Here’s a Lego game. The episodic structure of the TV show lends itself well to a level-based game like this, but my relative unfamiliarity with the source material rendered it slightly unrelatable on top of the disconnected structure undermining the storytelling. I liked the more modern Lego look and feel for the Star Wars setting, and more versatile characters, but some of the new gimmicks like landing a ship and continuing on foot were lame.
Having run short of new Picross games to play *cough Western gamers should really have been allowed access to Club Nintendo Picross and Club Nintendo Picross Plus cough* I turned to the past to satisfy my burning desire for picture crossword puzzles. Jupiter’s very first offering in their long-running series (now 23 strong by my count) is a barebones affair, mostly 15x15 puzzles on a tiny monochrome screen.
Quick roundup of minigolf games that I’ve tried out with my brother recently. We found all the real-life courses in our city, then turned to the virtual world. A trend that applies to most of them was that too much content is locked behind single-player progression, or skilful mastery of the games. This makes them bad party games, which is what a mini golf simulation should be.
My expectation for n-Space’s accompanying handheld port to Activision’s Eurocom’s Albert R. Broccoli’s Goldeneye 007 was that it would somehow be more like the N64 classic that this reboot was trading on nostalgia for. Turns out it was, but only a little bit. A combination of the lower technical specs of the DS that forced chunky models and simple level layouts, and perhaps a few intentional design choices here and there (such as displaying health and armour in the curved bar form, even if there’s no longer a watch aesthetic to contextualise it and it still regenerates anyway) made this portable port at least feel a smidge more like I was back in the good old days.
I regret not giving this game a chance when it first came out. No, I didn’t sign the petition for Nintendo to scrap it and make a real Metroid game (which was a real, and very stupid petition). I didn’t lament the art style or Samus not being the focus. In fact I was in favour of Tanabe’s justification that it would expand the universe of the series. My issue was more that with Splatoon still on everyone’s lips, and Tri Force Heroes being around the same time, that Nintendo was just releasing too dang many multiplayer games.
I do feel guiltily like an entitled fan that it took this E3’s announcement of two new Metroid games to prompt me to reevaluate this maligned title. But I’m glad I did. More than the other two multiplayer games I mentioned, a solo player can have a perfectly good time with this, and as far as I’m concerned Next Level games have done a spot-on job making this feel right; it feels Prime. Even with chibified characters and working as part of a Federation team and having a locked-down mission format, it fits.
More than the previous Prime handheld game, Hunters, they’ve also made the game fit the portable format. Breaking it up into missions with briefings and loadout customisation in between works for the 3DS and it works for multiplayer. The missions’ objectives and setpieces have pleasing variety. As you progress you learn more about the three planets in the Bermuda system, and become more powerful not through acquiring upgrades and abilities but by collecting and improving randomised perks, and becoming more familiar with the limited sub-weapons that are provided. The scoring system is also addictive, although to get the best results there’s only one right answer for each mission; I wished for more leeway or options. Some exploration is encouraged but at odds with this, speed is demanded for good scores.
Every part of the game works in single player, but obviously it was designed for teams of up to four. I was fortunate to have a play session with one and then two friends (thanks Gibbon and Sun-Wukong), and had a blast. Playing with friends really does improve the experience, with plenty of opportunities to work together… as long as you have some external voice chat client like Discord!
As a way to revisit the Prime universe, the game acts as a refreshing antidote to Other M’s brazen, sour, profligate boondoggle. I would have appreciated more fleshing out of the faceless characters involved or a central villain, but the pirates were a credible threat and having Samus flitting around being awesome was an amusing and welcome addition—especially when *spoilers* (she gets brainwashed, although the fight with her is disappointing as she’s in morph ball the whole time). The idea of the Space Pirates embiggening themselves and you fighting back with big ol’ mechs is a jolly novelty, but you don’t always get this sense of scale in the levels so it was occasionally jarring.
Federation Force is absolutely a worthy Metroid game… as a spin-off. I hope it can be accepted as such, seeing as the franchise has been promoted to “not actually dead”. The planets you explore are well themed and have interesting backstories and designs. The core gameplay is very different to other Metroid games, yes, but the way the game world is constructed and the attention to detail make it feel very much like a Metroid Prime game. The control scheme is also decent, and even the small amount of motion control is well-implemented. As for Blast Ball, I didn’t really enjoy it at all, but it’s a neat little extra I suppose. Give Federation Force a chance!
Dragging on my “complete” Avatar playthrough series project thing, we pick up with the PSP version of the first game. You’ll recall that the first released game (except for the PC version), despite its generic title and boxart, features a unique story set in between Books 1 and 2, wherein the Gaang picks up Haru and scoots all over the four corners of the world to confront a new mechanical menace.
The PSP game was made by TOSE, as was the DS one. The two share much in common, most notably having identical maps for all areas; the PSP version has the edge though in that the clumsy screen-rotating shoulder buttons are cut, and it’s therefore much easier to navigate. It lacks the charming 2D sprites, but makes up for it with nice dialogue portraits, and the simple 3D models are sweet in their own way as long as the camera doesn’t zoom in too much.
There’s more though, much more. On the PSP the game is souped up mightily compared to the DS outing, with equipment, upgrades, and sidequests fleshing out the experience much more. A seamless game world, and most importantly regular save points that restore your health (or “honor points”) for free are essential features bafflingly missing from DS. In terms of features and presentation it falls in between the main console version and the DS edition, although the GBA’s purity and polish still give it superior appeal and playability.
The DS game can boast one or two things for itself: a fun variety of food items, a full party of four, and brief voiced cutscenes; I felt the absence of these on PSP, especially when certain characters are required, forcing the player to backtrack for swaps. But on balance it’s no contest. On PSP you get gameplay that’s at times challenging but fair, also a useful minimap! It’s a mediocre action RPG but as a fan of the series I loved experiencing this story once again, and the different elemental machines make for great villains with cool designs whose attributes also inform the gameplay.
Speaking of which, as is customary, let’s look at unique elements this game contributes to Avatar lore. Full portraits of all NPCs is a good way to show off the dress of the different cultures you encounter, as well as a good look at Lian’s design. The plot and script are nothing new over the other versions (making the same gaffes as the other versions of this game, such as mistaking Omashu for Ba Sing Se), but as before I appreciated seeing the occupied port town, the earthbender training camp, the village in the shadow of the Southern Air Temple, etc.
As always I also noted animals not seen elsewhere. These include the new mouse/squirrel-cat hybrid, and a blue-ish kind of chicken; as well as the blue armadillo(?) wolves and odd deer seen in other versions. There’s ordinary cats in the village adjacent to the Air Temple, but the show already had one of those. There’s a few spirits too, with the familiar horned bear in chapter 3, but also a new six-legged tortoise in chapter 5 and a blue tiger/wolf in chapter 6. These little tidbits are so exciting to me! Anyway thanks for indulging me.
PS. One final bafflingly stupid piece of trivia: a formatting error on the printing of the game’s UMD disc displays the spaces that should be there in the title as question marks, as you can see in this picture I took.
Tenkaichi 3 has a reputation for having the largest roster of playable characters of any Dragon Ball game. Er, not counting the card-based smartphone one. It’s not intending to be a world-class fighting or action game but it does succeed at being a “Dragon Ball simulator”, making you feel like you’re playing the show. The strength of the game is in its breadth of content, not its depth.
Well. During my scathing review of the DS version of this game, I speculated multiple times on how superior the PSP version would surely have to be. Turns out… I was completely right! I was amazed at how much better this game was on its lead platform.
Every one of my complaints in the DS game was addressed on PSP: Rianna and Zeeo are in fact developed better through animations and voice acting; they felt more believable as a team. Their abilities are more useful, and fun. Level design is more dynamic; there’s a bit more of a combat focus but this version pulls it off well and irritating touchscreen minigames are completely absent!
I was so impressed with this game in comparison to the miserable DS port that I enjoyed it very much, even engaging better with the story as well. The question I’m having more trouble answering is: is it a good game in its own right? The controls can be clunky, and the shooting is not amazing. But I think the buddy gameplay with all of Rianna and Zeeo’s separate possible actions, not to mention combo attacks, makes up for this and adds enough depth so that it ends up feeling like a decent enough handheld action game. Plus it’s a neat little Star Wars side-story that fits well in the universe. I must reiterate: absolutely avoid the DS version. This one is pretty good.
Guess what! Another Picross game came out, and I played it. This one’s quite good, it’s got Micross puzzles and 20x15s, in fact in terms of quantity of content it’s basically the same as e6. Along with the “shared pictures between Picross and Mega Picross modes” thing. However, this time individual puzzles have medals for not using hints (got em all, bucko), and there’s a new speculation feature that lets you use a temporary third kind of mark for squares. Some puzzles were even hard enough that I used it once or twice!
Essentially it is more of the same, but that’s just peachy for me! I will say that the subject matter of the pictures was perhaps more interesting than usual, with some fun structures, actions, or mythological creatures portrayed. I won’t be at all upset to see a Picross e8 come along. Actually, no, give me Club Nintendo Picross and Club Nintendo Picross + or give me death you chinless hoopleheads!
More Lego! Like with Lego Star Wars recently, it can feel quaint to go back to the old days, but we also tend to miss features like splitscreen. The game is decent, it’s up to the standard, although character choice can feel limiting due to the nature of the films. Speaking of which, my co-op partner/wife had not seen the films, so this was her first exposure to these stories. Imagine! As a result the game didn’t have quite the impact it should, and I had to explain lots of things.
Due to the swashbuckling nature and down-to-earth abilities of the characters, this game feels most like Lego Pirates of the Caribbean if I had to compare it, but once again with this earlier game there were less bugs and crashes than we had with others. It also made me realise that while Temple of Doom may not be the best of the films in a lot of ways, it has the best setpieces which made for the best game levels.
I hate the need to preface this, but this game has had some amount of backlash and negativity. Having been exposed to that, I hope I haven’t become defensive about it. But I think I’m being honest and true when I say that Yooka-Laylee was a transportive experience that felt great to play, made me smile and feel like a kid again.
Here’s three quickies I did not finish, for various reasons. Yes I’ve played games other than Zelda in the past month! A bit.
Let’s make this quick. BotW is good, yes, but I have criticisms. There’s clunky systems, not enough variety in content such as enemy types, and a frustratingly underdeveloped plot. That didn’t stop me playing it for a month straight and loving every minute, though.
I’ve translated other Club Nintendo comics before from German to English (check the tag). The Game Boy Pocket Adventures comics were bonus features, taking about a quarter of the back page of the magazine. The comics are a loose series of mildly amusing situations involving anthropomorphic Game Boy Pockets. They ran in only six issues in 1996-7 before disappearing.
They probably weren’t missed. Maybe it’s because the comics feel a bit lame, with no punchlines or fun situations; merely a cynical attempt to boost the brand of the Game Boy Pocket line? Eh, they’re cute and they exist so I translated them.
A warning that the final comic page contains some pretty offensive stereotypes with cartoonish Native American and Chinese Game Boy characters popping up. I make no excuses for this and present them as they were originally written, although I think they were a horrible idea conceptually.
Website of the artist responsible for the comic artwork
Database of Club Nintendo comics and where to find English translations
Yooka-Laylee, low-res pixel style!
The spirit of Rare and Banjo live on in this lovely new game from Playtonic. The writing is sharp, the characters are goofy and lovable, and playing it makes me feel like a kid again. Thank you Playtonic!
Yooka, Laylee, Trowzer, Dr. Puzz (& Roysten), Capital B, Dr. Quack
In The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, Gorons are allowed to enter Gerudo Town, even though...
we’re the same
New pixel art: Donkey Kong and Friends!
My biggest pixel art ever, 100 Kongs and 213 of their best friends and enemies! This was a lot...
This year wasn’t the most productive thanks to Animal Crossing and a pandemic going one, but I still had fun doing what...
Hello, lovely Rayman fans! Turquoisephoenix here with some Edutainment...
If Sir Cochin caught you insulting her in a couple of hours you’d be facing a screaming mad knight on the tilt yard racing at you. But all her...
