As part of a rewatch of Avatar: The Last Airbender, I’m playing video game associated with the show. Of course I had to wait until Book 1 was finished to start this one, and finish the game before Book 2. Yes, most versions of the first tie-in game bar the PC version share a unique plot. It’s a nice little sidestory, with some inconsistencies to be sure, but greatly enhances the value of the game for fans. Note that the PS2, GCN, and Xbox versions are mostly identical, and this Wii version is a port of that version with some motion controls added.
I would tell you to go back to my review of the DS one for a rundown of the new plot, but I’m always embarrassed by my old writing so I’ll tell you again now. The setup makes you think it’s a Mechanist situation where a gifted engineer is making machines for the Fire Nation against her will. You find out though that Lian, aka The Maker, has a grander plan to replace benders with analogous constructs and end the war by having a better army of robots. You also discover benders from every nation are in on the conspiracy. Tracking Lian takes Team Avatar (plus Haru, so that you can play as an Eathbender too) from the North Pole to several Earth Kingdom villages, Omashu, a hidden island with a lost history, and the Southern Air Temple before you confront Lian in her fortress in what has become a desolate wasteland due to her machinations.
Some parts feel familiar, taking cues from the show, but mostly it’s fresh and exciting to see new places and talk to people, even if they don’t have much interesting to say. Lian is a great character, and evocative of themes that are brought up later in Korra. Zuko has a scant few scenes: he captures Katara but is detained himself as a traitor, then has a few brief cameos. Really he could have been cut entirely without losing much; this game is about the new independent mechanised threat, and the Fire Nation just gets in your way in a few levels.
Zuko’s reintroduction in the first chapter seems to ignore his state at the end of Book 1, but at least the game then goes on to acknowledge his banished status. Lian’s plan to destroy the Avatar statues in the Southern Air Temple was, as far as I can recall, treated seriously in the DS game. The console version gives Aang a line to say that this wouldn’t actually do anything, but they should protect them anyway—salvaging that moment for me in terms of the order I played them. But Omashu is still regarded as the Earth Kingdom capital, remaining as a niggle for me. Nitpicks aside, the plot is fine for a video game, although chapter transitions can be a little narratively clunky.
Anyway let’s talk about the game. Each chapter has a pseudo-open world structure, with a hub town. You get quests, visit shops, then venture out along narrow paths to other hotspots, fighting groups of enemies in real time. There’s usually backtracking involved and fights are generally very easy once you have the full party, as long as you take the time to do sidequests and get the best set items. Yes, there is also phat loot. Combat gets more challenging and interesting on the few occasions the party is forcibly split. Unfortunately once you leave a chapter there is no returning. Doubly unfortunately, I think there might be a bug because after doing everything (so I thought) in Chapter 6 it was stuck on 98%, so I never unlocked the character gallery. Boo. According to the guide I occasionally used, it’s good to watch out for quest order, because due to bad design certain things become cut off even within a chapter. I never encountered this though.
I did however have problems with the game crashing, but that may just be due to a damaged disc. Either way, my play experience was occasionally fraught but despite this I had a better time than with the gruelling DS version. The sprite art there is more appealing than the wonky 3D models here, but I did like the lush environments here better. It’s also more quick and fun to play, and much more fully-featured. It does frequently make you stop to play a drawing minigame with the Wiimote to pull off environmental bending moves though.
Two more quick highlights of this game. The incidental dialogue heard just by standing around villagers adds both humour and world-building, which I appreciated. And as with all Avatar adapted material, I’m on the lookout for new animals, as the series is known for its fun hybrid animals. In fact this one was pretty lackluster for new hybrids but it does have some rarely-seen vanilla animals, with wolves and feral cats as enemies. A different kind of wolf with some perhaps armadillo traits is a common enemy, and the final chapter has a “deer” with some alpaca and rhino traits. Item names also reference minksnakes and whales. There’s also several spirits in the story: a forest guardian in the form of a horned bear who transforms into a man, a normal-looking badger mole who guards the lost history of the people of the hidden island, and a large owl connected with a sacred place next to the Air Temple. I liked seeing these spirits more than the animal offerings, although the game did also bring back many animals from the show as enemies, not to mention the variety of intriguing elemental machines.
Well I’ve gone on long enough. For now I’d say this is the best way to experience the new story that Flint Dille created for this project, but we’ll see how the GBA and PSP stack up later on. Keep an eye on the home page for my Avatar reviews if you’re interested.
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.
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
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.
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.
Let me be perfectly up-front and honest: I only bought this game to complete my collection of in-game bumper stickers for Samus’s ship in Metroid Prime 3.
Ok, that’s not actually true, but learning that it was one of the few games that would do that gave it a blessing of sorts, like it was a game that maybe was worth looking into. It was reading opinions of the game from other people that convinced me to pick it up.
I’ve never played Excitebike—why would I, it’s a NES game—so I didn’t have expectations. Good thing too, because despite nominally being a continuation due to the name they don’t have much in common. You can maybe see some similarities with the courses found in Excitebike 64, but the whole focus of this game is not really on the racing. The goal is to reach a given star value for each track; coming in first does give you a healthy score bonus, but the main thing to think about is the sicknasty jumps and crashes you can do.
You get stars for drifting, air time, tricks, smashing other trucks, even for wiping out in a cool way; these crashes also give you a chance to return to the track with a boost, so crashing isn’t discouraged in this game. This is a fun decision as there’s less punishment, and this attitude is necessary due to the control scheme.
Yes, apart from a continuation of the Excitebike series, this is one of those early Wii games that wanted to use the remote in a different way. In this case, tilting to steer and do spins is the only control method, with turbo boosting activated by holding any D-pad direction. As you might expect, it’s a bit imprecise, but the track design and the crash recovery mechanic make it perfectly manageable and even quite fun.
Some precision is required to hit the powerups, which come in two kinds: one that’s essentially Mario Kart’s star item, and the more common one which instantly shifts the terrain. This is a very cool idea; mountains will rise or valleys form in a matter of seconds, giving you a sweet place to jump and throwing off your opponents. Seeing the map geometry just change like that is fascinating, considering the whole game pursues a realistic look. The tracks are a little fanciful, with holes blown in the Great Wall of China and such, and the physics are most definitely wild and arcadey. But the trucks and tracks are aesthetically very much in the real world.
So the core mechanics are fairly solid, but the star requirements can make getting through the cups very challenging. Clearing a course after several attempts gives satisfaction, but if you want to unlock stuff you need S rank in every track, which I found just impossible so gave up. This left the game feeling a little short on content. There’s a nice challenge mode which gives you specific goals like jumping through rings or smashing other trucks in an arena, but they’re so few. I really ran out of things to do. The environment types only number a handful too. Still, for the small price I found it I got enough value here.
The question of its worth though is muddied by its sequel, Excite Bots. From the brief footage I’ve seen it looks like the same game but improved, simply superceding this one. It’s the same mechanics but the trucks and courses have more personality, there are more trick options, the graphics look a bit better, there are more modes to play. I’d recommend getting that… if you can find it. Still, this was a bit of fun while it lasted. Tearing through a course is pretty “exciting”.
Ok, the version I played was called Beat the Beat: Rhythm Paradise, but that name is so dumb. No one screenshot can do it justice because there’s so much variety in how each game looks, even though the gameplay is pretty consistent, but here’s Love Rap.
This series has its devotees, and while I’ve never been big on rhythm games, my brother and I once had a good time laughing at the sheer bizarreness of the GBA original. This iteration (the third) follows the same formula quite closely, and is perhaps less outright weird but very creative and imaginative with the settings and tasks. Always having something new to look at and do is engaging, and although as I said the gameplay is just pressing either A or A+B with the right timing, this just makes each new game accessible.
So it’s very successful, but having a sense of rhythm and beat is very important to your enjoyment. Nobody likes failing over and over again because of the game being too demanding for your skills; fortunately it seems forgiving in letting you pass (at least for my level of skills), and will let you past the “remix” stages that unlock after every 5 games cleared if you fail hard enough. It’s still frustrating from time to time and I had to accept the fact that I’ll never be able to “perfect”… well, anything in this game.
Having talked to people online who have perfected everything, it’s good that the game can cater to different skill levels like that. For the record, when I finished I had 10 medals out of 50, and that’s just for doing well, not for doing perfect. I didn’t take the time to replay many stages though, and I feel that this (and any Rhythm Heaven game) is at its best when it’s constantly surprising you with the next unique setting, and you’re adapting to each new challenge; like WarioWare, which has commonalities with the series as well as sharing developers to some extent.
I did want to get through it quickly though, to share it with my brother this weekend. He does read this blog, so I guess I just spoiled another birthday surprise for him… sorry, bro!
Finally, I also had a go at the DS entry, called just Rhythm Heaven (it gets confusing when you start comparing the names in different regions). They’re very similar, structurally the game doesn’t really change between entries. The Wii version has the distinct edge though for a few reasons. Firstly the platform: its rounded, cartoony style is more pleasant than the pixellated DS look, and those DS speakers obviously can’t hold up to the sound from a TV with a proper console. More importantly, while the Wii version’s controls are simple button presses which are easy to time with the music, the DS one demands touch screen flicks which simply aren’t responsive enough for the precision needed in timing. The experience just doesn’t feel as good; it’s hard to get in the zone when holding and interacting with the DS in that way compared to a the greater immersion of a static TV and a simple button press.
So we can chalk this game up to another underrated gem in the Wii’s library. For the frankly ludicrous price I found it at, it’s well worth it. You really do need some sense of rhythm to get anything out of it though, and I acknowledge it’s not for everyone. But the sheer creativity and wacky fun of the games is worth seeing. Recommended.
While Skyward Sword left a bad taste in my mouth, Hyrule Warriors made everything yummy and nice. A review for that will be coming later, but in the meantime I had a nice little palate cleanser with the budget arcade shooting spin-off Link’s Crossbow Training.
You know Nintendo. They make a peripheral, have one good idea for it, use it in exactly one game and then it collects dust in your cupboard while a few third parties make lackluster attempts to use it as well. Meet the Wii Zapper, an attachment that slots your Wii Remote and Nunchuck into a frame that makes it like holding a machine gun. Or indeed, a crossbow. Of course, being long past the age of peripherals at this point, I couldn’t just pick one up; nor would I need to. This game was in a hundred bargain bins, and I can tell you works perfectly fine without the Zapper.
The remote itself is all you need; the Zapper I feel would merely make it easier to stabilise. But adjusting the sensitivity down is sufficient to make the game playable. I even got a platinum medal in one stage! smug Seriously though, it feels like the kind of game the Wii Remote was made for. Of course, I wouldn’t have bothered with it if it hadn’t been part of the Zelda series.
Playing Skyward Sword made me appreciate Twilight Princess more. This game reuses assets exclusively to Twilight Princess to be a sort of gaiden, or sidestory, to that game (even though it doesn’t really have a story as such). It’s like a tour of different locations and setpieces, fighting a variety of enemies from that world. Therefore I really appreciated seeing all those elements, it’s like a short reminder of all the fun things that happened in TP. There’s no Twilight Palace unfortunately, but hey-ho. That’s what we have Hyrule Warriors for.
So I said budget before. I cleared the whole game in an hour. Mostly bronze medals, but I’ve never been much of a score-chaser; it’s unlikely I’ll try very hard to top myself. But for the $2.50 I paid for it, I think to myself: I’ve spent more than that playing some shooters in arcades, but this one was more resonant with me, and now it’s on my shelf next to Twilight Princess. So if, like me, you have fond memories of that game, you might get a kick out of it.
Oh by the way, if you do play it, some advice: combos are very important. You can shoot jars and stuff without breaking your combo, but if you’re going for good scores, be accurate. On the other hand, you get bonus points for hitting all targets for the objective in some levels. So try it both ways. I got a great score in the final stage, but I had to do it again because I didn’t actually manage to beat Stallord. Had to get that closure.
Well, let’s get this over with. I hope now that the immense hype has died down after a few years, we can look back on this as on the whole a pretty mediocre Zelda game. That’s what I feel anyway. I mentioned in my long-ago Twilight Princess review that I chose the older game over the new hotness, and having now played both I think I made the right decision. I like Twilight Princess more.
That’s not to say that Skyward Sword wasn’t fun, nice to look at, and had inventive ideas to bring to the Zelda formula. But the flaws and niggles stack up, and the plot wasn’t very engaging to me.
First, let’s talk about the “level design”. There’s not really an overworld, just mini-areas that bring some dungeon-like puzzle solving to themed locations. But then there’s dungeons as well, so I ended up just feeling like an aspect of the Zelda experience was missing without large areas to explore. They were memorable, but partially because of all the backtracking you have to do. I even had to go through an already-completed dungeon a second time as part of the plot, which I resented. You also end up with less overall variety in locations with only three or four themes.
Another aspect that lacked variety in a significant way was the enemies. You end up with essentially palette swaps of bats, blobs, and bokoblins in the three major zones, which got seriously boring. Not that Zelda hasn’t done that before, but it seemed to lack very much beyond them.
I also dreaded fights, and here’s a big sticking point of the game in general: the motion controls made it hard to enjoy. The game relies heavily on the gimmick of the Motion Plus, which is fine I guess, but what they were demanding of the player I don’t feel the hardware was capable of pulling off, or at least how I was using it. Having to point in menus and dialogue was annoying but passable, and aiming things worked pretty well, but any time a precision flick was required the whole thing fell down. Which is a huge problem because so much combat, and certain puzzles, demand you swing the sword in a specific direction at the right time. The precision required was often difficult to do, which caused frustration to me, the player.
This principle extends to other things too: you cannot reliably do maneuvers you intended to, such as doing a vertical spin attack instead of horizeontal, or the awful swimming. But the swimming is modelled after the flying, so let’s talk about that. I hate the flying. They’re going for a Wind Waker thing with a large sky/sea, with islands. Except the islands in SS are inconsequential but for a handful, it’s totally disconnected from the land portions, and controlling the flying is not relaxing or fun like sailing, it’s painful to the wrist and causes anxiety. And for that matter, why is there an impenetrable cloud layer under Skyloft but everywhere on the ground has BLUE SKIES?
There’s a few of these aspects that they’ve taken from past games. The Silent Realms are also pretty shamelessly ripped from Twilight Princess’s bug hunt sections, but I don’t mind so much since they expanded the concept into a stealth-type mode and it’s quite fun. It is yet more backtracking over the same areas though, but it works because you use the knowledge of the layout but they change some things around.
New things include the stamina meter, which I’m conflicted on. On one hand, running is cool, but on the other it depletes from normal activities like climbing and depletes too quickly, with no possibility of upgrade. So you feel constantly forced to travel below the “optimal” speed, all the while with a big green thing on screen and an irritating alarm sound.
Speaking of irritating things that get in the way, let’s talk about Fi. Lots of people complain about all the companions, but I liked Navi ok and loved Midna. This time, things don’t turn out well. Her text is too slow and unspeedable. She pops up way too often to point out very obvious things. She could have been interesting as the spirit of the Master Sword, but her fakey “robotic” demeanour is extremely obnoxious to read. And would my criticism be invalid if I had an adverse reaction to a robotic, subservient, young girl wearing stockings who refers to you as “Master”?
This brings me to my next niggle. There’s just a few elements that seem too distinctly Japanese for Zelda, which I’ve always felt inhabited its own distinct fantasy world, like the dragons’ attire or the vocalisations. I’m trying not to seem racist, but it just took me out a little. As I alluded to with Fi, I also struggled to accept the anime-style cliches that are rife (I always hated starting in a “high school” environment. The characterisation of most of the main characters left me cold and bored, and many of the side characters were too “stock”-feeling—I especially had no feeling for Link or Zelda, and hence lacked some motivation, especially as you find out more about their roles. On the other hand, like many people I warmed up to Groose quickly and enjoyed his scenes immensely.
The other races in the game were also lackluster. There’s, what, two Gorons? They were fine, but the moles were just off, the jellyfish were bad and too few. The Kikwi were ok though, and the robots were fine. And I like how they made humans a rare occurrence, but you don’t get a whole lot of meaningful interaction with any minor characters. Thinking back on it the areas were cohesive enough, but maybe I just miss towns.
As a synthesis of Zelda elements, it’s quite good, with recent advancements such as bug collecting and treasure improved on. It also has some nice new things, such as equipment upgrading and managing your inventory. The dungeons are also pretty good, with interesting themes. The bosses though sucked, partly because of the sword difficulties I mentioned, and partly because of the repeated boring Ghirahim fights that take the place of real bosses. I may have still been having counter-reactions to the hype though, seeing the whole thing as a bit up itself (they even mention the 25th anniversary in the text of the game). Also too much tutorials.
I hope I made myself clear about the anime thing. I’m just tired of the tropes and cliches, and I thought Zelda was a little more, well, its own thing. You know? Eh, sometimes I’m glad I don’t have too many followers, who could get super mad about my super controversial opinions. I don’t want to cause an Internet Scene™ after all. Anyway I’m glad that this was another case of borrowing a game from a friend that I was hesitant to splurge money on for myself. Because it’s fine, it’s even pretty good, but I’ll just say it’s not near the top of my “Zelda favs” list. I just want to think that I hadn’t decided that place before playing it—I think I gave it a fair chance. And why are Link and Zelda’s eyes so big? Ahem. Thanks for reading.
AKA Donkey Kong Barrel Blast. I actually prefer that title, as the acronym is less ambiguous. I could be talking about 1982’s arcade classic, DK Jr!
So this is that waggle-tastic racing game that was overshadowed by Mario Kart Wii. It’s an odd duck, being intended for the Gamecube bongo peripheral along with Jungle Beat. Delays forced it to adopt Wii Remote and Nunchuck flailing instead, but it also meant I actually had a chance to play it. Motion control haters have every reason to look down on it, but DK fans have reasons to love it, as it was made by the good folks at Paon. Like the peg-swinging King of Swing and Jungle Climber before it, Barrel Blast is full of DK fanservice. Lanky Kong is even playable!
Paon have always done well by us fans, and here we have a very nice-looking racing game with unorthodox mechanics and some weird and wonderful stages in DK’s lush world. Sure there may not be such a variety of tracks, but at its core you’ve got an interesting game if you’re willing to master it.
The challenge mode is the highlight for me, with various tasks to do and juicy character unlocks the prize. It gets really quite, well, challenging too, but in a good way much like the extra levels in Jungle Climber. Of course I wish there was more, but I feel that thinking of it as more of a budget game may help with such expectations. It really isn’t a Mario Kart killer, it doesn’t have that mass appeal, but it has a unique flavour and like I say, perfect for a DKC fan.
There’s a loose theme of Kremling vs. Kong rivalry, with the character selection having pairs of characters on both sides with similar stats. We get old favourites like Cranky, K. Rool, etc., lesser known faces like Ghost Wrinkly and Kopter, and new faces to fill out the Kremling side, including our first explicitly female Kremlings. Their personalities are fleshed out in the PAL Brawl’s trophies, if you want to have a look at that.
I feel very engaged by the mechanics, which include waggling to get up to speed and move side to side, attacking, jumping, boosting (and setting up obstacle smashing combos), collecting bananas, and using items. There’s a lot going on in races and on the courses that keeps you on your toes, especially if you’re going for those combo chains to get ahead. I feel that this complexity puts it above Mario Kart in some ways (again the obvious comparison).
Thinking back on it, despite frustration at times (I think it’s normal for racing games), I have happy memories of this game. Keep in mind I finished it only this morning. It was very hard to find a copy, but I’m glad I did. And if you enjoyed Jungle Climber or the unusual mechanics of Jungle Beat, you should give this a go… again, if you can find a copy.
More Pokemon! This one has always been alluring to me. The promise of exploring a 3D environment, interacting directly with Pokemon, certainly has appeal. When I saw that you could play as Surfing Pikachu, I (having got on at the Yellow floor) knew I had to try it.
Unfortunately, it seems I didn’t do enough research beforehand. The game I ended up with seems targeted well below my demographic. What I mean is it’s essentially a baby game for babies. Very simple mechanics, a lot of repetition and boring music, and the rough edges you come to expect in a game for those with low expectations. That’s not to say I didn’t have fun. In fact, I’m trying for 100%.
You could say I myself have low expectations. All I want is to run around and meet some Pokemon. This game delivers that. I find it interesting to see them wandering around their chosen environment, calling out their names. It’s all a bit stiff, but I can forgive it because it’s really quite charming. The Pokes all have their own personalities and dialogue, although I get the feeling it was more distinctive to each one before getting the translation treatment. Always a tricky problem when you’re stuck with just text.
The main part of the game is doing minigames. The framing context is reasonably solid, but it is just a series of repetitive tasks when you get down to it. You have interactions with each Poke you come across as Pikachu, either battling them or chasing them as they run away, which is done in the world as you come across them. You also then have Attractions, which are segmented off into their own little loading zones and more structured. They’re mostly different, and use unique control schemes, and you also get to choose to play as any of the other Pokes you’ve befriended.
The way I play Attractions, by repeating them with each Poke I have to get the bonuses, makes it a bit tedious. There’s some variety between them but not much between Pokes in the same event. I find it the most efficient to do it that way though because of the loading screens and such. Oh well.
I’d like to mention the control scheme, because normally holding the Wii remote sideways is terrible. “Oh it’s like a NES controller” well phooey. The NES controller was terrible and both it and the Wiimote dig into your hands uncomfortably. The button layout is also inconvenient, and when used on modern games, like Metroid Other M, you find that they jam too many functions on the same button and it just sucks to play. Pokepark is not so bad in this respect because of its simplicity, but I do talk sometimes when I want to jump. The simple one remote set up though allows them to switch it up easily for the Attractions, so I reckon it gets a pass overall, especially because like I said, it’s easy for kids I suppose.
I had to toss up whether to get this game or the sequel, but if the second one is anything like this, I’m ok with getting the cheaper one. If what I’ve said sounds appealing, then it has been reprinted recently, or otherwise maybe get it for your kids. But it’s not the ultra 3D Pokemon experience that us adult fans sometimes say we want.
Hi there. I really like the wackiness of the Warioware series. It’s got a really distinct sense of fun, and the way they’re presented make them feel like a labour of love. I only ever owned DIY, and I knew I was missing out a little because that was so heavily built around the creative aspect. Other games such as Touched and Smooth Moves are allowed to be more expressive: they’re not limited by graphics you would be able to draw in the game itself, or such simplistic control schemes, and microgames are allowed more variation. They also have more modes and so on.
I’m also glad to have this on hand as a party game. I played it with a friend last week and it was fun, albeit with a bit of a learning curve. I now appreciate more the simplicity of the original GBA/GCN one. Still, Smooth Moves is totally great. From the relaxed narrator of new forms, to the silly poses, to the absurd minigames, to the quite challenging gauntlet modes, it’s all fun to see. You want to keep playing just to see what it’s going to do next, what crazy action you’ll have to perform or what the characters are going to do.
It’s obviously an early Wii game, trying out everything you can do with the remote and showing off what it’s capable of. This does come up against its limitations at times unfortunately, where the gyroscope sticks or you point too far away from the screen and lose contact. And I just couldn’t figure out why the multiplayer modes have to be pass-and-play, why they can’t support multiple remotes.
As a Nintendo fanboy, I love that 9-volt’s stage here adapted many more modern games to microgame form, as until this point they were mostly stuck in a retro 8-bit (boring) mode. It’s great to see obscure stuff being trotted out, as well as seeing Link pull the Master Sword and turn into an old man.
While I was in the Warioware mood and having blitzed through Smooth Moves’s campaign, I got the WiiWare DIY Showcase, which links to the DIY on DS which I have. It’s completely compatible with DIY but on the big screen, with a few new stories and a multiplayer mode. A small thing but worth it just for the Donkey Kong Country microgame. ;)
Smooth Moves though is a very nice package, that variety of styles is always surprising and there’s so much to do. It’s always nice to play a game that is so disarming and genuine, and yeah just fun. Relax and don’t be afraid to get silly.
Here’s another one I played to completion a while after finishing it. My reason for leaving this off was because I’d almost only played it in co-op with my bro (hi bro!), so when we’d finished it and I’d moved away I just didn’t play it solo. But to wash out the taste of Jungle Beat, I started a new file and got to 100% completion (but not Mirror Mode or Time Attack… bugger that).
It was really great, although a few differences I’d noticed from co-op to solo was that I was accumulating a lot more coins (because I bought less lives to use in levels) and that it was much harder, especially the secret levels. I had to buy powerups, which we hadn’t done before. It’s a hard game, man! But so lovingly made. (Not enough love if you ask some people, at least love for DKC—some fans are big purists). This time I was able to take it slower, really take in the music and the backgrounds. The game looks great and sounds great, despite the over-reliance on DKC1 remixes and mediocrity of most new tracks. There’s also too many rocket barrel levels that are too unforgiving.
Fortunately the follow-up, Tropical Freeze, seems to be addressing every single major complaint people had. Yes even that one. David Wise is back now to bring us awesome music, level environments are even more imaginative and lively, water levels and more Kongs are back with the gameplay variations they bring. A few tweaks have been made to make things more forgiving, despite the levels seeming to be no less difficult. Also, it has new antagonists that have a lot more character than the Tikis: alright, they’re not the Kremlings but they are superior to Tikis in the same ways the Kremlings would be, so although I love them in this case nostalgia has to give way.
Well, I talked about TF a lot there. Anyways DKCR is pretty damn awesome, along with the new Raymans 2D platformers are going strong right now. Sure it falls short in a few ways but it’s very polished and just fun to play, and well executed on its aims. Let’s keep this short and cut it off here. Play DKCR, it’s on 3DS now which is supposedly an even better version (despite some slight graphical compromises). Bring some patience for the harder levels though.
Alright, here we go. I borrowed this game along with Jungle Beat from a friend, because they were two games with a strongly negative reception in their respective fansbases, yet admittedly had their positive aspects. I was curious, almost curious enough to spend money to buy them myself. Having played them now, I’m quite glad I didn’t.
Not to get ahead of myself, but this one had the wider bad blood of the two. Its instant derailing of Samus’ character after almost 25 years is held as its greatest crime. I’ll add my own crimes to the list during this review, but between it and Jungle Beat, I preferred this one, the latter two thirds of the game were more fun. Inferior to previous 2D Metroid and the Primes in my opinion, but it had things going for it. Let’s get the crap out of the way first though.
Anywhere on the Internet you can find the criticisms of this game, especially the story-related elements. However, we can’t ignore the gameplay shortcomings: Enemies take way too long to deal with early on, the charge is so slow and they take so many hits. Action is broken up frustratingly with unnecessary shifts in control: slow-walking from a zoomed-in perspective or looking aimlessly around in first person. In the moment too, switching from the uncomfortable sideways-Wiimote to pointing for missiles is clunky, so much that I barely bothered with it. Finishing moves were poorly explained so I had trouble pulling them off, and half the time they didn’t “finish” them anyway.
Enemy designs were ugly and overcomplicated, and their names were just hideously unpronounceable. I guess it made them seem more alien? The environment concepts were interesting but they, along with the setting and premise, were shamelessly ripped off from Fusion. Music is basically nonexistant, and the ambience I either ignored or was drowned out by sound effects so aurally there was really nothing there.
The premise is poorly executed and the symbolic posturing is so, so hamfisted. It cannot be overtstated how poor the writing here is, and the monotone voice acting does not help matters. There are several main players who are not characterised at all, then killed off with little fanfare or consequence. The major plot points of the first half trail off to nothing more than implication, and while environmental and implied storytelling is a strength of the Metroid series, contrasting it to the extremely in-your-face storytelling applied elsehwere leaves a lot of impact to fall flat.
Samus’ boobs are too big and her suit has heels. Heels, people. Her eternal monologuing inspires dread. And not Metroid Dread, hopefully. I wouldn’t normally use phrases like ludo-narrative dissonance but, uh, Other M has got it. I wanted to watch the cutscenes but at the same time I didn’t want to. And the whole thing ends on an anti-climax.
On the other hand, uh, running around feels good. Whew, I’m all ragey from that. Should have started with the good stuff. Well, it looks pretty. The map’s pretty good and the part of the game where you go around hunting items was fun enough for me to get 100%. Must be because there’s no talking, no plot, no forced sections. The abilities you get make you feel powerful, although by the end you could say overpowered, possibly because the enemies don’t really ramp enough I guess? I like the implementation of the speed boost and stuff with the level design. I also liked some of the environmental concepts with holograms, but there wasn’t enough of it.
Basically I’d agree that it’s a big misstep in the series. I chalk it up to the interpretation of Samus, the ludicrous excuses they put up for the gameplay constraints (the authorisation system gets too much hate probably, but it’s partially justified), and the one that surprised me was the almost complete ignoring of the Prime games. This is a very Japanese product, and you get the feeling that the arrogant and possessive Sakamoto didn’t care for what those Westerners did with his baby. So he made this? Really, this? I blame him for a lot of problems with the game, mainly because I like a figurehead to point the blame at, like Miyamoto. In some ways it competently evokes an extension of the 2D games into a pseudo-3D setting (it’s 2.5D really, maybe 2.75D at best), but in others it’s going against that. So I don’t know what its goals are.
I’ve seen the game for $10 and if you’re able to ignore very large aspects of a game to focus on the good parts, it’s worth it for that. The fighting is different to any Metroid before it, but the exploration feels pretty Metroidy. And the concept of telling a more in-depth story is interesting, but executed very poorly. My wife couldn’t bear to be in the same room as the game because of the talky parts. But it pretty much ruined the series for a few years, and the follow-up has to be good. That’s why some people wanted Retro to have another go (shut up, Tropical Freeze is gonna be awesome!). I like being up on all the happenings and lore and gameplay of all my favourite series, so I needed to play this. You don’t have to. Thumbs downnot ironically
Hi there. I really like the wackiness of the Warioware series. It’s got a really distinct sense of fun, and the way they’re presented make them feel like a labour of love. I only ever owned DIY, and I knew I was missing out a little because that was so heavily built around the creative aspect. Other games such as Touched and Smooth Moves are allowed to be more expressive: they’re not limited by graphics you would be able to draw in the game itself, or such simplistic control schemes, and microgames are allowed more variation. They also have more modes and so on.
