Kingdom's Return: Time-Eating Fruit and the Ancient Monster is Inti Creates latest project. Blending 2D side-scrolling and town building simulation, you'll be venturing through a small interesting world as you try to restore a kingdom whose time has been stolen from it.
The tower defense genre is one that doesn't tend to innovate much with static maps, various traps, and its simple to grasp gameplay loops. At least, that is until Minos with a mighty laugh to prove you wrong.
Hello everyone and welcome to a new KEMCO title! But wait a moment, this one is different to the retro JRPGs that you’re probably expecting when you hear KEMCO from me by this point. Instead what we have is a sort of point-and-click style visual novel! Something a little new and fresh coming out here!
Have you ever grown up feeling like you don't belong? For our Heroine, that's the feeling she lives with everyday in her small farming village. But it's not her only secret...
Toxic Commando harkens back to video games years ago when they were fun and innovative while giving the player freedom to explore among the waves of enemies in a 4 player chaotic onslaught of combat and driving mechanics.
Today we’re looking at what has rapidly become an absolute favorite in the open-world RPG genre for me. An interesting story, memorable NPCs, stunning visuals, and a setting absolutely dripping with flavor, Dread Delusion sets its tone immediately and sticks with it.
Valor of Man, by Legacy Forge and Numskull Games, is a turn-based roguelite RPG where you guide a party of four through ever increasing difficult situations. Achieving victory is never assured and the randomness of the roguelite nature will either be your best friend or your worst enemy.
Are you ready to do your part for the United Federation and join in the most realistic depiction of war ever created? Today we join General Johnny Rico and Major Samantha Dietz as they present the first ever game created under supervision by FedDev for the enjoyment of those on the path to citizenship. Ultimate Bug War follows the path of Dietz during the First Bug War 25 years ago.
Soulmask enters the increasingly crowded world of multiplayer-capable survival crafting games with a launch that has bundled its first DLC pack as a free download for anyone buying it within the first month. Featuring some striking Egyptian-style graphics...
Showing posts with label Nintendo Wii Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nintendo Wii Review. Show all posts
We do not write about the Wii real often anymore, but there are still plenty of good games out there for the system, and every now and then it is nice to take a look back at some of those we have had a chance to play recently, but not had the opportunity to review in the past. Muramasa: The Demon Blade was a title that caught me completely by surprise. I was able to look at the images on the box and determined it was a pretty game, and the concept sounded entertaining enough, but I wound up enjoying it a lot more than I originally had expected to.
In case you had not guessed by the background image, we are going to be talking some Dead Space for the next couple of weeks.
I really enjoyed the original Dead Space a lot, giving it a review score of 8.75 at the time. It was a game I picked up, kept meaning to play, but took a long time in getting around to it. Once I did though, I quickly found myself engrossed in the story and the game's dark atmosphere.
Now that the Wii is basically on its last legs as a system (some would probably argue it lost its legs two years ago and has been on the ground dead ever since), I thought it might be interesting to take a quick look back at one of the earliest titles that released for it and that I acquired: Link's Crossbow Training.
I
have owned every Nintendo console (except the Virtual Boy) since the
8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System graced my living room, opening my
eyes to a whole new world of video gaming. Obviously the visuals and
sound were unlike anything I had played at the time, but more than that
the experiences the NES brought to the table were new. Never before had I
seen sports games or action games - or adventure and role-playing games
like this. The technology brought with it not just bells and whistles,
but innovative new possibilities in game play. Now that the Wii U is
upon us, I wanted to take a look back at the original Wii, and reflect
on my experiences with this unique gaming console.
Hopefully you all had a nice weekend? Mine was equal parts fun and not-so-fun. The not-so-fun is I've been fighting a flu-like something-or-other since Saturday afternoon and it's still kicking my butt as of this morning. The fun came in the form of going to a nearby amusement park with my kiddos one day this weekend, which seemed like the perfect lead-in for this review.
My family loves theme parks. Roller coasters in particular are a hit with us. My oldest, maybe not quite as much, but my wife, two youngest and myself think a weekend at Cedar Point is one of the best experiences ever. In terms of older theme park games, I played some title on my PlayStation 1 called Theme Park a zillion years ago, and don't recall a lot about it except my wife was fascinated with it and it served as her entrance into the world of Roller Coaster Tycoon titles.
Thrillville: Off the Rails is one of those titles I have been getting to reviewing lately that is older - a few years old. As such you can probably find it quite inexpensively now either used, or in bargain bins. I still think there is value in going over titles like this though, because people may decide to give it a try if they see it on sale somewhere - or maybe the premise interests them and they did not know it was out there in the first place.
This is a simulation/building title. You manage your park, setting up rides, prices and layouts while trying to meet goals along the way. Perhaps the biggest twist for me over those older titles I mentioned was the way in which the mini-games are incorporated into the parks and can actually be played by you.
Puzzle games have always been popular in my house - whether it is Tetris or Dr. Mario to the newer breed such as 7 Wonders, Puzzle Quest or Gyromancer. It is sometimes tough finding a game most of my family will enjoy - my wife in particular. The Sims, Mario Kart and Puzzle Quest are a few of the titles that seem to appeal to everyone. When we saw Puzzle Kingdom at the store, my wife wanted to pick it up, so pick it up we did.
I will admit I have never particularly followed the Naruto series. I don't watch a ton of TV, and when it comes to Anime I'm pretty limited outside of old Dragon Ball Z episodes. My kids however, enjoy the Naruto series. They have lots of the manga books that all three have at least browsed through, and in most cases read from cover to cover.
On top of that, this title is pretty old. It came out in 2007 and it has been bouncing around our house for some time. My son had played this game the most, but I was looking for something the play the other day and sat down with this game to kill a few hours and found myself playing it again for several more days.
It is a fighting game, usually one-on-one but there are quite a few different modes and variations you will have available to you as well.
Very much like there are a lot of words jammed into the title, there are a lot of ideas crammed into this game. Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love was released on the PlayStation 2 and Wii a few years ago now, and really the title is older than that as it was released in Japan five years prior. This is the kind of game that probably will not appeal to a large market, but more to a niche group. This game plays out very much like a dating sim, role-playing game and turn-based strategy title all in one. There are some ambitious ideas at work here, and not all of them work out as well as hoped.
Not exactly a new game, and not even a new game to me - I've owned it since this came out. So why the review now? Well, I haven't shown my Wii much (any) love since Metroid: Other M and before that, Red Steel 2. But, there's another reason I decided to write about this game. We had some friends come out the other night, and we broke this game out and had an absolute blast with it.
Some context - a group of about 5 or 6 of us regularly hung out at one particular friend's place in college. The standard games we would play were some combination of Madden, Tecmo Bowl, Golden Eye and Mario Kart 64. Many a weekend was lost to that couch and those particular games while beer and wings were consumed in plentiful portions.
Fast-forward to the other night, and we broke out Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 64. Thing is, the appeal of this game goes well beyond nostalgia. My kids and wife played too. The next morning my son and youngest daughter were up before us, playing online and trying to hone their skills for the next day's play. We had a really good time, so here goes:
Graphics - 8:
This series has never been a graphical powerhouse, but the Mario charm shows through and is inviting to younger gamers and older ones alike, as evidenced by our weekend experience with it. There's not as many animations, shadows, lighting effects as true racing games, but it does hum along without tearing and stuttering, keeping the game flowing at a rapid, smooth pace that keeps the fun factor high. Textures and details are a bit low most of the time as a result, but I love the vibrant colors throughout.
Sound & Music - 8:
Limited voices, decent music if perhaps less-than-amazing. It's generally up-tempo and fits what you're doing in the game. Sound effects are just varied enough to keep from getting monotonous. I actually like how well some of the sounds coming out of the controller work. That in particular was clever use of the technology in my opinion, and it serves an actual purpose when it happens.
Gameplay - 8:
Good overall track variety and selection. Some of the throwbacks are a blast to see. The motorbikes are a nice addition and you have a bit more control in the air as you show off on big jumps. The online actually adds a ton of value to the game. I've never been much for solo-racing in the Mario Kart games, and with this feature, you don't have to. Still a pretty robust community from what I can see. I've read a lot of complaints about how the AI works - though honestly it doesn't bug me much. Sure, the person in last has the best chance of getting huge 'weapons' or abilities to try and cut into the lead, but it helps keep the game fun for everyone involved, even if one or two of the players are clearly better than the others. If you go into it with that expectation, it doesn't generally bother you much.
Intangibles - 8:
Online really helps here. Other modes like the various battles help as well. The game is a racer at heart, but sometimes it is fun just to go after one another as well on a course. The single player is okay, but honestly it just feels like training wheels for the online or local competitive modes.
Overall - 8:
It's not the best racing game out there. In many ways, Mario Kart is not even a racing game. There are vehicles on wheels, start and finish lines and timed laps are a factor - but there's a sort of playful combat mixed in and outlandish shortcuts and plenty of game modes to keep you busy. I still get a huge hit of nostalgia from playing Mario Kart 64 - but there is a lot to like in this version as well, as long as you go into it with your expectations properly aligned.
I have always been a bit 'late' to the Metroid games. I didn't play the first one for the NES until the 'surprise' that Samus was a female was old news by a year or two. I never completed the SNES or Gameboy versions, playing them at friends' houses but never getting my own copies. I thought Metroid: Prime for the Gamecube was awesome, but my buddy beat it before I did and showed me the ending, and I never got around to finishing it. Truth be told, the last Metroid game I actually played through from start to finish was the original. It's odd, since I've always liked the series, so when Other M was announced, I was determined to finally sit down and play it through, and overall - I'm glad I did.
The game is clearly a Metroid one, featuring our bounty hunting heroine, Samus. Many of the creatures from the first game are re-imagined in this game, but instead of being a 2-D platformer or a first-person adventure, this game is set in a 3D world with some first-person elements. You will travel in every direction - up, down, left, right, forward and back. The first-person elements come in the form of some limited 'research' storyline moments, and when you point your Wii remote at the screen you enter a first-person view where you are stationary but have access to some powerful attacks and locking mechanisms like missiles. Sometimes the battles require this mode, other times it is just more convenient due to the weapons/view angle - and sometimes it is a hindrance, especially since you don't really have the ability to move around.
Similar to the other games, you slowly add to your abilities - though there is a story mechanism in place for this. Unlike the first game where you have to find improvements for your gear, you have most of them already in place but you are not allowed to use them.
That was perhaps the biggest chance taken with this game, and one of the most controversial. Nintendo games are known for great gameplay, but not really for quality narrative. The Metroid series has been no different, but in Other M they have a fairly involved storyline in place, and for the most part I think it works pretty well. There are some quibbles that can be made over how Samus' character is portrayed, and that she allows someone to tell her when she can use the powers of her suit, but overall I found that the storyline really kept me engaged in the game.
Graphics - 9:
I would say this is one of the prettiest Wii games I've played to date. There is a pretty good variety of environments and they look great. Samus looks good in action and seeing some of the classic creatures brought to life was fun. The cutscenes were quite good as well. In fact my oldest at one point asked me what system the game was on, and when I said "Wii" - she was suitably surprised and equally impressed.
Sound & Music - 9:
I thought the music was great - it fit the action and areas really well. There were plenty of good sound effects and for a game with a lot of 'shooting', it never seemed to annoy my wife the way games like Halo or Gears of War does. The voice work added to the already great visuals of the cutscenes. Even if you didn't care for the story itself, the presentation was among the best, if not the best, I've seen on the Wii, and the voice acting was a big part of this.
Gameplay: - 7:
A bit of a hit here. I thought the first-person view was a cool idea that could have been a bit better polished in execution. In some of the investigative scenes I would sweep over my target option 4 or 5 time before it would register and lock in. The camera worked pretty well the majority of the time, but there were times it was hard to target what I wanted to unless I went first-person, but that also made me a sitting duck.
Also, the game has a great exploratory feel to it, but it sometimes felt like the 'rules' were not clearly explained. For example I got stuck at one point for a good long while before I happened to jump up near a round hole in the wall. Samus grabbed on with one hand and hung there, and then I was able to morph into a ball and role into it, but I never noticed any tutorial or demonstration of this jump, grab and morph tactic, but it was used quite a few times in the game. At first I thought maybe I just missed something, but my son got stuck at the same part until I pointed it out at him. It was also annoying to sometimes see items that you wanted to collect, and that you could see and would show up on your map, but try for a long time to get them only to realize later on that you needed a specific item (like a wave gun to shoot through the wall and activate a trigger that was otherwise inaccessible). The first person mode is very cool in some of the details it gives you, but this was a pair of areas they probably could have explained better - perhaps through that mode.
Now, despite those 'bad' points, the combat is fast and smooth for the most part. You auto-adjust and shoot at things no the fly, and there are times where you just feel like a very dangerous bounty hunter. I especially liked some of the finishing moves Samus can put down on guys, like when she jumps on a creature and charges a blast to the head at point-blank range. You just feel lethal in those moments. Also there are frequent save/heal points, which is nice. Menus are easy to get around and there are multiple difficulty settings for people who want to try the game a few times.
Intangibles - 7:
The game is well-made and it is a lot of fun to play. I dislike when games rely exclusively on quicktime scenarios for things like boss-fights. You're offered these things in Other M, but you seldom have to use them - but doing so would make your life easier. There was a lava dragon I fought at one point and there were some cool scripted events during the fight that could be used to amp up the damage done, but I missed most of those and just gunned him down traditionally. I hate when you fight a boss, miss the quicktime event and he gets 1/4 of his health back.
Once you beat the game, there is an option to use your collection of powers to try and gather all of the items in the game. Cool for completionists, but honestly once the primary story was done, I didn't personally have much interest in that. I'm really big on completing stuff/gathering everything I can along the way, but once I reach the conclusion of the main story, I don't usually go further with it (Fallout 3 after the expansion packs is a good example of this. I did everything along the way, beat the game and didn't bother with the remaining side quests - just my preference).
Also, the game takes a hit with how short it is - I beat the game in like 12 or 13 hours. Not bad, but with no online and no New Game+ or additional story elements to hook my interest, it loses some value there for me.
Overall - 8:
This game is an interesting one, and its reception was just as interesting. For every person I find online bashing Other M, there's another singing its praises The 'professional' sites could not seem to agree either, with IGN scoring it quite high (8.5 I believe) while Gamespot and Gameinformer ranked it much lower if memory serves me right (6-something range I believe).
I for one found the game a lot of fun, and my son did too. Both of my daughters watched me play through large chunks of the game. They were invested in the storyline, and I enjoyed it too. I've always liked Metroid games, but as this was the first one I had beaten since the first, it just felt like they got a lot more right than wrong.
Going to theme again this weekend. Got free tickets to a Pistons/Heat game last night. Seats were high, Pistons got drilled - but it was still a load of fun, so NBA is my theme this weekend. :)
EA Sports did not get around to releasing its "EA Elite" basketball series (based off of its longstanding "Live" series) this year. For the last several years, 2K sports has been releasing an NBA series that has been receiving better reviews and sales. Thankfully, EA had another NBA game in the works, and while it does not try to contend with 2K as a realistic sports simulation, NBA Jam is a game that brings back a lot of memories while being a whole lot of fun.
NBA Jam has been around for aged - I remember it from late high school/early college. It was a quarter muncher in the arcades, and it was a blast when it was brought to home systems. We still have a version of it bouncing around on one of our Nintendo systems - I want to say our Super Nintendo. I may have to look that one up for my Retro Reflections this weekend.
I imagine most people have at least seen or played a round of NBA Jam in one form or another over the years, but for the uninitiated it is an over the top 2 vs 2 arcade hoops game. Defense consists of soaring ridiculously high in the air to block shots, or to try and steal the ball - or to simply shove the ball handler in an effort to knock them down and take the ball, or maybe knock them out of the air on a shot or dunk attempt (which sort of reminds me of Arch Rivals now that I think about it).
Offense consists of dribbling, passing and shooting. Oh, and dunking. Lots of ridiculous, high-flying dunking. You can amp these options up, doing some fancy dribbling to try and ankle-break your defender. You can throw elbows to clear space around you (Bill Laimbeer and Charles Barkley would be proud of these swinging limbs) and are capable of flipping behind the back passes to your teammate. This is all well and good, but you play this game for the insane dunks and hope to hit 3 shots with one of your players while the defender does not score. Do this, and the insanity ratchets up a few more levels as you hear the announcer let everyone know that your player is "on fire!". You gain a tremendous bump to your shooting percentage, allowing you to rain down three pointers and perform roof-scraping dunks that leave the net burning when the ball passes through it. Flying alley-opps, summersault dunks and more are not only fun to watch, but something you see occur in almost every game as well.
There are some other modes as well. You can play the classic game, but we have a remix mode where it is NBA with Power-ups (like ones that make you really strong, really fast or really small for example). There's a backboard smash where the goal is to deplete the basket's 'health' and the win. Obviously picking high flying dunkers over three point shooters or nimble guards works best. There's 'boss battles' where you play against NBA legends like Magic Johnson or Larry Bird - I thought these were cool, but a bit frustrating at times, 21 - which is three guys doing what they can to be the first one to reach 21 points. So, how does the entire package hold up?
Graphics - 8:
The visuals themselves are fairly throwback - but I loved that about the game. There are Photoshopped heads tacked onto the bodies. No fancy 3D rendering of heads here - you get faces that are looking this way or that way; they're comical and fun (especially in Big Head mode). There's plenty of things going on in the background, and while none of it is rendered in incredible detail, the graphics all animate very smoothly. I am sure from a technical standpoint it's easier to craft an engine that only has four players on a court instead of ten like an actual NBA sim, but the quality was excellent all the same. The game oozes style, and it feels like one big highlight reel.
Sound and Music - 6:
You know, I don't recall most of the music. I recall a few tunes here and there that were okay, never really heard anything that made me go: wow - that doesn't fit. But the sound effects were good and the announcer was a treat. In the old games he rattled off comments and one-liners and they still did not get old for me. The enthusiastic presentation kept me grinning and I was looking forward to certain catch phrases - knowing they would inevitably occur. Obviously it's not amazing tech on display here - it's not as detailed as the kinds of audio you find in a game like NBA 2K11 or Madden, but it gets the job done and helps set the mood. Still, a bit more variety wouldn't have hurt, especially given how many games you do play to get through a 'season', and it really does not have the depth of a game like NBA 2k where you get a lot of color commentary about a player's background.
Gameplay - 8:
You can navigate the menus easily enough. There's several modes here. Still, none of it works if you don't have a smooth controls and a fun game to play. Luckily NBA Jam delivered this. The pacing is fast, and sure - sometimes it feels a bit cheap when you get laid out near the end of the game and the cpu hits a near-half court shot to win the game *ahem*, but pulling off huge dunks never gets old and watching a basketball that's on fire swish through the net, setting it ablaze from beyond the three point line is a great feeling. There are a few different control schemes too, for people who just want to use the Wii remote on its side, or use a more active scheme that takes advantage of the motion, or a classic controller hooked up to the Wii remote (I usually used the last option myself, but all of them worked quite well in my opinion).
Intangibles - 7:
The game is a hoot. When I first put it in, I played for nearly 3 straight hours. All three of my kids stopped to watch and ask questions. My oldest, who doesn't really care for sports or play many video games sat out on the sofa chatting with me and getting excited at some of the bigger dunks for nearly an hour. My son doesn't really play sports games, but he enjoys this one too. He's not interested in a post game that mirrors real life, or if Blake Griffon's dunk ability is an 80 or 90 or how his players will progress. Games like NBA 2k11, as well as they are made, have never piqued his interest once, but he wanted to play this - on his own and with/against me. This game really plays and feels like the classic game - right down to having a bunch of unlockable content, which is a lot of fun to find as well.
That said, there are some limitations here. The game does not offer a great deal of depth to the core game. There are obviously differences in the players, but really Lebron James never felt that much different to me than using Wade. Bed Gordon and Rodney Stuckey were just fine, but not much different either. The additional modes are interesting, but don't live up to the primary game for the most part. Playing locally is fine... but there's no online, and that feels like a tremendous missed opportunity. That would have added a ton of life to this title in my opinion.
Overall - 7.25:
I've really been enjoying NBA Jam. It was a Christmas present that I've finally had a chance to sit down and spend some time with, and overall I have to say it is one that I am going to enjoy playing through another season or two with. But, I suspect it will wind up in my trade-ins pile before spring, and that's a shame because a few more decisions would have furthered its value - like adding online support. However, when it's said and done, NBA 2K11 will be getting put back into my 360 sometime this summer when I get an itch to play some basketball again, because the year by year progression and online options will be there. Then again, consider the audience I suppose. None of my 3 kids will playing NBA 2K11, but at least 2 have played NBA Jam. It facilitated some discussion between my daughter and me about the NBA, some of my favorite players - and that probably would not have happened without this game. That will no doubt keep me thinking favorably about NBA Jam for the Wii, much as I have fond memories of it from the arcade and Super Nintendo days.
Mario Party was a great game when it first came out. It has all of the trimmings of a great kid-oriented game, and it certainly appeals to that audience too. But I remember our neighbor and one of our other friends, back when I was in college and in my 20's, coming over to play until all hours when my wife and I were exhausted too. There were times Heather and I would go to bed and others would stay up playing it. The idea behind a video game that operated like a board game made for quick set up and tear down time, easy save options so you didn't have to worry about trying to put a board in a safe spot until later, and introduced minigames that made the experience more interactive and skillful than say, a game of Monopoly.
There have been a lot of different Mario Party games over the years - and we picked up number 8 not too long ago for our Wii. Our kids have always enjoyed the series, and while we haven't gotten every iteration of it, we've owned several. And let's be honest, the big kids (my wife and I), enjoy them too.
Graphics - 4:
Going to have to be brutal here. The Mario skin over top of it is cute in its own right, but the graphics themselves are underwhelming. Recently I reviewed a game called Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn and complained about how the combat textures and graphics overall looked like they would be right at home on a Gamecube. Well, this game fails to even meet that standard. At least some of the art in Fire Emblem had some nice art, but really here everything feels a bit 'chunky' - almost like it was designed for the Gamecube and not a higher end system (and let's be honest, of the current gen systems, Wii is the weakling of the group, so when a game doesn't even live up to those standards? It's a problem). Another oddity is the game doesn't push widescreen - you get black bars along the left and right sides. The bright colors and familiar Mario themes help save this game from taking a dive to an even lower score, but all in all, a pretty disappointing effort here.
Sounds and music - 4:
The melodies are not so bad I guess, but the music quality seems really low-end. It just feels like the music should be a lot better than this. Another problem - the sound effects. They are really, really repetitive. The board ones are a bit worse than the mini game ones, but they are pretty underwhelming to begin with, and when you mix them up so seldom, they grate just a bit more.
Gameplay - 6:
There's a wide variety of minigames, but the control schemes are actually quite a bit more limited. This is actually not a bad thing, it helps keep the games from getting too confusing, and they generally make good use of the Wii control's movement support. You'll be waggling away on a lot of them, though there's several games where you hold it like a regular controller and use the directional pad and the 1/2 buttons (usually the more combat oriented mini games). I did not have many problems with the controls, but I play more games than any of my other family members. Even my wife commented on several occasions that she felt like the controls were not responding very well. Menus navigate easily enough and the boards have some interesting variety to them not found in older versions of the game, so that helps. Some people whine that there's too much luck involved, but it's supposed to emulate a board game, and those often rely on little more than luck. So, with that in mind, the minigames provide a level of skill to the proceedings that negate the 'too much random luck' argument, in my mind.
Intangibles - 8:
Pretty much the one thing the got right. The game has a nice, solid Mario theme going on. That's always a good place to start. There are a ton of minigames, and they do a good job (most of the time) of integrating the Wii motion controls. There's quite a few modes and you can customize your game settings a fair amount. Also, as a multiplayer game, it works so much better than a single player game in my opinion. It would benefit from some online play, but honestly I doubt that there are that many people who are online and playing this game anyway, so the option (or lack thereof) might be a relatively moot point.
Overall - 5.5:
Now, a lot of points are lost on the technical side of things. There's a good chance that the audience won't mind - so that makes a huge difference here. I've got 3 kids. Every time I've proposed we sit down and play the game as a family activity, at least 2 and my wife quickly volunteer. Of course, that's when you notice things like questionable controls or the odd graphics. It's a flawed game with a great premise and the potential to charm an audience like my household provides. This of course helps, but it does not completely mask the shortcomings of the game itself. It's almost more of a teaser of what could have been, than what was.
Hope you are all in for a very nice evening, whether it's going out with friends, having family visit, or just hiding indoors and playing some video games - here's to a great if all-too-fast 2010 and what we hope will be an even better 2011. With that out of the way, I wanted to slip in my last game review of the year.
Red Steel 2 was one of those games that I think slipped under the radar a bit. It got pretty good overall scores from professional game sites, and overall players seemed to enjoy it, but I'm sure Ubisoft had been hoping for better overall sales. There were a few things probably working against the game though - from the Teen rating, to its requirement of Wii Motion Plus to the underwhelming public opinion of the first game. Now however, might be a good idea to pick this one up if you have had any interest in it. I've been seeing this game relatively cheaply on a variety of sites now, most Wiimotes come with Motion Plus, and many people now already have the Motion Plus, due in part to Wii Sports Resort. And don't let the name fool you - this game may share some principle ideas from Red Steel, but it's not a sequel and the quality is much, much higher.
Graphics - 10:
The game oozes style with its unique visuals - combining the Old West with Eastern/samurai influences. There's a flat, cartoonish look to the graphics that is not my personal favorite, but it works for the game and runs at a beautiful clip. I've read that it runs at 60 frames per second, and I don't doubt that. The engine used works well, never showing pop-in or tearing of any kind. The colors used are also vibrant most of the time. I would have to say overall, this is probably one of, if not the best-looking Wii game I have had the pleasure of playing to date.
Sound & Music - 7:
This was a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, the sound effects got the job done without ever being overwhelming - or terribly memorable. The music was quite good however, as I found myself on several occasions pausing and thinking how cool/atmospheric it was Like the graphics, the music was among the best I've enjoyed for the Wii to date. So why not a higher score? Well, the voice acting. It was bad - almost to the point of irritating me at times. I've heard some people say that it was an intentional choice to make it campy in order to compliment the cartoony graphics, but if that's the case then I think it was a poor design choice. In a game where your actions are so immersive, having voice work that takes you out of that feeling of 'being there' hurts a lot in my opinion. I'm usually a huge fan of voice work in games as much as possible, but here it was more detraction than advantageous.
Gameplay: - 8:
There is a lot of positive to take away from this part of the game. The Motion Plus is beautifully realized here. The sword motions are well-represented on the screen. This is no Wii Sports Baseball where clever animations hide the fact that controls are not precise - here your sword stabs and slashes all respond very nicely. There are times the motions are misread, and it can be somewhat frustrating when it happens, but I can't even say for certain that the game was misreading it - or if I was just being a bit too frantic in my handling of my weapons during some of the more chaotic combat scenes. I will admit I enjoyed the swordplay a lot more than the gun mechanics. Pointing and aiming is fine, if a bit too touchy at times, but swinging, blocking and counterstriking were a lot more fun for me personally. It should also be noted - this is not a game for sitting on the sofa. A lot of Wii games can be done sitting down - do not count this among them. I'm sure you could, but you'd be cheating yourself in doing so. You should be moving your arms about as you square off with a group of thugs. That being said, some people really rebel at the 'get up off of the sofa' ideal, even if they have a Wii - one of my buddies at work is like that. The controls do not work nearly as well from a seated position in my opinion - you have been warned.
Intangibles - 5:
The game takes a sizeable hit here for me. For all of the things done right above (except the voice work) - the game is just too short. I think I beat it in about thirteen or fourteen hours. There's some challenge stuff to add to it, but not much and with a lack of online modes, once you're through the story - there's just not much to do beyond that. I also enjoyed the early part of the game more than the latter quarter or so. The progression system is nice, allowing you to improve in a variety of ways such as new techniques, but by the last quarter of the game or so I felt too strong. I do not recall many fights at all that challenged me - I was just mopping the floor with all of the bad guys by that point. Lastly, the storyline of the game itself was somewhat lacking - I was completely into the gameplay and the combat, but it felt like the mechanics deserved a better game around them. I was doing a lot of contracts and side adventures more for the sake of the combat than any sense of story or game progression. If the experience could be slightly refined and dropped into a much longer, deeper storyline, I think we'd have an all-time title here.
Overall - 7.5:
I really wanted to give this game a higher overall score. I bought it shortly after it released, and it was one of those games that sat on my game shelf several months longer than anticipated. Once I gave Red Steel 2 a chance, I thoroughly enjoyed it - but with its lack of replay value, it's now in my stack of games to be traded in sometime in the next couple of weeks. It's one of those titles that if you can pick it up cheaply, it's worth a play and will give you a couple days of solid, entertaining action. It's not one that you'll put away and forget - in fact I'll likely recall Red Steel 2 fondly for some time to come. However, I can say right now that I have little interest in picking it up for a second round of adventure, diminishing the title's long term value when I have plenty of other games to play still. For those considering this title for kids, there' a bit of language and there's plenty of violence to be had - though this may be where the cartoon style is a boon. It doesn't strike me as visually 'worse' than some of the more action-oriented cartoons you find on TV nowadays.
I’ve long been a fan of turn-based strategy/rpg games. I’ve written in the past about some of the older ones I played, like the Shining in the Darkness series, and I couldn’t begin to tell you how many times I played Warsong on my Sega Genesis. To this day, Dragonforce is easily my most fondly remembered Sega Saturn game (I’ve thought about getting a Saturn again just to play that particular disc, and have long lamented that the sequel never made it to North America). More recently, I’ve played and reviewed some games that were fun, but left me a bit disappointed in places (like Record of Agarest War and Vandal Hearts: Fires of Judgment).
Somehow over the years, I’ve missed the Fire Emblem series. I did some research on it recently and realized it’s been around for quite a few years, on systems I had and just never picked up on it. I remember first discovering the Marth character in an early Super Smash Brother’s game. So, a couple of months ago when I stumbled onto Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn for the Wii, I decided to take it for a spin and see if I liked it.
The short answer is that yes – I liked it quite a bit. The game’s characters were interesting, and it led me to research the prior games. It’s then I realized that this particular title is a direct sequel to the Fire Emblem game for the Gamecube that I recall getting great scores when it came out.
The game itself is pretty straight forward. You follow a band of characters through some storyline elements that lead to set piece turn-based combat. There’s units that vary in weapon use and skill, and you try to take advantage of their strengths while masking their weaknesses against computer controlled units. There’s level progression, stat increases, a large variety of weapons and skills and quite a bit more.
The pros were pretty numerous for me. The game had quality built-in tutorials, several very deep systems (like the support system where if you have two characters who spend some time around one another and supporting one another in combat, then before their next map deployment you might get to pair them up, offering some bonuses when they are close to one another on the map. Have them converse on the battlefield and support one another and you may get an option to strengthen their support then later – and this is a process you can do a couple of times until they reach “A” level support). There’s a weapon forging system, lots of spells, a skill allocation system and more.
Overall, I felt like the graphics were better than Vandal Hearts, and the depth far more impressive than what Agarest War provided. That said, it is not all roses. The game is tough. I’m not new to strategy games, but like the old Warsong game, if a key character dies, you have to restart the level. If a non-key character dies, they are gone forever. This is a far cry from Agarest War, which almost requires that some of your characters die in bigger fights, so you can bring them back to life and chain ridiculous super moves. Not the case here. If you support character dies, there is no bringing them back on that map – or ever again. And you will have characters who die in just 1 hit if you don’t protect them adequately. There are times the combat just feels cheap, and you may have to go entire maps without making any mistakes, or risk having to start the map over or progressing without a supporting character anymore.
Let’s break down the gaming components and render a verdict now, shall we?
Graphics – 5:
I have always felt that some games benefit more from graphics and sound than others. If you’re playing a first person shooter or an atmospheric survival/horror game, then you need graphics and sound to help immerse you in the experience. RPG and strategy games don’t need these elements to be successful because they pull you in with other convesions like their story-telling and character progression systems. That said, it doesn’t hurt to have nice graphics, and this game does – in the cut scenes. The occasional full video gets played before chapters and key events, and they have a neat ‘events to come’ prelude that really worked for me in the context of the game, but honestly the in-game visuals looked like something that would have been right at home on the Gamecube or DS. Even my son at one point got that mixed feeling. He watched a round of combat, and said that the characters looked silly, but then a screen popped up showing the experience gained and showed a nicely illustrated portrait and my son immediately said, “His armor looks a lot cooler here.” The overall graphics just look muddled and relatively lacking in detail. One thing I did like is that the backgrounds were a notch above most other strategy games of this ilk, at least in art direction if not technical execution. They actually reflected some of the background scenery nicely and I recall one area where I was fighting in a swamp that characters were standing knee-deep splashing around in the water as they fought, which was cool.
Sound & Music – 7:
The music is okay, but again just has a last-gen feel to it. Nothing I can put a finger on, but nothing terribly memorable either. Except later in the game – I got to a chapter and suddenly I noticed the fight music was different. This made me wonder if the entire game’s fight music to that point had been pretty much the same or not – and I found I could not recall. The combat sounds are pretty minimal as well. The voice work is not bad, but you seldom get any. Between chapters there’s sometimes a narrator voicing over a map about the story’s broader events, but those sections are usually lacking in character and did little to really pull me into the story. The cut scenes had some decent voice overs, but they were too lacking in number to help bring the score up much.
Gameplay – 8:
Some people picked on this game for not making use of the Wii remote’s capabilities – I personally have no problem with that design choice. Like a sports game or a shooter, the aiming mechanic draws you into the game. I don’t see waggling a remote at the screen to march my units around as a terribly immerse component. The menu’s are good, there’s no slowdown, and I never had trouble operating my units, so to me the game succeeded in what it was trying to do.
Intangibles – 8:
When you gain levels, the stats improved are random. There are class evolutions your characters can experience too. The battle maps felt so much more organic than anything I saw in Agarest War, where I felt like my 6 guys were dumped into a small, level battle field. Here there were houses, roads, paths, terrain elements, varying win conditions and unit allotments – it felt much more in-line with the actual story that was being presented. That said, the story was a bit odd – it was not the best story ever, but there are chapters where you change parties and perspectives, and that lends itself to seeing what could have been a horribly cliché storyline into something a bit more interesting due to the varied vantage points experienced. There’s no online or multiplayer to be had, though to be honest I would not expect those things from a game like this. You can save mid-battle too, which is not only a huge time saver, but a sanity one too since there are times you will lose someone to some unforeseen circumstance, and you’d otherwise be faced with the decision to start the level over, or press on without the lost character. I’ve read that you can import saved data from the Gamecube version – Path of Radiance. I didn’t get to test this myself, but if so that is a cool feature for fans of the series. There’s also a new game plus that lets you slightly alter the storyline at one point and enlist the help of a few more characters from what I read. There’s also slight variations to the end storyline depending on which characters have formed support bonds and if their score is an “A” or not.
Overall – 7:
The ending was pretty cool – it was nearly a 20 minute affair if you, like me, sit through the credits after a long, hard fought game. I dropped about 55 hours into it, according to the save data, though I’d guess I spent an extra 10 over that on replays from last save due to the annoying death of a character. I games like Shining Force or Vandal Hearts, you lose a character for a round – not the game. To me that’s always been a slightly harsh game mechanic and one that definitely caused me some frustration here. It’s a tough game, but deep and it rewards you for time, patience and forethought. It’s an older game, but one that I enjoyed more than most of the recent ones I’ve played from the genre.
So after beating Crisis Core for my PSP, I found myself wondering which game to play next. I admit that of my systems, my PSP is probably the most underutilized overall. We don’t travel a lot and I’ve got plenty of other good distractions around the house. However, I’ve recently been making an effort to pick it up and roll out a bit of playtime on it lately, and while Crisis Core certainly repaid me for my time (review here if you’re interested) – I had about a dozen unplayed options to consider. I wound up choosing Dissidia Final Fantasy next.
This was a game that like Crisis Core, was looking to do something a bit outside of the turn-based RPG realm that the Final Fantasy series was so well-known for. In fact, what Dissidia turns out to be is a one-on-one fighting game, using main heroes and villains from the first 10 Final Fantasy titles. This gave me a bit of pause, but then the experiment that was Crisis Core turned out quite well, so I thought this one merited a chance as well.
Graphics – 8:
Not as many great cut scenes as Crisis Core, but what was there sure looked good. The character models all look good. The game moves smoothly and I never noticed any slowdown or tearing from the visuals. All in all, the PSP acquits itself nicely on this game. My biggest complaint is actually the same one I had for Crisis Core in that the camera sometimes felt a bit clunky in its choice of angles.
Sound and Music – 8:
The sounds do the job, though there was not much amazing on that front. There was voice acting for all of the characters and cut scenes between levels. With so many characters the quality was bound to fluctuate with some of the characters being represented better than others. The music was a standout for me. Having played almost all of the prior games that inspired these characters and stadiums, there were a few fights in particular (Jecht, Sephiroth) that were just fun to hear.
Gamplay – 9:
The combat is not terribly complicated, but pulling off moves is easy and the large areas feel great – though some are more fun to navigate than others. The menu’s pretty overwhelming at first, but once you familiarize yourself with it, the interface is pretty solid. Combat is designed around an interesting mechanic – bravery and damage. Bravery is a sort of teeter-totter between you and your enemy. If you perform bravery attacks, your opponent’s goes down and yours goes up. However, the only way to win the fight is to do enough damage (hence, the damage attacks) to drain the opponent’s hitpoints. It is an odd sort of two-layered system, but essentially the bravery feeds your damage-dealing capability. It sounds more complicated than it is once you see it in action, and it adds an interesting layer of depth that really helps the game’s combat to succeed.
Intangibles – 9.5:
There is so much to do here. Loads of characters to take through storylines. A chess-like battlefield representing each level that begs to be replayed over and over (I generally go through each storyline 3 times before moving onto a new one), items to unlock and purchase, new skills to master, summons to find… and the game even has a constantly running calendar in the background that keeps track of the real date and time. Why? Because playing on certain games and in certain amounts can yield bonus to your experience, item, skill and gold earnings.
Overall – 9:
Probably my favorite PSP game to date, trumping Crisis Core by a bit. Crisis Core had a more engaging storyline, but there’s just so much to do in this game. And the battles in Dissidia remind me of the missions in Crisis Core – they’re short, bite-sized pieces of action perfect for the handheld medium in my opinion. Sure, with it’s callback to prior Final Fantasy games, Dissidia is a bit of a fan service game – but when it’s put together so well, I can’t find anything wrong with that.
I am an unabashed fan of Final Fantasy. I haven’t played all of them – but I’ve played and beaten quite a few of them over the years – starting with Final Fantasy on the old NES. I was one of the many who had a first day of release copy of Final Fantasy VII and like many thought it was the best game I had ever played at the time. Years later, it’s story and game mechanics are among my most fond gaming memories. So when I heard that a prequel was coming out, I was really excited. That excitement was a bit tempered however when I saw my traditional RPG turn-based systems turned into a more live action game during trailers. I’m happy to say those particular fears proved to be unfounded.
Graphics – 9:
The in-game engine is good, you don’t suffer any breakup and the full motion video scenes that the Final Fantasy series have become well-known for hold up beautifully on the small screen. Don’t let the fact that this is a PSP game fool you – it holds up very nicely in both artistic direction and execution.
Sound and Music – 8.5:
The voice acting was good, though many of the sounds were a bit repetitive after awhile. Final Fantasy games are known for their quality music and this one while not among the best from the series, is still pretty good. I found the combat theme to be surprisingly catchy.
Gameplay – 7:
Sometimes deaths feel cheap. The actual action-oriented combat works well; certainly better than I expected. My biggest complaint from this department though was the camera. Sometimes I just could not get it into a good position, especially in narrow spaces. Also, the combat was a bit predictable in terms of how it was triggered. In earlier games, most combat occurred at random while walking. In later Final Fantasy games you are on an active field with enemies you can engage or try to avoid. Here? It’s things like intersecting hallways that trigger the usually-random group of monsters you fight. You find yourself hugging the walls awkwardly, battling the camera angles if you’re in an area where you don’t want to fight. It’s not all bad though. The action comes in perfectly sized smaller chunks that fit with the handheld platform. I had played this game for nearly a year on and off. I’d just pick it up some days when I had fifteen minutes to kill and do a few missions. The PSP is not one of my primary systems, so its games tend to get neglected, but this one’s content felt just right for on-the-go gaming.
Intangibles – 9.5:
There is a ton to do. The main storyline itself is not terribly long, but there are a bunch of side options to chew up your time. There’s missions that unlock over time or when certain criteria are met. There’s a fusion system in place that lets you upgrade items and materia (think of them as magic, skills and stat boosts). You get emails throughout the game from characters as well. There’s a handful of mini-games tucked in there as well throughout the storyline. To top it all off? There’s a New Game+ mode as well – always a favorite discovery of mine.
Overall – 8.5:
To date this was probably my favorite PSP game. The characters and world were sentimental favorites of mine. The overall production values were high. All of this was expected. The unexpected? That the action-based combat would work so well. That using one character throughout the game instead of a party would feel so involving. That you don’t collect experience and level up in traditional fashion, but that levels, boosts and special attacks are all managed through a perpetually running slot-machine like system that augments the action itself. Last but not least? The ending is fantastic. After I beat the game, I was just really taken with the ending and did some searching on the topic online. I was not alone in my sentiments there. A lot of people out there list it as their favorite ending ever. Mine? Maybe not, but probably top 10 to date, and getting there was a blast.
So I’ve had a few requests now to try and do more detailed game summary breakdowns, like my earlier reviews. I probably won’t do image and video embeds for now – but if people do want to see them I can generally make it happen (my computer is super slow though when I try to record game footage.
Definitely need an upgrade, and with the whopping 2 cents I currently have stored away from Google Adsense, I am so on my way there)… Anyway…
New Super Mario Bros. Wii has been out for awhile – so why am I just now reviewing it? Well, I picked it up as a release date title for my kids for Christmas last year and have only recently begun to play it. Plus, I needed a Wii game review on this site, so why not start with this excellent one?
The overall game so far has proven to be a lot of fun. I admit, I’ve been away from the Mario games for quite awhile. A couple decades ago I was blasting through Super Mario Brothers, parts 1-3, Super Mario World, etc – and I’ve played some of the others along the way that were Mario related: Yoshi’s Island, Paper Mario, Mario 64… but I didn’t beat any. For the most part, I hardly played them. Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 are supposed to be great games, but I haven’t gotten either yet (even used, if you can find them, they’re still pretty pricey).
This one? I get the feeling I’ll beat rather soon…
Graphics: - 8:
Probably the category I flip-flop on the most. The visuals are nothing we haven’t seen before. Mostly 2d stuff with some 3dish elements in there. Given that the Wii is not exactly a graphics powerhouse, that should knock the score down kind of low – but the colors are vibrant, the art direction is a lot of fun and I constantly found myself simply enjoying the world visually. It immerses you in a world involving a plump Italian plumber, riding a little dinosaur while jumping on or eating turtles. Job well done on that front.
Sound & Music – 8:
It sounds good – the effects are nothing amazing, but there’s enough variation to keep them from getting annoying. The music? It’s Mario music. Love it or hate it (I’m more of a love it) – it’s classic video game soundtrack and it sounds great.
Gameplay – 8.5:
Mario revolutionized platforming and has reinvented itself so many times over – but it always comes away feeling good. Jumps and controls feel like they should, though the waggle/spin takes just a bit of getting used to.
Intangibles – 9:
It’s Mario. In many instances, that’s enough for people. But the addition of multiplayer is a gas, and really – a very welcome change. Single player mode is still a bit of a challenge, and in some ways multiplayer makes the game even harder. But there’s a brilliant implementation to it that just adds to the experience – as long as you’re gaming casually.
My son who takes games a bit too serious at times? Not a good match for his younger sister. But overall, we have a ball with it. Big creative worlds to explore really add to the overall depth and add replay value to the game. I bought this new – I haven’t seen it used in any of our Gamestops – and I think the above is largely why.
Overall – 8.5:
I don’t play a lot of platforming games anymore. Somewhere along the way I decided to quit beating myself up with the need for perfect jumps and fast-moving level memorizations. This particular game however remained fun – not only for me, but for the entire family. I’m sure there will be a good deal more to uncover as we get further into it as well, but overall it is fairly hard not to recommend the game if you have a Nintendo Wii and enjoy Mario, platforming and group games.
