starts with a text-based briefing given by horrendous pixilated character portraits that look nothing like their film counterparts. These briefings go on far too long, and they don't end when the mission itself begins. Once you're in the field, story segments pop up all the time, interrupting the action and forcing you to read inane jibber-jabber. It's jarring, inconvenient, and annoying. The map, handily displayed on your touch screen, displays where your next objective is located, and this objective often changes after a fresh exchange of dialogue.    

At the beginning of the mission, you can choose from a stable of Joe characters, and should you die, you can switch to another soldier. They all have different stats, but they all have the same basic guns: machine gun, explosive, and a special attack that (theoretically) clears a lot of enemies quickly. This being a top-down fragfest, the goal is to mow down endlessly respawning enemies, all of whom look the same. You earn experience points by collecting the shields they drop, and after so many points are earned, you gain a level.  The only benefit to gaining levels is that your stats increase slightly. Since enemy spawn points are littered around every stage, you can literally stand outside a spawn point and collect shields until the cows come home. Then you can die, switch to another Joe, and repeat.    

The HUD is confusing. Your ammo count is hard to gauge given how quickly your machine gun shoots bullets, and reloading doesn't work that well, as pressing L empties the chamber instead of actually reloading your gun. There is no health bar—attacks by enemies will make the screen flash red, and the redder it gets, the lower your health gets. Not taking damage for a little while will make your health regenerate, so it's kind of like the Call of Duty series. It doesn't work here, though, since enemies are all over the place all the time constantly shooting at you.    

There's also a special attack meter. Once you've collected so many shields, you can initiate a one-time-use special attack, which—and I'm being totally serious here—can miss. When it does work, its kill radius is wonky; Lots of enemies might go down, but a few random guys, some of whom are right next to you, won't die. And it takes a long time to get that meter back up. Finally, there's your explosive weapon recharge meter. Some characters, such as Scarlett, have quick recharges and can use their explosive weapon with impunity. Others, like Heavy Duty, must wait much longer. This is the easiest meter to read on the HUD.    

A bizarre cover system activates when you're behind certain objects and a little blue box appears around your character. Enemies can destroy whatever you're hiding behind, and unless you're in the right spot, the box won't appear. You also have to press the D-pad toward an enemy and an attack button to fire from cover. You can't just press fire, or you'll shoot whatever you're behind instead of the enemy. Enemies also use cover, and they seem much better at it. You can dodge bullets by pressing a direction and the A button. However, dodging is activated by releasing the A button—during the actual button press, your character kneels and is vulnerable. And immediately after the dodge, he is vulnerable. So all in all, dodging is kind of worthless. Also, did I mention that you can't actually run AND gun? This does not work well in fast-paced shoot-'em-ups.    

The game looks terrible. Out in the field, the top-down view basically forbids character differentiation. Enemies all look exactly the same except for palette swaps. Rotating turrets inside bases are literally transplanted to the backs of tanks in outdoor areas. Deserts, jungles, and ice fields look woefully similar aside from the fact that deserts are brown, jungles are green, and ice fields are white. Enemy bases are awash in black and green. They're too busy, and it's kind of hard to see where you can and can't go. Movement is hindered by imprecise detection, and you'll get caught up on corners and cover objects for no apparent reason while enemies shoot you in the back. You can pilot tanks, but these tanks are the most frustrating vehicles in the world to drive.    

If you and up to three friends all have your own copies of the game (so very unlikely), you can team up for some interesting multiplayer modes. The game does not support single-card multiplayer or the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, though, so your options are extremely limited. You'd be better off ignoring G.I. Joe on the DS entirely and just seeing the movie instead, which I understand is awesome. The game, obviously, does not follow suit.

Pros:
       

Multi-card multiplayer

       Cons:
       

Lack of single-card or Nintendo WFC multiplayer

 

Downright awful graphics and gameplay

 

The story never shuts up

 

Confusing HUD

               Graphics:  2.0
       The graphics are comically bad. Is that supposed to be the guy from Dragonheart, or a lifeless blob?

               Sound:  4.0
       There is music, lots of shooting sounds, and typing noises as text scrolls. Epic!

               Control:  4.0
       You use the D-pad to move and the face buttons to shoot. This works well, but the fact that you cannot actually run and gun makes the controls worse. Vehicle control is hilariously terrible.

                      Gameplay:  3.0
       In short, it's atrocious. The cover system is wonky, you can't move and shoot simultaneously, the storyline is always pausing the action, there is virtually no variety, etc.

 

       Lastability:  3.0
       The single-player is forgettable. Multiplayer is okay, but it's nothing to write home about.

 

       Final:  3.0
       Friends don’t let friends play G.I. Joe on the DS.      

57

NWR Forums Discord / The Depraved FlipNote Thread (NSFW)

« on: August 26, 2009, 11:24:43 PM »

STEP ONE: Create a cringe-inducing FlipNote animation.

STEP TWO: Save it to your SD card as a gif file.

STEP THREE: Put the SD card in an SD card reader in your computer.

STEP FOUR: Explore "Private > DS > something" until you find your gif files.

STEP FIVE: Post them here.

BEHOLD:

Kirby's newest hat (and power):



Penisaurolophus dicki

[Despite its licensed pedigree, this game borrows from the best.]

58

TalkBack / REVIEWS: Ice Age 3

« on: August 16, 2009, 08:55:53 PM »

Despite its licensed pedigree, this game borrows from the best.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=19811

 All you really need to know about this game is that it allows you to ride both Brontops and Pachycephalosaurus and ram into things - including other prehistoric critters - so it’s a no-brainer that I loved it. Even with those two sequences aside, Ice Age 3 manages to be one of the best Wii games I’ve played all year. It constantly borrows from classic gaming franchises that you know and love, featuring homages to Donkey Kong Country, Ratchet & Clank, R-Type, Star Fox, and Marble Madness. There is very little truly original content here, and yet Ice Age 3 is an absolute blast due to its unique art direction, great gameplay, and funny characters.    

The game more or less follows the plot of the movie. Manny and Ellie are expecting their first calf, but Sid the sloth steals some eggs which hatch into baby tyrannosaurs. The angry momma comes looking for her babies and takes Sid with her, and the remaining Tetriary trio goes looking for him. They find a prehistoric paradise under the ice sheets populated by dinosaur survivors, and they meet a wacky Australian weasel named Buck who helps them rescue Sid.    

The first few missions of Ice Age 3 get you used to the control scheme as Sid, who can  run, jump, attack, throw snowballs and collect pickups, and then use those pickups to buy upgrades and unlockables. It’s standard fare, but the environments are pretty and the writing is witty. In between platform stages, Ice Age 3 throws some curveballs at you, such as a pursuit minigame with Diego and egg-rolling obstacle courses with Sid. You’ll also decorate Manny’s baby playground, and knock down rocks with the help of a couple of brontotheres.    

Once Sid is captured, however, the game takes a decidedly more action-oriented turn. The majority of the game suddenly involves Buck, and the gameplay comes to resemble a Ratchet & Clank game with its dual focus on platforming and shooting guns. There’s even a “gadget” that sprays water to create platforms out of wilting leaves. It’s here that you can take control of a Pachycephalosaurus, but there are new curveball sequences: side-scrolling levels featuring Scratt with level designs taken directly from Donkey Kong Country (there are even barrel cannons and hornets); a Super R-Type-style shooting stage where you take control of a pterosaur, and collect power-ups to change your ammo type; and two Star Fox-inspired stages involving the same aerial mount.    

While all of these sequences control differently, you’ll have hardly any trouble with them because their control scheme is simple. Of course, the pointer is used to aim. Pressing C and Z with your index finger is kind of awkward, but it works. The only action that takes some getting used to is using Buck’s firearms (which fire seeds and berries): hold down C to strafe, press B to fire, and tap Z to roll left or right. The 3D platform levels are impressive in the variety of places to go and the amount of secret paths to find. Movie sequences pop up all over the place to move the plot along. The game’s final boss fight is in the mold of those in Tomb Raider, as you navigate an obstacle course and shoot specific targets to achieve victory. Even in its final moments, Ice Age 3 manages to conjure up a familiar game design and implement it well.    

The Ice Age series’ aesthetic is unique, simplifying and caricaturizing both familiar and unfamiliar prehistoric animals. This simplicity translates well to the Wii hardware, and the game looks fantastic as a result. All of the actors from the movie reprise their roles for the game (except Dennis Leary), with John Leguizamo (Sid) and Simon Pegg (Buck) providing the bulk of the voicework. The dialogue includes not only jokes, but also references to movies and games as well. For instance, Scratch & Eddie scream “Do a barrel roll!” during the Star Fox-esque pterosaur sequence, and Buck mutters a Jurassic Park-style "Clever girl!" when attacked by a Guanlong.    

Among the collectables are cherries and apples, which are used as currency to buy unlockables and power-ups. Few are actually useful, but you’ll want to buy the multiplayer minigames. These games, which can be played with up to four people, are simplistic but fun, and each game has several variations. There’s a good variety of activities here; you can try to knock your opponents off an iceberg, run away from an angry tyrannosaur, grab the most cherries on a leaf raft, shoot the most dinosaurs, and more. While none of the games are particularly engaging with two people, it’s clear that they would be frantic with three or four players. Further content is unlocked by finding three crystals in most stages, and it may take a few passes through certain stages to find them all.    

Overall, Ice Age 3 is one of the best Wii games I’ve played so far this year. Its variety and high production values kept me motivated, and for Pete’s sake, I got to ride around on a Pachycephalosaurus and headbutt other dinosaurs! That’s pretty hard to beat. Fun and challenging, Ice Age 3 is a pleasant surprise that I heartily recommend.    

EPILOGUE: Zach's Dinosaur Corner    

Because this game deals with prehistoric animals, I have to talk about them for a minute (you have been warned). While the Ice Age films have never portrayed prehistoric beasts in a realistic way, they do aim for overall accuracy. New research on brontotheres, however, has rendered the Y-shaped horn on the two Brontops moot—Blue Sky should check out Mihlbachler (2008) for the new “big-nosed” reconstruction. I doubt glyptodonts could pull their heads and arms into their osteoderm-encrusted shells, either. Most of the mammals, however, are quite impressive.  How often do you see Macrauchenia in either a movie or a video game?    

One of the big disappointments among the mammalian cast are the generic beaver enemies, which have horns growing out of their foreheads. As for the dinosaurs, there’s a good range of genera represented, with the biggest sin being the inclusion of dinosaurs from different time periods. They’ve used the Jurassic Park version of Dilophosaurus—small, frilled, and venom-spitting. I prefer to see this as an homage. Troodon is here, though you can’t tell because of the generic design. None of the theropods have feathers, which bothers me. It is nice to see Guanlong, an obscure basal tyrannosauroid, featured in the game (and the movie). The game’s three ornithischians, Pachycephalosaurus, Ankylosaurus and Triceratops, are reasonably portrayed, though the latter’s frill is comically large. The game’s Pteranodon has a rhamphorhynchoid tail, which is distressing, but it’s forgiven by the mere presence of azhdarchoid pterosaurs. The tyrannosaurs are a bit dragon-esque, but that’s okay. The villain, an albino spinosaur, is clearly supposed to be a big Baryonyx, but the skull is shaped more like an alligator than a crocodile.

Pros:
       

Huge variety in gameplay

 

Involves dinosaurs and ice age megafauna

 

Lots of multiplayer games

 

Great graphics and voicework

       Cons:
       

Platforming sequences involve a few cheap deaths

 

Using Z + C to evade is initially awkward

 

Only one sequence with Diego? For shame!

               Graphics:  8.0
       Characters are detailed and have a wealth of animations and the world is bright and colorful, even when it’s white.

               Sound:  9.0
       Distinct musical themes, dinosaur roars, and Buck's hilarious muttering makes the game a joy to listen to.

               Control:  8.0
       Every sequence has different control schemes, but none of them are hard to figure out. Buck’s guns are the toughest thing to get used to.

                      Gameplay:  9.0
       Changes constantly, and borrows designs from the best franchises in the business. They could make an entire game based on Scratt’s levels.

 

       Lastability:  7.0
       Unlockables include (but are not limited to) new multiplayer games, concept art, character models, and movie viewers. The game is not particularly difficult, but it's wholly enjoyable nonetheless.

 

       Final:  9.0
       Ice Age 3 is awesome, and one of the best games I’ve played all year.      

[Go on, try it. You know you want to.]

59

TalkBack / REVIEWS: Wii Sports Resort

« on: July 30, 2009, 02:44:30 AM »

Go on, try it. You know you want to.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=19125

 Wii Sports Resort  was announced at E3 in 2008 in conjunction with its accessory, Wii MotionPlus. It was also one of Nintendo’s focuses at E3 2009. Now that it’s finally available, is Wii Sports Resort worth the wait? It most certainly is. Though it could be seen as a high-quality tech demo for the Wii MotionPlus, such a mindset is missing the point. Wii Sports Resort is just plain fun, whether alone or in a group.    

The game begins with a surprisingly lengthy video on how to attach the MotionPlus. To me, this was overkill, but to my in-laws (who helped me review the game), the tutorial may be more necessary. After that, your Mii jumps out of an airplane and straight into the action: skydiving! The Remote represents your Mii’s body, and moving the controller in turn moves your Mii in mid-air. You can pitch toward other skydivers and try to link up with them, but after a few minutes, you land on Wuhu Island, where the action really starts. Resort has twelve distinct kinds of games, and each one can be played many ways.    

Swordplay best represents the  more accurate control afforded by the MotionPlus. You hold the Remote like a sword and go about slicing and dicing your opponent. Press B to enter a defensive stance and move your sword around to block your opponent’s blows. Correctly blocking an attack makes your opponent stumble for a second, during which time you can combo him to death. There are three variations: duel, in which two players try to push each other off a platform; speed slicing, where players compete to see who can slice objects the fastest in the correct direction; and showdown, where you battle dozens of enemy Miis but can only be hit three times. Showdown is by far the most fun, and winning unlocks different locations.    

Frisbee is by far my favorite sport in the bunch (probably because I play a lot of Ultimate Frisbee). While it initially takes some getting used to, tossing a virtual Frisbee to a virtual dog quickly becomes second nature, and tilting the Remote this way or that adds slice and fade to your throw. Lifting or lowering the tip of the Remote determines how high and far your Frisbee goes. The goal of the game is to throw your disk at a target, and scoring is based on how close it lands. Popping balloons adds still more points. Frisbee may be the most technical game in the package, with its heavy reliance on tilt and pitch, as well as a horizontal throwing arm, to achieve success. You’ll quickly unlock the other mode, Frisbee Golf (Frolf). In real life, you would toss a Frisbee of varying size toward and into a metal basket. Here, you need only throw your Frisbee through a target zone. Somewhat disappointingly, the Frolf courses are the same as the Golf courses, and they’re not really designed for Frisbee in the first place. Still, it’s a fun mode, and an experienced player can toss a lot of holes-in-one.    

Table Tennis succeeds Wii Sport’s original Tennis game, and by and large, it’s the same game. Now, however, you have greater control over the ball’s spin. You can put some really wild spin on the ball, though you still can’t control your character’s movement. As Rockstar’s Table Tennis demonstrated, that might be a good thing. The game’s secondary mode is a contest to see how many balls you can return in a row—knocking down the ball canister earns bonus points. Whacking the server in the face is amusing, too.    

Archery may be the most surprising inclusion, but it works beautifully and should be implemented in every Wii Zelda game down the road. You hold the Remote as you would a bow (vertically), and press A to center your view. Hold Z and pull back on the Nunchuk to ready your arrow, then take distance and wind speed into account, and release Z to fire your arrow at the target. Archery is basic, in that the sub-modes only add hazards like wind and moving targets, but these variations prove to be challenging. Archery may require the most practice to become proficient, but it’s very fun and rewarding once you get the hang of it.    

There are three water sports, Wakeboarding, Canoeing, and Jet Skiing, and all of them feel more like work than fun. Wakeboarding is not as fun as it could’ve been. You steer by tilting the horizontal Remote left and right, try to get big air over a wave, then pop the Wii Remote upwards to do an automated trick. Make sure the Remote is totally level when you land or you'll crash. Additional difficulties require dodging obstacles. It’s not rocket science,  and its simplistic premise didn’t engage me. Canoeing is the most fun of three, but it’s slow-paced and more fun with more people. You hold the Remote in front of you and mime paddle motions to paddle your canoe. Left, right, left, right. The goal is to go an ever-increasing distance in a certain amount of time. Jet Skiing is the most disappointing, but I can see how it could turn into a Wave Race game with some tweaking. You hold the Remote and the Nunchuk in front of you, pointing toward each other. You tilt them both to steer and twist the Remote to get a speed boost. The goal here is to steer through a series of rings within a time limit; smaller rings are worth more points. It’s fun, but the tilting feels off compared to other games—not quite as refined as, say, Wakeboarding. I blame the addition of the Nunchuk, which does not have a gyroscope.    

Basketball is fun but could use some refinement. The main game is a 3-point contest where you grab a ball and try to sink it as quickly as you can. It feels like those arcade games where you grab a miniature basketball and toss it into a little basket. It definitely takes a lot of practice to become consistently good at this, and I’m still at a loss as to recommend the best path to success. It’s fun as a multiplayer bout, as is the 3-on-3 mode, where you pass the ball (with A or D-pad) to the A.I. teammates and mimic dribbling to get under the net, then press B and do that overhead toss to try a dunk (yes, your Mii can dunk). There’s very little strategy, aside from knowing when to block a shot attempt, but it’s fun overall.    

Air Sports are the most interesting games on the disk, and they will instantly remind you of Pilotwings. They all involve holding the Wii Remote like a paper airplane. We’ve already gone over Skydiving—the goal is to link up with other skydivers and stay in the center of the screen while a camera takes your picture. You are awarded points based on how many skydivers you were able to link up with. Island Flyover puts you in a cockpit and lets you casually fly around the island, trying to find bubbles to unlock new island features. Dogfight sounds cool, but it’s very limited. Two players (and only two players) fly around trying to shoot each other. This would be more fun if the planes were faster and more players were allowed to join in.    

Cycling is the worst of the bunch. You move the Remote and Nunchuk alternatively like drum sticks to pedal, leaning them left or right to steer. Pedaling faster makes your Mii go faster, but doing so tires him out; stop pedaling and cruise to recharge your energy, or draft behind another cyclist  to recover faster. The leaning doesn’t work as well as it should, so accidental sharp turns are inevitable and annoying. Various courses are available, but with 30 other Miis taking up space on the road, it’s hard to win when you’re juggling your energy level, drafting, and overcorrecting. Cycling just lacks polish and, frankly, a real fun factor. It belongs in Wii Fit instead of Resort.    

Golf and Bowling are virtually identical to their Wii Sports counterparts. In fact, Golf recycles much of the original 18-hole course. The new hotness, of course, is that you can very easily add fade/slice to your golf ball and spin to your bowling ball. Bowling is largely unaffected by the changes and remains one of my favorite Wii Sports sports. Golf, however, has taken a hit: fading and slicing are too easily activated by the MotionPlus. One golf problem I was hoping would be corrected is the short putting: gentle motions with the Remote too often result in either a far too strong putt or no response at all. This is a problem with the sensitivity of the accelerometer more than anything else, though.    

As a package, Resort's only real annoyance is that it’s constantly recalibrating the MotionPlus accessory. Before almost every game, you’ll be asked to lay down the Remote on a flat surface to calibrate. During games, if you ever find yourself needing to recalibrate (this happens sometimes in Golf and Swordplay), you press Down on the D-pad to go through the recalibration process again. I was surprised how often I had to recalibrate, which was kind of annoying, but in no way game-breaking. If anything, I’m glad the game calibrates itself more often than not enough.    

Resort’s production values are right in line with Wii Sports/Play/Fit: bright and colorful, with simple structures and geometry. The water effects are nice, and characters seem to have some ragdoll physics (especially during the Swordplay games). And I love the Frisbee dog. He’s so cute! As always, you gain/lose experience based on how you play, eventually rising to "Pro" status once you hit 1000 points. Stamps are a new addition to the series; in a clear reference to Achievements and Trophies, you are awarded Stamps by doing certain things, like making a 100-pin strike in Bowling or a hole-in-one in Frolf. Unfortunately, the practicality of Stamps is nebulous: they show up on your Wii Message Board and are not communicated to your friends or anywhere else on the Internet. You can’t even forward them to your friends. Thus, their impact is dulled.    

I can’t complain too much, though, because Stamps are a throwaway feature of what’s otherwise a very robust and enjoyable collection of games made possible by Wii MotionPlus. It’s my hope that developers take these basic ideas and run with them. We may see a new Wave Race or Pilotwings yet, and maybe LucasArts, after studying Swordplay, will give us a lightsaber Star Wars game worth talking about. As always, more people means more fun—bring your friends over for a party game that’s just as enjoyable, if not more so (for more kinds of people), than Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I was lucky enough to review the game while my in-laws, who are not gamers, were visiting. We played every night, and they loved it. Nintendo is trying to reach the non-gamer audience, and Wii Sports Resort is just the prescription.

Pros:
       

Something for everyone, non-gamers included

 

MotionPlus brings a new level of control and enjoyment

 

Most games control extremely well, especially Swordplay, Frisbee, and Archery

 

Watching your Mii dunk a basketball

       Cons:
       

Constant recalibration

 

Cycling and Jet Skiing are lame ducks

 

Without a way to share them, Stamps are meaningless

               Graphics:  8.0
       I’ve always liked the Wii Sports/Play/Fit aesthetic, and it’s handled here beautifully. Little touches draw your eye, and the screen is never so busy with detail that you lose focus. This is a perfect example of how less is more.

               Sound:  8.0
       The music (when present) is upbeat, but the sound effects are the real stars here. The howling of wind, the spinning of a Frisbee, and the buzzing of a propeller blade are all well represented.

               Control:  8.0
       In most games of the collection, MotionPlus adds an untouchable level of immersion. Even the games that aren’t exciting (like Canoeing) perform extremely well. Golf suffers because of the added control, and Cycling and Jet Skiing doesn’t do much with it. Recalibration is a minor issue, though, especially when you’re in the middle of doing something.

                      Gameplay:  9.0
       Extremely rewarding. Stay away from the sports you find yourself disliking, and there’s nothing to complain about. Flying a plane around the island is awesome and makes you realize that MotionPlus opens the door to many possibilities.

 

       Lastability:  9.0
       Resort easily trumps Wii Sports, and even that had serious lastability. More variety, better control, and more game types drum up the replay factor. This will be your go-to party game for years, and it is certainly no slouch for the single player, either.

 

       Final:  8.0
       Wii Sports Resort and MotionPlus succeed in proving that the Wii’s motion control dream is true, and it couldn’t be better. Some may see Resort as a glorified tech demo, but that’s missing the point. It’s incredibly fun and inventive, and the games are simple enough that anyone can play and enjoy them.      

[Less than meets the eye.]

60

TalkBack / REVIEWS: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

« on: July 25, 2009, 03:07:32 PM »

Less than meets the eye.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=19102

 I saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on opening weekend and came away kind of disappointed, so I was actually terrified to re-live the movie through the tie-in video game. Turns out I had nothing to fear—the plot of the Wii game is only minimally tied to the film, and in general differs radically. This doesn’t mean the game is good, though. Aside from some interesting concepts and cool unlockables, Revenge of the Fallen disappoints too often to be worth your time.    

At its heart, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a beat‘em up: you take control of an Autobot or Decepticon (depending on the mission) and traverse a large, linear level while fighting other giant robots. Attacks are done (primarily) via horizontal or vertical movements of the Wii remote. If you press the C button while doing a motion, you can do more powerful attacks. The D-pad has special functions that all drain your Energon meter: temporary stat increase, super-attack, and self-repair. Your robotic avatar can also shoot  by aiming with the pointer and pressing B. There’s a secondary projectile (charged with Z) that drains your Energon, but unleashes a powerful attack. Luckily, killing other robots produces Energon cubes, and Energon canisters are scattered around each level.    

While Energon might be plentiful, health is not. Your only method of health recovery is the self-repair option which doesn’t repair much, and in turn drains Energon. In fact, it uses more Energon than it gives you health. Your health actually recovers by itself over time if you don’t take any damage, but there’s usually a constant barrage of enemy fire so recovery time is a precious commodity. As it stands, you will find yourself perpetually on the brink of death during almost every mission. Far too often enemies simply block your attacks, and since there is no lock-on button you will flail at empty air. What’s worse is that the enemies tend to gang up on you. While you’re trying to break through one enemy’s constant blocking, two other robots start shooting you in the back. At a certain point, you just start relying entirely on special attacks to get the job done and avoid dying.    

Another knock against these levels are the “hacking” minigames, which involve lasers and mirrors. You move the mirrors to guide the laser from a red target to a green one What’s unfortunate is that you don’t have the freedom to just set up a new laser pathway: anytime you mess with the established path, you instantly fail. You are forced to get the new pathway right on the first try., Strangely, you can simply press the Minus button and “bypass” the minigames entirely, making one wonder what their point is in the first place.    

Vehicular missions are more interesting. The best example is the first mission that has you playing as Sideways trying to outmaneuver Bumblebee on a crowded highway (there are also similar sequences using the fighter jet Starscream). The controls are instantly intuitive: press B to accelerate and Z to brake, and try not to hit oncoming cars. The most enjoyable aspect is your ability to press A to briefly transform into your robot form. Time slows down, and you can use the B and Z buttons to attack opponents until they are either destroyed or forced behind you. Pressing A again changes you back to vehicle form so that you can burn rubber. Because they involve transforming, the vehicular sequences manage to capture the spirit of the films in a way that the generic beat ‘em up levels do not. Unfortunately, these vehicular sequences are are few and far between.    

The plot is actually more interesting than that of the film, and not as confusing because the humans are essentially out of the picture. Events happen in completely different ways,  and there are a lot of nods to the old animated show (including Optimus Prime’s old catchphrase, “Transform and roll out!”). Some of the voicework is different as well, for example, Megatron is voiced by Frank Welker instead of Hugo Weaving, and Soundwave has the robotic voice of his animated series counterpart. In fact, three episodes of the old animated show are unlockable, as is concept art and character models.    

The game’s multiplayer mode allows a second player to drop in and out of the main campaign, taking on the role of a drone that shoots enemies and restores the main player’s health. It’s pretty much Super Mario Galaxy’s buddy mode with robots. This actually makes battles a bit easier, but the trade-off is that the drone’s energy is sapped every time it unleashes its own special attack or gives health to Player One. There’s also an arena mode for two players, both controlling robots, as they fight off wave after wave of enemies to see how far they can get. You can unlock different multiplayer areas as you progress through the campaign mode. True co-op in the main campaign would’ve been nicer, as the prospect of endless brawling isn’t as appealing.    

Revenge of the Fallen’s production values are fairly high. The player’s haracter models are full of detail and life, but but unfortunately  enemy units are very generic. Environments bleed together, although there are some interesting locations  (the simple geometry but overarching complexity of the NEST marine base being one example). The gamenever chugs or suffers framerate drops, and its sound effects are suitably bombastic and true to the films. Oddly enough, the cutscenes don’t look nearly as nice as the game itself, even though they use the in-game engine. Part of the problem is that close-ups of the characters reveals muddy textures that you don’t otherwise notice during gameplay.    

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen would have been better if there was more focus on its vehicular sequences. As it stands, it is a mediocre beat‘em-up that you can safely pass by.

Pros:
       

Graphics are good, as long as the camera doesn't go in for a closeup

 

Control scheme handles waggle well, and doesn't rely on gimmicks.

 

Lots of unlockable content

       Cons:
       

Shallow multiplayer options

 

Feels like an unpolished brawler most of the time

 

Unnecessarily difficult due to lack of health-regenerating items

               Graphics:  7.0
       Revenge of the Fallen doesn’t look bad, but most of the enemy character models lack pizzazz. The particle effects are hit or miss. At a distance, characters look good but they reveal their muddy textures up close.

               Sound:  8.0
       The musical score is usually good, and the sound effects are right out of the movies. All the voicework is greatly appreciated, though some characters have voices who shouldn’t (Bumblebee) and others have voices that just don’t work (The Fallen).

               Control:  6.0
       The motion controls work alright, but you end up doing a lot of flailing.  Because of that, you’ll sometimes end up doing moves you didn’t mean to do.

                      Gameplay:  6.0
       There’s a good variety of things to do, but unfortunately the infrequent vehicular sequences are the game’s most enjoyable aspect. The beat‘em up missions are difficult, the laser/mirror puzzles are frustrating, and the multiplayer aspects are shallow.

 

       Lastability:  6.0
       It might take you a few mission replays to find all the unlockables, but aside from that, there’s not a lot to keep you coming back.

 

       Final:  6.0
       If you aren’t a fan of beat’em-ups, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen won’t change your mind. There are better Wii entries in this genre (Madworld) and better multiplayer games (Brawl) available.      

61

TalkBack / Wii Sports Unboxing

« on: July 20, 2009, 03:36:45 PM »

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/blogArt.cfm?artid=19056

  I'm the guy who gets to review Wii Sports Resort. Yeah, whoot! I thought all you readers out there in Readerland might like a trip down Unboxing Lane, kind of like the way Lindy showed off his DSi, but with photographs. Why photos and not video? Because I'm scared of technology. Also, I don't have a digital camcorder, even on my computer. I don't think the PS3 Eye will work. Anyway, enjoy the unboxing! I know I did.    

   

The oddest surprise was this flower necklace (pronounced "LAY"). I originally took all these photos with my DSi, but the camera didn't recognize them, so I re-took the pictures. Because of this, you now see my cat instead of my lovely wife. The cat is not amused. She rarely is.    

   

Looks better on the dog, anyway.    

   

The box arrived in blue tissue paper, the kind you can take into your science lab and change its color (I think). The box itself is quite large (like Wii Play) as it includes the game (pictured here) and a Wii Motion Plus accessory.    

   

Here's the inside of the box, minus the Club Nintendo flier. The instruction booklet is quite thick, as are most of Nintendo's current booklets, as they are written in every language currently spoken by man.    

   

General PR documents. Notice the "New Standard in Game Control" header. Isn't it the standard we were all hoping for when the Wii launched a few years ago? Ah, that's a rant for another day.    

   

I also got this fake plane ticket, complete with tear-away stub and envelope. Am I prepared to "Escape to Paradise?" Depends on how long the flight is, honestly.    

   

Oh, thank Cthulhu, paradise is "your living room." I don't think Lunesta will mix well with my current meds. As it stands, I am fifteen feet from my living room--I could just walk, but why walk when I can fly?    

   

What the frick? Yes, the Wii Motion Plus is stuffed into the bottom of the newer, larger remote jacket. Now, if you really want to, you can wedge the Wii Motion Plus out, but there's really no point: the jacket is designed to hold boht the Remote itself and its stubby attachment. At any rate, after minimal effort:    

   

You put the Remote in the new jacket the same way as the old jacket, but you just stretch the bottom over the bottom of the Remote so that the Wii Motion Plus snaps into the Wii Remote's base. Easy as pie.    

   

Note the tabs on the Wii Motion Plus that you squeeze to pop the Remote out. There's also a locking mechanism that I recommend you use while playing the game (better safe than sorry).    

   

The new Remote jacket is impressively large by comparison to the now-puny old one.    

   

And with the Nunchuk attached, it looks pretty normal, albeit a little longer. Yes, the Wii Motion Plus has a jack for Remote accessories. However, it's primarily for the Nunchuk: the instructions suggest that when not using the Wii Motion Plus, you use the normal Remote jacket. Playing VC games would be kind of wonky for my hands on the extended Remote, I s'pose.    

So that's what's in the box, folks. I hope to have a full review of the game up in a week or less!

[Hard to believe, but this game's got legs!]

62

TalkBack / REVIEWS: MySims Racing

« on: July 08, 2009, 02:23:54 PM »

Hard to believe, but this game's got legs!
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=19003

 My Sims Racing would be better titled Lego Island Kart Racers, as it's similar to the old PC game, Lego Island, but with more kart racing. The game’s look and gameplay flow mirror that ancient Lego gaming effort. My Sims Racing consists of three tasks: running people from place to place (errands), participating in Mario Kart-like races, and finding trophies in the local skate parks. You'd think that over the course of a five or six hour game these tasks would grow old, but I was extremely surprised to find that that wasn't the case. My Sims Racing obviously targets the younger set, but I found myself enjoying every second of it.    

Since it is a Sims game, you can customize your character and vehicle to your heart's content. Different hats, hairstyles, faces, skin colors, and clothing styles can be used to dress your own character, and there is a wealth of vehicle options available. While the crop of choices is initially slim, your inventory grows substantially over time.   You see, My Sims Racing rewards even the most mundane task with awesome swag. Drive a person down the block and they'll give you coins and sometimes a blueprint for some new piece of equipment. The errands are often so simple that they don't take more than a minute, so running people around is never a chore. In addition to taxing them around the area, citizens will ask you to find numerous items scattered around the roads for them. On rare occasions there is a time limit for these tasks, but you're given more than enough time.    

The kart racing aspect is impressive, and resembles a simplified Mario Kart DS. The courses themselves are varied and colorful, often featuring large set pieces and plenty of shortcuts. Item boxes hold Mario Kart-like items, such as Soccer Balls (Koopa Shells), Bottle Rockets (Mushrooms), Pumpkins (Blooper), and UFOs (Bullet Bill). There are a few unique items, such as tree seeds and bubbles, and the combat portion of the karting is well-balanced and fun.    

Every time you win a race, you get blueprints for better parts that increase your acceleration or give you better handling. There is a power slide mechanic that has more in common with Mario Kart Wii than Mario Kart DS, but the twisty nature of later tracks generally prohibits power sliding. That's a shame, because successful power sliding gradually increases your boost meter, and pressing X is like hitting the NOS.  This boost can help you win races on the tougher courses, and it’s also fun as hell, so I wish there were more opportunities to power slide!    

Winning kart circuits opens up new circuits, and there are four circuits in total, each with two or three courses each (the final circuit has just one course). I only found one course to be really challenging because of its layout, but all the other ones only required one or two tries to get the gold. More challenging courses would’ve been appreciated, but the Quick Race option (on the main menu) allows you to replay races at varying difficulty levels.    

The game's final aspect is its skate parks. There are two skate parks in the game, and you must find trophies that are scattered throughout them. Half of the challenge is actually finding the trophies because of the large size of the skate parks, and the other half is figuring out how to get to them. The trophies are marked on the top screen's map, but because the skate parks have multiple levels they aren't always where you think they are. I found these skate parks to be the most tedious part of the game, because they take the longest and don't jive with the quick progression experienced in other areas. The upside is that you usually get tons of coins for completing these challenges.    

As previously mentioned, you’ll finish all of the kart racing, errands, and skate park quests in about six hours, so My Sims Racing is not a long game. However, it features a ton of multiplayer options: both single and multi-card multiplayer and Nintendo WFC multiplayer that lets you play with friends or strangers. There is no battle mode so it's straight racing, which less competitive players will appreciate but other players may balk at. The CPU fills in empty spaces in the roster, and you can increase or decrease the AI difficulty. If you don't have any friends and just want to race, you can select Quick Race from the main menu and go at it with CPU opponents.    

The game performs great, too. Its graphics are simple, but in a good way. It’s like driving around a LEGO car with LEGO characters through LEGO towns. The draw distance is great, and there isn’t a hint of slowdown, even when there’s  a lot of action going on.    

Overall, My Sims Racing is a surprisingly tight game with great production values and a lot of heart, and it can’t be recommended highly enough for the younger gamers among us. There may not be enough content to fulfill older gamers, but it’s certainly a fun multiplayer game. If Mario Kart DS isn’t your bag, you might want to try My Sims Racing.

Pros:
       

Great sense of progression

 

Tons of customization options

 

Wonderful graphics and control

 

Lots of multiplayer options

       Cons:
       

Main game is a little short

 

Skate park quests take too long

               Graphics:  8.0
       My Sims Racing looks better than Diddy Kong Racing DS, and a hair cleaner than Mario Kart DS at times. The customization options are entertaining, and the character models are unique and charming.

               Sound:  7.0
       The sound effects are great, especially during races. I forgot that Sims talk in gibberish, but you get used to it pretty quickly. The music is serviceable but not memorable.

               Control:  7.0
       It would have been nice to have more control over your power sliding, but you thankfully don’t need power sliding to win races. The controls are otherwise exactly like Mario Kart DS, aside from using the X button to hit your booster.

                      Gameplay:  9.0
       The sense of progression and accomplishment that My Sims Racing imparts is excellent, and there's a great variety of things to do. The kart racing in particular is impressive and just plain fun!

 

       Lastability:  6.0
       The Story mode is too short, but the multiplayer options will keep you playing for a long time.

 

       Final:  8.0
       My Sims Racing is surprisingly impressive, and would make a great racing game for younger players.      

[It’s like The Lost Vikings, but with weird little demons.]

63

TalkBack / REVIEWS: Overlord Minions

« on: July 07, 2009, 03:56:29 PM »

It’s like The Lost Vikings, but with weird little demons.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=18996

 Remember that old SNES game, The Lost Vikings? In it, you took control of three comical Norse warriors who are, as the title suggests, lost. They had to puzzle their way through some intricately built levels that required the Vikings to split up and use their individual talents to open doors so that they could all make it to the stage's exit. Overlord: Minions is exactly the same concept, only there are four characters and the presentation has been changed from a 2-D sidescroller to a 3-D isometric viewpoint. The game is very fun, despite the occasional glitch and mindless combat. If you liked the Vikings, you'll like the Minions, too.    

The story is, dare I say, unimportant. As the Overlord (who doesn’t really show up in the game), you control the actions of four devilish Minions: Blaze, Stench, Zap, and Giblet. Although superficially similar, each Minion has its own talents. Zap can walk through water; Giblet is strong and can move boxes and brave wind storms; Blaze is good with fire; and Stench has a host of fart-based talents, as well as the ability to move through toxic gas.    

The game is divided into six impressively large levels, each with a number of stages. The puzzles only get more complex the farther into the game you get. While you will initially be controlling only two Minions at a time, you will quickly graduate to three- and four-Minion missions. The Minions usually move as a group, guided by the stylus (a la Phantom Hourglass), and interact with or attack anything you slide the stylus over. Most of the time you'll be controlling one Minion at a time to get through environmental puzzles. For example, a locked door seals your troop off from a room. However, a river runs alongside the door. You tap Zap's icon and have him run down the river to hit a switch and open the door. Once inside, there's a wall that needs blowing up. Have Stench eat a berry, which causes him to fart profusely. Guide your fetid friend over to the cracked wall, and then switch to Blaze, who sets the gaseous trail alight, causing the wall to be blown apart. Slide your stylus over all three icons to have the group band together, and on you go. That's essentially the whole game—figuring out environmental puzzles of rising complexity while dealing with a multitude of enemies. You are scored based on enemies killed, respawns used, breakables broken, and treasure chests found at the end of every stage, so there's some incentive to go back to previously-completed levels. Doing well unlocks concept art, which are really just individual character portraits.    

Combat is utterly simplistic: slash at an enemy to attack it. A few baddies have specific weaknesses (e.g. only Zap can hurt aura-infused undead enemies), but for the most part, the combat is a flop. Enemies exist solely to drop keys and lengthen your time in any given stage. Contrary to the rest of the combat, the game’s bosses present unique combat situations in that you must work as a team to create a chain of events which result in damage to the monster. If one of your Minions dies, you can run over to a spawn point (handily marked on the top screen's map) and respawn him. Later in the game you have to be a bit more careful, as spawn points will become color-coded to a specific Minion. One interesting bug I repeatedly encountered was trying to respawn a Minion at one spawn point and having him appear at different one, often clear across the map. This is not how it's supposed to work, as in most cases the respawn happened as it should've, with no differences in circumstance. In no instance did this break the game (the respawned Minion was never trapped), but it was kind of irritating. The game looks nice overall, though the color palette is unusually limited. Environments are a bit boring, especially after wandering through the same-colored corridors for three stages in a row. Character models are clean and fairly sharp. The Minions themselves are not carbon copies of the same model, though you sometimes have to look hard to see it. The animation is limited for all the characters, even the (anti-) heroes, which quickly becomes noticeable. Cut-scenes consisting of unanimated, lazily-drawn character portraits open every stage.    

Despite its simplistic premise, Overlord: Minions ramps up in complexity pretty quickly, yet remains quite fun. If you’re a fan of environmental puzzle-based games with cooperation elements (did you like The Lost Vikings?), you'll get a kick out of Overlord: Minions.

Pros:
       

Fun gameplay in the style of The Lost Vikings

 

Controls well, based wholly on the stylus

 

Great level design with a nice mix of environments

       Cons:
       

Irritating respawn bug

 

Color scheme and textures are a little muddy

 

The cut-scenes and some in-game animations are lifeless

               Graphics:  6.0
       The textures are nothing impressive, and the overall color scheme is too often brown or gray. Still, the 3-D graphics are cool, with a good variety of character models.

               Sound:  5.0
       The Minions all sound the same, and there's no voice acting in the cinematics. Musical scores change from level to level, loop too frequently, and are not memorable.

               Control:  8.0
       There are a few times where touching a Minion's icon doesn't do anything, which is a bit glitchy, but it doesn't happen often. Overall, control is wonderfully simple and intuitive.

                      Gameplay:  8.0
       A few of the later stages are a bit long, but the environmental puzzle aspect never gets old. Climax did a good job of mixing things up so that you're not doing the same few things over and over again, except maybe the dull combat.

 

       Lastability:  7.0
       The game is quite long—later stages will require more than thirty minutes to complete. There's not much reward outside of lame concept art, but the journey is reward enough.

 

       Final:  7.0
       Overlord: Minions is a great homage to The Lost Vikings. You just don't see this kind of game very often anymore. It's a fun, lengthy adventure that's definitely worth a shot, despite its flaws.      

[It’s the same game you know and love, plus some tweaks, and one major flaw.]

64

TalkBack / REVIEWS: Bubble Bobble Plus!

« on: July 03, 2009, 01:31:02 PM »

It’s the same game you know and love, plus some tweaks, and one major flaw.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=18985

 I love me some Bubble Bobble on the NES/VC. The infectious music, mere presence of dinosaurs (or “bubble dragons”), the silly enemy designs, and creative levels all come together to make a fantastic game that I still play today. Bubble Bobble Plus is a WiiWare remake that features a whole slew of new features that add longevity to the title, only developer Taito forgot one very important thing that I’ll get to in a minute.    

For those of you who somehow missed out on the original Bubble Bobble, it’s a game roughly similar to Rainbow Islands (its sequel) and Snow Bros. in that your character—in this case a little bubble-blowing dinosaur—runs around a stage trying to kill all the enemies in order to move on to the next stage. There are one hundred stages total, and they vary in complexity, as do their enemies. You blow bubbles at enemies to trap them within the bubble, then jump on the bubble or pop it with your dorsal spines to kill the encapsulated foe. Dead baddies always leave fruit behind, which you collect for points, and various items and fruits are constantly dotting the landscape of each stage. There’s a wealth of items:warp umbrellas, speedy sneakers, bonus round activators, rapid-fire bubble blowers, enemy-destroying plagues activated by crosses,  special bubbles that spell out “EXTEND” for a 1-up, and many more. Although it may at first seem like most items appear randomly, in fact many have specific requirements that must be met before they appear..    

The bubble dragons (Bub & Bob) can move around and jump, as well as bounce on bubbles (hold down 2). If you don’t pop an enemy bubble in time, they will escape and become an faster red version of themselves. This will also happen automatically to the last enemy alive in the room (unless he’s in a bubble). Every stage employs a creative tile design that will have you thinking on your feet, though cheap deaths are one of the game’s trappings. Happily, the game has a wortwhile two-player co-op mode, and you can continue from where you left off endlessly….    

Providing you don’t turn off your Wii. Bubble Bobble Plus lacks any sort of save feature. If you quit on stage 34, for instance, and then go back the next day, you will start from stage 1. Apparently, unlike the original Bubble Bobble on NES (which featured passwords), you must slog through the entire game in one sitting. This takes a few hours and is completely unacceptable in a modern console game. The lack of a save feature is bad, but the lack of a password system, something Taito could have lifted from the original game, is downright horrendous. And since this is WiiWare and not VC, you can’t suspend your gaming session. I understand that Taito was, perhaps, trying to replicate the experience of the very first Bubble Bobble (an arcade cabinet), but they should have given players the option of saving.    

It makes you want to play the other modes less. Bubble Bobble on the old brick Game Boy featured a Hard mode, accessible after beating the main game. It was harder because it remixed the enemies (just like Super Mario Land). That same mode is present here as Super Standard. It’s the same 100 stages, but the top-tier enemies are present from the get-go. The newest addition is Arrange Mode, which features 100 brand-new stages that are playable with four players. It gets very chaotic, but in a fun way. This mode introduces slopes, which cause your bubble to angle diagonally. This isn’t revolutionary, but it adds to the strategy somewhat. Bubble Bobble Plus also supports downloadable content (DLC) in the form of two additional level packs, 50 stages each, for the truly hardcore among you.  The game touts online leader boards so that you can see how  slowly you can complete 100 stages compared to kids without jobs or families.    

Bubble Bobble Plus would be the ultimate Bubble Bobble experience, were it not marred by the lack of any kind of save or password feature. It’s enjoyable, no doubt, until you realize that you have to start at stage 1 every time you start it up. As a result, I have to recommend the original NES VC version over this one. It doesn’t have four-player co-op, but it does let you save your progress.

Pros:
       

Updated 2D graphics are colorful and vibrant

 

Super Standard and Arrange modes add depth and length to the game

 

Great choice for two more more players

       Cons:
       

Did I mention the "no save" thing?

 

The music only changes in Arrange mode, and only every 20 stages

 

Some of the new levels must be purchased as additional DLC

               Graphics:  7.0
       Calling them modern is a stretch, but the character sprites are larger and smoother than in the NES game, as well as more cartoony. The tile sets are bright and varied.

               Sound:  4.0
       I love that Bubble Bobble theme as much as the next guy, but it does eventually wear thin during Standard and Hard (Super Standard) modes. The sound effects remain virtually identical to the NES game.

               Control:  8.0
       You hold the Wii Remote NES-style, and the game handles exactly the same as the NES version.

                      Gameplay:  8.0
       Despite its simplicity and age, Bubble Bobble has legs and remains incredibly fun. The multitude of items adds plentiful variety, and the addition of Hard and Arrange modes are appreciated. The latter in particular, with its party game vibe, is very fun.

 

       Lastability:  4.0
       This number would be much higher if there were a way to save my game somehow. Like so many people, I just don’t have time to sit and play through 100 stages in a row anymore. The fact that such a fundamental feature is absent thoroughly destroys the game’s replayability.

 

       Final:  6.0
       The omnipresent awareness that you will be forced to go back to Square One should you fail to complete Bubble Bobble Plus in a single sitting cripples the fun factor, which is otherwise very high. Between this upgraded version on WiiWare and the NES original on Virtual Console, I have to recommend the latter.      

[Samus Aran brings sexy back with an awesome collector's tin.]

65

TalkBack / Metroid Prime Trilogy To Ship In Collector's Tin

« on: June 25, 2009, 03:24:04 PM »

Samus Aran brings sexy back with an awesome collector's tin.
 <a href=/newsArt.cfm?artid=18937>http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=18937[/url]

 Nintendo recently announced and released pictures of the box art for the upcoming release of Metroid Prime Trilogy for Wii. The game will be shipping in a special tin case with a cardboard sleeve. In addition, Nintendo will be including an art book with the game.    <P>
The Metroid Prime Trilogy hits shelves on August 24 and features Wii controls and achievements across all three games. It will carry a MSRP of $49.99.    <P>
<center><a class="thickbox" rel="images" title="Metroid Prime Trilogy Special Edition" href="/media/0/1/581.jpg"><img src="/media/0/1/th/581.jpg" alt="Metroid Prime Trilogy Special Edition" width="210" height="141" />[/url]</center> <P>

66

TalkBack / Beyond the Nintendo Booth

« on: June 18, 2009, 03:17:34 PM »

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/blogArt.cfm?artid=18903

  E3 ’09 wasn’t all about Nintendo, of course. There were a few times I snuck away from the Nintendo booth to try PS3 games, and we all read about the Microsoft and Sony press conferences. Meetings were attended and booths were visited. For a PS3 owner like me, E3 ’09 was just as much about the big black box as the little white one. The show floor had tons of awesome games like Brutal Legend and Batman: Arkham Asylum. Microsoft and Steven Spielberg debuted Project Natal, Kratos gutted a centaur, and the PSP Go failed to impress me in any meaningful way. Read on, dear readers, and hear of my roguish exploits beyond the cavernous walls of the Nintendo booth!    

The first game I was drawn to was Batman: Arkham Asylum. Though excited about the concept of the game, I had always been wary, given the Dark Knight’s questionable video game history. Actually playing the game, however, made all those fears melt away. Rocksteady has crafted an elegant, beautiful game that puts you right in the boots of Batman and never lets up. Appropriately, Batman himself is voiced by Kevin Conroy, the Joker by Mark Hamill, and Harley Quinn by Arleen Sorkin. The demo showed off Batman’s considerable combat prowess. Surrounded by a gang of thugs, the player need only press Square in conjunction with a direction from the left stick to take down the competition. Batman’s attacks are fluid and contextual—he punched the guy in front of him but elbowed the rear attacker, then kicked the man coming from the side. The other big feature of the game is “Detective Vision,” which shows you all the bad guys in a room, whether they’re packing heat or not, and all the objects you can interact with. Using this special visor, you can basically plan out your entire attack so that Batman remains unseen. I especially liked how your actions provoke fear in the remaining enemies. Stringing up one thug prompted his buddy to run screaming from the room, for example. The game looks beautiful, and Arkham itself is atmospheric. It was one of my favorite games on the show floor. Comes out in October, so mark your calendars!    

I tried out the final entry in the Ratchet & Clank Future series, A Crack in Time. Just like in Quest for Booty, Ratchet is without Clank (in the demo, anyway), which kind of sucked. All the usual series staples are here, though: massive weapons (including a gopher-thing that emits devastating sound waves), modified jet boots, Gold Bolts, and bizarre gadgets. It looks a bit more open-ended than previous games in the series, though the level design is still based around a particular set of goals. Hilariously, the demo included a Gold Bolt that you obviously needed the Swingshot for, but the Swingshot was not in my inventory. Combat is pretty standard, involving lots of strafing and shooting. The graphics have received a notable upgrade, looking a bit cell-shaded at times with more ambient vegetation. I’m excited about the game, but the demo didn’t blow me away. Right now it seems like a standard R&C game. Not necessarily a bad thing, of course, but I expected something a little more epic. Maybe it was just a bad demo.    

Tony Hawk: The Ride was interesting. The board peripheral really does feel like a skateboard in that it’s not flat on the ground—the bottom of the board is curved, so you’re constantly engaging your core to stay balanced (it’s a better balance board than the Wii Balance Board). I only tried the street skating, and it felt a little wonky. The game had a hard time differentiating between an ollie and a manual, and kickflips were difficult to pull off. I watched Neal try the half-pipe, and he had to physically reach down and cover the IR sensors to initiate certain tricks. I suppose that’s just like real life (grab the board), but it also seems like the board will take some getting used to. That’s fine, but I just hope the board is robust enough to hold up to a full fledged game. The whole package (game + board) will retail for $120, which is pretty high. While we were only able to demo the Xbox 360 version, we were told that the Wii version would perform similarly. It really is the generation of peripherals.    

One of my favorite games of the show had to be Brutal Legend, Tim Schafer’s latest brilliant creation. It stars Jack Black as roadie Eddie Riggs, a heavy metal roadie who is transported to a true world of rock. Everything in the game, from the characters to the music to the entire world is inspired by rock and metal. For a guy like me who drools over creative art design, Brutal Legend was by far the best-looking game at the show. The gameplay is no slouch either. During the surprisingly lengthy demo, I chopped my enemies apart with a giant axe, then zapped them with electricity and fire from my electric axe. I drove an awesome car called The Deuce, wrote on the back of a carriage built from bones, and fought a huge lamprey-like boss. The game promises to have a huge cast of quirky characters and quests, and I was absolutely blown away by the demo. It’s like Tim Schafer and Double Fine turned Brutal Legend up to 11. Like Arkham Asylum, Eddie Riggs starts a-rockin’ in October, assuming Activision’s stupid lawsuit doesn’t screw that up.    

I was happily surprised to get some hands-on time with the PSP Go, but was disappointed in both its construction and performance. For those who don’t know, the PSP Go is a little like an iPhone, but with a slider screen that reveals buttons underneath. They system is only about as wide as the PSP-3000’s screen, as the PSP Go’s screen is actually smaller than the PSP-3000. It is noticeably smaller, and not in a good way. The buttons, too, seem smaller. The buttons are shallow and have a click to them, just like the DSi, which I liked. However, they are so close together as to be irritating. The analog nub (yes, there’s still an analog nub) is right next to the ABXY buttons, separated only by the itty-bitty Start/Select keys. I felt like I was going to drop the damn thing, and the smaller screen reduced visibility of the game. Aside from those problems, the PSP Go has a few more hills to climb: although it features 16 gigs of onboard flash memory (and is compatible with 32-gig micro memory sticks), it does not support UMD’s, so gamers will either have to pony up cash to download games they’ve already purchased (from the PSN) or keep their old PSP around for UMD-based games. Sony is supposedly working on a fix for this problem, but knowing them, it will cost extra. But the biggest roadblock to the PSP Go’s success is undoubtedly its ridiculously high price tag: $250 for a tiny little handheld that lacks the functionality of your current PSP. No thanks.    

I was able to briefly play LittleBigPlanet on the PSP, though. The game itself was very fun. Graphically and gameplay-wise, it’s identical to its PS3 counterpart. New worlds are obviously a part of the picture, as I was exploring Australia. The Popit is perfectly functional, and physics are the same, and the kooky art design is intact as well. Media Molecule is planning on including a robust level editor in the PSP version and will allow players to share their creations through a community service that is sadly (but perhaps necessarily) separate from the console version. As a big fan of the PS3 game, I’m very excited to continue my Sackboy journey on the PSP (but not on the PSP Go).    

The only other PSP game I played was Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny. The demo was very limited, only offering single battles with a limited roster of characters. I’m not sure what the final game is going to be like, but the demo was very technically impressive. It’s like Project Soul ported Soul Calibur 4 to the PSP. From a graphical standpoint, this is without a doubt the best-looking PSP game out there. It is said that the game will feature most of the gameplay modes of SC4, including character creation (wow!) and the roster will have at least 30 characters, including newcomer Dampierre and Kratos (yes, that Kratos). It comes out in September, and I’ll be keeping an eye on it.    

I was able to briefly play Afrika before the booth attendant started irritating me (just let me do it, goddamnit!). It’s a Pokemon Snap sort of game with real-world cameras and African animals. Players get assignments, then drive out to a site and take pictures of animals doing things. Points and money are awarded for good pictures, and you use the money you earn to buy better equipment. The game looks absolutely stunning, and the animals have very interesting and accurate behaviors. Let me tell you right now that hippos really are the most dangerous animals in Africa! Camera control is intuitive, but figuring out all the different kinds of cameras, lenses, and equipment will be a game unto itself. Happily, because the game uses real cameras and equipment, you’ll learn a lot.    

Assassin’s Creed 2 was not playable, but looks incredible. I was extremely disappointed that Ubisoft didn’t bring Jade out this year. We all know Beyond Good & Evil 2 is in the works, and there was a BG&E poster up at the Ubisoft booth, but no mention was made of my favorite gaming heroine or her piggish uncle. Konami announced three Metal Gear titles: Metal Gear Solid Arcade, Metal Gear Rising (PS3/360), and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (PSP), a sequel to Portable Ops. The most exciting announcement at Konami’s press conference is that Hideo Kojima is involved in a new Castlevania reboot which looks a little like God of War meets Van Helsing. I’m not sure how I feel about it, but I’m glad the series is going in a different direction after a decade of Metroidvania games. None of those games were on the show floor, unfortunately.    

I watched people play Bayonetta, a bizarre new game from Sega that looks a lot like Devil May Cry with a female protagonist. It’s very pretty, but there’s a LOT happening onscreen all the time, and I (personally) would have a hard time remembering all the button combinations for different attacks. I already have a tough time remembering all the combo possibilities in God of War, and that’s child’s play compared to Devil May Cry. Bayonetta certainly looks fun and beautiful, and people who like DMC will probably like it, too. I also watched people playing God of War 3, which looks to play exactly like the first two games but with much prettier graphics. I was interested to see that the reflex save killings have been tweaked: instead of choosing between watching the gruesome death and watching for button prompts, God of War 3 lets you do both: the action is centered on the screen while the button prompts come up on their corresponding side of the screen, so Triangle appears along the top, Square on the left, etc. This means you can watch the animation and see the prompts in your peripheral vision, which seems both easier and more reflexive. The only part of the demo that looked a little hit-or-miss was a Star Fox 64-esque flying sequence where you had to dodge oncoming blockades and falling rocks. Looks great, though.    

That’s really all I had time for between Nintendo-centric games and writing. There were some notable absences on the floor, though, that puzzled me. For one, I was hoping to see at least an announcement for Dead Space 2, though I imagine that would have taken attention away from Extraction. Still, I think EA is really milking the “prequel” angle for all it’s worth (Extraction, Downfall, and the comic book), and you’d think the story would have to continue forward at some point. I was super-disappointed that Modern Warfare 2 was not on the show floor, despite its release being five short months away. Oh sure, a gameplay trailer was shown (it looks so beautiful), but I would’ve liked to have played the game. Activision in general had a disappointing booth. Their two most anticipated games (Modern Warfare 2 and DJ Hero) were not playable. The PS3 Slim has been getting a lot of press through the rumor mill, but it wasn’t even mentioned at E3. Similarly, Sony announced essentially a Wii Remote, but failed to show it off (sort of like Microsoft and Project Natal). Don’t ask me why, but I was sort of hoping for further DLC for RE5, like new maps for Versus mode, new weapons, or strict bans on players who jump into Slayers matches and proceed to kill the other players. Microsoft had Halo: ODST on the show floor, but they only showed a teaser trailer for Halo: Reach. Aside from those two games, Microsoft really needs to get on the franchise bandwagon. Nintendo has familiar faces up the wazoo, and Sony is quickly accruing a stable of characters, but Microsoft has Master Chief and…what else?    

All I know is that between Nintendo and Sony products, I’m gonna spend most of this holiday season and early next year broke.

[Toss some Frisbees and ping some pongs!]

67

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Wii Sports Resort

« on: June 04, 2009, 12:39:00 PM »

Toss some Frisbees and ping some pongs!
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=18788

 Today I got to sit down (er, stand up) and play two Wii Sports Resort games: Frisbee and Table Tennis. Both are ridiculously fun.    

I play Ultimate Frisbee almost weekly back home, so I was curious to see how the Motion Control Plus would mimic the game. You can choose from two different types of Frisbee games: dog catch (where you aim for a target) or Frisbee golf (frolf). I chose the former, as the rep was reluctant to let me play through an entire round of frolf. It apparently takes a very long time.    

Frisbee is a little like Bowling: you hold down the B button to hold the Frisbee, then move your arm (and body), and let go when you want it throw. What's impressive is that the Motion Control Plus seems to recognize whether your body keeps moving after you threw or when you stopped the second the frisbee leaves your hand. Turns out, it makes a difference. If you want to throw straight 'n' true, you need to pull back and fling the Frisbee forward, releasing it right where you want it to go, and stop moving. All your momentum is thrown into your arm, and the Frisbee hit dead center twice for me, and just outside the center target a few other times.    

You are scored based on how close to the target you get, and getting into the center ring promps the virtual dog (who is adorable) to leap into the air, grab the Frisbee, and do a flip. He's a very enthusiastic pooch. The game gets tougher when balloons start cropping up, begging to be popped with the Frisbee. You're scored based on how many points you accrued after ten tosses. It's a great game.    

Table Tennis goes by quick, but it's awesome. The game plays as you'd think it would, but the Wii Motion Plus allows you to put spin on the ball, and it recognizes whether you're using a backhand or forehand motion. It's easy to put too much spin on the ball, or put spin on it when you should be hitting straight--it takes some strategy and some getting used-to, but Table Tennis is infinately more approachable than Wii Sports Tennis, which was not well-grounded in reality.    

Wii Sports Resort is really coming together nicely. What's most impressive to me is that each game "category" (there are 12 right now) has two or three variations on that particular game.

[It's like Dinosaur King, but without real dinosaurs.]

68

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Fossil Fighters

« on: June 04, 2009, 07:49:03 AM »

It's like Dinosaur King, but without real dinosaurs.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=18778

 Neal said I had to check out this game, so today I did. In Fossil Fighters, you search for and clean fossils, which you then resurrect and battle with. These battles are three-on-three, and each "vivosaur" has an elemental property. It's Dinosaur King.    

That's not necessarily a bad thing, as I got some enjoyment out of that game. However, a key differences is that Fossil Fighters doesn't use real dinosaurs. It uses made-up cartoony beasts in the shape of dinosaurs: "vivosaurs." But aside from the removal of Dinosaur King's annoying ro-sham-bo fighting system, Fossil Fighters is basically the same game.    

Fossil excavation is done with a hammer, drill, X-ray machine, and the mic for blowing away dust. The process is more tedious than Dinosaur King (or Spectrobes) in that the drill is barely effective, but the hammer easily damages the fossil within the rock. The demo allowed me to clean two fossils: one looked like the skull of Sinraptor (in left lateral view) and the other resembled a Triceratops skull draw by somebody who had never seen a Triceratops skull before. If you damage the skull too much within the time limit, your excavation fails, but the game is pretty easy on you.    

Battles are more Pokemon than anything else, but all three of your vivosaurs share a giant PP pot which regenerates at the beginning of every turn. Each vivosaur has three or four attacks to choose from, and they all have elemental properties. Some have side effects. Because the game's elemental advantage/disadvantage system is not explained in the demo, the fight lasted a really long time.    

The game looks great, though, despite the fact that most of the theropods look like stuffed animals (awwww! instead of ahhhh!). I saw a pterosaur, ankylosaur, chasmosaurine, dromaeosaur, and various generalized theropods during the fight. They were all modeled well and had nice smooth animations.    

While the lack of real dinosaurs is disappointing, Fossil Fighters does look like my kind of game, and I'll be curious to try out the full game.

[An old school brawler with a new coat of paint.]

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TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Spyborgs

« on: June 04, 2009, 07:37:19 AM »

An old school brawler with a new coat of paint.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=18775

 I didn't have any expectations for Spyborgs going in, because aside from being aware of its existance, I wasn't familiar with the game at all. I was surprised to find that Spyborgs is a fun, involving brawler for the Wii that dredges up memories of old side scrolling beat 'em ups like Double Dragon and Battletoads in Battlemaniacs. The sequences I played through featured some awesome game mechanics. Spyborgs was built with two-player co-op in mind, and you and your partner can activate powerful team attacks by alternately hitting motion control prompts. I was worried these motion controls would not be refined, but they were well integrated and worked great.    

Pointing at the screen with the pointer often reveals hidden crates which you can activate by swinging the Wii Remote. Health and red orbs (like God of War) are often stores within. Fighting is simple--you can jump and use either a light attack or heavy attack (or team attack). Blocking is mapped to the Z button. I told the producer who was showing us the game that there needs to be a double jump, and he said there IS a double jump in the code, but it isn't activated. He said he'd take my comment back to the team, so maybe it'll get in!    

While fairly simplistic, the fighting is involving and exciting. Character design is imaginative and remind me of the droids from Ratchet & Clank, not surprising, I discovered, since the game was developed by ex-Insomniac employees, most of whom worked on one or more Ratchet & Clank games!    

The boss battle we fought was awesome, featuring a giant droid who shot us with missiles and lasers, and tried to smash us with his huge hands. As we did damage to the droid, his outer armor fell away revealing a mechanized skeleton, kind of like the Minotaur boss in the first God of War. The battle was epic and very fun, culminating in our characters climbing the robot's carcass to tear out his giant mechanic brain.    

Like every other Capcom game these days, players are graded based on performance at the end of the level. Red orbs are spent on upgrading abilities and unlocking new ones. Interestingly, there will be a Smash Bros.-esque achievement system where certain actions will unlock bonus content.    

Spyborgs looks and plays fantastic, and I can't wait for it to come out.

[Misleading name, great game.]

70

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Scribblenauts

« on: June 03, 2009, 10:21:07 AM »

Misleading name, great game.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=18750

 This DS game is one of the most creative games on the show floor, but it’s terribly misnamed. You don’t scribble anything. There is no drawing of any kind. Rather, you type words to make objects appear, then use those objects to solve puzzles. What’s impressive is exactly how many words and objects the game recognizes and spawns sprites for. We typed in “dinosaur” and a generalized theropod appeared. We typed “zombie” and a zombie appeared, and it immediately began consuming the human character, who then turned into a zombie. We typed “God” and Zeus was born. We typed “Death” and the Grim Reaper popped up and immediately began fighting God, who eventually died.    

Even “fishing pole” and “time machine” were recognized by the software. There’s a spell checker in case you miss a letter or two, and you can select what use you mean when you type a homonym. It’s all very impressive and interesting. There’s a sandbox mode where you can just screw around and pop things into existence, then see what happens. The meat and potatoes of the game lies in the puzzle and challenge modes, which either ask you to do something specific (give two characters things they’d use) or find a way to grab a star that is floating on the environment. In one instance, a star sat atop a tree. The booth attendant typed in “beaver,” and a toothy rodent appeared and immediately fell the tree, allowing our character to grab the star.    

There are a few problems that I noticed. The graphical style of the game, while generally awesome, is abstract enough so that some objects aren’t really clear. When we attached the fishing rod to the character, icons appeared asking us whether he should use the rod or merely hold it. Neither button looked anything like “holding” or “using;” they both looked like blobs. Also, not every object has a use. The time machine didn't actually do anything (that would could tell). Controlling the main character is a little more finnicky than I would like, as it's hard to make him stop exactly where you want. Even so, I’m sure getting used to the layout and interface will become a breeze with more time. Scribblenauts looks like a fantastically original creation, and WB hopes to have it out by the end of the year.

[They screwed it up even more.]

71

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

« on: June 03, 2009, 06:19:05 PM »

They screwed it up even more.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=18748

 All of you might remember that I didn’t much care for Nintendo’s maiden DS Zelda effort. After seeing some trailers for the newest game, Spirit Tracks, I became hopeful that it would right the wrongs of its predecessor and usher in a new era of Zelda on the DS. Dear readers, I come before you today to report that, in fact, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is worse.    

Now, keep this in mind: I played a short demo. This demo was designed to show off new gameplay features in Spirit Tracks, so I am assuming that the horrors I experienced in the demo are diagnostic of the entire game. I could be wrong: the demo might show off just one dungeon with one unique gimmick.    

The demo began on a train, with Link riding along a pre-set path. It would appear that no, you do not draw the tracks with the stylus. Rather, because the tracks often diverge, you can only select whether to go straight or turn. The overworld actually looks very nice, much more colorful and interesting than in Phantom Hourglass, with mountain vistas and forests. Trees and boulders line your path. Unfortunately, pigs like to wander onto the track, and you must pull a “whistle” (with your stylus) to sound the horn and clear those pigs off the track! When I pulled the whistle, some pigs dispersed, others did not. Those that were hit by the train attacked me and drained hearts from my life bar. This annoyed me. Enemies soon appeared on the horizon—Moblins riding on boars, just like in Twilight Princess (but with a Wind Waker look). They chucked bombs at my train while the boars rammed the engine. Hearts dwindling, all I could do was tap on the enemies furiously to throw bombs back at them, but the rate of fire was such that I was quickly overwhelmed. This annoyed me. That particular demo ended, and another one began: the dungeon crawl.    

Right off the bat, you take control of a Phantom (yes, from the previous game). He’s your buddy this time, and the entire dungeon consisted of tag-team maneuvers forcing you to constantly switch between controlling Link and the Phantom. If the Phantom ever gets off-screen (which will happen constantly), you need only tap his icon, and the view will jump to him. You can also simply call the Phantom to Link by tapping the “call” icon. While this may seem interesting, it quickly becomes tedious. Move Link to one switch, and the Phantom to another, and a door opens. Move the Phantom through lava to hit a switch and make a bridge appear, then move Link across the bridge. Make the Phantom hit certain timed switches, then make Link hit the other two timed switches. Controlling the Phantom confounds and annoys because he often gets stuck on the environment, so timed switches run out of time before he manages to get to the next one, or Link burns in lava because he was supposed to jump on the Phantom’s head but the Phantom got stuck on the staircase. It took about ten minutes, but I finally got through the dungeon demo, and the worst demo began: the broken one.    

Supposedly you’re fighting a boss, but you’re not. After making Link walk through poisonous gas because he didn’t have any items (no amount of blowing into the mic moved the noxious clouds), I blew up some blocks with worms that turned into bombs when hit, and was horrified to discover that after all that effort (the bombs had a very long fuse), a giant hole—too far to jump across—blocked my progress. Link didn’t have any items, and the poisonous gas ate away his soul and refused to go away. I asked the Nintendo rep what I was supposed to do, but she didn’t know, and half-heartedly apologized. I quit in frustration, and also because I was taking a really long time and the line for Spirit Tracks snaked around the corner of the Nintendo area. I got a cool stylus for suffering through the demo, so that’s something.    

The dungeon areas look identical to Phantom Hourglass, and the controls are the same. The one new item I experienced (in the Phantom section) is a tornado blower, which activates windmill switches and blows certain items away from you. In the demo, it was used to blow a small key from an island surrounded by fire onto Link’s path.    

My new worry is that there will be some kind of Temple of the Conductor King to screw things up even more. The game is scheduled to release before the end of the year.

72

TalkBack / Game of Show: Selasphorus rufus

« on: June 03, 2009, 02:03:12 AM »

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/blogArt.cfm?artid=18702

  Yeah, the announcement of New Super Mario Bros. Wii was great, though my experiences with Four Swords have taught me to be cynical of mixing lifelong Zelda fans with...anybody else. Super Mario Galaxy 2 blew my mind, sure, but it's more of the same. Metroid: The Other M made me weep tears of happiness, but it's probably not coming until late next year. But after the doors closed and the show ended, I came across the one event that will live on in my mind as the DEFINING MOMENT of E3 '09: Selasphorus rufus, known to you, perhaps, as the Rufous Hummingbird.    

Yes, dear readers, for an Alaskan like me, the mere sighting of a hummingbird would be reason to celebrate, as I have never seen one in the wild. While hummers are present in Alaska (for a brief time), sightings are rare, and they prefer the warmer interior of the state. But here, under the overcast skies of LA, just outside the convention center, I found myself inches away from one of the smallest theropod dinosaurs to ever walk (uh, fly?) the Earth.    

'Twas a truly a momentous occassion, yet alas, I did not bring a proper camera! But yes, I did remember my trusty DSi, so I was able to snap a few [blurry] pictures of it. The quality of the DSi's camera is such that it makes identification at the species level impossible. Thankfully, Lauren was on hand with an actual camera to take quality pictures of the little bird.    

So after some interweb research on California's native hummers, I determined (based on coloration) that we're dealing with a female Selasphorus rufus, though that identification is tentative. If any of you readers out there can know that it's not S. rufus, please let me know.    

In closing, I saw a hummingbird in the wild at E3, which totally rules.

73

TalkBack / MOVED: PREVIEWS: Sin & Punishment 2

« on: June 03, 2009, 12:31:04 AM »

This topic has been moved to Recycle Bin.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=28399.0

[Bowser Smash!!]

74

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

« on: June 02, 2009, 02:36:00 PM »

Bowser Smash!!
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=18696

 Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga may be my favorite GBA game. It’s got hilarious writing, fantastic character design, and an elegant control scheme that transfers extremely well to the unique combat system. I was disappointed by Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, which seemed to be a whole lot of gimmick and not a lot of content. The storyline wasn’t as interesting, and the addition of the Baby Brothers proved more detrimental to the combat than innovative. Well, I just played the impressively lengthy demo for Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, and I’m happy to say that the charm of the original is back for the franchise’ third entry.    

It would seem that our plumbing heroes have been swallowed whole by the Koopa King. You will spend time playing as Mario & Luigi and Bowser during the game, and the dynamic is one of cause and effect. As the brothers, you traverse the inner workings of Bowser and help (or hinder) his overworld exploits. I can’t really figure out what the story is, but it would seem that Bowser has been kicked out of his castle and that Fawful is back—with a vengeance! Fawful was my favorite character in the original game and I’m more than happy to see his return to glory here. Bowser wanders around punching rocks and setting fire to trees in his quest to get his castle back, and in the process, revive his fallen army. In the demo, Bowser rescues a cage full of Goombas, who then become a special attack. Like Mario & Luigi’s jump/hammer option, Bowser can punch or breathe fire on the battlefield. He can also inhale loose objects (like healing acorns) from enemies. Instead of items, Bowser uses his army. For the Goomba squad, you need to tap Goombas with the stylus as they rush the screen, thus setting them on fire and doing more damage to the opposition. Creative and hilarious? It must be Mario & Luigi!    

The Mario Brothers battle in much the same way they usually do, by either jumping on or hammering enemies and using special items (still no Bros. Attacks!) in tandem. Interestingly, in the demo, their “overworld” sections (you might call them “innerworld”) are sidescrolling instead of isometric. In an example of the cause/effect gameplay, toning up Bowser’s arm muscles with electricity as the brothers allowed the big lug to drag an island to the shore!    

The game plays well and looks great—better even than Partners in Time did, with smoother character models and more subtle animations. Controlling Bowser is a real treat, as he throws his weight behind every punch and conveys a real sense of mass in his movement.    

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story looks to be a great entry in the series, and I look forward to playing the completed game.

[Game of Show? Very possibly.]

75

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Flipnote Studio

« on: June 02, 2009, 02:17:55 PM »

Game of Show? Very possibly.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=18689

 For somebody interested in cartoons, art, animation, and art design like me, Flipnote Studio may be my Game of Show. No, I’m not kidding. This upcoming DSiWare title (no release date right now) will be FREE for download and will make animators out of us all. The game uses a simple interface to walk you through making your own flipbook-style animation. At its core, of course, ALL animation is flipbook-style. I’ll walk you through my experience.    

First step: think of an idea. First thought that came to mind, of course, was a dinosaur. Why not draw a roaring tyrannosaur? So I drew a tyrannosaur head, making use of the limited pen thickness options. I press right on the D-pad to do to the next slide, which helpfully showed a ghost outline of the first sketch. The demo rep at the booth showed me that if I don’t want to draw the whole thing again, I can just save the original image, copy it onto the next slide, and erase/redraw from there. For a simplistic drawing like mine, merely re-outlining with minor changes takes just as much time, but for more complicated efforts, the copy/pasting option is much better. Anyway, for the next slide, I drew it with its mouth open a little bit. Next slide, mouth open more. Next slide, yet more. You can see where this is going. Eventually, I became happy enough to test the animation. With a press of the down button on the D-pad, my tyrannosaur was roaring happily, even though the animation only lasted six frames. It was still amazing to see my animation come to life! The rep said that if I wanted, I could add sound to the animation (RRRROOOOOAAAARRRR!!!), but I chose not to at that particular juncture. Some things are best saved for less public spaces.    

The animation was great but extremely rusty, and I was inspired to try something else. I decided to imitate the great Gertie the Dinosaur and draw a generalized sauropod head eating something and then licking its lips. Through fifteen frames of animation (all done by retracing), I drew “Gertie” chomping on an invisible leaf and then swallowing and licking her lips. With more frames comes a smoother final product, and a chill ran down my spine. I was animating!    

The rep told me that players will be able to upload their creations to a website (no further details) and send them to other DSi’s in the vicinity. Hopefully, players will also be able to download other users’ creations on that same website to show their friends. The rep showed me some really awesome animations that had been saved to that DSi, including a sequence created with the airbrush that looked like stop-motion animation. Really incredible stuff, folks.    

The fact that Flipnote Studio doesn’t have a release date yet is disappointing but the fact that it will be free more than makes up for it. I’m ridiculously excited about this one.