Portal was a surprising classic. Does the sequel justify its existence? Yeah, probably.
Portal’s appeal was its innovative first-person puzzling, as well as the atmospheric setting and the humour of being tormented throughout the game (although Gruntilda did that in Banjo-Kazooie years before). Portal 2 ramps up the plot elements with more characters and twists, as well as delving into the history of Aperture in some very impressive dilapidated settings. I feel that the puzzles don’t quite have the same feeling of build-up or the difficulty of the first game’s later test chambers, partially due to being somewhat overloaded with new gimmicks, with the gels and whatnot.
Still, it’s nice to have those fresh elements as well as the very well-executed feeling of progression with the frequent plot events. You’ve got Wheatley, his takeover of the facility, going underground to abandoned facilities, the joining up with potato GLaDOS, the progressive Cave Johnson time capsules, and the re-establishment of GLaDOS and Chell’s escape. Sorry, did I spoil it? Why are you reading this?
Anyway all that stuff is great, and the voiceover characters with their distinct personalities spice it up with different kinds of humour (even if GLaDOS is a bit neutered in potato form). I couldn’t figure out how to find the Cave Johnson plot stuff in the Perpetual Testing Initiative, but never mind.
Basically the game builds on Portal in most ways to deliver a very satisfying sequel. The puzzles are quite good, the atmosphere is top-notch. There’s nifty sound design touches (despite some audio glitches on the Mac version… grump), and a sweet new song at the end. Plus I don’t think they mention cake even once, they just introduce new memes that got overused. Yay!
I played this a little out of order. By which I mean the co-op segment, which is a fantastic addition, should come after you’ve done the single player, but I did it a few years ago with my brother. Great times. But don’t neglect it, if you can. The puzzles there really do test you, the teamwork element twisting your brain in all new exciting ways. From what I remember.
What Portal 2 proves is that Valve has still got it (as of 4 years ago, anyway). They really do know how to make a killer game. It’s just too bad they’re stuck on marketplaces, gimmicky tech vaporware, and DOTA 2, of all things. Yeesh. Still, very positive feelings for this game. Accessible, fun, and funny.
It’s easy to see that this game is trading on nostalgia, but the question of course is how much does it constitute a betrayal of that nostalgia? I fell for it; Rare’s seminal Goldeneye game on the N64 was a staple in our household, as in many others. Well, actually, I mostly got this game because it came with a Wii Classic Controller Pro; the choice was this or Monster Hunter Tri, and I don’t regret my choice.
This is one of the earlier games in my collection since the Wii got me back into gaming, so that I had the controller option. I did actually have a good number of multiplayer matches with my brother when we still lived in the same town, but it’s taken me until now to see what the campaign is like.
I enjoyed it more when I dropped the difficulty down a few missions in. Missing some side objectives forced me to replay missions, and that was no fun. What was fun was seeing how the story reimagined the Goldeneye game, reinterpreting it into modern times with Daniel Craig instead of Pierce Brosnan with the requisite upgrade in computer technology and changing political landscape, while also adding a few elements from the movie that Rare missed out. Unfortunately missing is Sean Bean’s likeness and the character of Boris.
Speaking of changes, of course they’ve overhauled the gameplay to suit modern games, for better or worse: ironsights, regenerating health, quicktime events, a limit on guns carried, and so on. I don’t play these kinds of games so I had to get used to these conventions, not to mention the inherent gross violence in murdering countless mans. As with the original, stealth is encouraged with silenced weapons, but now there are melee takedowns. It may be necessary on higher difficulties but I got frustrated with the whole “all guards are magically alerted if one sees you” thing.
There’s a variety of weapons. Too many maybe? I liked to see which were equivalents to Rare’s selection, which are based on real guns but given fake names. Sadly missing (at least from the campaign) were throwing knives, grenades, and mines. I used the Classic Controller Pro that was included at first, but found the Gamecube controller which they kindly made compatible suited much better with its unique button layout, chunky triggers, and more responsive thumbsticks. The CCP’s sticks are just so loose!
Let’s make a few more comparisons, shall we? Of course this doesn’t have the all-pervasive fog of the N64 game, but there are other graphical limitations. There seemed to be this interlaced filter over everything that was distracting; coupled with the blurring they add when running or reloading made it quite a mess at times. Apart from that it looked quite nice, apart from the animations and faces in cutscenes. Still a step up though, except for the nostalgia for charming low-fi blockiness. The music had nothing on Norgate, Kirkhope, and Beanland’s excellent Midi tunes. Utterly forgettable, but I suppose the stealth/action transition served its purpose, if boringly.
My favourite part of this remake/reboot/reimagining/whatever is still how it takes the original game, the movie, and the “new Bond” stuff, puts it in a blender, and comes out with a different way to tell this story. That aspect of the game works. Apart from that, it’s a competent modern shooter. Its mistake was positioning itself in marketing too closely to the fondly remembered game from 1997. But I looked past that, and had a decent time with it. Plus the Classic Controller Pro is useful, if not a great controller.
Originally I wanted to try the Wii version of this as a co-op experience. Unfortunately the disc was scratched up badly and refused to work after the tutorial. I found the DS version as a consolation. Interestingly, it was made by TT Fusion, the team that creates the handheld Lego games. I can see similarities—I swear they reused some interface noises—but this is more action-focused than the Lego games.
So this is a retelling of the Lord of the Rings trilogy from the perspective of Aragorn. There’s a framing device with Sam telling his children the story, which is nice for newly recorded Sean Astin dialogue and showing some measure of the peace of the Fourth Age, but these cutscenes can get tedious. You do also miss big parts of the story; at one point Sam essentially goes “and then me and Mister Frodo went and destroyed the Ring”, but it’s also humorous because his kids interrupt him: “We’ve heard that part hundreds of times!”
The game’s fairly simple action fare. You move through the levels, whacking bad guys. There’s some backtracking, items to find and chests to open, minor environmental puzzles. You also level up, unlock skills, and find different equipment (with cool lore names). But the main thing is using the two different sword attacks to make different simple combos, sometimes blocking or pulling out the bow.
Of course the levels span Aragorn’s journey through the War of the Ring, so there’s some amount of variety. But you’re doing basically the same thing in most levels. Luckily it doesn’t outstay its welcome; it’s over in several hours, a bit more if you want to collect all the things and clear the bonus battle arenas.
So it’s a fairly basic licensed game. The journals and equipment customisation are a nice touch, and the occasional touch of levity from an orc tripping and falling off a ledge was appreciated; I wish there was more of this sort of thing, although the Lego game, released later, does cover that angle. I would also add more characters. The Fellowship’s talking heads often popped up, but apart from the very occasional friendly NPC Aragorn feels alone. Maybe it’s symbolic. On that point, since Sam is narrating you don’t really see what Aragorn is thinking or feeling—he seems like a mere avatar, which doesn’t feel right for a game which is strictly about him. But anyway, it’s an acceptable job. Perfectly adequate.
Kirby’s never been my favourite, but this game has two big selling points: the innovative Pikmin-like gameplay, and the robust unlockable subgames. Both delivered right around my expectations. The end.
Seriously though, this is pretty different to most Kirby games. It likes to think that there’s a strategy element to guiding 10 Kirbys around, but the Pikmin comparison I’ve heard is overstated. It is sometimes beneficial to split up the Kirbys but opportunities are limited with the small screen size. More often than not you just throw every Kirby you have at a problem before moving on to the next one. It is adorable to see them swarming over each other while running, but your wrist will be tested by the frequent required flicking motion.
The levels frequently introduce new gimmicks to keep it interesting, especially the Dedede Resort, but some levels can drag. I went for all medals, and the game requires multiple replays of some levels to cover branching paths. This is a little tedious. Overall though they had a lot of ideas for this core gameplay of indirectly controlling a bunch of little blobs, and it was explored thoroughly and for the most part entertainingly, with gradually increasing difficulty.
I’m no expert, but the main game doesn’t seem to have too many returning faces, aside from the obligatory Wispy Woods, Waddle Dees, and Dedede. No, they saved all the fan service for the subgames, which deliver in spades—even the anime is referenced. The three most fleshed out are the RPG-style timing-based battle one Kirby Quest, the fun scrolling shooter Strato Patrol EOS with its snaking line of shooting Kirbys, and Kirby Brawlball, probably the best virtual pinball game since Pokemon Pinball for GBC. And I LOVE Pokemon Pinball for GBC.
I wouldn’t say these subgames are worth the price of admission alone since they’re still a bit short (and finding a copy of this game was taxing for me… literally), but they definitely add value to the package. Experimenting with different genres as a break from the core game was a neat idea, and well realised.
So, yeah. It’s a good game. It didn’t blow me away but it does feel overlooked, coming so late on the DS and not even having its manual on Nintendo’s designated page for manual downloads!! …Ahem. It’s cute, it’s satisfying, it’s got plenty to keep you playing, and the pinball is excellent. Recommended.
I enjoyed the hectic action of the first Force Unleashed. Being able to throw around crates and Stormtroopers alike had a fun sandbox-like feel, combined with collectibles, unlocks, and a mix of traversal and combat. It was a good game. The sequel seems to have been streamlined a lot, but also feels very rushed: shorter and with less variety.
The first thing I noticed was how pretty the game looks. They’ve done a fantastic job gussying up them graphics. The cutscenes aren’t full of hideous creepy doll faces anymore! The levels also look much cleaner, and that applies to the UI as well. So in terms of looks it’s a real step forward. Unfortunately the game really only has three distinct environments (Kamino, Cato Nemoidia, and the Rebel ship), compared to the six or so of its predecessor.
With fewer locations comes fewer enemy types. You don’t get the scavengers and junk constructs of Raxus Prime, the Felucian natives and Rancors, Wookiees, nor do you have climactic Jedi battles with Force struggles. In comparison, the final fight with Vader is quite boring. There are a few new robots and things, but the combat isn’t as varied. Another contributing factor is that it feels like different enemies must be tackled in specific ways, unlike the freedom of the first game; I also feel like there’s less big open rooms to play around in.
I mentioned the streamlining. The upgrade system is much simpler, without separate categories and lots of unlocks. There’s a bit more customisation available for lightsaber crystals since you have two of them now, which is nice. The menus are also a bit easier to navigate. These are all pretty much improvements, which is why I’m so disappointed they fumbled the whole “content” side of the game.
To draw another unfavourable comparison, this game either removes characters or reduces them down to bit parts. Kota is present but quite one-note, Proxy is basically a cameo, any other Rebels are nowhere to be seen, nor is the Emperor. There’s only one new secondary character introduced. Boba Fett and Yoda appear briefly in cutscenes, have a couple of lines, and have no bearing on the plot. As for Juno, *sigh*, well she’s gone from being a character to someone whose name the male protagonist can shout lots of times while she’s been kidnapped or being threatened, or being apparently killed. It’s very distressing and shallow. Starkiller himself has some struggle over whether he’s a clone or not, when it’s obvious that he is, and there are no real twists or progression. Two steps back on the story front.
I don’t know what else I can say. That paragraph really depressed me. There’s a challenge mode now, so you can try to do ten specific things quickly. You can now use Jedi mind tricks, to turn your enemies against each other or make them jump off a bridge. That’s a very neat addition. But the game is such a whiff; if it only combined its advancements to the engine and presentation with the scope of the previous game, and advanced the story, it could have been really great. Instead I’m not even sure it’s worth your time; just play the first one and be done with it. It feels like half a game, especially because the ending leaves threads dangling on purpose as a sequel hook that was never picked up. And Starkiller is just so angsty white boy. Get over yourself, dude.
AKA Mario Slam Basketball in my area, but I imported a US copy because that’s all I could find. A weird localisation choice, because the theme song has audible vocals saying “3 on 3”.
So I’m following up the visually daring Strikers with this entry, which at first glance seems pretty conventional. It’s got all the Mario staples, but the courts are well realised and varied, each with their own hazards to be aware of. There’s also the novelty that later on you can unlock some Final Fantasy players and courts, a crossover element that comes due to the game being developed by Square-Enix. This was a selling point for me, along with the surprising inclusion of Dixie Kong; an all-Kong team is possible, and glorious!
So this is a 3D basketball game controlled entirely with swipes on the DS touchscreen (and the L button). This works fairly well, and the mechanics are robust enough to reward skill (or at least exploiting the AI, which I found necessary to unlock the elusive Ninja). At times the challenge was high enough to get me in quite a tizzy, but it kept me trying again with its quick-fire matches and my eventual triumph was quite satisfying.
As expected of a Mario sports game, it’s no vanilla simulation. Panels can be run over when not in possession to grab items like shells and banana peels; you know the Mario Kart drill. When you’re dribbling though, the game is keeping the ball and bouncing on those panels to accrue coins. Baskets don’t just give you 2 points; no, 20 is the baseline, and each coin adds points. A full load of 100 with one of the special shots (unique to each character) can give you 140 points in one basket. Beating the opponent is not hard, but to get a tourney’s unlocks you need to stay 200 points ahead.
It was fun getting through these unlocks, changing up my team, and braving the dangers on each court. The game’s well made and it looks very nice. Lovely pixel art sprites bounce on the select screen, the portraits are attractive and expressive as is the game’s official art, and the courts have a nice visual identity with lots of detail on the sidelines. Have a scroll through this page, it’s neat. Even the Final Fantasy characters were made to fit right in, which can be an issue when worlds collide. It’s a gem on the DS, another reason why it’s one of my favourite consoles ever.
Now that I’ve played Ubisoft’s semi-crossover cartoony casual soccer game, let’s see how Nintendo’s equivalent of the era stacks up. Mario Strikers Charged (Football) is a Western-developed Mario Sports game, the sequel to Mario Smash Football/Super Mario Strikers on the Gamecube. Next Level Games, the Canadian developer, has since worked on other titles for Nintendo, but for an early effort of theirs this is very well made.
The thing that most stands out about this title is the visual design. The official artwork is totally radical and extreme, dudes. All the usual Mario cast members have been given an overhaul and an attitude. We’re playing street soccer, with padded armour uniforms and no rules. The courses are grungy and dangerous, the menus are futuristic with glowing lights everywhere and holograms. It’s a tremendously refreshing take on the Mario universe.
Matches are dynamic, with a robust set of tricks to keep the pace up. You’ve got two types of tackles, super moves for scoring multiple goals at once(!) or wiping out opponents, and even Mario Kart-style items to throw. It’s faster and more exciting than Academy of Champions, that’s for sure. And despite the unskippable animations each time a captain performs a Megastrike, it’s worth it to see Peach grow wings, Mario’s eyes glowing as he’s wreathed in fire, or Donkey Kong charging electricity before slapping 6 balls at the goal. The awesome excess of it is quite pleasing.
I also like the way it handles teams. Your team captain is your “main character” type, and has the flashy moves and a unique item that sometimes comes up. You supplement the team with 3 mooks, like a Boo or a Hammer Bro, which is good for inclusion without being such a “waste” of a character slot as seen in many other Mario spin-offs. These sidekicks have their own attributes and special shots which makes it customisable and a varied play experience. Finally, the goalie is always a Kritter, a rarely seen but appreciated use of a Donkey Kong character to flesh out the game.
So there’s a lot to like about the game. Unfortunately I did not finish it, simply because of the difficulty curve. I wanted to at least unlock Diddy, but although the first cup of three was almost laughably easy, the second one stopped me in my tracks completely. I backed out to change up my team, only to learn that I had to start over with the first cup again, playing about 10 matches I’d already done. I’m sorry, Mario Strikers Charged (Football), but you’re asking too much of me.
With only three cups, it also seems that content has been reduced from the previous title, at least on paper. The online multiplayer seems to be a big back-of-box feature, but of course that’s gone now with the WFC. The Challenges mode was a nice addition but also becomes brutally hard and there’s only a dozen of them. So that was it. I really love what they’ve done with the presentation and the feel but I would like a “reduce difficulty” switch, please. And I wish Nintendo would allow experimentation like this a bit more often. It’s wild and fun.
As part of an attempt to play a bunch of Rayman games, I branched out a little to this Ubisoft casual soccer game. It turns out I didn’t get far enough to even see Rayman. I didn’t feel too bad giving up on it though, as its relevance to the Rayman world is even less than the second and third Rabbids games, which I’ve decided to ignore.
I’d describe this game this game as “Harry Potter but with soccer instead of magic”. It’s based around a solo campaign mode where you play a soccer-loving boy/girl who has been selected for a wonderful, special boarding school all about soccer. Instead of Dumbledore we have Pele, yes the famous Brazilian football star Pele. Instead of Slytherin House there’s the rival Scythemore Academy. They serve as constant opponents in the campaign, and often use dirty tricks to skew the odds. There’s also a neat plot twist whereby your contract was faked and included a forced transfer to their school in third term.
I also got slight Psychonauts vibes from the game, with its cast of cartoony fellow students who each have requirements if you want to recruit them. The campaign is structured by terms, with each day having a few activities to get through including training, matches, shopping for new items, quizzes, etc. There’s a variety of drills that play out like minigames but they generally use a common control scheme so it feels cohesive. These allow you to upgrade your character, but only at certain times.
The forced activities structure feels limiting and although you can go back if you fail a milestone match, I just found the first one in third term too difficult. With no access to my trained squad, only myself, I couldn’t customise enough to overcome the two-goal penalty. Am I going too in-depth? What I mean is, it got hard and upgrading is slow. Also my skills apparently hadn’t improved to the point where I could score goals reliably, especially as the opponents got tougher. That’s when I realised that all that was standing between me and playing Rayman Origins, one of my favourite games of the last decade, was a concession that this game had beaten me.
Although the game can be frustrating to play and inconsistent in its difficulty, it has appeal. The characters are cute and the look of the fields is impressive, with colourful and eventful backdrops that change as a match progresses. Not to mention the curved playing surface which evokes an Animal Crossing world. The school hub also has some visual character.
Its status as an Ubisoft crossover also was a draw for me. Characters like the Prince of Persia (2008) will turn up, and apparently later Rayman, Jade (Beyond Good & Evil) and Altair from the first Assassin’s Creed, although I didn’t get to see them. There are costume options such as Rayman gloves or Jade’s camera that you can wear. It’s just too bad this stuff is mostly saved for late in the game, as the only way to unlock it for multiplayer use even is to progress the campaign. What’s more present are Rabbids; running the shop, and serving as opponents in a variety of drills, it’s nice to see them integrated into the world and it even makes sense with the later Rabbids games.
I can’t really recommend this game. I know I’m more persistent than a lot of people with sticking with games, and who knows this game might hit you in the right spot, or your kids for that matter. But I wanted to play soccer with Rayman, and I just couldn’t do it, and it lost its fun factor for me. At least it looks nice, and they don’t shoehorn in too many motion controls (Wii Motion Plus support is optional… heck, it might help to play better but I ain’t trying it now). DNF
As I said in my Judgment review, I react negatively to someone ostensibly in charge of a series being exclusive for dumb reasons; it just made me want to play Legends more. Having a female Belmont as protagonist and being the last of three Game Boy games and so presumably more polished also attracted me (although yeah, it’s in the same engine but it was actually made by a different team).
So in this game that is totally in canon and fits in the series perfectly no matter what people might say, you play as Sonia Belmont, who kicks ass before any Belmont men ever did (except Leon 400 years before, but he’s a wuss). She has a relationship with Alucard as well, who as we all know is pretty much the coolest dude to ever wear a cape and a moody expression. SPOILERS! He’s also the father of her child Trevor, at least I think so.
Unlike the first two GB Castlevanias, this wasn’t rereleased for GBC in Europe. But that just makes it more of an underdog! Of course, in these situations you have to examine all the options. To play in GBC mode or Super Game Boy mode? In this case, GBC mode has less garish colours and more distinction between sprites and background, which always helps. The SGB border is cool but who needs that taking up screen space?
So now the gameplay. This is my first “traditional” Castlevania game, the linear type with stages. I know this may not be the best example but it didn’t win me away from the RPG/exploration of the Metroidvania style. And it didn’t even have the infamous Castlevania stairs, about which I’ve heard more horror stories than about Dracula himself. There are some branches, leading either to dead ends or special items (which unlock the good ending). However the timer (why oh why did there have to be a timer) discourages dilly-dallying.
The graphics are mostly nice pixelly goodness—those tiny faceless heads are adorable—but then you get things like the awkward zombie seen above from time to time. The music is pleasantly chippy as well. It’s too bad the game suffers from stiff play control and slightly off hit detection.
From what I read, Legends seems to be slightly easier than its predecessors. There are concessions like the “Burning Mode” which give you brief invincibility, but only once per level; and sub-weapons are very powerful, but you do lose all hearts on death. But the game did well in transporting me into that retro mindset (didn’t prevent me from abusing savestates to get through though… I’m a bad, bad boy). Short, sweet, old-school goodness.
I feel ill-equipped to judge this game. Although I’ve done the research, I’ve only played a handful of Castlevania games; nevertheless, it seems appropriately fanservice-y for a crossover between different eras of Castlevania. On the other hand, I’m also terrible at fighting games and generally dislike them. So I can’t speak too much to this one but it does seem insufficiently balanced; I managed it after turning the difficulty down but that speaks more to my own ability.
So it’s a fighting game, but I liked that it’s less restrictive than others I’ve played. You can roam around the stages freely, and there are stage hazards and items to pick up. There’s not too many buttons used but they have to work hard to cover all the moves, and trying to pull off the maneuver you want can sometimes be tricky. There’s charging and directional inputs change them, and sometimes your character will attack a candlestick instead of your opponent. I found it was also easy to get interrupted. Each character is different too, and requires practice to see what they’re about. My favourite was Shanoa for her mix of ranged and close attacks.
Having said that, I’ve stopped playing far from the end point. I’ve cleared Story Mode with everyone, true Story with Aeon, and the challenge room-based Castle mode with one character. After that I’m confident that the game is not 100% for me, and I’m not willing to put in the hours for the “content grind”. It just wasn’t that fun for me. The best part was seeing how they’ve depicted this range of characters, seeing their moves and their little lines. But the novelty wears off quickly.
Of course, the depictions have gone through a process of reinterpretation. Each character has been redesigned by Obata, the illustrator of Death Note. I enjoyed Death Note and it’s interesting to see that design philosophy applied to a series that already had its own visual identity. Of course you do then get some glaring issues, even getting past the concept of “What that’s not what my favourite character looks like!”. I’m talking about the sexualisation; it’s bad enough to give massive knockers to Sypha, but to focus the character arc of the little girl character around a fixation on other women’s bodies is just creepy. Japan strikes again!
Well I’m sure you could read insights like this anywhere on the Internet so I’ll wrap it up. It’s cool to have this mashup of characters of the series, even some which IGA has declared non-canon (Cornell from the second 64 game). (Which by the way, I freely disregard; I like to be inclusive in my canon.) It just falls a bit short on the execution. The plot calling back to Kid Dracula/Boku Dracula-kun of all things is funny, but it takes itself really seriously within the game; there’s not much of a sense of fun except for the odd brief glimpse when Grant is on-screen. So a missed opportunity in some ways, but a work with some effort put into it.
I had trouble finding a copy of this game. Well, a PAL region copy anyway. you see, I’m fascinated by the rare and elusive cross-console connection. In this case, having Castlevania Judgment on Wii (a poorly received 3D fighting game with radically redesigned characters) and Ecclesia on DS unlocks a few characters early and exclusive accessories there, and an early item and mode here. And despite the DS not being region-locked, it seems that when you connect like this the games must share a region, and the Wii is locked.
Anyway, moving on. The early unlocks were good because as with the two previous DS Castlevania games that I played and loved, I don’t see myself conquering Hard Mode. This game is challenging; venture too far and the tension rises as you try to make it back to safety, realising you’ve overstepped yourself. It’s gripping.
So OOE isn’t too different from said prior instalments. It’s a wonderfully crafted 2D action platformer with a great soundtrack and crisp spritework, and perfectly fluid control. The particulars have been tweaked; you now have a world map with selectable locations. Some are small, straight corridors, others are Portrait of Ruin-style mini-areas to explore. It isn’t until you get to the traditional Castlevania twist point that Dracula’s castle rises up and you get a huge linked map to roam. Having these different locations allows variety in the environments, but despite this they tend towards blandness.
Shanoa is your protagonist: it’s great to have a capable woman as a lead, but the plot involves a cliche case of amnesia and even worse, loss of emotions. It’s not explored too thoroughly, and in fact the plot itself is a bit barebones besides a few key scenes and a nice massive twist that re-casts the whole first half. You do get some fun interactions with the villagers though: Wygol village is a safe haven with NPCs that you rescue. They form the basis of the quest system, which returns from Portrait of Ruin as well although they’re often just “bring me this item”. This also ties into a new loot system, where set chests will be refilled when you enter a zone with some randomness.
I like the equipment system: Glyphs are a combination of weapons and souls (from Aria/Dawn of Sorrow). Some enemies may drop a new way to attack, and dual-wielding gives you more options. Enemy weaknesses also encourage you to switch it up, but I found that a few key sets were enough and experimentation was not super necessary. Even mastering a few attacks feels good, but I invariably will double up attack Glyphs to make it simpler.
People say that this is harder than the previous two, but I found it on par with them. Maybe my leet skillz are improving. But overall it really is more of the same, and that’s no bad thing to be sure. A notable change is a return to the detailed gothic style of artwork, seen in dialogue portraits, in the style of Ayami Kojima’s work on past games (although in this game it’s done by Masaki Hirooka), as opposed to the more generic anime style adopted by DoS and PoR. The new map structure also helps the feeling of pursuing your adversary around the countryside, and restoring the villagers is rewarding. But really what it is is another very good Castlevania game.
This is also part 3 of a series on Rayman mobile games, starting here and continued here. You can see more information and screenshots here and here. The Gameloft composer who made the original soundtrack has put it on his soundcloud (minus one track) here. And you can download the game yourself here; getting it properly and legally is probably impossible at this point. Of the many builds and configurations, for my emulator the best one was the Samsung SGH-F400 version in the 240x320 category, although it was actually 240x297 for some reason. Most others didn’t render the “alpha channel” properly on the sprites so there were pink squares everywhere. However this version did crash on pausing or failing a race, so it’s a tradeoff.
Now about the game. It’s kind of a more primitive Mario Kart 64 clone, or a more advanced Super Mario Kart. You have to take the limitations of Java phones into account for this game; while the music is nice and jaunty, there are no sound effects. The graphics are a mix of basic, Star Fox-esque polygon objects and scaled sprites with some drastic pop-in. The track often slopes up and down and there are frequent obstacles, boosts, or jumps to keep it interesting, along with fun stuff on the sidelines to look at. The items are your pretty standard Mario Kart set. Projectile, boost, invincibilty, hit-first-place item, hit-all-others item, and a character-specific item with various effects (such as dropping baby Globoxes or the Teensie warping into first place).
As I often do, I liked the mix of 2D and 3D graphics, as the developers come up against the limits of the hardware. Speaking of which, as a mobile game the controls have trouble responding to more than one input at a time. Therefore we have karts automatically accelerating at all times, and directional power slide buttons for sharper turns (which I never found the need to use) as well as normal steering. Driving the inside line is rewarded with a boost, so powersliding didn’t seem necessary, at least on the difficulty I chose.
Each of the eight tracks has four missions: an easy race, a harder race, a time trial (where you have to finish each lap ahead of a countdown), and a 1 on 1 coin collecting race. It’s good having a few more options, and winning each event rewards you Lums which count towards unlocks of more characters, tracks, and karts. So for the first two thirds you’re always working towards something.
So it’s a fairly standard kart racer, constrained by the phone platform it’s running on. So why is it remarkable? Well for one you have a course with both Rayman 1’s Moskitoes as obstacles and Raving Rabbids-style cows on the sideline. As I’ve said about previous games, especially the GBA Rayman games, it’s so cool pulling from different instalments in the series as a celebration of Rayman. The characters include Razorbeard, a Hoodlum (I like to think it’s Andre), and a Rabbid in the same game, which is unique to Rayman Kart. RRR is obviously being promoted as the new release, with some of the Rabbids’ technological terrors, the elephant demons, and zombie and scuba diving Rabbids hanging around but combine that with the courses being set in environments out of R1, 2, and 3 such as a swamp, the fire sanctuary, the Dream Forest, etc. and you have the most enjoyable aspect of the game to me. And it’s an excellent way to wrap up a playthrough of the Rayman series. Wait, I still have to play that soccer game? Oh, man.
Rounding out the Raving Rabbids games proper that I’m covering in this playthrough, it’s the DS version. Despite having the same cover art and name, the three versions (Wii/PC/XB360, GBA, DS) are very distinct. In this case, it’s a combination of traditional 2.5D platformer and touch-controlled autorunner, with some minigames thrown in. It’s based more closely on the console version as it exists than the GBA one, which worked out some of the project’s concepts.
I’d explain that partly by it coming a few months after the initial Wii/GBA release. The later development time also seems to inform the plot, as the opening cutscene mentions the Rabbids invading Earth, which seems to be borrowed from the in-development-at-the-time Raving Rabbids 2. In-game evidence, however, suggests that it’s the same setting in the Glade of Dreams as the first game.
Costumes return; four this time, with new elemental affinities. They’re activated by corresponding pads, and the cues in the level leave no confusion about which is required. It’s simple but works for blocking off areas or what have you. The gating is important because each level has 2 or 3 different paths you can take by replaying it, which require jumping around between the level menu hubs when new abilities are unlocked.
So each level has 3 phases: the first is in 2D platforming style with 3D models on an occasionally rotating plane. Finishing this phase takes you to a minigame, either converted from a corresponding one in the Wii game or made new for the touch screen. After this is an autorunning part, seen in the screenshot where costume powers are freely available and you have to use the touch screen and power-switching to remove obstacles. It’s reminiscent of the Murfy-only parts of Rayman Legends. Later in the game you get a flying machine thing which works like the autorunning bits but with shooting and a grappling plunger gun.
An interesting thing about this game is its look and feel; it’s seemingly built with the same engine and some assets from the DS port of Rayman 2. It’s got the same font and sound effects, and some carryover mechanics and animations (including an overly sensitive ledge grab). It’s cool that they repurposed it for a 2D game, but one that feels so very different to the actual 2D Rayman games. On the other hand, music is taken from the console Rabbids game, heavily featuring the dance tracks (yes, especially Girls Just Wanna Have Fun), and loading screens show what looks like Rabbid concept art.
The level designs are quite simple, with nothing too challenging. Enemies are Rabbids with different weapons such as plunger guns or vehicles, the elephant demon guys (seen in the screenshot) from the graveyard parts of the console game, and various other creatures, some unique to this game (including a flying robot fish boss). You deal with them with a basic short-range punch attack, or a longer-range and more powerful attack that throws a Yellow Lum, looking like the attack from R2. Yes, in this game Yellow Lums are not special or finite but common ammunition. They can also be cashed in for health at certain spots so it’s not a bad idea, but the game throws them at you so often that after a few capacity upgrades I constantly used them and never ran out, so it’s not too balanced. Enemies drop stars that fill an experience meter, which on level up will increase your max health. Again interesting idea but it tops out well before the game’s end, and it would have been nice to do something else with that other than health upgrades.
So the DS game is an interesting little concoction; take a brace of Rabbids, a dash of Rayman 2, and mix in a whole lot of odd new gameplay ideas that don’t always work super well in practice. It goes to show that overall the first Rabbids instalment had some unique things to offer for the series as a result of being a combination of Rayman stuff with the emerging Rabbids phenomenon with their associated, shall we say, “voice”. It’s not the most fun or polished game, but I appreciated it as “Rayman done differently”.
Until now I haven’t really dealt with reconciling the three original Rabbids games to each other and the greater Rayman universe. But now that they’re done let’s have a quick crack. It doesn’t help that they each feel so different, but here’s how I see the plot. The Wii version doesn’t have much of a resolution but the final shooter segment does show Rayman plundering their base, followed by his escape. Of the important named Rabbids, Pink is destroyed but Serguei unharmed. The GBA version must be after this, as this time when Rayman is captured they’re not so lenient and confiscate his hands. Since the Glade has now had time to react to the surprise invasion, Ly and Murfy have shown up to help. The game ends with Rayman defeating a prominent Rabbid contraption, which is sometimes referred to as their mothership. This must be when they decide to leave the Glade and set their sights on easier targets, namely Earth, which carries into future Rabbids games. The DS game possibly represents Rayman trying to abort their invasion of Earth before they’ve left. He defeats Seguei at the end (named as Rabble Droid in the game), tying up the loose end of the power structure established in the console game. This vacuum is filled in later games, though, apparently, and his efforts aren’t enough to prevent the invasion of Earth. Oh well, at least they’re not bothering the Glade anymore. That’s my summary, and it’s possibly more thought than the developers put into maintaining a consistent narrative! Nah, just kidding, they’re alright.
So that’s the main releases of the Raving Rabbids era covered. But there’s a few little things to go, not least of which are the next few mobile titles. Keep track of the Rayman posts I’ve made here.
It’s hard not to get wistful about what Raving Rabbids could have been—a full-blown adventure with silly but sinister bunnies invading Rayman’s peaceful world—but even with the waggle-tastic party game that it became, you can see glimpses of that concept coming through.
That’s not to write off the party game that it became. Like any minigame collection there are some duds, but a lot of them are enjoyable and use the Wii remote in interesting ways (albeit ways we’ve now seen many times and have become bored with). It is important to remember that this was a Wii launch title, and a spinoff like this is fair enough. The later games are less interesting though as the Rabbid concept evolves (or devolves) into its own “forced wackiness” thing as it loses its connection to Rayman.
So the idea is that Rayman gets captured (along with some baby Globoxes with a strange new appearance) and forced by the Rabbids to compete in a series of trials for their amusement. As he wins more events, he is awarded plungers which he eventually uses to escape his prison cell. Meanwhile, the Rabbids gain more and more respect for him, although that doesn’t really amount to anything. The periodic light gun shooter-style segments were my favourite part; they are the bits that primarily show Rayman’s rescue of the Globoxes although that too is undermined in the ending; still, the final challenge as you shoot your plunger gun while roaming through the menacing and mysterious Rabbid base is atmospheric and climactic. There’s just still a disconnect between the framing device and these sections that reveals the true nature of the game as a fun tech demo party game… thing.
As I said you expect some dud minigames, and some that even block your progress, but the story mode has the concession that only three out of every four games must be passed. There’s always one dancing game in a set, with covers of songs in various genres with Rabbid-style vocals including, infamously, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. I found these easy; generally, the precision games were the difficult ones for me although momentary motion control failures could also be troublesome for the action-based ones.
I think the highlight was some of the visual design, seeing how the concepts of the Rabbid characters like Serguei and Pink, robotic bunny mechs, and different locations had come through from the concepts to the finished product. The locations range from Wild West deserts, junkyards, to more abstract settings like inside a Rabbid’s brain, to Rayman 2-style beaches and graveyards (these were particularly atmospheric). There’s other creatures involved too like sheep, pigs, and cows with odd proportions, rideable giant bats and warthogs, and these elephant demon things that are seen in the graveyard. Rayman’s costumes seem an important part of the Rabbids thing; in this game they’re purely cosmetic but you can mix and match bits of them… seeing Rayman in pants though is just weird.
Some of the minigames feel like a chore, but some are quite fun. It’s not a real Rayman game to be sure, but it’s set in his world and you can see through the waggling and silliness to the idea that the Rabbids would have been important to Rayman’s story; that aspect is still there at least in this instalment. And I embrace them as part of his history, but I’m also glad he was able to continue having platforming adventures without them.
So now I’ve played all the Lufia games. This one was very good, just tweaking the formula of the series while inhabiting the Game Boy Color very well. Let’s start with my understanding of the development of the game.
At one point there was a prequel to Lufia 2 being made for the GBC. There were also plans to produce a sequel called Ruins Chaser set several hundred years in the future, to be released on the PS1 (more here and here). After its publisher folded, Neverland had to scrap these plans and made an alternate sequel on the GBC, also scrapping the “younger Maxim” game to make way for this game. As it stands, this is the final game in the continuity and although it’s not a definitive conclusion (it ends much like Lufia 1), it’s satisfying. (EDIT: There’s no evidence the prequel would have been about Maxim, that was just speculation I read and accepted.)
The plot is pretty familiar: Sinistrals appear and each one harasses a particular continent in their own way (this aspect is done well in this game), a hero with red hair and a mysterious heroine with blue hair gather allies to combat the threat, there’s an airship, and a twist in the tail that is by now no surprise because it’s the same every time. (That doesn’t stop it being emotionally impactful, though.) There’s a total of 12 playable characters + 1 secret bonus dragon, so characterisation is perhaps spread more thinly, but each one is distinctive and likeable despite (or in some cases because of) the silly translation quirks.
Having so many characters is handled well for gameplay purposes; unlike something like a modern Final Fantasy or Chrono Cross with a plethora of characters but only a few slots, you go into battle with a grid of nine. The grid is important as each column gets one action per turn, but you select which character in the column takes that action depending on the circumstance. This allows for flexibility that is greatly appreciated. There’s also a sort of elemental stat in four colours that each character embodies, and they contribute that stat to others in their row or column. This informs stat bonuses and also what IP skills they can use. It all sounds complicated but you quickly get your head around it and it allows for deep customisation and ultimately a good RPG experience.
On the other hand, we have the dungeoneering which in this game is completely randomly generated. Gone are the puzzle dungeons of Lufia 2, but there’s still wandering monsters and interactions: cutting bushes with your sword, finding hidden treasure in walls, and a longe-range stunning attack to ambush enemies. It’s just that every floor of every location, while looking different, will end up playing the same. If you view it as less brain-intensive dungeon crawling the repetition can be almost relaxing, at the expense of challenge. It also means the end-game optional mega-dungeon, the Ancient Cave, is just the same as the usual game—but in this case, it’s even bigger and with better rewards.
So what we have is a colourful and deep 8-bit RPG with a wicked awesome chiptune soundtrack, a sometimes laughably poor localisation, repetitive dungeons, pleasingly economical use of a limited-pixel display, and a unique battle system. That’s Lufia 3, a gem on the GBC and in my opinion, worth your time. It takes time too, the random dungeons really pad out the experience, but as long as you can mentally switch gears for those sections there’s a lot to like. You can see another review and official art here, and here’s some alternate official art thanks to the ever-reliable Lufia superfan Sinrevi.
