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[If you want one.]

201

TalkBack / DS Rumble Pak Now Free with Metroid Prime: Hunters

« on: May 02, 2006, 02:18:17 PM »

If you want one.

Did You Know?    

Metroid Prime Hunters Fans Get Ready to Rumble - For Free    

Nintendo is shaking things up this summer by offering a free Nintendo DS   Rumble Pak(TM) with the purchase of Metroid(R) Prime Hunters for Nintendo   DS(TM).  The accessory fits into the Game Boy(R) Advance cartridge slot and   delivers good vibrations to immerse players even further in the smack-talking,   morph-balling, Wi-Fi multi-playing Metroid action that Nintendo DS owners are   raving about.    

Since its March 20 launch, Metroid Prime Hunters has impressed players   with its beautiful graphics and deeply engaging game play.  Six new bounty   hunters, Wi-Fi multi-player action, voice chat and intergalactic rumblings in   the palms of players' hands make this a bold and distinct chapter in the epic   franchise.    

Free Rumble Paks with Metroid Prime Hunters purchase are now available at   select retailers for a limited time and while supplies last.

[One lucky consumer (read: not journalist) gets to play it before anyone else. Will it be you?]

202

TalkBack / Want to Play the Revolution?

« on: April 20, 2006, 08:56:36 PM »

One lucky consumer (read: not journalist) gets to play it before anyone else. Will it be you?

Nintendo and AOL.com Seek the First Consumer to Play Revolution    

Sweepstakes Winner Will Be First in the World to Play Nintendo's Next Home Console    

REDMOND, Wash., April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Nintendo and AOL.com are in hot pursuit to pick one lucky video game fan to fly to Los Angeles to be the first in the world to play Nintendo's next home console, code-named Revolution.    

After signing up at www.aol.com/nintendo-first-to-play, three finalists for Nintendo's First-to-Play Sweepstakes will attend Nintendo's international media briefing on May 9 prior to the start of the Electronics Entertainment Expo, the most important video game industry event of the year.  The winner will appear on stage to experience the new console in front of thousands of top industry insiders and reporters.    

"No consumer has ever played this new Nintendo system before," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications.  "But more importantly, no one has ever interacted with video games in this way before.  Our next home console will revolutionize how people play and experience video games."    

The new Nintendo console will open the world of video games to new audiences through the use of its innovative controller.  Shaped like a remote control, it allows users to direct the action on the television screen through the motion of the controller itself.    

"As one of the leading game destinations on the Web, we are thrilled to partner with Nintendo to give our AOL Games community the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be the very first person to play the highly anticipated Revolution console," said Ralph Rivera, Vice President & General Manager, AOL Games.    

People can enter the sweepstakes between April 21 and April 28 by registering at www.aol.com/nintendo-first-to-play.  Entrants do not need to be members of AOL.  Three finalists chosen at random will fly with one guest each for a two-night stay in Los Angeles.  The three finalists will enjoy VIP seating at Nintendo's media briefing in Hollywood at the Kodak Theatre, home to the Oscars.  One of the finalists will be selected at random to step onto the stage and usher in the new era of video games. Entrants must be 18 or older.  For more information about Nintendo's First to Play Sweepstakes, visit www.aol.com/nintendo-first-to-play.

[GBA and DS get unique titles tailored to their strengths; nothing promised for GC or Rev.]

203

TalkBack / Two Handheld Eragon Games Announced

« on: April 18, 2006, 02:17:57 PM »

GBA and DS get unique titles tailored to their strengths; nothing promised for GC or Rev.

Vivendi Universal Games Embarks On Its Most Epic Videogame Adventure Yet With Twentieth Century Fox's Highly Anticipated December 2006 Feature Film - Eragon    

Vivendi Universal Games to Publish Video Games Based on New York Times Best-Selling Novel Turned 20th Century Fox's Highly Anticipated Feature Film; Fans Will Get a First Look at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3 Expo) May 10-12    

LOS ANGELES, April 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games) announced today they are bringing the fantasy-adventure Eragon to the Sony PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system, Xbox(R) video game system from Microsoft, Xbox 360(R) video game system from Microsoft, Game Boy(R) Advance, Nintendo DS(TM), the Sony PSP(TM) portable entertainment system, and the PC in November 2006.  Developed by Stormfront Studios for consoles and PC, and Amaze Entertainment for handhelds, Eragon is based on the upcoming Twentieth Century Fox feature film inspired by Christopher Paolini's best-selling fantasy novel, featuring Edward Speleers, Djimon Hounsou and Robert Carlyle.    

"Christopher Paolini's amazing fantasy worlds, characters and adventures portrayed in Eragon offer fans of the genre an opportunity to step into Eragon's world and live out the dragon rider legacy," said Bruce Hack, CEO of VU Games.  "Eragon is sure to be one of the most anticipated movies of 2006 and we are excited to bring this rich story to gamers worldwide."    

Elie Dekel, Executive Vice President Licensing & Merchandising for 20th Century Fox added, "VU Games has done a wonderful job adapting many of our top films to the interactive format.  Eragon has proven to be the best example to date of what can happen when true collaboration comes to fruition. Movie-goers are going to be hugely impressed with the film, and gamers will be blown away by this state-of-the-art video game.    

Movie-goers and gamers will get to experience the rich fantasy of Eragon on the big screen when the film hits theaters December 12, 2006.    

The Eragon Story    

Based on the best-selling novel, this epic fantasy-adventure centers on a young farm boy named Eragon whose destiny is revealed with the help of a dragon.  Eragon, now a Dragon Rider, is swept into a world of magic and power, discovering that he alone has the power to save -- or destroy -- an Empire.    

The Dragon Rider Legacy will be revealed at the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3 Expo) when Fox and Vivendi Universal Games will be premiering exclusive footage from the studio and a first look at gameplay from Xbox 360, PS2, Xbox, Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance.    

About Eragon for Console and PC    

Based on the worldwide literary phenomenon and Fox 2006 tentpole film starring Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons and Academy Award nominee John Malkovich, Eragon immerses the player in a magical world of dragons, destiny and adventure.  Gamers will engage in intense battles with an unparalleled combo and magic-based combat system, including stunning finishing moves, multiple grapples and degradable blocks with unique counter attacks.  The adventure is heightened with breathless dragon flight-based combat and devastating dragon summon attacks.  Fantasy fans can also share the adventure with 2 player co-op featuring team attack bonuses and dragon fight/flight combo gameplay.    

About Eragon for Handheld    

Offering a completely different gaming experience on all major handheld platforms, Eragon will offer Nintendo DS gamers an action-filled combat-RPG with touch screen spell casting and unique dual screen attack mode.  Gamers can also sharpen their magic and dragon riding skills in unlockable mini-games.    

Delving further into the rich story of the Eragon universe, Eragon for the GameBoy Advance is a deep, story-driven turn-based RPG with nine playable characters and fully customizable character skills, along with weapon forging and potion crafting.    

Eragon and Saphira take flight in this aerial combat game, featuring four person multiplayer in seven different arenas with 12 unlockable arena game types for the Sony PSP. An extensive single player story mode allows gamers to experience the epic Eragon saga from the dragon's perspective.

[The VeggieTales franchise makes its GBA debut courtesy of Crave.]

204

TalkBack / LarryBoy and the Bad Apple Announced

« on: April 17, 2006, 02:19:46 PM »

The VeggieTales franchise makes its GBA debut courtesy of Crave.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a LarryBoy game!    

Crave  brings hugely popular VeggieTales character to videogame consoles    

Newport Beach, Calif.--April 17, 2006--Crave Entertainment, a leading publisher of console videogames, today announced they have signed an agreement with Big Idea, Inc to publish the first VeggieTales interactive title for videogame consoles, LarryBoy and the Bad Apple. The action-adventure game features LarryBoy, the popular plunger-headed crime-fighting cucumber featured in several best-selling videos, in his quest to save the citizens of Bumblyburg from temptation.    

"The VeggieTales stories are a big hit with children and adults alike," said Rob Dyer, COO of Crave Entertainment. "This agreement supports our continuing commitment to providing quality, family-friendly interactive entertainment that appeals to a wide audience."    

The world needs a hero and LarryBoy is that hero! When trouble appears, the citizens of Bumblyburg call world-famous crime fighter LarryBoy! Aided only by his trusted butler Alfred (played with zest by Archibald Asparagus), plunger-headed LarryBoy is everything that his alter-ego Larry the Cucumber is not: bold... confident... relentlessly driven... brazenly heroic. Well, actually, that's not entirely true. While he tries to create this impression, inside, LarryBoy is still plain-old Larry. LarryBoy attempts to save the day with clever use of his super-suction ears and the many features of the Larry-Mobile. Call him a kinder, gentler, slightly slower superhero!    

The game is expected to be available in late Summer 2006 for the PlayStation(r)2 computer entertainment system and Game Boy(r) Advance handheld system for an MSRP of $19.99.

[Asinine title surprisingly not followed by "the game."]

205

TalkBack / Walt Disney Pictures Presents The Wild Ships

« on: April 05, 2006, 03:41:24 PM »

Asinine title surprisingly not followed by "the game."

Samson and Benny Need Help on Their Fur-Raising Adventure in "Walt Disney Pictures Presents The Wild" Game; Video Game Based on Disney CGI Animated Feature Film Now Available from Buena Vista Games    

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 4, 2006--Buena Vista Games, Inc. (BVG), the interactive entertainment arm of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), today announced "Walt Disney Pictures Presents The Wild" for the Game Boy(R) Advance system is now available at retail outlets across North America. A video game adventure that will test kids' animal instincts, "The Wild" is inspired by the upcoming animated feature film of the same name from Walt Disney Pictures. The game features Samson the Lion and Benny the squirrel, who must leave their pampered lives and set out on an adventure to save Samson's son, Ryan, who accidentally gets shipped from the New York City Zoo to the wild.    

"'The Wild' game is an exciting experience that offers kids the opportunity to take the characters and adventures from the movie along anywhere they go," said Dana Long, director of kids marketing for Buena Vista Games. "Kids who enjoyed the movie will be able to continue the journey of Samson and Benny long after they leave the theaters."    

"The Wild" is a single-player, side-scrolling adventure game that allows players to take on the role of Samson and Benny through 18 levels of play. Both characters have their own unique levels, each tailored to their on-screen personalities. Kids 6-11 years old will have to guide the characters through stormy seas, erupting volcanoes, vicious dogs and angry wildebeests as they traverse land and sea to help Samson rescue Ryan. "The Wild" video game is released in conjunction with the feature film's April 14 theatrical opening.    

About "Walt Disney Pictures Presents The Wild" film    

"Walt Disney Pictures Presents The Wild" is an irreverent comedy that follows the life of an eclectic group of animals at the New York Zoo. The voice talent includes Kiefer Sutherland (as the lion Samson), Greg Cipes (as Samson's son, Ryan), Jim Belushi (as Benny, the street smart squirrel), Janeane Garofalo (as Bridget the giraffe), Richard Kind (as Larry, a dim-witted anaconda snake), William Shatner (as Kazar, a wicked wildebeest), and Eddie Izzard (as Nigel, an acerbic koala). Director Steve "Spaz" Williams and producer Clint Goldman helped to revolutionize CG character animation during their long association with Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), which included such films as "Jurassic Park," "The Mask," "The Abyss" and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day."

[It's Lara's first excursion on a Nintendo console, and the DS to boot.]

206

TalkBack / Tomb Raider: Legend Coming to GC, GBA, and DS

« on: March 31, 2006, 06:07:49 PM »

It's Lara's first excursion on a Nintendo console, and the DS to boot.

SCI Entertainment, Eidos' parent company, unexpectedly announced today that upcoming current and next-gen title Tomb Raider: Legend will be featured on GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and the Nintendo DS. The GameCube will likely receive a port of the 3-D version available for PS2  and XBOX 360, among others, while the GBA game will probably feature 2-D gameplay similar to past GBA Tomb Raider games, following the same storyline as its 3-D counterparts. More mysteriously, a Nintendo DS version will be released concurrently. No word on whether this will be a 3-D port, 2-D version, or something completely unique. There also was no mention of features used, though touch screen functionality is more than likely. The move is even more surprising since Tomb Raider has never before been featured on a Nintendo console. Stay tuned for gameplay details as they're released.    

"Tomb Raider Legend is the first version in the Tomb Raider series to be  developed by the Group's Crystal Dynamics Studio in the United States. The game,  which is based on a completely redesigned engine, has attracted very strong  reviews and has been featured on the front covers of over 100 magazines  worldwide over the past  months. The product will be launched with a worldwide  TV advertising campaign and extensive outdoor advertising. As well as being  available on Playstation 2, Xbox and PC, Tomb Raider Legend will be  simultaneously launched on the Microsoft Xbox 360 and, in May 2006, will be  available on the Sony PSP. With further versions available on mobile as well as  the Nintendo DS, GBA and Gamecube platforms later in the summer, this will be  the first time that a Tomb Raider product has been available to customers on so  many key platforms."

[Card Game + Turn Based Strat = one giant MegaZord of rules insanity.]

207

TalkBack / REVIEWS: Battles of Prince of Persia

« on: March 29, 2006, 09:10:42 PM »

Card Game + Turn Based Strat = one giant MegaZord of rules insanity.

Though Battles of Prince of Persia (BoPoP, say it and love it) is part of a welcome strategy trend on the DS, it is one of the system's lesser efforts. Seizing a popular franchise and a stylus-friendly design, the game has just enough complexity to isolate the uninitiated and just enough monotony to bore the genre's junkies. It is by no means a bad game, and if there was a drought of stellar DS titles I could recommend BoPoP as a good fill-in, but sadly (or not), no such drought has occurred.    

The game play of BoPoP is more like a strategy board game than a strategy role-playing game. In fact, as the title implies, the game covers only battles – no role-playing required. During these battles the bottom DS screen assumes the top-down perspective of a sparsely decorated two dimensional field, with small squares to represent your units. The top screen is used for statistics, cards, and battle animations. The interaction between the two screens is efficient and informative, if a bit dry. There are some nice spell effects and battle animations, but they become tiresome and time-wasting (luckily, you can turn them off). Graphically, the game isn't shooting very high, but is at least highly functional.    

Par for the strategy course, everything in the game has stats, from your units to the land and your general. These stats interact in a complex way, but the game does a good job of communicating visually what can be done where and how effective it will be. For instance, right before you attack an enemy, you will get a reading indicating how well you will do, and in which areas you are strong or weak. Control of your units is doled out entirely by cards, dealt into your hand. You use one card every “turn," and a game “hour" will pass when you run out of cards and units to use. Most cards have two functions: they can be used to give your units orders for moving and attacking, or they can perform effects such as strengthening your unit's stats or weakening your enemy's units. Some cards are removed after play, and others are shuffled back into the deck. The way to beat the game is to put your good cards to best use and know how the units interact with the land and each other.    

The first thing you will experience with BoPoP, its most glaring fault, is that it is just too darn complicated to learn. The reason is that BoPoP combines two totally disparate genres: card battle, and  turn based strategy. You don't have any menus for commands at all; cards are used for every single game action. Once learned, it isn't so bad, but deck management will throw strat fans off, while the game has nothing to do with card battles, outside of cards. The manual should help ease the learning curve, but it's poorly organized and, while detailed, too complex to gain anything without playing the game; in the same way, the in-game tutorial lasts just long enough to get you started, but not long enough to prevent you from making newbie mistakes eight hours into the game. The dual usage of each card is a huge sticking point, even though it's the most basic game play mechanic. Likewise, the interface is filled with symbols and little to no descriptive text to guide you. After your trial by fire, and a few close calls, you'll be comfortable and gaining proficiency in completing each mission. However, this solid matching of ability and difficulty lasts only a few levels. The difficulty ramps up until around the eighth mission, where it lands and nests; by the tenth mission, you'll have seen everything BoPoP has to offer. Of the game's twenty four missions, five are unique, and the rest are just variations thereof. Interest will wane quickly when the game throws remixes of past levels at you, vainly hoping you really like the tactical game play, but even tactics and mission goals run dry. It doesn't take too much skill to beat a match, but it does require a certain amount of devotion that the game will burn out of most players.    

To add to the dryness, the game's story is only featured in between battles, and even then doesn't feature much. The story modules are really justifications for more battles. Each campaign in story mode is a set match between two armies, either India, Persia, or Daeva. The game has decided to take an open view of this small period of PoP history, giving you control over each army in turn, rather than just Persia. The story mode does not follow any one specific country but jumps around so much that the rivalries lose all meaning. One battle has you play as a Persian general who kills the Daeva general's wife, then in the battle immediately following, you lead the offended general's vendetta mission to kill the Persian general. It's hard to feel anything in this situation. You'll play a couple times as the Prince of Persia, but you often fight against him too. There are even battles that take place in a flashback, a quick device to squeeze more game play out of lifeless text. Outside of stats for each army and its general, the characters have little purpose and could have been represented just as easily by fish or camels.    

There is a two player battle mode that requires two game cartridges, but can also be played by one player against the computer. The options aren't great, but with a variety of cards and generals at your selection, as well as some options for each player's goal, some nice combinations can be found. The hardest part will be finding someone else who has the game and wants to play it with you, but to remedy this problem, the developer has included a “Hot Seat" mode which allows two players to play with one DS, switching hands when it is your turn.    

Though the game's stylus-based controls are tight, and for a while seems to offer a nice distraction, it soon becomes a chore to pick it up at all. With little story incentive and no hope for variety, you probably won't make it past the halfway mark. I can recommend BoPoP only for those who are having trouble finding games to buy on the DS, but right now my problem is quite the opposite.

Pros:
       

Game design is tactically complex  

Stylus controls everything just right  

High quality audio samples

       Cons:
       

Graphically spare  

Very complex, intended for strategy veterans  

Can be mastered at the halfway point, is boring from there on

               Graphics:  5.0
       Though meeting all functional needs, the graphics in BoPoP consist of blocks, icons, and dots. The battle animations are fluid, but repetitive. Character designs are bland (some monsters wear tanktops). The story portions in between each match have a few nicely drawn plates that imitate a pre-medieval art style, but there aren't enough to keep BoPoP from looking like a board game.

               Sound:  7.0
       Though there aren't a lot of songs, the few featured have high quality samples of vocalizations and tribal beats. Like the graphics, the sound is also functional in its implementation. Every action has a sound effect; I looked away from my screen once and was able to hear and know everything that happened.

               Control:  8.5
       Everything is stylus driven and responsive, once you learn how to use it. You hold the D-Pad and drag the stylus to scan your map, and hold L and tap a unit to see its stats. Just as, if not more effective than a mouse. My only complaint is that the menus do not allow for D-Pad and Button control, so if you leave your stylus in the bathroom you can't even save (without, of course, touching it with your foul unwashed fingers).

                      Gameplay:  5.5
       Starts out way too hard and too complex, slowly becomes easier as you learn, then balances and becomes tricky and addictive, but quickly falls into a slump as soon as you start to enjoy it. The game design is seemingly deep, but isn't utilized for anything more than “destroy this" missions. Each mission lasts anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour and fifteen, which makes for tense moments, but also makes this game not “pick up and play" friendly.

 

       Lastability:  6.5
       Each mission can be replayed, and there is a skirmish mode for one player, and a two player battle. The game's length alone (over 20 hours) is more than enough to last most players, and if you really like it after beating it, there are a few things to keep you busy.

 

       Final:  5.5
       The game's balance is way off, with a sweet spot lasting only a few levels. The mechanics are deep enough that some interesting strategies could be played, but the game never throws any unique cards or missions at you. The result is dry and tiring, even though at first it's rather fun.      

208

Nintendo Gaming / Dear Shecky

« on: March 23, 2006, 05:56:07 PM »

It is clear that I have no idea at all how to play Push Mode, or at the very least I have a basic understanding but no idea how to implement it. Thank you for wasting me. Goodbye!

[The new wave of Wi-Fi games has arrived. Here is a quick rundown of how online battle works and why it's oh so awesome.]

209

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Metroid Prime: Hunters

« on: March 22, 2006, 06:04:15 AM »

The new wave of Wi-Fi games has arrived. Here is a quick rundown of how online battle works and why it's oh so awesome.

After an evening of battles with fellow staffers and a few readers, it's not that hard to say that Metroid Prime: Hunters has the deathmatch options of a Quake game, with a Nintendo twist. Anyone who complained about the constricting Wi-Fi play of Mario Kart should look into MP:H's multiplayer – it's entirely flexible and feature-laden, but there are a couple hoops you must jump through to get there. When you first log in you won't have any friends; you can play a random match with up to three other people, and you can only play straight “Battle" mode. Once you've played with someone, you can add them to your “Rivals" list if they agree. This allows you to play with them in any of the other modes with very adaptable level options (team play, points and time limits, a few weapons options). However, you cannot voice or even text chat with anyone on your Rivals list. This list is intended only for strangers you meet online but have agreed to battle with. Your list can hold up to sixty people, effectively replicating an “open-system" for finding combatants. If you have the friend code for a rival, you can upgrade him to friend, which enables voice and text chat. Now, if your friend list is limited, you needn't worry. If your friend is hosting a match and several of his friends are joining, you can still join, sans any chat features. After the match, you can add them to your rivals list.    

So far the Wi-Fi connection has been stable. I personally have encountered a few “Connection Error" resets, and a reboot of the DS solves the problem. However, Tetris DS has also been having connection problems of a much larger sort, indicating that Nintendo's servers might not be prepared for a high volume of gamers. Time will tell if these issues can be resolved. Voice chat in Hunters works very well, though you do have to get your mouth pretty close to the mic. The voice chat option, as Bloodworth has reported, functions as a walkie talkie, except it is possible for two people to hold down their “talk" buttons at once and have a flowing conversation – this is not preferred since there is a persistent echo. There's a text chat option that slightly interrupts your game by taking you to a completely different screen and gives you no confirmation that the other person received the message. Steven (WindyMan) wisely pointed out that a chat window would have been appropriate.    

Since you can join games hosted by your friends or rivals, getting the exact players you want in a match is not hard. You can even limit whether you want the game to be open to just friends, just rivals, or both. It is possible that someone on your friends list could join a game when you don't want them to, but heck, with voice chat you can tell 'em to get out! We were able to play with each other with minimal problems. The main difficulty is the friend code, but even that's a minor hassle.  (Fill up on friend codes and post your own in our WiFi forum.) Tournaments and planned events do not seem out of the question with MP:H.    

As for the actual gameplay and fun factor, we'll be leaving that to the full game review. Until that time, if it's multiplayer that has you on the fence about Metroid Prime: Hunters, get off the fence and run, quickly, towards the greenest online pasture Nintendo's offered yet.

[Original Generation and Original Generation 2 heading to your GBA this year.]

210

TalkBack / Atlus releasing TWO Super Robot Taisen games in the U.S.

« on: March 03, 2006, 03:34:31 PM »

Original Generation and Original Generation 2 heading to your GBA this year.

ATLUS U.S.A., INC. ANNOUNCES "SUPER ROBOT TAISEN: ORIGINAL GENERATION(TM)" FOR THE GAME BOY(R) ADVANCE    

Giant Robots Wage Intergalactic War in Two Heavy-Metal Strategy RPGs    

  IRVINE, CA - March 3, 2006 - Atlus U.S.A., Inc., a leading publisher of interactive  entertainment, today announced the acquisition of the North American  publishing rights to Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation and Super Robot Taisen:   Original Generation 2. Both games were developed and published in Japan by Banpresto.    

Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation is scheduled for release in the summer  of 2006, followed by Original Generation 2 in the fall of 2006.    

"The Super Robot Taisen franchise has been entertaining Japanese gamers for more  than 15 years," said Yu Namba, Project Lead of Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation.  "We're very happy to bring this incredible strategy RPG series to the United States for the first time."    

Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation and Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation  2 have not yet been rated by the ESRB.    

  About SUPER ROBOT TAISEN: ORIGINAL GENERATION    

Nearly two centuries ago, humanity advanced into space, ushering in the dawn of a new era: the Space Era. But mankind's technological progress came to a near-halt  after the devastation and turmoil caused by two meteors that struck the Earth  in the early years of the 21st century.    

In 179 S.E., a third meteor, Meteor 3, landed near the Marquesas Islands in the  South Pacific. A research team dispatched by the Earth Federal Government discovered  that the "meteor" contained technology previously unknown to man. An investigative  committee was formed to analyze Meteor 3 and the technology within, which became known as Extra-Over Technology.    

Dr. Bian Zoldark, head of the committee, reported to the EFG that the creators  of Meteor 3 would almost certainly come to Earth to reclaim their technology.  The EFG heeded Dr. Zoldark's warning, and began the development of humanoid   mobile units called Personal Troopers.    

Now, the human race watches the skies and waits for an invasion from beyond...    

  SUPER ROBOT TAISEN: ORIGINAL GENERATION Key Features    

* Detailed combat system, including support techniques and weapon swapping!  

* Dozens of customizable mecha!  

* Rack up kills and improve skills to transform rookie pilots into aces!  

* 40+ hours of strategy RPG goodness!

[Two are better than one. Right?]

211

TalkBack / Yu-Gi-Oh Double Pack ships

« on: February 22, 2006, 03:03:11 PM »

Two are better than one. Right?

KONAMI SHIPS YU-GI-OH! DOUBLE PACK    

Combining Yu-Gi-Oh! The Sacred Cards and Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction Onto One GBA Game Pak For The Ultimate Card Battling Experience    

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – February 22, 2006 – Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc., announced today it has shipped Yu-Gi-Oh! Double Pack for the Nintendo Game Boy® Advance handheld video game system to retail stores nationwide. The classic titles Yu-Gi-Oh! The Sacred Cards and Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction are combined onto one GBA cartridge, letting Yu-Gi-Oh! players duel in the ultimate card dueling tournaments. Based on the popular animated TV series and TRADING CARD GAME, both chapters are among the most highly acclaimed games in the long running Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise and will provide hours of portable gaming fun. Additionally, the game comes packaged with two exclusive trading cards: Dark Magician Knight and Knight’s Tale.    

In Yu-Gi-Oh! The Sacred Cards, players strive to become the strongest duelist in the world by collecting the three God cards. The game takes place in Battle City, which features more than 100 characters and 900 cards.  Players must duel to gain valuable experience to increase their level and the ability to use more powerful cards.    

Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction, the sequel to Yu-Gi-Oh! The Sacred Cards, pits players against Reshef - “The Dark Being" – who, if left unchecked, will shroud the world in a mire of darkness. Players must build their decks and gain experience, even as new twists and turns threaten to derail efforts to stop evil. As players explore the world, they will have to buy and sell, even wager, their cards to create an unbeatable deck to stop Reshef and restore order.    

Yu-Gi-Oh! Double Pack is rated “E" for Everyone by the ESRB and has an SRP of $29.99.  For more information on Yu-Gi-Oh! Double Pack and the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, please visit: www.konami.com/gs.

[Spread the happiness or die.]

212

TalkBack / REVIEWS: Chibi-Robo

« on: February 22, 2006, 02:32:49 PM »

Spread the happiness or die.

Chibi-Robo is a tiny robot that does your chores for you, and he's become the latest fad. A particular Chibi-Robo was given to a particular eight year old girl in the Sanderson household on her birthday. The Sanderson family did not know how far-reaching the implications of his presence would be, and neither does any gamer out there right now. You can expect anything you want from Chibi-Robo, but it will invariably deliver something completely different.    

But of course, this is a good thing! The game will catch you off your guard the moment you pop it in. Though it has a child's game look and feel, it stays just this side of shallow and is long enough to keep any aged gamer satisfied. The main purpose of the game is to make the Sandersons happy. Good deeds and housekeeping are rewarded with happy points, which act as a sort of currency. Gaining more happy points than any other Chibi-Robo on the planet will earn our hero status as Super Chibi-Robo. It's clear from the outset that his work won't be easy: Mr. Sanderson is unemployed, his wife wants to divorce him, and his daughter believes she is a frog. Being only four inches tall doesn't help either, but Chibi is resilient and resourceful.    

Chibi gains happy points by scrubbing the stains on the Sanderson's floors, picking up their trash, and giving them gifts or things that they've lost. These activities never go away and make up roughly half of the gameplay. There are also more complex objectives that form the brunt of the story and involve interactions between the various characters in the house, the majority of whom are living toys. A lot of these objectives are simple minigames that have a surprising amount of difficulty, though often they entail progressing to a tough-to-reach area, finding a lost item, and giving the item to someone.    

Chibi is controlled by an odd mix of Zelda and Mario play styles. Like Link, Chibi cannot jump but will hop on top of things when pushed against them. He will equip items from a menu and use them when necessary. Yet the game often has more action platforming a la Mario; due to Chibi's height, exploration is predominantly vertical. Chibi also has a battery that slowly ticks down as time passes and is used up much faster by performing any action, including walking. You can recharge at any outlet, but most rooms have only one or two. This does not so much present strategy as prevent you from venturing too far into the house until you gain larger batteries. By the last half of the game you won't need to worry about it much at all, giving you some breathing room for exploring.    

Exploring is one of the thrills of Chibi-Robo – each room is slowly unlocked, Metroid style, by gaining new abilities. The rooms are all quite large, with secrets up to the ceiling. Only with inventive use of your tools will you get to these heights. Along the way there will be more stains to clean, trash to pick up, and a few items that will make the Sandersons and their toys happy. Though exploring is great, interacting with and helping the characters in Chibi-Robo is much of the game's fun. The dialogue is incredibly funny, and the situations presented are truly bizarre. Everyone's favorite character will be Space Hunter Drake Redcrest, a justice-obsessed toy who informs you that the first rule of being a Space Hunter is to greet everyone by yelling. Also memorable is the army of toy eggs at war with the family dog, the nectar-addicted teddy bear who promises to go straight after he gets one last fix, and the aliens in the backyard who greet you by saying, “Hi. We're aliens." At first it seems these humorous subquests are Chibi-Robo's only plot, but they slowly and surprisingly build to one main plot that is actually quite touching. By the end the game's family feels like your family, and that is an achievement.    

Unfortunately, the balance of the game is just a little off. Halfway through the game you'll have unlocked every room in the house (which does not, oddly, include a bathroom). This dramatically alters the incentive to gain new abilities and happy points. Then, in the final third of the game, the plot-oriented objectives become more difficult, so you'll end up doing more cleaning than exploring, just to keep those happy points coming. I spent a few game days accomplishing nothing at all, and that was frustrating. Since this last third of the game is quite a bit longer than it should be, the excellent ending chapters come too late to redeem the faults. Some gamers might not make it past this portion. This is an unfortunate downside to an excellent game, one that could have been fixed by more rooms and objectives or a complete revamping of how the game plays in the last half (cleaning does get a little old).    

Otherwise, I most heartily recommend Chibi-Robo to Nintendo gamers, meaning if you bought a GameCube just for Resident Evil 4, don't bother. On the other hand, those stalwart defenders of games like Pikmin, Nintendogs, and Animal Crossing need look no further for their next fix. Everyone else is encouraged to rent, particularly since these characters will soon become legendary, and you wouldn't want to be left out.

Pros:
       

Unique gameplay  

Great characters and sense of humor  

Excellent sound design  

The plot is surprisingly touching.

       Cons:
       

Chores stop being fun halfway through the game  

Objectives and puzzles sometimes unclear  

Too long, or too short, depending on how you spin it

               Graphics:  7.5
       The environments and characters are colorful, happy, and simple, but lack polygons. Character animations are re-used for comic effect, though it starts to feel cheap after awhile.

               Sound:  9.5
       Chibi-Robo's sound design is compelling: Chibi's every movement, from walking to using items, makes its own unique music in lieu of sound effects. Combined with catchy background music, Chibi-Robo is aurally brilliant.

               Control:  8.5
       Chibi's controls are tight, though only equipping one item at a time can be bothersome. The camera is very adaptable with only a few hang-ups.

                      Gameplay:  8.5
       Starts out inspired and fresh and stays that way for most of the game, but during the last third you'll desire more objectives and less housekeeping. Unlocking rooms is satisfying, but there aren't enough for how long the game is. The story is the game's unlikely high-point; after 25 hours of emotionally connecting with the game's characters, the final chapters reveal more depth than immediately apparent. Worth playing through to the end.

 

       Lastability:  8.5
       There is a LOT to do in this game, which has its pluses and minuses. For those who want the game to last forever, don't worry, it just might.

 

       Final:  8.5
       Original and daring, Chibi-Robo is fun to play and rewarding to complete. The kiddie-game presentation is offset by a grown-up sense of humor. The repetitive gameplay starts to nag by the end, and some puzzles are stupidly simple but impossible to figure out. Overall, though, the experience is great if you're open to it.      

[If only I had held her like that time on Naboo.]

213

TalkBack / REVIEWS: LEGO Star Wars

« on: February 19, 2006, 12:19:13 PM »

If only I had held her like that time on Naboo.

Playing Lego Star Wars is like seeing a model of the Taj Mahal made out of popsicle sticks, or Notre Dame constructed from PlayDoh. The game deftly mocks our most Holy Cinematic Scripture, Star Wars, irreverently modifying it while heightening our awareness of its cultural power. It's frankly unbelievable that a licensed game is capable of such layering, or even allowed to exist. Someone at LucasCorp must've been looking the other way when this project got approved, but what luck: Lego Star Wars rises above spoofery to glorify Star Wars while humorously deconstructing it. While by most standards it is merely an above average game, it is nonetheless (and more importantly) an excellent aesthetic experience.    

To summarize, Lego Star Wars is a collection of key moments from Episodes I through III, recreated mostly in Lego. The gameplay is action-oriented, divided by five or six levels per Episode. You can start with any Episode you want, or you can mix and match and play bits of each Episode as you go. Most of the levels have you playing as Jedi who not only swing lightsabers but use the Force, which can be used as a combat attack (awesome) or to rearrange Lego blocks into structures or items that will get you through the level. You also play as blaster characters (such as Queen Amidala), astromech and protocol droids, and lots of various aliens and military droids. The first time you play through a level is called "Story Mode," where you play mostly as Obi-Wan, Padme, or Anakin. Since you are limited to the story characters in this mode, you cannot solve some puzzles that require high-jumpers or specific droids. Once you've beaten a level, you unlock its characters, and can use any of the 50 or so available in "Free Play" mode, cycling among them with the L or R buttons. This second play-through is just as fun, and it's necessary to complete the puzzles and get Lego tokens (cash). There are only a handful of different character types, but the joy of seeing them rendered as Lego men is worth unlocking them all.    

The gameplay is very simplistic, which will only affect certain types of gamers. Beating a level is usually pretty easy since they are linear and have no real objectives. As a Jedi character you swing your lightsaber nonstop and jump a lot, and there are a few very simple yet useful combo moves that dispense enemies more quickly. Along with the platform-action levels there are some on-rails flying missions that are just as simple, but offer some exciting variety and great graphics. If the gameplay sounds boring, that's because the real thrill of the game is just to see it. Playing with a friend is recommended because of how funny and absurd the whole concept is (more on co-op later). The strength of the game is its visuals, which are also simple and Lego-y, but recreate every Star Wars special effect. This seemingly awkward combination of the complex and the plain is really quite smooth. In fact, it is the high and low art dichotomy that is the source of Lego Star War's appeal. To see it once is to recognize how natural and great it is for a Lego Qui-Gon to fight a Lego Darth Maul, faithfully miming the film. The initial play-through is the most exciting because you know what must happen next, but you won't know how it will be conveyed through the Lego theme. As a result, the game is almost as much fun for onlookers as it is for players.    

The game isn't without its faults. though. My main complaint is the co-operative mode: certainly it is a vital part of the game yet it works very poorly. Since the game uses only one camera for co-op, both players will often head for opposite ends of the screen, which gets them nowhere. The two players are forced to stay very close together, and with lightsabers flying, this can create a lot of accidental deaths. When playing the Pod Race level in co-op, each player gets his own Pod, and both must win the race. I would say it is nearly impossible to do, though attempting it is a good way to kill an hour. It feels like some of the levels were designed entirely with co-op in mind, while others are made tedious by it. On the plus side, the co-op mode is drop-in/drop-out, so one player can leave at any time and then re-join later. Despite all the flaws, co-op is the best way to play the game. Then there are some minor flaws: in keeping with the game's aesthetic unity, the camera is uncontrollable, presenting frequent problems when the level design fights the current angle. Also, the game is very easy and quickly beatable. Really, I wish each individual Episode was two or three levels longer, because it often feels like the game skips absolutely excellent scenes from the movies in favor of other ones. Finally, the soundtrack is merely recordings of Star Wars tunes plopped into the levels and edited to match the action. At times it sounds very shoddy, especially after Factor Five's excellent sound design for the Rogue Squadron games.    

Overall, the faults of Lego Star Wars can be forgiven just to play as a Lego General Grievious swinging four lightsabers, or as Yoda bouncing around, or as Chewbacca. The game can be forgiven because it is willing to make fun of the plot and style of the new Star Wars trilogy, while accepting it as a part of the canon. It is an excellent example of why a reviewer cannot look at a game as a sum of its parts and round the scores off accordingly; the total event must be in view, and in this case it is one worth experiencing.

Pros:
       

Hilarious  

Fun to play and watch  

Lots of secrets to unlock  

Low price-point

       Cons:
       

Short, even with the secrets  

Camera is so-so  

Co-op, while fun, needs work

               Graphics:  9.0
       While not technically impressive, the entire game is a visual package. Everything looks Lego and Star Wars at the same time, which is a feat in itself. The cutscenes are often humorous and always fun to watch. Character animations are fluid, not blocky, and are lifted right out of the movies. Ki-Adi Mundi fights exactly like he does in the films.

               Sound:  7.0
       The sounds and music are lifted straight out of the films, but the music especially feels poorly implemented. Otherwise, these elements aid in re-creating the Star Wars universe.

               Control:  7.5
       There are only a few buttons to learn, and very little to complain about, outside of a lack of camera control.

               Lastability:  6.5
       The game is woefully short. The addition of Free Play mode, unlockable once a level is completed, does add incentive to replay each level with different characters to find secrets. However, it is easy to get every secret rather quickly; three devoted days and the game is 100% complete.

               Gameplay:  7.5
       The gameplay mechanics are simple and fun, though sometimes repetitive. The vehicle levels are all on rails, which is great for aesthetic reasons but makes them very limited in scope. Puzzles are usually easy, but you have to unlock and use extra characters to solve some of them, creating some welcomed challenge. Co-op is necessary for maximum enjoyment, but due to a limited camera range the players must stay close together. The vehicle levels are sometimes unplayable or too difficult in co-op.

               Final:  8.5
       Forget the faults: Legos + Star Wars = Awesome. Star Wars fans should buy for the low price, but renting will yield most of the game's pleasures.      

[The real winners are for Sony platforms. Why no RE4? Click here.]

214

TalkBack / Nintendogs the only Nintendo Game to Win at AIAS Awards

« on: February 11, 2006, 01:41:09 PM »

The real winners are for Sony platforms. Why no RE4? Click here.

9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards Winners Announced by the Academy   of Interactive Arts and Sciences    

God of War Conquers the Awards With Seven Wins    

CALABASAS, Calif., Feb. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) announced last night the winners of the 9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards held at "The Joint" in the Hard Rock Hotel   and Casino in Las Vegas, NV.  Sony Computer Entertainment America's "God of War" was the evening's big winner earning seven coveted AIAS statues.  Red Octane's "Guitar Hero" came in a close second garnering five wins.  In addition, AIAS inducted computer games pioneer Richard Garriott into the AIAS Hall of Fame.    

The Interactive Achievement Awards is a peer-based award that recognizes the  outstanding products, talented individuals and development teams that have contributed to the advancement of the multi-billion dollar worldwide entertainment software industry.    

"Last night's award ceremony was an exciting event as we recognized the best in video games," said Joseph Olin, president, AIAS.  "It was an impressive year for video games and the interactive entertainment industry is commended for their creative vision."    

The winners in each category are as follows:    

I.  Game of the Year:    

a.  Overall - God of War (P: Sony Computer Entertainment America, D: Sony Computer Entertainment America-Santa Monica)    

b.  Computer - Battlefield 2 (P: Electronic Arts, D: Digital Illusions)    

c.  Console - God of War (P: Sony Computer Entertainment America, D: Sony Computer Entertainment America-Santa Monica)    

II. Outstanding Innovation in Gaming - Guitar Hero (P: Red Octane, D: Harmonix Music Systems)    

III. Outstanding Achievement:    

a.  Animation - God of War (P: Sony Computer Entertainment America, D: Sony Computer Entertainment America-Santa Monica)    

b.  Art Direction - Shadow of the Colossus (P: Sony Computer Entertainment America, D: Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.)    

c.  Soundtrack - Guitar Hero (P: Red Octane, D: Harmonix Music Systems)    

d.  Original Music Composition - God of War (P: Sony Computer Entertainment America, D: Sony Computer Entertainment America-Santa Monica)    

e.  Sound Design - God of War (P: Sony Computer Entertainment America, D: Sony Computer Entertainment America-Santa Monica)    

f.  Story and Character Development - Call of Duty: Big Red One (P: Activision, D: Treyarch)    

g.  Game Play Engineering (Tie)  - Nintendogs (P: Nintendo, D: Nintendo EAD)  - Guitar Hero (P: Red Octane, D: Harmonix Music Systems)    

h.  Online Game Play - Battlefield 2 (P: Electronic Arts, D: Digital Illusions)    

i.  Visual Engineering - Shadow of the Colossus (P: Sony Computer Entertainment America, D: Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.)    

j.  Game Design - Guitar Hero (P: Red Octane, D: Harmonix Music Systems)    

IV. Outstanding Character Performance: a.  Male - God of War (P: Sony Computer Entertainment America, D: Sony Computer Entertainment America-Santa Monica)  b.  Female - Jade Empire (P: Microsoft, D: Bioware Corp.)    

V.  Genre Awards:    

a.  Sports Game of the Year - SSX On Tour (P: Electronic Arts, D: EA-Canada)    

b.  First-Person Action Game of the Year - Battlefield 2 (P: Electronic Arts, D: Digital Illusions)    

c.  Role-Playing Game of the Year - Jade Empire (P: Microsoft, D: Bioware Corp.)    

d.  Fighting Game of the Year - Soul Calibur 3 (P:/D: Namco)    

e.  Action/ Adventure Game of the Year - God of War (P: Sony Computer Entertainment America, D: Sony Computer Entertainment America-Santa Monica)    

f.  Racing Game of the Year - Need For Speed: Most Wanted (P: Electronic Arts, D: EA-Vancouver)    

g.  Children's Game of the Year - We Love Katamari (P:/D: Namco)    

h.  Downloadable Game of the Year - WIK: Fable of Souls (P: Microsoft, D: Reflexive Games)    

i.  Family Game of the Year - Guitar Hero (P: Red Octane, D: Harmonix Music Systems)    

j.  Simulation Game of the Year - The Movies (P: Activision, D: Lionhead Studios)    

k.  Strategy Game of the Year - Civilization IV (P: 2K Games, D: Firaxis Games)    

l.  Massively Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year (Tie) - City Villains (P: NCSoft, D: Cryptic Studios)  - Guild Wars (P: NCSoft, D: ArenaNet)    

m.  Handheld Game of the Year - Nintendogs (P: Nintendo, D: Nintendo EAD)    

n.  Cellular Game of the Year - Ancient Empires II (P:/D: Glu Mobile)    

A peer panel of eight to 12 AIAS members played and evaluated all nominated titles in their assigned category.  Interactive Achievement Award recipients were determined by a vote of qualified Academy members.  AIAS voting was secret, conducted online and supervised and certified by eBallot. The   integrity of the system, coupled with a broad-based voting population of AIAS members, makes the Interactive Achievement Awards the most credible, respected and recognized awards for interactive entertainment software.

[I once had a childhood nightmare about Sonic beating up Tails and taking his lunch money. This game is my dream, now fully realized.]

215

TalkBack / REVIEWS: Shadow the Hedgehog

« on: February 06, 2006, 07:12:34 PM »

I once had a childhood nightmare about Sonic beating up Tails and taking his lunch money. This game is my dream, now fully realized.

Shadow the Hedgehog is really just Sonic dressed up in black, and how appropriate! Sonic was the fastest hedgehog around, and his world was bright and speedy. Shadow's game, on the other hand, is full of dreary, pathos-laden environments that prevent speed of any kind. It is as though a good ol' Sonic game is wearing a dark costume and pretending to suck. A few critics have claimed that the poor design of this game is due to an over-emphasis on speed and an under-emphasis on gameplay, but to them I say pshah – this game is slow and has too much gameplay, the type borrowed from bad RareWare games on the N64. Shadow the Hedgehog ruins the Sonic concept. While Sonic games in the past were slight and lightning fast, this game makes me want to wear sackcloth and cover my head in ashes.      

     You quickly learn, via a gorgeous opening cinema, that Shadow has no memory, amnesia being the metaphor for humanity's consciousness, lost and captive in a hostile world. Like every good angst-hero, he cops an attitude with anyone who tries to help him along his journey. The game unwisely encourages you to play as Shadow, to identify with his amnesia, his lostness, and to fight your way through the Ivory Tower of B.S. to find your true meaning, your ultimate destiny (read: existential crap). Sonic Team has taken the oft-used, rarely successful position that “attitude" is cool (or at least it sells). In this game, Shadow not only uses guns, but he swears when he gets hurt, emphasizing his cool, too-cool, doesn't-care-if-he's-cool enigma. Never mind that he is a talking hedgehog.    

     Shadow's ambivalent morality directs the story, and it is also the bedrock of the gameplay. Each mission has a Hero and a Dark objective, and most also feature a Normal objective as well. The objective you decide to complete determines which level you will play next (twenty two in all). The Normal objective is usually the easiest, because apparently the path of least resistance is always preferable to a real choice. The Hero or Dark objective is usually some variation of “Find Four Statues" or “Light Five Torches" or “Kill All Dark Enemies." No matter which objective you decide to follow, both the good and the bad guys will attack you (they apparently hate ethical indecision), and your attacks will hurt both. Since you are thrown into a level without choosing an objective, you can very easily complete a mission half-way, stop, then decide to complete a different one instead. It is sometimes possible to work on two objectives at once, even unintentionally finishing one while devoting yourself to another. This reality reveals Sonic Team's marketing gimmick: they are able to tout over fifty different missions, but the levels stay unchanged no matter which choice you make.    

     The game has set up save points that are also teleports so you can backtrack if you miss anything, making the levels into endless loops which you must scour two or three times, or more, for the items you need to collect. Along for the ride is either a Hero or Dark companion, switchable with the D-Pad, and these support characters are supposed to offer help and advice. Well, they don't – they only patch up some of the badly designed portions of the game. Every time you progress to a new area, your companion must describe for you what the new objects, transports, and weapons are and how to use them, since nothing you've seen up to that point would give you any idea. However, when you get lost and can't complete an objective, the companion will only repeat the things he has said before. These characters are a uselessly necessary part of the game.    

     Shadow can also use guns, which sounds like a great idea but really isn't. Shadow picks up enemies' weapons and can use them until their ammo runs out, at which time they disintegrate. The weapons are necessary for some puzzles, but since there's never enough ammo around, and almost every enemy can be killed by a homing jump, the weapons are rendered useless. But don’t worry about actually killing the enemies, because you don’t have to. Want to pretend you’re playing an old-school Sonic game? Just run past the enemies as fast as you can. There’s never any reason to stop unless you want the ammo. Aiming is also problematic...because you don’t get to do it. You can only face Shadow in the direction of an enemy and fire. If you need to aim high, you must jump and then fire, which suspends Shadow in the air. Why? Because it looks cool. There are also swords, but for some reason, these too have ammo, usually even less than the guns. Weapons overall become just another distraction along the path to one of the game's endings.    

     Sonic Team seems to misunderstand what Sonic games are all about. Ever since Sonic Adventure, the developers have been confused about whether to propel the gamer as fast as possible through a beautiful, simple level or make him solve boring, slow puzzles. They have sided with the latter for Shadow the Hedgehog, but they haven't changed how fast the main character moves – at full gallop, the scenery whizzes by quite impressively. Never mind that the levels are almost never made for this ability. Based on the level design, I would expect slow and steady play control a la Mario or even Zelda. The  main weakness of the game is that Shadow can move fast, but never gets the chance. The levels are all so ridiculously complex, with multiple routes, various objects to collect, and puzzles to solve, that each one is fifteen to twenty minutes long! One level in particular, “The Ark," has major vertical portions. Since Shadow cannot jump very high, he must use elevators (another emasculation of Shadow's natural attributes) to progress upwards. But don't bother trying to look up, because you can't; there are only left and right camera controls. There isn’t even a camera centering button, even though the L button is mysteriously unused. To top it all off, Shadow does not run, he glides or roller skates or something. His movement is therefore very floaty, and he can't turn very well. But there is never any stretch on “The Ark," to allow Shadow to run at full speed. Sonic Team made Sonic to be fast, but even in the Genesis days they didn't know how to balance his speed with exploration. The solution, I submit humbly, is to cut the exploration altogether. Why not create on-rails, high speed platforming? It would take guts and a lot of skill, but it could be done (see several notable levels from Sonic Adventure for the birth of this idea). This idea might be controversial - the 3-D Sonic games are not without a following. It is clear, though, that platform-style exploration has been mastered by Nintendo in the Mario games, where the play-mechanic suits it perfectly. If Sonic wants to stay fast he must discard the goal-based aesthetic of Mario and try on a new shoe.    

     It's always been fun to play a Sonic game not because of goal-completion or item collection, but because it looks and feels good to move fast. In other words, Sonic games are primarily aesthetic in nature. The goal-based platforming levels of Shadow the Hedgehog, as well as most levels from all the 3-D Sonic games up till now, have ignored this. Shadow has the speed to make for an exciting game to watch and play, but he never gets to use it due to the non-linear, (sometimes first person shooter-esque!), level design, compounded by the abundant objectives and items. What was unique is now bland. Overloaded with goals, we find that the easiest path is always the one of least resistance. The game teaches us that following good or evil is not desirable, just hard, and the result of our labors is more hardship.    

     In one of the game’s endings, Shadow tells Dr. Eggman that he will send him to hell, and he promptly follows this remark by killing him. That is nothing like any Sonic game I played as a kid. Those games were fast, colorful, simple, and fun - all things that Shadow the Hedgehog not only misses, but flat out ignores.

Pros:
       

The CG videos (particularly the opening one) are beautiful and well directed.  

The game's graphics, though dark and depressing, are not entirely worthless.

       Cons:
       

Slow  

Mixes fast, floaty control and non-linear, platform style level design.  

Unfocused with too many objectives, paths, and play-styles.  

Thinks the story of a roller-skating hedgehog can have philosophical merit.  

Takes everything that was Sonic, reverses it, and stomps on it.

               Graphics:  6.5
       Cutscenes are extremely well done, and some of the environments have a nicely detailed flair to them. The style, unfortunately, is drab and monotonous making the levels impossible to navigate. The character animations are average.

               Sound:  5.0
       The music is nondescript angst-rock. The voice-acting is well above average, but if you have to march through an area more than once you'll hear the same lines over and over.

               Control:  3.0
       Shadow's “roller-gliding" movement style is floaty, and the speed at which he moves is antithetical to the stop and go level design. There are only left/right, zoom in/out camera controls; no look option, or even a view centering button, while the L Button remains unused. There is a useless strafe control that would only come into play if shooting was a well-integrated part of the game.

               Lastability:  4.0
       There are lots of things to find and unlock, hundreds of paths to play through, twenty-two levels and ten endings. The only downside to getting all these things is that you have to play the game.

               Gameplay:  2.5
       The game's levels are, for the most part, built around a Mario platform jumping style, yet Shadow's movement is more akin to Sonic (heard of him?). Sometimes the levels will blaze by for a few seconds, then you'll suddenly run into an enemy or fall into oblivion. The levels have multiple paths, all of which are obscure, and the game is forced to use a chatty sidekick to tell you how to progress. Weapons are supposed to be a major new aspect of the premise, but they add nothing and detract plenty. Some portions of the game become less than unbearable, all of which are on-rails and involve a vehicle, but these are merely lucid moments in an otherwise confused, unintelligible game.

               Final:  3.5
       Doesn't do anything worthwhile other than keep you awake. Bad design all around; the only thing that doesn't suck is the presentation. Not even worth it for Sonic fans.