It’s funny to think that, perhaps three or four years ago, the 2D platforming genre was all but dead in the water, written off by the mainstream as, at best, throwaway fodder for Xbox Live Arcade or PSN.

Over the last few years, though, running from left to right has found its way back into modern gaming lexicon, with no less than five major platformers released for home consoles since 2009. Joining this new 2D renaissance comes Rayman Origins, a quirky throwback to the limbless wonder’s first release on the original PlayStation. Whilst not my favorite platforming game since the genre came back into vogue, Rayman Origins has more than enough item-collecting, wall-jumping appeal for gamers craving more from the second dimension.

Like many of the best platforming games, Rayman Origins features barely any story at all. A brief cutscene at the beginning weaves a tale of undead grannies, brutish creatures and missing fairies, but the plot never becomes heavy-handed; in fact, it barely even registers, unless you’re really paying attention (like the talented wordsmiths who managed to eke five paragraphs out of the game’s story on its Wikipedia page). Rayman Origins foregoes plot in lieu of gameplay, and the results feel as light, breezy and carefree as can be.

Rayman’s journeys take him across sixty different levels and five different worlds, each boasting numerous gameplay hooks to tinker with, like Gourmand Land's ice patches, or the Desert of Didgeridoos' gusts of wind. In each level, players strive to collect small golden lums, which free kidnapped Electoons, who unlock new stages and help advance Rayman’s progress. Rayman also meets and frees several Nymphs along the way, granting him additional powers, such as running on walls or floating through the air.


I’ve you’ve spent more than ten minutes with a 2D platforming game since the SNES, there’s a good chance you'll be able to pick up Rayman Origins with little difficulty. The mechanics of running, jumping and using Rayman's special abilities are smooth and responsive, and Origins plays similarly to other strong platforming games recently released. In fact, I thought it played a bit too similarly; though Origins is mechanically solid, and quite fun in its own right, its gameplay never quite clicked for me, and left me feeling as though I had done similar things before in other games, and had a better time doing it then.

Perhaps it's Origins' over-emphasis on lum-collection, which I found unexciting and overly-simplistic in design. I also grew frustrated with the game grading my level performance and progression based on how many lums I had collected, which makes about as much sense to me as grading how many coins I collected in a Mario game, or how many bananas I scoffed down in Donkey Kong Country. I'm sure many platforming fans will enjoy perfecting their timing to snag that last lum before it disappears, but for me, Rayman Origins' single-minded focus on collecting them felt tedious. With little to offer besides combing every level for every last lum, I kept wondering, like Peggy Lee, "is that all there is?"

Where Origins really comes into its own, though, is during its treasure chest levels. Hidden in every zone, and unlocked only by collecting enough Electoons, the treasure chest levels are ten stages of the most sadistically-difficult, re-try-heavy gameplay this side of Dark Souls. During each stage, Rayman must chase a sentient treasure chest through a series of obstacle course-like areas, staying close to the fleeing chest as platforms collapse, doorways close and the entire zone becomes hellbent on stopping Rayman from getting his disembodied mitts on the escaping trunk. Treasure chest levels require route memorisation to simply progress, as well as a heaped helping of patience in order to finally succeed. These sections stand much taller than any other part of the game, and are easily Rayman Origins' high point; tricky though they are to complete, mastering the timing of each one becomes addictive, and the gratification brought by success is incredible.


Despite its stratospheric level of difficulty, Rayman Origins expertly treads the fine line between 'manageable challenge' and 'totally unfair.' Origins’ levels are rife with mid-level checkpoints, often saving after each new room or major bout of platforming. Rayman is also given infinite lives to progress through the game, the game tipping its hat to experimentation whilst still remaining a steadfast challenge.

Rayman Origins positively drips with personality, best expressed through its vibrant, eccentric art style. Every asset in the game (or darn near close to it) is hand-drawn, as well as stylised to an extreme bent, giving each area and stage a unique, untethered vibe. The art direction is particularly gonzo, leaning heavily on grotesque (though often charming) caricatures; broadly speaking, Origins' look is about as French as French can be, and it’s hard not to appreciate the care and love put into the game's appearance. Its music is pleasing, with jaunty tunes and various bouncy melodies, though none of the tunes stuck with me for longer than the time I spent playing it.


Similarly to other platforming games released since the genre’s new wave, Rayman Origins supports up to four-player drop-in/drop-out co-op. Gameplay as precise as Rayman Origins isn’t necessarily conducive to having multiple people, and Origins gets, if anything, even harder when played with a group. Still, co-op is a blast to play, mostly because Rayman Origins offers one of the most comprehensive player-griefing systems in all of gaming, practically encouraging gamers to take advantage of Origins’ infinite lives by slapping one another around or throwing other characters headlong into obstacles. It isn't the best option for making progress in the game, but co-op in Rayman Origins is still a whole lot of fun.

Really, apart from a few small gameplay design decisions, I have almost nothing negative to say about Rayman Origins, except that I found it fun, but ultimately unexciting. I feel almost perturbed; many in the industry have been crowing from the rooftops about Origins since as early as last September, with several listing it as one of their favourites of 2011. I wonder if I’m missing something, if the game mechanics possess an appeal I can’t understand, or if I’m simply expecting too much. As it stands, Rayman Origins is a great game, and one I would encourage folks to experience, but also one I simply can’t get into it as much as other, similar titles.

8/10 [?]

Labels: Andrew Testerman, Michel Ancel, PlayStation 3, Rayman Origins, Review, Ubisoft, Wii, Xbox 360

I think the first time I tried to move the TV remote solely using the power of my mind was when I was about eight years old.

I’ve been dreaming of becoming one of Marvel Comics’ ‘mutants’ ever since. I would join the X-Men and become a hero, and be utterly and unapologetically awesome. Alas, it turns out that telekinesis is not one of my god-given talents; at least, not yet. In the meantime, I am left to live out my super-heroic dreams through comics, movies, and games. X-Men Destiny promised to be a cause for celebration for me and my inner eight-year-old, but, regrettably, the celebration consisted of a couple of awkward high-fives instead of the tribal comic geek dance that we had been anticipating.

X-Men: Destiny seems promising enough, as it sets out to tread the ground so many X-Men games before it have surprisingly ignored. Instead of letting you play as an established mutant hero or villain, the game casts you as a new mutant in the Marvel Universe, and allows you to choose your alliances, siding either with the X-Men or the Brotherhood of Mutants. This is a seriously great idea; what better way is there to get the wannabe mutants of the world to identify with a game character, than to let us play through our very own origin story? Sadly, although the premise is full of promise, the execution is a strictly mediocre affair.


The game starts off at a San Francisco peace rally, hosted by the government’s Mutant Response Division, the X-Men and the Mayor. All of the involved parties are hoping to quell the rising tensions between mutants and humans, as relations have hit an all-time low following a series of natural disasters, for which mutants have been scapegoated. Add to that the death of Professor Charles Xavier, and the disbandment of the X-Men, and things look pretty grim. As you can expect, the rally does not go as planned, as an apparent mutant attack sends the masses running for the hills. You stand somewhere in that panicking crowd and, as all hell breaks loose around you, your mutant powers manifest themselves for the very first time. The story offers several predictable twists and turns, but, for the most part, it isn’t half bad. X-Men Destiny offers up a true comic book yarn, which could have been pulled straight out of one of Marvel’s books. So what’s the problem? Well, the problem is the way the game wants you to believe the choices you make have some kind of effect on the story, when, in fact, they don’t.

See, at the beginning of the game, you’re prompted to choose between one of three characters: Aimi Yoshida, a young and spunky Japanese refugee; Grant Alexander, a football jock with a college scholarship (and, if you’re wondering, he is indeed a total douche); and Adrian Luca, who, as the son of a human supremacist, is arguably the most interesting of the three characters. Choosing who you play as is the first 'false' choice that the game presents you with, because the characters are so poorly developed that, regardless of who you choose, your experience with the game will be largely unchanged. Sure, Grant hits on any female character he can find, and Adrian has some serious daddy issues which pop up occasionally, but other than that, the game doesn’t really make you feel like you’re having substantially different experiences.

The same can be said of your choices of alignment with either the X-Men or the Brotherhood. Throughout the game you’ll encounter several well-known Brotherhood and X-Men members, many of whom will ask you for help with various missions and attempt to sway you towards their cause. As a fan of the comics, fighting beside Emma Frost was very different from fighting alongside Mystique, but for the casual gamer, I’m not quite sure the difference will register, largely because the game fails to make the missions offered by both sides feel any different. Most missions task you with taking out a given number of enemies, and regardless of who you fight alongside, you’ll smash through the same faceless lackeys and ultimately head towards the same goal. Having played through the campaign aligned with both the X-Men and the Brotherhood, it was utterly disappointing to choose differently only to find that I ended up taking on exactly the same mission that I had completed before. Talk about lazy game design.


As for the gameplay, X-Men Destiny promises to make me feel like a powerhouse of a mutant, and for the most part, I’m going to go ahead and confirm that this is achieved. Although the game is mostly a button masher, I must admit I did enjoy mashing said buttons, mainly due to the different ways that the game allows you to customise your mutant and his or her powers. At the start of the game, you’ll be asked to choose between three different power sets: density control, which will turn you into a brawler with the ability to encase yourself in obsidian stone; shadow matter, which will allow you to pull off some very acrobatic and quick moves (think a badass Nightcrawler); or energy projection, which will have you shooting shiny lights from your hands that blow stuff up real good. Each power set comes with a branching skill tree, which allows you to upgrade your powers with new combos and abilities, all pretty standard stuff. The real treats, though, are offered up by the X-Genes.

X-Genes are power-ups and upgrades you are awarded with upon completing missions. Think of them as genetic material belonging to your favourite X-Men characters, which you can equip to your character. There are three different types of X-Genes: offensive, which grant special attributes to your attacks; defensive, which ramp up your evasion skills and defensive capabilities; and utility, mostly passive abilities or movement upgrades, which grant you the power of flight or super-speed. If you’re playing with density control powers, you might equip the Iceman offensive X-Gene, the Emma Frost defensive X-Gene, and the Quicksilver utility X-Gene; this will cause your character’s hits to freeze your opponents, and allow you to run around the screen at super-speed with your body encased in diamond. Just that idea is pretty freaking awesome, especially for a fan of the comics.

One last bit of customisation comes in the form of the special suits you find. These suits are also inspired by the most famous mutants in the comics, so each of the three main characters end up with their own version of classic costumes, such as Wolverine’s yellow-and-blue costume, or Psylocke’s purple threads. These suits aren’t just for show, though. If you equip all of the X-Genes related to a specific character and also wear that character's suit, you’ll be able to activate X-Mode, which grants you a considerable power boost for a short period of time, allowing you access to the abilities and powers of the mutant whose genes you have equipped.


So gameplay is completely epic, right? Well, no: sadly, it isn’t. Although goofing about with your mutant powers is fun, the enemies that the game pits you against are just too darn repetitive and, frankly, dumb. The AI is a mess, and enemy variation is slim. You end up feeling like an Omega-level mutant taking on a bunch of Danger Room bots. Can this be fun? Certainly. Is it ultimately forgettable? Absolutely and undeniably.

Lastly, the game has caught a good deal of flak for its presentation, and it’s time that the record were set straight: it isn’t as horrible as certain internet folks would have you believe. The voice work is actually pretty darn good, and all the major players act and sound like you would expect them to, which is something I greatly appreciate. As for the visuals, there are two things to consider: the art style and the graphics. The art style wants to be great; a very cool animation sequence at the beginning of the game just oozes with comic book coolness. Likewise, the character's suits all look good and are faithful to the comic design – with the exception of the newly hippie Nightcrawler – and the main characters’ customised suit designs are pretty authentic as well. The problem is that the graphics just don’t do the designs justice. Character models are seriously lacking in detail and animation fluidity, and the hair, oh-do-not-even-get-me-started on the hair. Mutant powers look okay, with some decent particle effects here and there, but the environments you let your powers loose in are mostly drab and lifeless. All in all, the game is not hideous, but neither is it pretty by any stretch of the imagination. On the heels of Batman: Arkham City, a visually-uninspired comic book game is simply unacceptable.


If you are a fan of the comics, I say you should definitely give X-Men: Destiny a try. There is a certain rush to fighting as a new mutant alongside the likes of Cyclops, Colossus, and Emma Frost, which only an X-Men fan can entirely appreciate. I'd be lying if I said that I didn’t have fun with this game, though whilst X-Men: Destiny is a fun distraction, it doesn't achieve much more than that. If you’re looking for the next great action RPG or comic book game, your attention should be centred elsewhere.

6/10 [?]

Labels: 2011, Activision, Joey Núñez, PlayStation 3, Review, Silicon Knights, Wii, X-Men, Xbox 360

For me, every aspect of the Harry Potter franchise has been incredibly inconsistent in terms of quality. Whether it's the books, films or games, every time you think "yes, they've nailed this", a subsequent entry will probably leave you wondering what on earth went wrong. The books became somewhat convoluted with nonsense towards the end; the films have struggled more and more to turn the books into some sort of engaging or interesting spectacle; and the games have bizarrely got progressively worse as the technology has improved. The first few games on the PlayStation were charming, somewhat open-ended platform/puzzle games. The move to the PlayStation 2 era saw them take a disappointing step towards third-person action, and despite briefly flirting with a surprisingly well done open-world formula in Order of the Phoenix, the current generation of Potter games have become dull, tedious third-person shooters.

It shouldn't really be too much for Potter fans to expect a decent game from EA Bright Light, to send the series out with a bang. As it turns out, the developers have barely managed to send it out with a whimper with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

It's hard to imagine that someone who hasn't either read the book or seen the film will play this game, and that's clearly what the developer thought as well when it came to telling the story. There is practically no narrative development at all. Characters will talk and chat about things that were - even as someone who had just seen the film that morning - leaving me scratching my head somewhat. The story-telling is practically non-existent, and doesn't really provide you with the basic gist of what's going on. The opening level sees you fighting your way through the caverns underneath Gringotts Bank, but unless you've seen the film, you'll have absolutely no idea how or why Harry, Ron and Hermione have ended up in such a place. It's as if someone threw the movie script into a bonfire, and any bits of paper that survived were used to craft the story for the game. The film's most memorable storytelling moments, such as Snape's memories, are not even referenced in the game. It's an absolutely botched attempt at telling a story, and for EA Bright Light to treat such dearly loved source material with so little care and attention will no doubt anger long-standing fans of the wizarding world.


The script is also littered with some absolutely woeful dialogue, and equally poor voice acting. Whoever takes on the role of Harry in this game makes the wooden Daniel Radcliffe seem like an Oscar-winning acting legend; that's how poor it is. The memorable moments from the film that were supposed to represent real drama are included in the game as stiff and boring cutscenes, with awful dialogue and laughable voice acting. They aren't helped by the fact that the character models just look plain creepy, almost like Madame Tussauds replicas of the actors having just begun to melt. Facial animation is distressing, to the point that it almost looks funny. The character likenesses are actually passable but, on the whole, they definitely fall on the wrong side of uncanny valley.

Unfortunately, the gameplay and level design lives up to the lacklustre presentation of the story and visuals, with derivative combat mechanics and repetitive level layouts coming together to create something that really doesn't feel like the magical world so many people have come to love. Rather than the the creative and imaginative environments of Hogwarts and other locations from past games, you'll be fighting through dank caverns, boring towns and the castle itself has been relegated to empty corridors and rubble. The environments are just plain dull, and the way in which the levels themselves are designed is incredibly repetitive. Predictable and boring use of cover is a key issue of the landscape, whether they're columns, walls or rocks, and the whole game simply ushers you through in a linear direction, as you move from boring combat encounter to yet another boring combat encounter.

Throughout the majority of the game, you'll be controlling Harry, with Ron and Hermione at your side, but the game tries to freshen things up by letting you play as other characters such as Neville Longbottom and Professor McGonagall at set points during the story. However, there is no difference in playing as these characters other than their appearance, which just makes it feel like a cheap attempt at fan service. There are no unique spells or combat moves, so each character is effectively just a skin. There's also no co-op play, which seems like an obvious element to include since you have other characters with you at all times. It probably wouldn't have made the game much more fun, but it would at least have made it quicker to complete; a good thing when the game is so bad that you just want it to end as quickly as possible. I completed the whole thing in just short of four hours, even shorter than Modern Warfare 2 took me, and the end simply couldn't come quickly enough.


All you do in Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is fight and run, and perhaps occasionally stop to collect an utterly pointless collectable. The collectables simply distracts from the main path, and the running only gets you to the next mind-numbingly dull battle. The combat is just plain boring, even though the developers have clearly been inspired by the likes of Gears of War, so much so that each spell is basically the equivalent of a widely-recognised weapon from such a game. You have a spell that acts much like a grenade launcher and one that seems to resemble a colourful machine gun; it really is the most uncreative use of the Potter license I can remember experiencing. Remember levitating objects with 'Wingadium Leviosa', or stunning enemies with 'Petrificus Totalus'? There's none of that here; each spell is just a slightly different way of killing someone. The only variation between the spells is that some can be more effective when dealing with certain situations that others; for example, there's a spell for dealing with enemies at long range. Honestly, though, it's basically just a colourful sniper rifle.

Combat is just incredibly unfulfilling, and not at all satisfying. Spells feel weak, as your Death Eater enemies will simply go up in a puff of smoke. The enemy AI is almost non-existent, as they will often just stand still waiting for you to kill them. Cover means you're basically indestructible, and I ran through the entire game whilst dying only once. And that was only when I was trying to shove Hermione out of cover to get her killed, because - quite frankly - the game itself was boring me to tears by that point. All the combat scenarios come straight out of the 'generic gaming clichés' box, with most of them taking the form of cover-based shooting. Occasionally, though, you'll run towards the camera whilst shooting behind you, as the game struggles to feel 'cinematic'. It fails miserably.

There's nothing to break the monotony, and none of the film's more creative set pieces are used. You don't get to ride the dragon out of Gringotts, nor are you able to fly a broom through the Room of Requirement. You do get to experience the flooding of the Chamber of Secrets, but it's been handled as if EA have no respect for the source material, akin to the rest of the game. Even the battle with Voldemort is painfully dull, as you just shoot puffy little spells at him until he falls over. And, then, you fist pump the air. Because it means the game is over and you can throw it away.


Just because I'm not completely heartless, I'll say something slightly positive: the game does make use of some of the music from the films, which is just about the only good thing I can say about it. There is also a relatively nice montage of every prior Potter game in the series just before the credits roll, but this just served to make me ask "What on Earth have you done to this series?" Because it used to be quite enjoyable.

Quite frankly, I cannot think of one person on this planet who'll find even one ounce of enjoyment in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. For gamers, this is an absolutely shoddy attempt at a third-person shooter, with boring combat and repetitive level design, that make it an absolute waste of your time when you consider the other games available in the genre. Even for Potter fans, though, this game is simply a waste of your money; the game treats the original stimulus with no sense of respect, with a botched script, poor visuals, awful voice acting and a measly four-hour runtime. The best thing you can glean from this game is the fact that it represents the end of the series. For those of you who are desperate for some Potter videogame fun, stick to the LEGO games.

2/10 [?]

Labels: 2011, 360, DS, EA, EA Bright Light, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Lego Harry Potter, PS3, Review, Tom Acres, Wii

Manly, a cappella background music.

The month of May is a busy one for the staff here at Gamer's Guide to Life.com. Some of us are bribing our landlords to renew leases, others are studying until their retinas crack for finals, and still more are putting in a final month's training with their leather-skinned, one-eyed archery coach, Ogedai, to prepare their bodies and souls for battle at the famous Nadaam festival, before flying to Ulanbaatar to vie for triumph on the international stage by competing in Mongolia's 'Three Manly Skills'^[1] , all in order to fulfil a promise made to a dying father to taste victory and be dubbed 'An Invincible Titan to be remembered by all'. Everyone's got something on their plate.

Amazingly, amidst all that chaos, we still find time in our evil staff room of evil to have important, potentially world-shaking discussions about gaming around the water cooler. The conversation recorded in this article between myself and SystemLink PlayStation Editor, Alex Wozniak, (with occassional interjection from GGTL Lead Editor, Linford Butler) begins as comical banter about the political danger of using Pokémon labour as a foundation for a specifically human bourgeois, but evolves into an interesting wish-list of features for a potential Pokémon-themed massively-multiplayer online game. We discuss gameplay, aesthetics, professions, items, settings, character creation, release console, and overall feasibility. It's a smooth, fun read for anybody who has played and loved a Pokémon title at any point in their lives.

Pull over most comfortable lounge chair, plop an oversized bowl of rare candy onto your lap, don your Pokémon Trainer cap, pour yourself a glass of that 1994 port that you've been saving, and read on, internet strangers, letting your imagination paint a picture of a socialist utopia wherein Pokémon take all of society's difficult jobs, providing a life of whimsy and relaxation for the human classes...


Greg:
If only we lived in that world. Pokémon taking all our bad jobs and looking after our every uncomfortable cultural need... Pokaridise.
Alex:
It would indeed be a better world - no need for electricity companies when there are Voltorbs and Zapdos', no need for gas firms when we train Charmanders to heat our homes.
Greg:
But what happens when that world is rocked by the demands of the Pokéunions?
Alex:
What, Team Rocket? They're a dastardly bunch who try to seduce us with talks of unionisation, and saving the Pokémon, when in fact all they do is enjoy a nice, expensive Slowpoke tail with tartare sauce in Giovanni’s mansion.
Linford:
Or the Pokélybians rise up? It could knock the Pokémiddleeast into chaos.
Alex:
Would the Amish have Pokémon? Would they be considered 'modern' technology?
Greg:
They'd only use basic Pokéballs. None of the Devil's fancy Masterballs.
Alex:
Lucifer haveth Masterballs? Damn him. Damn him to hell! ...again.
Greg:
Him and his psychic Pokémon... Only the Lord should be able to speak directly to the human brain. To steal His great power art a sin worthy of eternal punishment. (Tough luck, Alakazam).
Alex:
Is Mewtwo on the Devil’s side? I can't imagine Mew hanging out with the horned beast.
Greg:
Maybe Mew is basically the Virgin Mary, and Mewtwo is some sort of Pokémon antichrist... I want the dark, futuristic Pokémon game, wherein the Pokémon have turned the tables on humanity and enslaved them with their own Pokéball technology. You play an impressionable, conflicted Squirtle living after the Pokérevolution, who feels that what's being done to the now-enslaved human populace is as wrong as the sins brought down upon Pokémanity centuries before.
Alex:
Is he part of the Squirtle Squad? Because those bad boys knew how to give it to humanity.
Greg:
Yep. A corrupted, overweight Squirtle Squad that now does nothing but hang out in the local opium den and get friendly with human concubines.


Alex:
I want a Pokémon MMO - that would be pretty darn cool.
Greg:
Yeah, a Pokémon MMO has all the needed pieces for a great game.
Linford:
I see an article idea here... Discuss.
Greg:
Aye, aye. The Pokémon MMO:

642(ish) Pokémon, myriad zones, competition everywhere you look without needing set factions. Every player could just be a member of Pokémon society in the same way the original City of Heroes had all players on the same side, for one faction. That said, the ability for trainers to challenge other trainers offers a huge PvP environment. And if it's as balanced as handheld Pokémon tournament play, endgame PvP becomes more about skill and Pokémon selection than gear or stats, eliminating most typical MMO endgame problems...

Obtaining new outfits for both your trainers and your Pokémon could add an aspect of creative individualisation that MMO players crave as well. "Which Pikachu does Jimmy Random have?" "The one with the viking helmet and the tattoos of a human skull being torn apart by lightning on each cheek. He's a beast."
Alex:
A proper tournament league with Elite Four, and one Champion per realm would be pretty cool. It could still have the stats that a lot of MMO people want as well, by equipping Pokémon with various 'berries' or other fruits depending on what is relevant at that season.
Greg:
I like the idea of beating the Elite Four for each zone once a week in order to receive an invitation to a grand zone tournament with a unique aesthetic reward. Maybe the winner of that grand Pokémon weekly tournament gets to fly a giant noticeable plane for a week, gets a cool title, and an awesome costume to wear for the rest of his life. The gameplay model would likely support the idea of cultivating only one character, without alts.

If developers wanted to avoid that, they could add "Elite Aesthetic" (I'm big on those) differences for your character. Once you win the tournament, for example, your account unlocks a noticeably different trainer model to be used when creating a new trainer, and when beating the tournament (or maybe just the Elite Four) with that trainer, another model becomes available. So without making their Pokémon teams unbeatable (and therefore breaking the game's endgame balance), a player could show off his or her prowess by playing as a trainer model that only becomes attainable after doing so many things.


Alex:
People could take up different skills alongside their Pokémon. For example, crafting new Pokéballs, or becoming an expert breeder. Trainers could become professional explorers - by following ancient ruins and texts to find legendary Pokémon and Pokémon artifacts that could provide unique abilities to their team members.
Greg:
I like those profession ideas. Pokémon archaeology and exploration, ballcrafting, candy making, cooking - all of it could be useful. Maybe even a profession that focuses on creating unique modes of transportation (like bikes or jetskis, cars, hot-air balloons, et cetera).
Alex:
Guilds could work quite easily as well, I think, by having groups of trainers forming 'Teams' that could compete in competitions.
Greg:
Yeah, Teams would work really well here. Team Rocket, or Ash's group-style.
Alex:
It'd be quite an easy game to keep adding content to as well - new Pokémon, newly discovered areas, new Gym leaders, new moves.
Greg:
Seriously. The inevitable question that would have to be addressed would be how combat would play out... whether it's turn-based or some strange brand of live-action. Or maybe even a little of both. Maybe your trainer could "coach" difficult moves, causing the player to need to input combo keys (or buttons, if it's console) to help their Pokémon through it.
Alex:
I think it would be a mix of Pokémon and WoW, in that you send out your Pokémon, and its moves are on your Hotbar. You choose which abilities it uses, and it would only able to use a single move at a time, and each move has a cooldown.
Greg:
I’m not a huge fan of the WoW hotbar-and-cooldown gameplay style. It works, but it’s stale. Especially if the game was set on a console (and I'd guess Nintendo would be partial to that), it would need something a bit more unique. A lot would probably depend on whatever controls are given to the Super Nintendo Wii, whenever that comes out.
Alex:
Ah, I don't think it would work as well on a console. There's hardly any really successful console MMOs, and I just think the whole thing would be a lot smoother on PC. For one thing it will give the game longevity as you'd never have to upgrade your console to continue playing.


Greg:
Well, there comes our first hiccup... First of all, I'm of the camp that thinks a console MMOs will be huge (especially next generation, now that the current generation has normalised casual online console play) once designers see them as more than just ports from the PC. All it really requires is a unique, dedicated development philosophy tailored to a specific console (which Nintendo is famous for) and an intellectual property heavy enough to draw in millions of players, which Pokémon most definitely is. All that aside, any Nintendo product on the PC is little more than wishful thinking, be that unfortunate or not. They hold their intellectual property family tightly to their own hardware.
Alex:
I agree that there is potential for a console MMO to work, however, it'll have to be done extremely well to be able to sustain itself against WoW.
Greg:
I disagree again... I'm one of those who think that WoW is finally passing, like an ancient, rotting Sequoya barely able to stand upright but still towering over the rest of the forest, or a dying star. Cataclysm did a lot to hurt its cause. And, though I myself loved it for half a decade, twelve million people have been playing - and getting bored of - its model since 2004, which inversely means that there is an MMORPG playing demographic out there who would feasibly be very interested in jumping into a fresh AAA MMO title with a new style of play.
Alex:
Yet it [World of Warcraft] still has record number of players. The problem is that a lot of them are comfortable with WoW, too comfortable maybe, and it's going to take something huge to draw them away from something they've invested so much time in.
Greg:
People say that WoW has been given real competition since its foundation via Guild Wars, City of Heroes, and others, but I disagree. I don’t think it’s ever really been tested. To compete with Activision Blizzard, a gigantic, hard-hitting company and intellectual property need to enter the ring. Nintendo and Pokémon are one of the few combinations that could actually trump the Blizzard-Warcraft dreamteam of corporate star power, and it’s stylistically different enough that people might even play both - especially if a Pokémon MMO was free. There are plenty of people who own either an Xbox 360 or PS3 as well as a Wii. I think it could work in a very similar way.


Alex:
If it were free, it would have to be supported by ads, and I'm not sure how people would feel about it. If they could make it cheaper than WoW, then that would be good. What about a handheld Pokémon MMO? The set up is all there already on DS, they need only make it a consistent world.
Greg:
If it drove up console sales and people just paid for patches, I think Nintendo might be able to sustain it free of charge. Nintendo is large enough to front the money needed to sustain an MMO’s overhead and update costs while providing minimal company-wide financial strain, and the benefits of luring players over to their console's faction with a uniquely innovative blockbuster title like a Pokémon MMO would be appealing. The handheld MMO also makes a lot of sense, especially with how much focus the DS series has placed on Wi-Fi. I'm not sure the technology is there yet, but it just sounds like something Nintendo would do.
Alex:
Question is, though: would a Pokémon MMO replace the traditional single player games?
Greg:
Wow... that's a huge question. Unless they figured out a way to bring the two together (like they have with tournament living room console games using handheld hookups), I think they'd have to.
Alex:
I'm not so sure. You could have them exist in separate worlds. The MMO would be one world, with ever-newly discovered lands and Pokémon, with an emphasis on battling other players, and team battles, whilst the single player games would be where new mechanics were brought in, which after a while would migrate to the MMO, and provide more of a focus on story.
Greg:
That makes sense. If they did produce two separate worlds (MMO and continuation of the regular series via single-player), I think it would work more fluidly for the Nintendo brain trust to keep them on separate consoles.
Alex:
Huh. That might work.
Greg:
Alright, I need to find food. I'll save this conversation so we can unleash it on the world later.
Alex:
Be careful of wild Pokémon who may attempt to steal it.
Greg:
Lin: steal my Pokémon conversation and I'll... umm... be very angry. And miffed.


A new Super Nintendo Wii (Project Café) is coming out soon with enhanced multiplayer capabilities, HD graphics, and a vast, echoing hard drive. Just sayin'...

Footnotes

[1] Pony-wrasslin', snorkeling, and stealing brides from neighbouring China under the cover of darkness. [^]

Labels: 2011, 3DS, Alex Wozniak, Fireside Chat, Gaming Conversation, Greg Mengel, Linford Butler, MMO, Nintendo, Pokemon, The Pokemon Company, Wii

A great many articles out there have focused on the innovative and industry-changing mechanics Nintendo has brought to the world. Every new console, from the decisive NES, to the legendary N64, or the mobile workhorse that is the DS, has been a resounding success for the house of Mario. With other companies pining to duplicate the unprecedented victories Nintendo has scored, it's hard to believe that Nintendo has actually become much worse in the eyes of the involved, contemporary gamer. So suit up gentlefolk, as we're about to acknowledge gaming's giant elephant in the room. That's right, this is going to be one of those articles highlighting the recent woes of Nintendo.

We all know what Nintendo has done for gaming, we all know the games they've created, and we all surely know the impact the Nintendo name has on certain households and the world. This is not what we're talking about today. The focal point for this very moment is Nintendo right here, right now, in the present day, and what the hell went wrong for them to get here. How can they be wrong when they've generated billions upon billions, you ask? Put away your spreadsheets and step into the shoes of someone who actually plays their games. All you have to do is look at the library of titles Nintendo has generated for the last fives years and all will be revealed.

Oh man, it's Mario! ...again.

Even before the Wii hit, Nintendo began its decent into madness with the GameCube years. That little purple box surely had some classic titles and sported the very best incarnation of Resident Evil ever found (or replicated), but it was not enough to hide the growing gap between them and their third-party partners. Besides their own primary development squad, Nintendo failed to ignite the industry to develop quality games for their system. What did you look forward to every year? Oh you know, Mario Tennis, Golf, Olympics, Strikers, Sunshine, the usual. Remember Star Fox: Assault? I try not to. What about Mario Kart: Double Dash!!? Like I said, I try not to. We did receive gems like Eternal Darkness and the original Metroid Prime during Gamecube years, but the majority of that console's titles were produced by Nintendo itself - and even then most were of questionable quality and value.

If you want to get picky, multi-platform titles were always better on the PS2 and Xbox. I remember picking up the Mega Man Collection on the GameCube because, hey, that's where the Blue Bomber originated. Once I got back to the house I was dismayed to find that the jump and shoot buttons were reversed and there was no way to change them. How hard is it to give us total control like PC games? That's a discussion for another article, but it was two friggin' buttons and they couldn't even get that right. The GameCube was also the only console which never fully accepted the concept that the future was tied to online capability. You had titles like Phantasy Star Online, but when that's basically your only online title and star player in an industry saturated with multiplayer games, there's a major issue at hand.

Hey, let's play another game. Oh, it's another Mario one? Cool...

So the GameCube came and went, people who never played a PS2 or Xbox loved it, and Nintendo devotees hugged it tightly every night before they slept, and then... the Wii hit.

Yes, yes, the Wii is a phenomenon; an industry innovation that levitated Nintendo to total conquest of the realm. But like I said above, we're talking about the games here, and Nintendo's direction as a game company. I'm not an accountant, business junkie, or monetary guru; I'm here to play great games, to support the creation of great games, and to write about them - the money accrued is completely meaningless when you can't even craft a compelling remake to the Donkey Kong series.

I remember E3 last year and how incredible Nintendo's plans sounded. If you look back, Penny Arcade created a series of E3 comics that depicted Nintendo in the way I believe most people felt at that time. A new Zelda, Goldeneye, Kirby, et cetera, all coming out soon? Finally, the perpetual wait of the hardcore gamer could come to an end. The months that would go by without a single compelling Wii game were a thing of the past! Slowly, however, these games would be rolled out and one by one they'd completely fall off the radar in the most discrete way possible. Is anyone talking about Goldeneye? Cute as Kirby: Epic Yarn was, where is it now? When Metroid: Other M was announced, the hype was unreal; there aren't even whispers about that game anymore.

We could go through the list of all the games and attribute 'this' and 'that' to the complaint board, but our real focus should be on Nintendo's motif of promising great things, but falling short. Nothing is more painful than picking up a game you've so desperately wanted, thought about daily, and thirsted to play only to have it become some sub-par re-imagining of a game you loved in the past. Donkey Kong Country Returns is a great example of this. Granted, I haven't played too much of it, and that in itself should be a crime now that I'm critiquing it, but what I played left me deflated. The Donkey Kong Country series is legendary (especially the second game, which is among my favorite games of all time. Don't you know David Wise?). To have it become something I'm just not interested in playing through is stunning. Why? In a nutshell, it's missing too much of what made Donkey Kong Country... Donkey Kong Country. No Kremlings? King K. Rool is gone? It's like taking Goombas out of Mario. That wouldn't ever happen.

If you'd like to participate in the worst story of the Metroid series, Other M is your ticket.

More importantly, Nintendo has become stagnant with their design philosophies and concepts. New and original titles are extremely hard to come by on the Wii; everything is predictable in every game release, every single time. You can only take so many Mario games before you want to explore other avenues and Nintendo simply does not have that to offer. Right now, their idea of a great game is something you can play for 15 minutes with your family and then be done with it. Forever. Because of this design philosophy, we've been presented with walls upon walls of shovelware. Walk into any retail store and I guarantee you'll find the Wii and DS sections the most flooded with low-quality 'games' like this. I also guarantee it'll be the hardest place to find a solidly good title.

"But the Mario and Zelda games are always lots of fun, and Mario Kart is fun with your family and..."

Just stop. Please.

Nintendo has zero, I mean ZERO growth as far as third party titles go. What further proof do you need than to look at the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3? How many franchises have no been firmly established on Sony and Microsoft's systems? Hundreds! Not to mention there are myriad quality third-party games to be found alongside first party titles. Follow that up with a robust selection in their indie and online stores and you really do have the diversity that can keep every single demographic happy. Nintendo seems to be unable to see the appeal of this, for some undisclosed reason.

Titles like Mad World were quite unique and fun. It's too bad more Wii games like it never surfaced.

The reason Nintendo probably has no ambition to please their hardcore audience is because people actually buy WiiFit, Babysitter Challenge, and the 3DS. It nets them the money on what hardcore gamers would call gimmicks than on 'serious' titles, and that's all they currently care about. So when the E3 rolls on up this year and the gaming world hears about Project Cafe from Miyamoto and friends, expect to see your Zelda and other cliche Nintendo titles on the rampage. They may look great, they may give you a nostalgic trip to the good ole' days of yore, but I guarantee that whatever surfaces in Nintendo's lineup will get the short stick. You'll be there day one, buy it, and then dust will collect on your unused system just like 90% of the people who own both a Wii and a second console. When all is said and done, I'll be right. And I don't want to be.

The best thing I can say about Nintendo is that when it finally ups the ante and increases the graphical processing horsepower of its next 'god-like' machination, it'll create a console that could very well explore the territory this generation is missing. With the way things have been going, I highly, highly doubt that Nintendo will take that route instead of utilising the same game design philosophies that they have for the last decade; the ones that never truly evolve the other consoles have in this modern era. It's sad, but Nintendo would have to make quite a turnaround for me to even remotely be impressed with them again. Maybe once they adapt like the rest of the industry has, we'll get the quality Nintendo titles we deserve.

Labels: 2011, Andrew Whipple III, Donkey Kong Country, GameCube, Mario, Metroid, Nintendo, Samus, Starfox, Super Nintendo Wii, Wii

It's happening. Angels are singing, politicians are hugging, unicorn Pegasus are flying through the sky. Rivers are running with cream soda. The beer is flowing like wine. The Korean DMZ has be redubbed the "Designated Mega-fun-time Zone." Medical researchers have discovered that the cure for cancer is Rease's Peanut Butter Cups. People can now talk to animals. Lightsabers have been invented by a mad scientist in Canada that don't kill, but tickle. All governments worldwide have decided to give each eight year-old child their very own dolphin. Life is good.

Life is great.

And why? Because Nintendo has conscripted Haephestus to forge an HD, possibly heavily multiplayer-capable, Super Nintendo Wii.

There is only one appropriate response:



After the spectacular success that came with releasing a blockbuster, household name like The Legend of Zelda alongside the Super Nintendo Wii's father console, I strongly believe that this young new piece of hardware will sport its own mega-hit title come release day. If it worked once, Nintendo is likely try it again, only this time in a way that shows off the Super Nintendo Wii's simultaneously hardcore-courting and family friendly hardware.

Please note: I only believe that one, or perhaps two of these titles actually have any chance of being released. Appealing though it may seem right now, I doubt we'll have an avalanche of all five blockbuster titles rushing at us come that great and terrible day, when the clouds part and Thor reaches down from Asgard to give humanity the Super Nintendo Wii.

5: Mii Tournament

Imagine if Mario Party and Wii Sports met each other at a romantic cabana and hit it off over jokes and strawberry daiquiris somewhere in the Caribbean, only to copulate and bear an adorable Mii-populated game-board mini-game tournament release title for the Super Nintendo Wii. Mario Party could cheat on the Mario universe, leaving behind its characters to instead adopt Miis, which would run through Mario Party-styled fun endlessly in family rooms and old folks homes while Nintendo used their swimming pools of money to secretly carve Shigeru Miyamoto's face into a volcanic island somewhere in the mid-Pacific.

When the Wii was released, it brought families together. Even though it may be courting a more "hardcore" audience, Nintendo isn't stupid enough to relinquish its stranglehold on adorable family room fun-time to Sony or Microsoft. Keeping a game that uses Mii is a great way to get soccer moms and assisted living centers to buy the Super Nintendo Wii in droves.

4: Super Mario... Universe?

While it didn't work for the GameCube, it definitely worked for the Nintendo 64. Releasing a new Super Mario title that expands on the vertigo-inducing effects of the Galaxy series is a solid move, in that it...

a) Ties the Wii to a memorable product within the Nintendo brand

b) Shows off jaw-dropping HD capabilities reminiscent of pictures sent back to Earth by the Hubble telescope, using the game's backdrop of space

c) Can tie (a) and (b) together by demonstrating to the world that amazing graphics and the cartoony Nintendo brand are not, in fact, oil and water

I'd personally love to take another trip to Luigi's mansion, but something tells me that Nintendo doesn't want to touch that sales tragedy with a thirty-nine and a half foot pole.

3: Popular Third Party Title

And I mean actually popular. Perhaps a Call of Duty, or an Assassin's Creed, or something of similarly cyclopean-scale. Releasing a great third-party game alongside its counterpart console release would dispel fears that the Super Nintendo Wii might have the same third-party development issues as its forerunner.

Even if Nintendo opts to develop one of its own titles to unveil alongside its new console, I wouldn't be at all surprised if a blockbuster third-party title was added to shopping carts come release day.

2: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Is anyone else having the strangest feeling of deja vu? We all thought Twilight Princess was going to be a GameCube exclusive.

...until it wasn't.

Twilight Princess gave gamers a chance to try out the formula they had been fantasising over since the Wii was first announced: Wiimote = Lightsaber/Sword. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we heard, come E3, that Skyward Sword had been pushed back to the Super Nintendo Wii release.

1: Super Smash Bros. [Synonym for Escalating Altercation]

Let's just call it 'the new Smash'. If the Super Nintendo Wii is truly and honestly a powerful multiplayer device, then Nintendo may want to prove it to gamers with its strongest 'hardcore' multiplayer title right off the bat.

A release title Smash Bros. would generate all the hype a new console could ever need, and leave plenty to spare once its success showed gamers that a hardcore, online Nintendo game was in fact possible. The question is: will Masahiro Sakurai have the time to complete a new Smash between now and the Super Nintendo Wii's release, given the fact that he's been directing Kid Icarus: Uprising? Does he even want to come back to direct another Smash? These are all important questions, but given the upside of a Super Nintendo Wii/New Smash Bros. dream team, Nintendo could always find a way.

Hell, they could re-release Tetris for all it would do: I'm buying a Super Nintendo Wii.

Labels: 2011, Greg Mengel, Mario, Mii, Nintendo, Project Cafe, Super Nintendo Wii, Super Smash Bros, Wii, Zelda

As you may already have heard by now, Game Informer dropped a 37-kilotonne news bomb on Thursday when they broke the story that Nintendo has been developing a new HD console, and that it’s in developers’ hands right now. Though not officially announced by Nintendo, GI’s report has been confirmed by several developers, who are allegedly already hard at work learning the ins-and-outs of the new platform. They say it’s powerful (in the neighbourhood of the Xbox 360), they say it’s "do[ne] right", and they say we’ll see it at E3, if not sooner.

Do you hear that? It’s the sound of millions of Nintendo fanboys crying out with joy, who would not be silenced. The old reverse Alderaan effect.

If these reports are true (and I sincerely doubt that several independent publishers would be so deep in cahoots to concoct such a fib), Nintendo has an interesting future on the horizon. Wii sales have been gradually slowing, and even the multitude of awesome titles seen last year couldn’t slow its inevitable sales decline. If Miyamoto and friends ever needed a shot in the arm, it’s right here, right now.

But is it too little, too late? With its competitors so firmly dug in, can Nintendo’s new wonder toy even hope to gain a following, and avoid ending up like the Dreamcast, Atari Jaguar, and so many other failed consoles before it?

Like so many things in life, that depends.


The biggest thing Nintendo has going for it right now is the momentum started by the Wii. Sure, it may not have caught on with too many 'hardcore' gamers, but more people have Wiis than own landline phones, and it would be foolish to ignore that massive install base. As much as dedicated gamers want to believe that HD means exclusive titles like Gears of War and Killzone - which, from a brand standpoint, is probably the worst thing that could happen - Nintendo would do well to leverage the folks who bought a Wii the first time around. Whether it’s backwards compatibility, a new Wii Sports-style hook, or some new Blue Ocean gimmick; the more Nintendo can do to bring back the grandparents and soccer moms that made the Wii a hit, the better.

That said, Nintendo will have to work double time to woo fed-up gamers who wrote off the Wii as a toy suited only for the very young or the very old. Fortunately, the additional power promised by the report could be the key to patching things up with the Nintendo-loyal who abandoned the Wii, in favour of the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. HD graphics akin to the 360 or PS3 would go a long way towards making it appear that Nintendo has rejoined the side of the hardcore.

Of course, HD power means more than just prettier games. Third party developers, a crowd that Nintendo has been notoriously unsuccessful at courting, would have an easier time porting their triple-A titles to Nintendo’s console than in the past; perhaps, instead of a pared-down lightgun-shooter version of Dead Space, we can get a full-on, legit version of Dead Space 3 when it finally releases.

Part of me is sceptical about what this new console can accomplish. Nintendo tried throwing its hat into the multiplatform ring before. Remember the GameCube? The 'lil-purple-lunchbox-that-could' failed to carve identity for itself in the market, and wound up collecting dust in third place. Nintendo ultimately found success by doing something different from its main competitors: motion control. By crafting the Wii as a unique experience, Nintendo didn’t have to compete, and instead forced Sony and Microsoft to consider the benefits of motion control as a conduit for family play themselves.


But what will the market make of Nintendo’s new potential competitor to the other seventh generation consoles? If the only thing it does is play third-party games in HD, it will lose; if I have the option to buy the new Call of Duty game on Nintendo HD or on 360, I’m going to buy it on 360 because that’s where all of my friends are. It’s not enough to play catch-up, and Nintendo needs to have a brand new secret sauce if it wants to differentiate itself from its two well-established competitors.

This is the tricky balance Nintendo must walk during the time before its release: it needs to be familiar enough for Ubisoft to be able to port 'Assassin’s Creed III: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood' to it without a hitch, but it likewise needs to stand separate from Sony and Microsoft as a unique experience. Stay too samey and no one buys it in favour of Xbox 360 or PS3; stray too far from gaming as we know it and third parties are once again in the dark.

Which brings to question the now-famous bread-and-butter of the Wii: motion control. Will they do away with the system in favour of a traditional controller, or will Nintendo manage to somehow integrate both the Wiimote and a dual analogue setup that gamers have used for the better part of twelve years? Again, it’s all a balancing act, and one that Nintendo will have to work hard at to make appear natural.This doesn’t even include the catch-up that Nintendo would have to play if it wants a piece of Microsoft and Sony’s hardcore pie, including a top-tier online functionality, strong third-party support, and media components beyond simply playing games. It’s this sort of thinking that makes me wonder if Nintendo will even want to go after the hardcore again; so much work is required to get to the status quo, it almost doesn’t even make sense to try.

One way or another, this will be a crucial E3 for Nintendo. It needs to bring the casual Wii fans and the Nintendo diehards together under one umbrella, or risk losing them both entirely.

Time, as they say, will tell. I will say this: I want this new console to succeed. As a lifelong lover of all things Nintendo, I want to see them thrive in the gaming space that I inhabit, as well as the space of my parents, little brother, and tiny Japanese grandmother. And who knows, maybe Nintendo’s patented first-party goodness, coupled with robust third-party support, will be enough; there have certainly been enough claims of "I would buy a Wii HD" from the gaming press.

I know I'd jump at the chance to play Super Mario Universe on the same console I use for Battlefield 4.

Labels: 2011, Andrew Testerman, Feature, Nintendo, Super Nintendo Wii, Wii

I'm glad to see Telltale are still hard at work on getting some of the most interesting and creative ideas out and about. Their latest, Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent, follows the FBI's Puzzle Research Division director and only employee, Nelson Tethers. Receiving a call from none other than the president himself, Tethers is ordered to sort out puzzle-y goings on in the small and intensely creepy town of Scoggins.

If you've ever had the chance to play any of the Professor Layton series, you'll recognize many similarities in the puzzles. You move around a scene in search of answers, and most of the interactive elements have a pop-up puzzle to solve, ranging from directing your snowmobile by placing fallen logs to dictate direction, to untangling a rubber band from innards. However, the large variety became a bit tiresome. Perhaps it's just not my thing, but I think I prefer to combine items in wacky ways. To me, the puzzle elements felt a little... childish.

Puzzle Agent has an interesting art style. Although the snowy landscape of Scoggins doesn't create a huge pallet, the hand drawn, almost crayon-like scenes have an art style which I really enjoyed. Mixed with an extremely creepy narrative, this gives Puzzle Agent a truly distinctive feel. Perhaps what helps the story the most is the lack of population in the town: it really feels as you're the only sane one within a mile of Scoggins, and the creepy gnomes only enforce this feeling.

If a sociopath bunny and a noir-style dog are your thing, then you may not see the joy of Puzzle Agent at first glance. You may miss how the strangely addictive storyline - combined with the wonderfully odd graphics - pull you in; and how, after playing through the game, you'll be left with a feeling of "Hmm.... was that a dream?"

And that's the thing: although the puzzle elements can be a little basic and it may not be up to the quality level of many adventure titles we are all familiar with, it does have certain appeal. It has a strange collection of elements, that brought together create a dreamlike adventure.

7/10 [?]

Labels: iPad, iPhone, Jacques Hulme, Mac, Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent, PC, Puzzle, Review, Telltale, Wii, WiiWare

It’s been a while since playing the first Red Steel game, and frankly none of us expected to see a sequel after our high expectations of the innovative motion controls were shot down with an inaccurate, frustrating gaming experience. But time has passed, and my anger has subsided. Now, after looking into every detail of Red Steel 2 before the launch, and finding myself in the same excited state as I was years ago for the first game, I can safely say... it’s okay. Certainly not spectacular by any stretch, but good enough that I don’t want to launch my Wiimote at the TV, which is a huge improvement.

Those of you who attempted to play the first game will instantly notice some major changes to the formula. The story is completely different, shedding the modern era and yakuza based kidnapping plot for a blend of the Old West with Asian influences and some post modern technology. An odd mix to say the least, but certainly believable for the player, since the graphics are done with gorgeous cel-shading, giving the game a certain comic book feel. The visuals are vibrant and lag-free, yet although this does allow certain breaks from realism, one adjustment in particular left me slightly disappointed. I’m speaking of the lack of blood in the game. While Ubisoft stated that the omission of blood was to allow a softer game rating and therefore cater to a broader audience, watching your enemy turn into a puff of dust after you’ve stabbed him in the chest just takes the edge away from the game. And that’s sad, because wielding your katana has never felt closer to the real thing in a Wii game to date.

Trying to parry bullets in real life should not be attempted under any circumstances. Except on Wii.

Mind you, the sword control scheme isn’t perfect, but it’s a far sight better than the horrendous blade wielding in the first game, and can be used throughout the whole game. Swinging the Wiimote translates to a swipe across the screen, in any direction. You can do soft wrist-flicks for light hits, or put your whole arm into it for heavier blows, which are required to knock the armour off of some enemies. The melee action is fast paced and satisfying, especially when you’ve dispatched half a dozen foes that have ganged up on you. But it’s still a simplified system, and therefore doesn’t present an enormous challenge. While you can swing any which way, your hits are only registered vertically or horizontally. And blocking is even more disappointing, requiring you press the A button... and that’s it. Enemy bullets cannot penetrate your block, even if you’re holding the Wiimote behind your back. Sometimes foes will launch a heavy attack in which you must either block up or to the sides, but I personally would liked to have seen a broader range of parries, requiring some quick timing with you movements to avoid the blow. Despite the imperfect controls, Red Steel 2 is thus far the best use of the WiiMotion Plus, and hopefully other third party developer will see the possibilities and more games using the peripheral will be forthcoming.

The story and characters are the game's real egregious criminals. The plot has a strong base, with the city of Caldera being overrun by a group of thugs who have been brought together by a larger and more sinister power, seeking the secrets of the Kusagari, the town’s protectors. After being banished for unknown reasons, you return to the city to find your clansmen murdered, leaving you as the last surviving Kusagari. Now you must cleanse the city of the invaders, and destroy those who are after your ancestral knowledge. Sounds compelling, right? The problem is that it never fully moulded into an engaging story. There isn’t a strong plot progression as you move from location to location, and the final battle and ensuing epilogue are so anticlimactic, you’re left confused as to whether you’ve really cleared the game, until the credits role and you’re left speechless - and not in a good way, either. The weak characters only add to the story’s demise. None of them are given enough interaction and personal aspirations to make them believable, and the nameless hero is so disjointed from the rest that you never truly feel compelled to aid him in his mission.

This is what happens when you make a guy in a hat angry.

The gameplay is the redeeming quality of Red Steel 2, and the reason it gets a decent review score. The action is fast-paced and often explosive. The progression of your battle abilities is fleshed out very well. You start the game with nothing to fight with, but quickly acquire your revolver, with your first blade soon after. You gain new powers after completing missions and by purchasing them at the various “safe houses”. With new sword and gun attacks, and Kusagari powers - many of which can be linked together to create lethal combos and cool finishing moves - you’ll continually feel as if you’re growing as a warrior. You may find certain combinations work best and use them constantly, but they never feel redundant, and the fast animations and smooth motions make them that much more satisfying. You can also use the money collected to purchase upgrades to your weapons and armour, but the difficulty of the enemies match your upgrades closely enough that you never really feel as if these improvements give you an edge in battle. You collect cash by defeating foes (combos multiply your cash earned), and by destroying everything tangible around town (boxes, barrels, phone booths, booze bottles, and more). Completing your main mission and any side missions you choose to perform also yield a monetary reward. However, most of the side quests feel contrived and often redundant, making you want to skip them after the first few.

The music and sound are fairly good; neither memorable nor unbearable. The mix of Asian instrumentation and Western ditties pair surprisingly well together and fit the setting perfectly. I personally enjoy the clichéd two note bass line whenever you defeat a group of enemies. This may sound odd, but some of the game's instrumental score makes me think I’m playing Diablo, and I swear if I closed my eyes I would think I was in Tristram. The sound effects are spot on, with every gunshot, slash, and piece of scenery destroyed giving a nice, crisp timbre.

Why is it that the guy I'm pointing the gun at doesn't look scared, though the one behind him does?

Ultimately, Red Steel 2 is fun to play, certainly rife with action and visually stunning. Although far from perfect, the controls are among the best the Wii has seen, and you will definitely break a sweat if you want to cutting a swath of destruction through town (for the greater good, of course). The story will leave a sour taste in your mouth, and although the hero looks cool, you’ll be left wishing he had a tonne more personality. However, it looks as though Red Steel will become a trilogy, so hopefully the final iteration was will take all the criticism into consideration, and be a flawless finale.

7/10

Sean

Labels: Nintendo, Red Steel 2, Review, Sean Engemann, Ubisoft, Wii

Spring is upon us, which means we can finally stow that nasty old snow shovel away for the next several months and pick up the Wiimote or DS a little more. Oh wait, I guess that grass isn’t going to cut itself. Crap. But, for those you who don’t have to worry about tedious Spring chores (lucky), there are some nice titles hitting the Wii in the next few months. I’m only diving into the Wii this time around because I was hard pressed to find any noteworthy games for the DS (besides Tetris Party Deluxe). I may need to delve a little bit deeper to find them, but please, if there’s one or more solid ones you know about coming in the next few months, let me know about it and I’ll put together an exclusive DS “On The Horizon” piece.

Now, onto the games…

Super Mario Galaxy 2

How can I start anywhere else than with the Big N’s mustachioed mascot in his big Wii sequel, Super Mario Galaxy 2? Once again you will launch yourself across the galaxy, this time travelling in your own starship, battling baddies on large and small planetoids, defying many laws of gravity, much like the first game of the series. And much like its predecessor, you will use features such as Pull Stars and reverse-gravity arrows to obtain stars in order to unlock new levels. The biggest inclusion would have to be the return of that lovable green dinosaur mount, Yoshi. As we can expect, Yoshi brings forth his usual tools such as his long and sticky tongue and the ability to power up by eating different fruits; some that make him quickly dash, inflate like a balloon, and even find secrets paths. Mario will also have a healthy new supply of power-ups, like Cloud Mario, Rock Mario, and a drill which allows you to tunnel through the ground. Don’t expect anything new as far as graphics quality or music, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing considering the first game was absolutely gorgeous to look at, and the orchestrated music was equally pleasant to listen to. Although this is a definite purchase for myself and any other Nintendophiliacs out there, I’m going to remain a bit sceptical. As fun as the game may be, and even though we’ve been told by Nintendo’s big boys that the game contains over 90% new content, right now it just doesn’t seem like enough of a break from the first game to keep it fresh. I hope the game proves me wrong, and you can definitely expect a review from me on this on. Super Mario Galaxy 2 will be released in Europe on June 11th and in the U.S. on May 27th.


Metroid: Other M

Alright, just a quick teaser here about Metroid: Other M, the next game in the venerable series. Since it is technically coming out shortly after the Summer Solstice, I won’t dive into it here, but you can expect a thorough preview as we get closer to the release date. Until then, the official website has a couple of nice trailers for you to enjoy.


Tetris Party Deluxe

Let me move on then to another long running series, Tetris. You all know it, and most of you love it. Well, if you weren’t smart enough to download Tetris Party for the WiiWare, here’s your chance for redemption. A full-fledged disc/cartridge version of Tetris Party Deluxe is coming to the Wii and the DS, and includes all the wonderful game modes that made the WiiWare version a hit, along with even more to satiate your puzzling appetite. Add that to the full spectrum of Wii peripherals that can be used to play, and you can expect a solid solo or multiplayer experience. The Wii Speak, Mario Kart wheel, and the Balance Board are all used to make it the most versatile Tetris, or any game for that matter, available for the Wii. Remember using your bottom on the Balance Board to move around the Tetrominoes? Well it’s time to find that ass grove again. You will also be able to use the Wii Speak as a chatting (taunting) device when playing multiplayer matches. My biggest hope for this version is that Hudson and Tetris Online continue the success of the tournament they created back in December of 2008 and give us a stable mode to win prizes, or better yet a league would be killer. Sign me up! For the DS most of the game modes found on the Wii version (minus the ones that require a Wii peripheral) are also available for the DS. You can even chat in multiplayer using the microphone on the DS, so no heavy breathing… it’s a sign of weakness. Since Tetris began its legacy on a handheld, it only makes sense to bring it to the DS, and hails as one of the easiest games pick up and play, and one the best for those on-the-go gaming spurts (or long car rides). Both the Wii and DS versions are scheduled for a Q2 2010 release.


Trauma Team

Trauma Team, an installment from the Trauma Center series, will hit U.S. stores on May 18th with no European release date set, but probably to be expected late spring or early summer. Trauma Team keeps some similarities with the other games of the series, such as the Japanime art style and comic book presentation, along with the character intrigue and overblown plotlines. Oh yeah, and the medical procedures too. The difference this time around is that you are not confined to just performing surgeries. You’ll also get to work with endoscopy, orthopedics, forensics, first response, and diagnosis, all which come with different tools for you to use. Forensics and diagnosis will bring elements of CSI and House to the anime world, as you must use devices other than surgical tools in order to solve the murder or discover the medical condition. For these tasks, instead of the patient losing vitals for poor skills, there is a limit counter which racks up any mental mistakes you make and will fail the mission if you have too many brain lapses. For the most part the characters are all new and a mixed bag of backgrounds and attitudes, which plays well with the chaotic life that is medicine. I’m saddened that there is no mention of using the WiiMotion Plus peripheral for this game. While the motion controls in previous games of the series functioned well enough, there really are more boundaries you can cross with the WiiMotion Plus. That alone may get my thumbs down after I try the game.


Arc Rise Fantasia

Finally for the Wii is Arc Rise Fantasia, a new RPG game, yet containing elements that will make gamers think of Tales of Symphonia, the Star Ocean series, and the Dragon Quest series. Now I must admit that I am not a huge fan of Japanese-style RPG games, but the lack of classic turn-based RPGs for the Wii has given me the inkling to look a little closer at this one. The Meridian Empire which you explore promises to be an expansive and full of monsters to combat. The game boasts a large roster of playable characters, all with different aspirations, which will create many different engaging plotlines. You can expect to lose about 60 hours trying to complete the game, and that’s without doing any side quests. The battles are turn-based, which although some may label as outdated, I like to call refreshingly nostalgic. During a battle sequence, all the characters use the same AP gauge to carry out their movements and attacks. There are also various combos that can be chained together, adding a nice strategic element, which definitely need to be utilised in the later levels of the game. In typical fashion, you can also summon giant beasts to carry out massive attacks. So don’t expect to see any groundbreaking new features, but if you’re a fan of the tried and true turn-based formula, this one is definitely worth at least a rental. Arc Rise Fantasia is slated for Q2 2010 for Europe, and will hit American shelves on June 22nd.

So that’s the list for the next few months, some worth a little coin to try out, and some that definitely need to be picked up and placed alongside your great collection. I’ll be keeping eye out for any surprises that may come out of this year’s E3, and hope to bring you a jam-packed summer edition of “On The Horizon”.

Sean

Labels: JRPG, Link List, Metroid: Other M, Nintendo, On The Horizon, Releases, Sean Engemann, Tetris, Wii

Monster Hunter Tri, a highly successful and highly acclaimed title released in Japan last August, will be hitting U.S. and European store shelves in April. Having earned the illustrious and seldom given 40/40 score from Famitsu magazine, Monster Hunter Tri has revitalised the series from its stagnant PS2 and PSP forbearers. This time around, Wii owners are reaping the benefits of being the least costly platform for game development, as this game was originally designed for the PS3, but budget constraints shifted the game to become exclusive to Nintendo’s current gen. console.

After being announced for localization in Europe and the U.S., Capcom has worked hard to ensure that the game is tailored to its respective audience. The game will boast impressive online capabilities for the Wii, utilising the Wii Speak, an onscreen keyboard, and a USB keyboard for ease of communication between players. The content for Monster Hunter Tri has also been significantly upgraded, offering a vast selection of new monsters to hunt, all visually stunning and insanely large and intimidating. To combat these mammoth beasts, you are given an arsenal of disproportionately large weapons yourself. From the Great Sword to the Switch Axe to the Lance, these giant tools of destruction make Cloud’s Buster Sword from Final Fantasy VII look like a toothpick. Veterans of previous Monster Hunter games will quickly remember the “potion-pumping”, as you must tailor your battle tactics to keep yourself alive with items while trying to subdue your foes. Along with potions, you have access to an expansive inventory that can be stocked up with various materials you forage, mine, and harvest off of fallen prey, which are then combined to create all sorts of useful offensive and defensive items.


The demo, available for free through GameStop retailers, features a very nice taste of many elements of the game. You are able to hunt either the Great Jaggi (a large bipedal reptile) or the Qurupeco (a large avian reptile). Capcom must really have wanted to showcase the difficulty that Monster Hunter Tri will bring, since these two rather simple looking enemies (compared to those seen in the trailer) require several attempts and plenty of strategy to take down. Each has their own specific attacks, which although become predictable, does not make them any easier to defeat. You are allowed to try virtually all the different weapon classes to test their various powers. It is nice to see that each weapon is unique and requires its own learning curve to master, and that some are more capable at handling certain foes, adding even more strategic elements. After trying all the weapons on each monster, I found the Hammer to work best on the Great Jaggi, and the Lance to be very proficient at taking down the Qurupeco.

There are several zones which make up the layout of the demo, consisting of mountainous grasslands, caves, misty crags, and oceanfront vistas. Although you have the capability of testing the waters - literally - neither boss is an aquatic creature, therefore the venue is simply provided as a break from the hunt. You can swim around different rock formations, take in some fishing, or even take down some of the tamed creatures and harvest their meat and bones. However, since you must dispatch your main target within 20 minutes, you won’t have much time to stop and smell the roses… or seaweed. Between dodging and attacking, and chasing after the big baddie when it retreats, you better know exactly what you are looking for from the surrounding plants and wildlife to supplement your inventory, or that timer will expire and you will have just wasted 20 minutes of your life. Hopefully the full version of the game will allow you to at least revisit cleared areas without a timer, in order to fully explore and enjoy what the flora and fauna has to offer. Finally, although the various battlefields were visually interesting, I did feel like I was trapped in an arena, and pray that the finished world is much more open and expansive.


After viewing the cinematic trailer, the world just may be. From the brief clips of the different locales, it looks as if your hunts take you from one end of the globe to another, battling in barren deserts, snowy peaks, molten volcanoes, and of course under the sea. The graphics look to be very polished and lag free, which is surprising considering the immensity of the foes. While we can surmise that the PS3 would have offered absolutely pristine colouring and texturing, Capcom seems to have squeezed every graphical bit out of the Wii. It will definitely be interesting to see how the frame rate holds up when the monsters, background effects, and multiple online players are on the same screen. Which takes me to my final point - multiplayer. While it looks like you are completely within your right to attempt a hunt single-handedly (*gulp*), looking at the trailer it would appear that a well balanced group of heroes is the way to go. Some hunts may be very well near impossible to handle alone, and thus we are blessed with the aforementioned communication tools to hook up with friends (or possibly strangers) and head on out into the field of battle. If successful, Capcom will have finally found a way to breach Nintendo’s limited and often frustrating online venue, which would certainly get cheers from this multiplayer hungry Nintendophile.

Monster Hunter Tri will be released in the U.S. and Europe on April 20th and April 23rd respectively, so get you sharpening blades out and your Broadband cleared, because the hunt is about to begin.

Sean

Labels: Demo Impressions, First impressions, Monster Hunter, Nintendo, Wii

Game Information


Basic information
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers
Developer: Square Enix PPD 2
Publisher: Square Enix
Expected: February 2010

Where to find more
Official Homepage
Wikipedia article

After first being announced way back at E3 2005, followed by years of virtual silence, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: the Crystal Bearers has been off the radar for some time. However, it is finally hitting U.S. store shelves on December 26th, with the European release set for early February 2010. The apparent lack of focus on the game’s development has taken much criticism, but hopefully the extended creation time has allowed it to be polished and prepared for anticipated gamers.

The story takes place a thousand years after the Great War, the premise of the first game in the series released on the GameCube. While other games bear the name Crystal Chronicles, Crystal Bearers would likely be classified as the sequel to the first game, tying in many story elements that follow the natural progression of its predecessor. While the game is chalk full of colourful and interesting characters, as is common in nearly every Final Fantasy, Crystal Bearers lacks the capacity to control an entire party. You take the reins of a single character named Layle, a Crystal Bearer from the Clavat tribe, one of the four clans which make up the world.

The progressive Lilty tribe defeated the dissident Yuke tribe during the Great War, shattering the Yuke Crystal and supposedly annihilating the Yukes. A theory in the game is that after its destruction, fragments from the Yuke Crystal attached themselves to individuals all across the globe, granting them special magical powers and thus labelling them as Crystal Bearers. This game’s timeline is more industrial, with machinery in the forefront, and magic seen as a taboo ability all but lost except by the few Crystal Bearers, who are feared and scorned by the public. Although young, Layle is a world renowned mercenary who has been hired by the Lilties to escort their newest airship called Alexis, a technological marvel and symbol of Lilty superiority. However, during its maiden voyage the airship comes under attack by monsters and Layle confronts a nemesis who was thought to have vanished.

Crystal Bearers combines gameplay elements of both the first Crystal Chronicles game and of traditional Final Fantasies, and yet is an original game in its own right. While you might think this to be a standard turn-based RPG, it is actually better classified as an action game with some platforming and even on-rails shooter facets. As Layle, you take control of his telekinetic powers, harnessing the ability to manipulate objects, enemies, and even townsfolk, often against their will. As you progress, you will learn new combinations and methods of using your powers, and obtain accessories to even further enhance them. In addition to defeating foes, you can use your abilities to shake chests, grab onto ledges, and seal enemy producing vortexes, among other things.

As expected, the controls for this game are unique, utilising the capabilities of the Wii remote to interact with the environment. The Nunchuck attachment is used to control Layle’s movement, while the Wii Remote is used to target and manipulate much of the world and its inhabitants. As the story unfolds and new obstacles emerge, players will discover new ways to use the gravity based magic. Since the Wii lends itself to more action based gameplay, Square Enix wanted to give as much freedom to the player as possible, allowing innumerable ways to dispatch enemies. So use your creativity, and enjoy the expansive and interactive world.

As mentioned before, Layle can purchase different accessories to increase his gravitational powers, but also to improve his defenses, and other upgrades such as expanding his reticule to influence a greater number of targets. Along with shops to purchase items, you can also collect materials from defeated enemies and other sources, and take them to the workshop to create your own rings, amulets and earrings. This allows a nice level of customization for Layle, to tailor his abilities to the player’s liking.

Although the graphics will never be as awe-inspiring as in Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3 and Xbox 360, this game definitely looks gorgeous, and is quite possibly the most beautiful-looking game for the Wii thus far. The characters are full of detail and expressions, and the world is colourful and inviting. It will be interesting to see after playing the game how the camera will react to Layle’s movements, and how well the frame rate is when combating multiple enemies.

The musical score sounds great, and it is refreshing to finally have the script voiced on a Nintendo console, rather than the typical “subtitles with grunts”. However, from the trailers and videos viewed, the script and voice acting seem to be of moderate quality, but I will reserve that judgment for the full review.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers looks to give a fresh take on the venerable series; much like the Wii did for the video game industry. With a gamut of interesting characters, a huge world to explore, and a (so far) engaging storyline, Crystal Bearers is on track to revitalise Square Enix’s audience of Wii owners. Be sure to check back in the coming weeks for the full review.

Sean

Labels: Final Fantasy, Hype Train, Preview, Sean, Sean Engemann, Square Enix, Wii