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| Jeff's Video Game Reviews; Some good, some bad, some very ugly. | |
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| Topic Started: Jul 8 2008, 11:10 AM (460 Views) | |
| Jeff | Jul 8 2008, 11:10 AM Post #1 |
Destroyer of Worlds
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When I was growing up, every single person in America knew the faces of four reptilian heroes, champions good, radicalness and marketing all at once. They were and are my #1 favorite heroes of all time, and have appeared in a wide variety of media - being born in comics, to being widely publicized in the 1987 butchery -- err -- animated series, to movies, games, clothes, food and even their own live concert where they sang about the power of music and friendship. However, they also appeared in a number of video games, the most famous of which was the SNES side-scroller beat-'em-up classic "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time" which was one of my personal childhood favorites. Actually, most of the turtles games were pretty awesome, even the ones where it seemed Konami put minimalist efforts into them in favor of other projects. Anyways, it wasn't always pizza, roses and "Cowabunga". Oh, yes, there was one game that haunts to this day gamers of my generation. The very first game, released by a sub-branch of Konami on the NES, was not only NOT a beat-'em-up game, but rather a disaster. Here's my opinion. First, I want to comment on the cover art. The cover art shows the four turtles standing in the midst of unusual machinery, and all of them clad in red masks. This cover art was taken right from one of the early TMNT comics (specifically, the Eastman & Laird's TMNT, not the crappy Archie spin-offs, which were based on the '87 debauchery) however, within the game itself, the turtles have different-colored bandannas, April was in her banana raincoat and Splinter was originally Hamato Yoshi, all trademarks of the 1987 turtles animated series. This is really vexing, as not only are they totally inconsistent within itself, but the comics and series have NOTHING TO DO WITH EACH OTHER and the game itself seems to almost have nothing to do with the turtles at all. Graphics - Well, the first thing you're thrown to is an over world screen. It's not even a nice over world screen, either. It's largely composed of blue and gray pixelated boxes with what vaguely resembles the overhead view of Leonardo. The over world is ugly, unappealing and worst of all, nonsense (More on this later). There's a manhole (or what I guess is a manhole) sitting a short distance from the starting point and going into it will bring you to a 2D platforming view. Here the graphics are a bit better - with tall, semi-detailed sprites of the turtles (who, with the exception of their weapons are pallet swaps of each other) and the enemies in immediate view. Most of the enemies, though, are bland and unexciting and don't even make sense in or out of context. The only enemies of any notable detail are the bosses, who even then resemble blobs of color that vaguely resemble some characters of the 1987 cartoon. I don't care if it's NES-era, they could do better than this. The most annoying thing is that while on the over world, your health bar does the wave in the most annoying way possible. It's not only aggravating, it's blinding. Sound/Music - The sound effects are so incredibly stock I'm amazed they even bothered giving each turtle a unique attack sound effect. The attack effects are bad and even worse when compared to games of the same time. The enemies HAVE NO SOUND EFFECTS AT ALL, thus you need to guess when/if someone is shooting or throwing something at you. The music soundtrack is probably 5 tracks in length with the same monotone hum buzzing through your ears the entire time, thus making the "You killed a boss" 30 second chime a welcome break. Gameplay - Ugh. Did they beta test this game? At all? Even a bit? Maybe? No. They didn't. First off, all four turtles are IDENTICAL in all terms, except for their weapon of choice, thus making Leonardo and Donatello your only effective attacks as Raphael does this limp and pathetic thing with his sai where I think he's spinning it and Michelangelo just swings his nunchucks half-heartedly. In addition to all having the same, incredibly low power rating, all four have the same pathetically low defense level - in that the best you can do to a boss or miniboss is about 1/2 of a block and they do a block to two blocks every time they hit you. The over world is bad. Unlike the Legend of Zelda series, where there's some room for error, you MUST be in perfect alignment with your target in order to hit it, which is annoying but not as bad as it gets. In the 2D segments, you have to deal with the fact that you have 3 attacks in total. Jump and swing your weapon, stand still and swing it, or duck and swing it - in the exact same method each time too. The sole exception is Donatello, who actually changes the direction he swings his bo staff, which is the only wing and prayer you have in this game. Another annoying facet is the fact that the jumps are set up either so that they're too high for you, or too low for you to deal with, and in the sewer ways, jumps are often set up so that you can fall off. Into water. Yes, they're turtles, and they can't swim. Anyways, the second level of the game is going underwater and... wait, they CAN swim! So why does falling into the water kill you? When you lose a turtle - that's it. No getting them back, no redemption, no second chances, unless you continue but that sets you back a LONG distance. Anyways, onto the dam level (take that as you will), the Foot have set you up the bombs in some nameless, faceless dam and you need to dive in and deactivate them. Is that really a big deal? Well, in theory, no. But there's also stuff around the level, traps and electric plants that hurt you. Is that a big deal? Theoretically, no, there were levels like that in Donkey Kong Country, and I never had a problem with those. No, the issue comes from the fact that you're on a 2-minute timer in addition to the above factors. Yes, that's right, you have to turn off a ton of bombs, avoid an obscene amount of death traps that do way too much damage and do so under a time limit. And if you lose a turtle, you get to start it all over again. Afterwards, you do a level driving around the nonsensical and hideous over world in the Turtle Van, which is on the same health bar as the turtle you have selected and is basically defenseless unless you randomly decide to go into one of the ugly, unmarked buildings and randomly find the missiles. Oh, wait, you have to do that. A lot, actually. That is, you're required to, on several occasions, venture into random, faceless buildings to find items you need to complete the game - in addition to that, whether the door on said faceless building is open or shut makes no difference as the buildings you can and can't enter seems completely random. After the turtle van level, I finally just couldn't take it - and that's the one single time I slipped by the dam level with 1 half-dead turtle remaining. And replay? There isn't any. Once you beat the game, that's it. There's no incentive to ever play again. It's that bad. Overall? This game is horrible. It's almost unplayable, completely one-sided, and the worst part is, it was marketed at LITTLE KIDS! How sick is that? The graphics are bland and unappealing, the music is just bad, the sound effects are unbelievably canned and, to top it all off, the ending sucks too. What better way to end a bad game than a bad ending that makes no sense whatsoever? At the very least, the 2nd and 3rd NES titles were pretty radical. Cowabunga, dudes. |
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Come visit me and my thought processes at my website: http://www.publishedauthors.net/tdotdw/news.html "In the cold light, justice and morality always look corny and you can't wave the flag and look cool. But like it or not, society needs its heroes." - John Hart; actor who played The Lone Ranger. | |
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| Jeff | Jul 8 2008, 11:10 AM Post #2 |
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Destroyer of Worlds
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I'm going to do a three-week special spanning over a trilogy of little-known games known collectively as "Magical Drop". The general plot is that all the characters (who are all based on the tarot cards' major arcana, sans one) are jocking for the legendary item known as the "Magical Drop" - which appears to be a jar full of marbles. This particular jar full of marbles is not to be dismissed as a mere medal or badge, for the Magical Drop can grant wishes to whoever holds it. Okay, so the story really isn't all that stellar, but the truth is that this unusual game, which never saw the light of day in America, has other appeals - and here's the scoop on the first game - Magical Drop. Graphics: This game has a unique art style for its time. In fact, no game ever replicated it until the GameCube era with the release of Zelda: The Wind Waker. I'm being 100% sincere when I say that the cast, backgrounds and color scheme for the game at large are very similar to what we would later see in the first original Zelda title for the Big N's 'Cube - with the lack of any noticeable noses, big, bug eyes, pastel-ish coloration, and overly-exaggerated facial expressions which clearly read what the character is feeling at that time. When not actually in-game, the main menu and options screen pans out in a standard menu format, though with bright, happy colors. Audio: This is probably the weakest area the game has to offer. It's biggest flaw is that it only has four-five tracks of music for the entire game. I'm not even kidding. The first is the theme song of the game, which is a quaint little ditty that quickly goes to the back of your mind (or makes you turn off your speakers), another is for the victory music in challenge mode, the theme of the final boss and maybe one other. They're catchy, at least, but not very diverse. Gameplay: Ahh. The fun part! Basically, you take the role of one of the six playable characters, all who are fighting for the Magical Drop, as I mentioned before. These are: The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess, The Chariot, The Star and The Devil. Not only is a picture of your chosen character your background image, they also are animated depending on if you're doing well, or about to die. Basically, as a chibi (AKA - super deformed) sprite of your chosen character, you 'battle' with the other six playable emblems (yes, that includes a mirror match) in a format that would be familiar to fans of Bust-a-Move. Instead of shooting selected orbs upwards and bouncing them, a wall of balloons descends from the ceiling, and you must grab them and line them up by taking them down and tossing them back up so that they line up 3 or more of a single color - vertically. You can carry an infinite amount in your hands, so long as they are the same color/type of balloon. There are four different colored balloons - green, blue, red and yellow - and lining them up is how you destroy them - doing so in such a way that triggers more to be destroyed causes a combo and can knock your enemy down a peg or two if done well. In addition to this, there are crystal balloons which can't be destroyed in the usual way - instead, by triggering other balloons to be destroyed while crystal balloons touch them, they'll become the color of the balloons destroyed, including the ones that weren't in contact (It sounds awkward, but it makes sense when you see it). In addition, depending on the character you chose, you can get special balloons with emblems on them - these special balloons are color-specific and must be stacked up in columns of 3 or more, but when you do, all normal balloons of the same color on your side of the field will be destroyed - which can be a real life-saver. In addition, there are numerous ways to play the game - my favorite is the story mode, where you battle against the six playable emblems, and then the final boss - The World. Who/what is the world? Well, it's a woman wearing a long, flowing cloth. Her most notable features are her enormous bre-- eyes -- of which she has three, two in the usually expected places and one on her forehead. Though the background portraits don't show her blinking, later games seem to indicate that the eye on her forehead never blinks at all - which is kind of scary, if you ask me. When you beat The World, you beat the story mode and see what your character does with the Magical Drop in their hands. The biggest downfall of this mode, though, is the fact that there's no timer nor quota you're expected to meet, so the battles go on indefinitely until one player or the computer get crushed - which means these battles can go on FOREVER, theoretically, which can get mentally and physically exhausting until you're better attuned to the way this game handles. There's also a survival mode, where you're put in a simple arena to destroy as many balloons as you can before you lose. Simple stuff. Except in this mode, you actually gain points for destroying them, and there's a combo counter to keep track of how many you execute, and get points accordingly for it. It's really simple, so there's not much more to say about it. There's also a versus mode where two players can go head-to-head to try to best the other in crazy balloon-destroying skillz, foo'. Good stuff. Finally, there's the challenge mode, where you pick a character and are pitted against 30 trials where you have a limited number of times you can pick up and set down balloons in various settings, which is really hard, but a lot of fun. Overall, this is a great game with a lot of replay potential, especially when you start getting better at the game as a whole, but the biggest issue fans may have with the game is... well, it's in Japanese. That's right! Getting this game in America is limited only to pirates with the options of downloading ROMs. Well, the law is a small price to pay for the chance to play the first of these masterpieces. Oh well. However, this game had sequels and spin-offs later on down the road, and I intend to talk about its direct sequels - Magical Drop 2 and 3 - over the next two weeks. Log on and find out what I've got to say about those when the time comes. For Gaming Overkill, I'm WWDMMax - better known as Jeff. See you next time. Oh, by the way, my favorite character is The Chariot... |
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Come visit me and my thought processes at my website: http://www.publishedauthors.net/tdotdw/news.html "In the cold light, justice and morality always look corny and you can't wave the flag and look cool. But like it or not, society needs its heroes." - John Hart; actor who played The Lone Ranger. | |
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| Jeff | Jul 8 2008, 11:11 AM Post #3 |
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Destroyer of Worlds
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I apologize for the belatedness of this review - what with guests visiting and college getting in the way, I was a little held up. In addition, since my writing of Random Exploits of Corrupted Youth, everyone knows my real name now - albeit, I use Max and Jeff fairly interchangeably. But now, on with the review! Following the same story as the first game, Magical Drop 2 was actually the first game I had gotten the pleasure to play and I was instantly hooked. There really isn't much an intro to this game, sans the appearance of the Empress - a leather-clad bondage queen with a whip who seems to have some kind of rivalry against The World (who is now fully-playable). It's also worth noting that though the dialog is still in Japanese (and thus, I lack the ability to read it...) the pictures are self-explainitory, and this was the first game to really elaborate on the character's relations with one another. Graphics: Well, I gotta say, they received quite the overhaul. Going from a pastel-ish design to a much more vivid, albeit generic, anime style, with big ol' shiny eyes, and considerable upgrade in detail for each character. The balloons themselves are are now a smaller, sleeker model, more resembling marbles than balloons, each with a little emblem on it, rather than looking kind of like the water balloons of the first game. In addition, each character now has their own unique background, depending on who you're up against at any given time, in addition to animated background portraits with multiple poses (as opposed to the first game's, which had three). All-in-all, a big improvement and a considerable way to go about doing it. Audio: Much like the graphics, there has been much improvement between this game and the first. Each character now has their own, unique character theme and voice set, in addition to several other tracks throughout the game, each catchier than the last. The sound effects are also a bit sharper, and easier on the ears. Great variety and great quality. Nicely done. Gameplay: Let's not waste any time. For the most part, Magical Drop 2 plays in a nearly-identical manner to its predecessor, but some key elements have been changed or added that make the game much more enjoyable. First of all, in the first game, a little yellow bar sealed off the highest row of balloons from playability (sort of a "These are next") which could get vexing if you thought they were in play. In Mag Drop 2, this has been corrected, and now all balloons are in play as soon as they arrive on the field. In addition, whereas a match could last a theoretically indefinite time if the two playing were of considerable skill, this game introduced a "Quota" system wherein your destroying 200 balloons before you rival does nets you the match, in addition to just driving their balloons down on their heads. Magical Drop 2 is also the first game to give you a difficulty system (Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard) and so far is the only Magical Drop title to do so. In addition, this is also the only game to explicitly state the character tiers (how powerful they are) by a star rating (1 is weakest, and 6 is uber-broken-tier-whore-of-pwnzage). The character roster has also almost doubled, with the return of the first game's six playable characters (seven, if you count The World, who is now playable from the start) in addition to new arrivals: The Empress, Strength, Justice, and the unlockable Black Pierrot. Each character is now assigned which special all-color-destroying balloons they get including the introduction of a wild card (any 2 colors on it will destroy all of that color), thus changing the difficulty of using any one character. Beating the game under any set circumstances will unlock Black Pierrot but the game doesn't save this - so you either have to beat the game again to get him again when you restart, or just emulate and put a save state. Much like the previous game, there's a challenge mode that handles slightly differently than the last. In this case, rather than giving you set balloons and set turns to destroy them in (often restricting gameplay as a result) instead, you have unlimited movements in order to get rid of the marbles above you at your own pace, and more will come down when you're put in a position of what would otherwise be defeat. Clear the screen to win the round. Also, there's still a 2-player versus mode, which is a lot of fun. There's the survival mode, again, which hasn't changed any, too. The story mode puts you on a set path, starting with The Fool and working your way up the tiers up to The Empress and Black Pierrot. All-in-all, this is a solid game. A ton of fun to play, and a lot to see and do. Have fun with it! But, once again, if you want to play it, you'll have to get a ROM of it. For FAN, I'm Jeff. And The Chariot still PWNZ. |
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Come visit me and my thought processes at my website: http://www.publishedauthors.net/tdotdw/news.html "In the cold light, justice and morality always look corny and you can't wave the flag and look cool. But like it or not, society needs its heroes." - John Hart; actor who played The Lone Ranger. | |
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| Jeff | Jul 8 2008, 11:11 AM Post #4 |
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Destroyer of Worlds
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I apologize for how late this review has been - but between college and the fact that Magical Drop 3 just isn't different enough from Mag Drop 2 to merit a full review, I'll just be moving right along. Anyways, I stumbled upon this title by browsing Seanbaby's NES archive reviews. He was going on about how it was boring, and akin to playing dress-up-dolls. I decided, for some bizarre reason, to give this title a try anyways, in spite of his warning (even though it was from his site I downloaded it from!). Turning on the game leads you to a bland title screen - the only notable characteristics of it being the unnaturally feminine coloration, and the generic large-chested-blue-haired anime mugshot down in the corner. Okay, that's pretty lame in my opinion, but since there aren't many female leads in NES games, I had to press on. Besides, how could I not with such an amazing story? "Athena, goddess of heroic endeavors, was bored one day. So she decided to go on a quest to beat up random monsters and steal their treasures". Truly epic. Graphics: The title screen is rather deceptive, I'd say, because in spite of her generic appearance, Athena is well-detailed and cute in her immediate appearance. Then you start the game up and are brought back to the reality that the NES' graphical processor just wasn't that stellar. The only reason you can tell it's a female is because of the sprite's curvature (if you'd call it that) and the fact that she's scantily clad (which is a staple of femininity in the SNK universe, if you didn't already know that). The first enemies you encounter are these pig-headed guys with clubs. Really nothing to get excited over. The backgrounds are rather bland, as well they should since all the levels are named in the theme of "World of [whatever]" and really not changing much as the level rolls onward. There's not much to say - it's bland but it does, admittedly, get the job done. Music/SFX: I really just don't think I've heard music quite this bad since the Atari 2600. It's horrible. It's like SNK hired a deaf man with no since of vibration to make the music for this game with a somewhat functional MIDI recording program on a DOS based operating system. Actually, that horrible noise probably was made from old computers that, upon running a game, would generate the music from their internal processors. It's shrill, it's loud and it's annoying. Trust me people, NEVER play Athena if you have a headache. Music that bad can lead to suicide, or at least the death of good taste. The sound effects all tend to sound the same, as well. They all give me the impression they were made while the sound techies were playing with office supplies, because that's all the sound effects sound like - metallic like paper clips or rubbery like rubber bands. It's so bland and generic it's not even a "just get it over with". It's a "just forget it. It's an SNK game, they'll hate it for more reasons than just this". And if you think I'm joking, you ain't read nothing yet. Gameplay: Oh yeah, the cat is coming out of the bag now. It's an SNK game, I hear you saying, go easy on it. No. No, no, no, no and no. Athena receives no mercy after what she and her crappy game put me through. Okay, immediately, those poor souls among you who subject yourselves to this crappy game, take the opportunity to notice that her jump is completely uncontrollable. Hold the button, hold up or down, tap the button, do whatever you want to, it won't help you in the slightest, since whether she jumps high or low seems completely up to random chance, and odds are good that she'll never do the jump you want or need when you want or need it - there's not even a set pattern to it, I've practiced with it for nearly an hour and never made sense of it. Then, her attack is this pitiful little kick, which always seems to make a metallic sound when she hits a target (she's a tape-leg?) and upon killing an enemy makes them sometimes drop their weapon. Getting one is mandatory, since your kick will get you nowhere fast. There are clubs, swords, and bows. In general, the club is the first and best weapon to have for the stage itself, but a bow is almost mandatory for the bosses. I should take this opening to explain one very annoying facet about the gameplay. In normal games like, say, almost any game not made by SNK, when you're hit, you might slide back, but you almost always blink for a couple of seconds, allowing a moment's window to escape. In Athena? Absolutely not. If you're hit, you slide back, still completely and utterly open to attack again immediately. If you get corner jammed by an archer, you might as well give up, cuz you're DEAD and there's no way to change that. You can also get armor in this game - which is a joke. As you upgrade it, it changes colors, and comes in three pieces - Helmet, Body Armor and a Shield. The helmet only lets you break blocks with your head like Super Mario Bros. whilst the armor and shield will take all of one to two hits before breaking and you STILL take damage for it, so it's pointless. Your only hope for living is just not being hit, especially not being corner-jammed. Then you get to bosses - the first one is a giant tree with a face, which spits fireballs and can attack with its roots. Good luck getting close enough to hit him with anything. The only REAL chance you have is to spam the bow, which is USELESS in the level proper due to its inability to damage any monster with a darn and it's as useless as a wad of paper when trying to destroy blocks. There are also some items and events in the game that are most definitely not self-explainitory. There's one nonsensical point in the first stage that your health will turn a pale blue and start draining away without any explanation. It makes no sense, and you DIE, which in this game is already annoying common, in addition to the lack of any options menu or difficulty setting. There's also a little alcove in the first level's underground area (thankfully, the game has no instant-death pits, but that's all the kindness you get) where walking into it, even though it LOOKS like you should still be able to progress will, instead, take you BACK to the VERY START with absolutely no armor or weapons you might've collected, but you don't heal nor lose a life. It's just bizarre - like they didn't program that part of the game and it just sends you to the start without so much as killing you (at least THAT would refill your health, whereas walking into it just sends you, itemless, back to the start). Now, you're probably wondering why I've only been raving about the first stage of the game. Why? Well, good luck getting past it! This game is nearly impossible, and I've only gotten to the second world ONE TIME in my life and died before getting to the boss. It's unbalanced, unpolished, terrible game. This game makes the TMNT NES game seem like a cakewalk it's so hard - and I'm taking the dam into consideration when I say that. The punchline? THEY MADE A SEQUEL. Thankfully, SNK had the common decency to keep it as a cell phone game in Japan only. I can't fathom why it sold so well. Everything about it was bad. My theory is that it was due to the fact that Athena was one of the first NES games to feature a de-personified woman in scanty clothing parading around outdoors - and it's Japan we're talking about here. Athena then vanished for a while, then got a re-vamp and was introduced into the King of Fighters games, where she remains to this day. KoF may be hard, and a Street Fighter clone, but that's one hard SNK game I actually rather enjoy. Athena's NES debut, however, can burn in the fires of the underworld for all I care. This game is garbage. Don't play it. Don't download it. Don't make the same mistake I did. |
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Come visit me and my thought processes at my website: http://www.publishedauthors.net/tdotdw/news.html "In the cold light, justice and morality always look corny and you can't wave the flag and look cool. But like it or not, society needs its heroes." - John Hart; actor who played The Lone Ranger. | |
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| Jeff | Jul 8 2008, 11:12 AM Post #5 |
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Destroyer of Worlds
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When you look out into your backyard, what do you see? A garden, maybe? Well, lots of people would - many take high pride in their gardens. Some even get ideas for new video game franchises from them. Now, that may sound a little psychotic, and to an ordinary person it would, however, the man who came up with this notion was Shigeru Miyamoto - the Father of Gaming. We in the know all know that when Shiggy speaks, the entire industry pauses to listen. The man responsible for Super Mario, the Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, and also helped shape innumerable other loved franchises, such as Metroid and Kirby, came up with this idea while looking into his flower garden. This week, I want to do something different - and review a much more recent game that really ended up being (comparatively) panned during the lifespan of Nintendo's GameCube - Pikmin. I don't recall how I stumbled upon this charming title, but I knew I had to try it out. The story revolves around Captain Olimar, a citizen of the planet Hocotate, who was out on an interstellar vacation. On his trip, he was hit by a comet and knocked down on a planet that he describes as having an "oxygen-rich" atmosphere, which is deadly poisonous to Olimar's people (do they rust internally?). To make matters worse, his ship was badly damaged, including its life support systems - which will only function for another 30 days before he would succumb to the planet's toxic gases. To get his ship up and running and return home safely, he must collect the missing 30 parts of his ship within his 30 day limit - but how? Shortly after his crash-landing, Olimar finds a strange ship-like object he compares to an onion, and thus dubs it an "Onion". From this strange onion comes a single, tiny seed (a comparative statement - Olimar himself is the size of a quarter turned upon its side). The seed sprouts a leaf and Olimar yanks it out to find a bizarre half-plant, half-animal hybrid he dubs a "Pikmin" after its surprising resemblence to what he calls Pikpik brand carrots from his homeworld (Olimar must've been hungry when he crash-landed...). He finds these quick-breeding creatures are loyal to his every command - even those that could prove dangerous or fatal to the Pikmin. He then finds that using their aid, he could rebuild his ship and escape from the strange world. And thus the hunt begins. Graphics - Well, I'm not going to lie, they're stellar. Everything is clearly defined and with surprising amounts to detail, even in each and every one of the Pikmin (up to 100 can be on the field at a time, even), the monsters, the grasses and water even with absolutely no graphical slow down ever noticed by this gamer. The world is bright and colorful when appropriate, or dark and eerie elsewhere. It really brings the five levels, which span enormous areas each, alive. Excellently rendered and great camera controls make the graphics top-notch. Music/SFX - I gotta say, one of the coolest aspects of this game is the diversity of sounds you're bound to hear through the course of this adventure. Each creature makes its own noise, the grass rustles when you touch it, the water splashes (even when 100 little blue Pikmin dive on in with you) and the wind occasionally wafts by. The Pikmin even make noises - ranging from their introductory "Hiiii!" or "Whoo-hoo!" when first pulled from the ground, to mockingly singing over the death of their enemies, or even giving a deep sigh at the deaths of their comrades. The sound effects demand respect. The music? Well, it's a little low, volume-wise, and is mostly a natural-sounding hum to fill the dead air, at least, until you reach a boss-monster. Then the stops are pulled out as you're suddenly faced with a creature of enormous proportions and the music goes from a gentle songstress to a frantic opera of nature and its often-cruel realities. Another well-done aspect of the game. Gameplay - So, it's pretty, it sounds good, it has a decent story and it has a big name behind it. So what? Does it play well? I could simply say "Absolutely" and leave it at that, but that wouldn't be very constructive. The game takes full advantage of the easy handling of the GameCube's controller and the system's processor by running as smooth as silk, and at a constant, uninterrupted 60 FPS. The "A" button is for grabbing and tossing your Pikmin helpers towards a higher area, or an objective (aimed by a cursor in front of Olimar) "B" is for whistling and calling back Pikmin who are not currently in his group, the "X" button puts all Pikmin on idle, disbanding them (and while they are idle, if they're near something they can interact with such as carrying an item or attacking an enemy, they will) once you get a certain item, the "Y" button opens up a map and radar, pointing out where parts to Olimar's ship are, the C-stick is used to move the currently active Pikmin formation around the good captain and to force them to swarm an object or enemy, or make them get in a line, and the control pad can be used to make Olimar act injured (since he can sustain damage, and even be KO'd, forcing you to lose a day in so doing) and have the Pikmin rush him back to his ship to recover. The L, R and Z buttons are used to adjust the camera during play, which handles amazingly well, proving that good in-game cameras can be done properly in a fully 3D game. So, you're probably wondering "what's to stop you from just amassing an army of Pikmin and just beating the game quickly?". Well, first of all, there's a time limit, not only on days, but on the lengths of those days ranging from sunup to sundown, where you must gather up your Pikmin and enter the planet's orbit to avoid nocturnal predators, and those left behind are monster food. Another problem is the self-same monsters. There's dozens of bizarre natural inhabitants, many of which have a hankering for some Pikmin steaks. At the same time, Pikmin can turn the tables and fight back against these monsters in different ways - and kill them and return the felled enemies to their Onions to propagate more of their species. You may be horrified to know that Pikmin are fragile creatures - and just about everything on the planet wants them dead. Sorry babies, that's the big meat grinder of life we call 'nature'. In addition to handling, there's a lot to see and do. There are three Pikmin types, classified by color. Red Pikmin, which have long noses, are immune to fire and have high attack power. Yellow Pikmin, baring large ears, can be thrown higher than their cousins and utilize the powerful bomb rocks found naturally on their home world. The Blue Pikmin, who have mouth-like gill structures, can go into water safely and even rescue their drowning Red and Yellow counterparts. Wisely using all three types is essential to tackling each obstacle and recovering Olimar's ship parts, as well as taking down predators and general nuisances you'll encounter. In addition, the little guys can 'grow' either by being left in the ground for a while, or drinking a yellow nectar found in the game, their leaves will change into buds and then into flowers. Flower Pikmin are faster, attack better, and are generally more useful, though they can lose their flowers if hit and not outright killed. Keeping these things in mind is the key to victory. Well, you've heard the good, so you want to know the bad now, right? Well, the game is disappointingly short. Three endings, 25 mandatory parts, 5 optional parts (though the game does not explicitly tell you which five those are until it's too late to matter) the game offers its fair share of replay, but the entire game only lasts 30 days, each of those compartmentalized even further by the sun timer. Even taking into account the challenge mode in the game, where you try to breed as many Pikmin as possible in a day, you still look at a game where there's just not too much to do after you clear it the first time. So, if you're curious, rent it and see what you think - it's a blast, and you can try to see how fast you can clear the obstacles laid before you. In short, Miyamoto's successful habit of turning unusual ideas into awesome games isn't limited to the NES library - he's doing it even still, today. Check out Pikmin - it'll be worth your while. |
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Come visit me and my thought processes at my website: http://www.publishedauthors.net/tdotdw/news.html "In the cold light, justice and morality always look corny and you can't wave the flag and look cool. But like it or not, society needs its heroes." - John Hart; actor who played The Lone Ranger. | |
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| Jeff | Jul 8 2008, 11:13 AM Post #6 |
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Destroyer of Worlds
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*This review was originally written pre-Christmas of '07, hence the Christmas theme* That's right! Early review this week. What with family coming over and potential presents on the horizon, I might not get it done next week. So, instead, I'm going to share with you one of the earliest Christmases I had and that one special game I got that year. My memory of the time is fuzzy, but I believe the year was 1991 - I would've been 4 at the time, my elder sister, 9. Early Christmas morning, I can still recall my sister and I rushing downstairs to see what gifts "Santa" had left out for us. Meeting us down there were our parents - standing next to a big, black box. On the front of this box were unfamiliar words "SUPER NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM". I'd never heard of it before then (you gotta remember, this was 16 years ago, there was no internet to look these things up and I didn't have a magazine subscription because I was too young to really get hooked on video games then). We didn't know what it was exactly, but apparently, it was that year's hot item and my mom snagged one for us and bundled with the package was a single game - Super Mario World. My sister and I coaxed our dad into hooking the system up for us (since we didn't know how then) and we immediately set to playing. The story is a simple tale, not unlike the Mario titles of NES acclaim (which, bare in mind, I never had for a long time) where Bowser Koopa, King of the Koopas, kidnapped the fair Princess Peach (known then only as Princess Toadstool - remember, her first name wasn't unveiled until Mario 64, years later) and trapped the natives of Dinosaur World, the Yoshis, in eggs using his dark magic powers. Mario and Luigi, two plumbers from Brooklyn and denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom, set off across the vast expanse of Dinosaur Land after the Princess. Graphics - When I was four, I honestly thought that this was the pinnacle of graphical ability. While I don't necessarily think that now, the graphics were bright, vivid and sharp, giving you good understanding of what everything was, and where it was in relation to you (even though I would later learn they goofed on the design of the Goomba, but that was a fault on the art staff, not the game). The colors could range from the great outdoors and its vivid blues and greens, to caves and deserts of brown and black, to the castles of the Seven Koopa Kids, mostly composed of ominous black, gray and red lava - all masterfully rendered and brought over to the 16-bit era after the success of Mario Bros. 3. Music/SFX - The music right from the very first screen of the game is clear, crisp and beautiful. Each and every stage has music most excellently rendered by some of the finest minds in gaming. Each stage had personality all its own, even when riding a Yoshi and adding the characteristic bongos to the background in addition to the music, which I think added a little pep to them. The sound effects were taken from the NES era and then remastered to be clean and blend into the new 16 bit era and in such were well-crafted symphonies of both harmony and chaos for the ears. The music is as beautiful as the graphics and, even better, what's yet to come. Gameplay - Yes. The one core, key element to all Mario games. How's it play? Like a dream. The gameplay is smooth, and handles well for both plumbers equally, though there is no in-game difference between them sans color and player number. "B" button jumps and the longer you hold it, the higher you'll go. Holding "B" whilst in possession of a magic cape - dawned from one of the magic feathers - will allow you to slow you descent speed as you return down to Earth. "Y" button, when held, allows your plumber to run. While you're empowered by a fire flower, you'll launch a fireball from your hand. If you have a cape, tapping "Y" allows you to spin as an attack which can also dispel some projectile attacks. Running with a cape, then jumping also allows you to fly for quite some distance, and proper usage of the control pad allots you further air time. The "A" button allows your brother to do a spin jump. The spin jump doesn't gain the same height as the normal jump, but smashes enemies and lets you destroy Koopa shells that could otherwise become a problem. In addition, while Super with any power-ups (AKA: Big Mario/Fire Mario/Caped) using the Spin Jump lets you destroy certain blocks with your feet, allowing you to go downward from there. The "X" button doesn't do anything, but the "L" and "R" shoulder buttons allow you to push the screen either further forward, or further back, allowing you a better understanding of the scene around you. In addition to these new features is a storage box. The storage is a little blue box at the top of the screen, more or less directly above Mario's head in most default settings. Pressing Select drops the stored item from there down to you, which is very handy in an emergency. The game is intuitive not only for its easy handling that pros and new-comers alike can get right into, but also for the unique system of handling Yoshis, original boss battle situations beyond "Giving them the ax", pardon the expression, and even secret, optional levels such as the Star Road. The game offers three save slots (marked A, B and C for convenience sake) and a percentage for how much of the game you've seen and cleared. Some levels have multiple exits that require doing other levels first, coming with the right equipment, or just plain using your head. The game offers tons of secrets and replay value, in addition to a 2-player mode where you take turns to help each other through the game where one might fail, or wish to take an alternate path. All-in-all, this game is a classic, and really grabs the core of what gaming, and Super Mario, are all about. It was this game that made me a gamer for life, and I promise it won't let down anyone's expectations, even 16 years later. |
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Come visit me and my thought processes at my website: http://www.publishedauthors.net/tdotdw/news.html "In the cold light, justice and morality always look corny and you can't wave the flag and look cool. But like it or not, society needs its heroes." - John Hart; actor who played The Lone Ranger. | |
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| Jeff | Jul 8 2008, 11:13 AM Post #7 |
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Destroyer of Worlds
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Last time, I recounted the tale of how 16 years ago, I got a Super Nintendo and Super Mario World and how that initiated me into the world of video gaming for a lifetime. Now that the Christmas/New Years hustle and bustle is over with, I can now sit back and recount the newest Mario game in my collection - on my brand new Nintendo Wii and alongside it, a copy of Super Mario Galaxy. The plotline is simple - a comet that passes past the planet containing the Mushroom Kingdom every 100 years is approaching, and a centennial festival is being thrown - including for the world-renowned portly plumber, Mario, who received a personal invitation from a certain Princess Peach, asking him to come because she has a gift for him. Upon Mario's arrival, the nasty King of Koopas, Bowser, arrives and, with some pretty impressive air power, takes the ENTIRE castle into outer space. Mario attempts to confront the tyrant, but is defeated and hurled into the infinite reaches of space - whereupon he meets a mysterious woman, Rosalina, and her adoptive children, tiny star-like creatures, who all inhabit an enormous space station. Rosalina then explains to Mario how Bowser stole the 120 stars from her space station - which was also its power source - so they would be unable to pursue the turtle king until they got at least half of those back. Mario then readies himself and sets out on his grandest adventure yet. Graphics - Only a single year into the Wii's lifespan and we're already seeing some amazing stuff! The sheer scope of the levels is unprecedented in a Mario title, as the planets while also huge (for the most part) are also incredibly numerous, dwarfing anything else the plumber has had to endure in the past. In addition to the size of this behemoth, the detail on every single object and person is amazing - you can see the stitching on Mario's overalls - and the texture of grass, sand, and water with amazing clarity. The bosses are insanely well-detailed, but then again, so are the subtle things, like rocks or trees and other NPCs. Simply stunning. Audio/SFX - This game makes it no secret that the entire soundtrack is fully orchestrated. Don't believe me? Check the credits. Music - Super Mario Galaxy Orchestra. Not only is it just orchestrated - it is masterfully orchestrated. Every single piece of music commands respect - by it the epic traversing of worlds and enemies, or the simple touches done in the peaceful space station, or the tear-jerking fairy tale unveiled as you progress through the game. The sound effects are both classic and perfect - with everything being right on cue, subtle and effective without becoming loud or obnoxious. Like the graphics - it is a masterpiece. Gameplay - Okay, the important stuff. How do you play? With the Wii's multi-faceted control schemes, this is important. The only way to play (as far as I can tell) is the Wiimote/Nunchuck set-up, but then again, there could be others, and I may just not have bothered to check. Anyhow, the control stick moves our hero about, the "A" button on the Wiimote makes him jump, which can be combo'd up into a triple jump, like the previous 3D titles. The "B" button, used in conjunction with the little star-shaped pointer from where ever you're aiming your Wiimote at the screen can fire off collected star bits to stun enemies among other things (though I tend to ignore this feature) but using the pointer can collect distant star bits just by pointing at them. Shaking either the Wiimote or the Nunchuck will make Mario do a quick spin attack, which will be your primary mode of attack second only to jumping on enemies, but you can't do it in rapid-fire, as it has a 1-2 second cool-down time to prevent you from going crazy with it. Using the spin after a jump will also give you a tiny bit more elevation, which is useful, in addition to using it for rapid-speed swimming. The "Z" button on the nunchuck makes Mario crouch - from there he can crawl at a slow speed, which is nice if you need to be cautious, or you can tap "A" and backflip for high altitude - which is useful for getting up high rapidly. Now that you understand more or less how to play, how does it play? Well, it plays remarkably well. The controls are tight and spot-on, allowing for precise movements and split-second decision making - and allows for leeway so that either a hardcore or a casual gamer can enjoy it. The game is also kind in that you only need to recover half of the game's total 120 stars in order to enjoy it, but the persistent completionists have more to enjoy because of secrets to be found upon getting all 120, though I won't spoil your fun. The game even is kind enough to hint at the general location of some of the secret stars, unlike Mario 64 or Mario Sunshine where you had to have a walkthru - or by Nintendo's ideal, shell out 20-40 bucks for a player's guide. However, this game isn't perfect and even falls into cliché territory by making some stars obtainable only by doing stupid tasks that only geeks with no life on gamefaqs.com would bother attempting - clearing the most insta-death-trap-laden level in the game in speedrun fashion, clearing one of the hardest levels without being hit once - killing bosses flawlessly, all this and more for the sake of artificially extending the length of the game once you get down to the last 10-20 stars. Even though it dips into tropes and old hat material, Mario Galaxy doesn't attempt to re-invent the genre, and yet manages to do so with its iron-tight controls, beautiful graphics and sweet music score, in addition to countless replay opportunities. Chalk another victory up to Mr. Nintendo, ladies and gents, and try this out. |
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Come visit me and my thought processes at my website: http://www.publishedauthors.net/tdotdw/news.html "In the cold light, justice and morality always look corny and you can't wave the flag and look cool. But like it or not, society needs its heroes." - John Hart; actor who played The Lone Ranger. | |
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| Jeff | Jul 8 2008, 11:14 AM Post #8 |
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Destroyer of Worlds
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Middle school ended up being a turbulent time for me - and many of us. It's really that transitional phase between "childhood" and "adolescence". It's really about that time that many of us begin formulating permanent likes and dislikes that will follow us throughout adulthood. It was also during this time frame, that I discovered an anime called "Monster Rancher". I learned quickly it was based on a video game franchise of the same name, and it was a life sim/monster breeder, a genre often defined in America by the likes of Pokemon. Well, the anime of Monster Rancher was a lot different from the Pokemon anime - namely that the creatures could speak the human languages, fought much more aggressively and could even *gasp* die! Naturally, I was taken with this franchise and after one of my birthdays, I had the money and happened to be in a game shop, so I found a used copy of the first Monster Rancher game, for the PlayStation (1). Within the game itself, you are the titular Monster Rancher. You just passed your breeder licensing exam and, as the intro to the game explains, are trying your hand at the trade. You are introduced to your assistant, a young lady named Holly, and start at your run-down barn and house as a rookie breeder. Your objective is to raise the "Ranks" of the Monster Battle - which are E (lowest), D, C, B, A, and S (highest). When you start you are, predictably, E-Rank. You raise your monster companion (you're allowed 1 at a time) as best as you can by doing "Jobs", which gain you a tiny bit of money, and raise 1 of six stats. Unlike traditional monster-breeders, you don't "level up" in the traditional sense, but you train in particular traits to boost the monster's abilities in different fields. Those are: Life (HP), Strength (Power of physical moves), Intelligence (Power of mental/magic moves), Speed (Dodging), Defense (obvious) and Skill (Accuracy). This is important since monsters have limited lifespan. That's right, monsters actually die in the game. Excessive stress, fatigue, severe injuries, sickness and other things can harm your monsters' lifespans, so care and balance are required. Also, all monsters have set lifespans, and you can really only offset it so much - as a result, you can't really concern yourself with raising all 6 stats evenly. Instead, you need to learn your monsters' strengths and weaknesses, and then use those to your advantage, sometimes at the cost of traits they may not be so good with. All these things are handled in a user-friendly menu system, allowing you complete control of scheduling events, training, rest, tournaments and more. You can bring your monsters to monster battles for money and acclaim or official battles that happen once a season to raise you and your monsters' ranks. Every so often, after certain goals have been met, you're offered the chance to go on expeditions and hunt for rare items and treasure - which you can either accept or turn down at your whim. Once a month, you're asked what you want to feed your little beast, but there's only 3 options (potatoes, fish and meat) and since one of which is never any good for the monsters' well-being, the point is almost moot. The game's time happens in terms of weeks - being 4 weeks to a month and 12 months to a year. You have unlimited time to do as you see fit, with each training/rest/battle taking only a week, and expeditions and heavy training missions taking up a month's time. One of the most fun aspects of the game comes from a trip to the town's shrine. There, you talk with the temple priest, who then instructs you to remove the game disc and insert a CD into the PlayStation. Yes, that's right. Music CDs, PC games, DreamCast games, the list goes on, but just about every CD will work. After the game reads the disc, you put the MR disc back in - and it creates a monster based on the disc's data (hence, one disc will create only one monster). This also accounts for even if multiple discs create the same monster, their traits and stats will be different. Later installments would even use DVDs, once it reached the PS2, and a currently-Japan-only Nintendo DS title employs both the touch screen and microphone, in addition to GBA titles that used a letter/number system. It's easy to get caught up in unlocking monsters at the shrine for hours on end, just due to sheer curiosity. Unlike titles like Pokemon or Digimon, the species is determined by a "Main" species and a "Sub" species of monster DNA - including 'rare' monsters unlocked by specific CDs with a "???" subtype. The first game by itself has, I believe, 215 species. Now you have a better idea of what you can do, I should discuss the monster battles. This is where your training and preparation pay off. You're put in one-on-one battles against the opponents' monsters. You move back and forth with use of the control pad. Your distance in relation to your enemy dictates what moves you can use - which can be a great strategy in the low ranks, where enemies might have gaps in their movesets. Use of L1, R1 and the square button allows you to adjust your attacks and X executes the move you have selected for the distance you're in. That sounds a little complex, but it's easier to do than to explain. If you get backed into a corner and need to get further away from your enemy, when you see a red icon pop up, pressing "O" will shove your enemy away from you, giving you some breathing room. How many attacks you can make is based on your "Will" (Called "Guts" in later games) Will is a magic number on your monster that gradually builds up with time and when you have the number (or higher) to execute a move, you can. Higher will means the accuracy of the attack goes up too, so make sure to balance Will use with Will saving. Each fight has a 60 second timer - whoever has the most health at the end of that time (alternatively, you can KO your opponent, or vice-versa) wins. Now, you're probably wondering about a few other aspects, now that I've adequately covered the gameplay basics. How's it look? Well, the game was released in 1997, but even then they're incredible. The monsters are stunning, well-detailed polygonal models, and the humans are represented by anime mugshots. The backgrounds for the most part are static backdrops, with the exception of battle arena, which is a full-rendered 3D arena. The graphics are amazing, even for their time and now. Well, the next question is, how does it sound? The music is mostly composed of marching-like tunes, so is usually in the back of your mind, with the exception of the battle themes, which are excited, up-beat compositions that really get the blood racing. The menu sounds are fairly simple blips and bumps, but the sounds of each monster species is distinct. Rather than speaking, or *sigh* repeating their names or, even worse, being rendered by a GameBoy sound card, each of the species has a very realistic sound for their species. All-in-all, good job on sound too. Now, replay? Well, it's there in spades. The problem is, the game is open-ended, which not everybody likes (since you're given little closure even after you win and unlock everything there is to unlock). Also, since the events are usually scheduled and often times will repeat (a fact that is actually jabbed fun at in the sequel) it can bore some people who don't take pleasure in raising their creature with love and care, or hope to exceed their past abilities. Take it over leave it, it's an incredible title. By the way, the disc of Monster Rancher actually has a hidden techno track on it. Cool, huh? In the end, this charming title has won the hearts of a cult following, myself included. This simple title opened up a series of sequels and spin-offs, and it's fascinating monster-generation mechanics and lovable cast of characters and pets have charmed people the world over for 11 years now. This is actually my personal favorite video game series of all time - and I wouldn't give it up for the world. So, I may be a bit biased, but I doubt it. For FAN, this is Jeff. See you later this week with another game for the archives! |
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Come visit me and my thought processes at my website: http://www.publishedauthors.net/tdotdw/news.html "In the cold light, justice and morality always look corny and you can't wave the flag and look cool. But like it or not, society needs its heroes." - John Hart; actor who played The Lone Ranger. | |
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| Jeff | Jul 8 2008, 11:14 AM Post #9 |
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Destroyer of Worlds
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As I mentioned before in an earlier review, I got a Wii for Christmas. And it is AWESOME. At the same time, my buddy, who I shall refer to as "Shane", got a PlayStation 3. I was a bit stunned by the size of the black beast, but the power behind said behemoth was formidable indeed. Intrigued by the system's offering of many co-op titles brought me to the couch of Shane's house as he reclined and dined in his living room and played the games he had got. One of which was Resistance: Fall of Man. When I first saw the vague and typically brief video trailers about Resistance, it looked like another generic zombie shooter akin to a free-roaming Resident Evil, but as trailers often tend to be, it was a rather deceptive preview. It was not undead creatures, but rather, alien entities known, collectively, as the "Chimera" that posed the threat to man in this story. While I don't happen to be a fan of First-Person Shooters, this game happened to have a captivating story that occurs along an alternative time line, starting with a very different treaty issued after the close of the first World War. America and Europe never went into recession, the Nazi party was laughed out of Germany, and a relative state of peace had been established, albeit shaky due to threats with the Russians. However, the major changes occurred during what was known as the Tunguska Explosion of 1908 - where a meteor crashed in what is now a part of Siberia and a part of Russia at the time. There you learned something in a video game review. Be proud. Anyways, after WWI ended, a bizarre plague began to overrun Russia, with entire villages vanishing overnight. Western Europe thought it some sort of Russian super-weapon, and the Russians constructed an enormous wall East of where the Iron Curtain fell in actual history. All contact was then lost with the USSR, and the wall was destroyed by inhuman creatures - the aforementioned Chimeran race - which then proceeded to destroy mainland Europe for kicks. Why they did this is never explicitly stated, I guess they just wanted to make sure we stupid humans knew they were evil. England, thinking it was safe due to the fact it's an island nation, is hit by surprise when the stupid aliens burrow UNDER the straight and right into the center of Great Britain. England is swiftly overrun and we learn from a woman narrator that the Chimeras even learned British military tactics in a little under a week. Cue the intro of the game. The Americans send a 5000 man task force to help liberate England, a staunch ally, and as soon as you land, you take the role of one Sgt. Nathan Hale and the game begins. Graphics: Well, Sony claimed they wanted to make something bigger and better than the PS2 - evidently, they succeeded. The graphics are amazing. The effects are stunning, the detail is incredible and the people and monsters look surprisingly life-like. My sole complaint is that some aspects of the environment - wall texture and some environmental things such as grass - look flat and repetitive. But, frankly, that's the biggest complaint I can come up with, and that's saying something. The game looks sharp, no doubt about it. Sound/Music: This game has music, yes. But it's remarkably low in volume. Usually, when you can hear it, it's because you're not in a noisy battlefield or panicking from a Chimera attack. It's eerie to no end. Imagine two overly-caffeinated 20-year-olds playing in the dark, in a dark room in-game, hearing eerie music and seeing no signs of evident danger. That's how this game will make you feel. The sound effects are sharp and spot-on, each gun, each step even, sounding just as you'd imagine it would. Needless to say, the fact that your enemies are hideous, deformed, alien MONSTERS the fact that the sound is spot-on can become remarkably unnerving, as I can prove from an actual excerpt from live gameplay with Shane and I. Me: *Being stupid and careless, I run into a movable, metal table, causing all sorts of ruckus* Shane: OHMYGODWHATWASTHAT?! *Fires rapidly at nowhere in particular* Me: Oh. My bad. Shane: ... I hate you. Gameplay: It's a standard FPS, what do you want? I'm not even going over the controls, because 1) this review is LONG already as is and 2) if you play one FPS, you've played them all in terms of handling. The major differences are a bit obvious. First off, there's a co-op campaign mode in addition to the standard versus mode. That right there was what convinced me to play in the first place. In addition, you have a limited regenerative ability that, when not being hit, will cause your health to refill overtime (but this only takes effect after you clear the first mission for storyline reasons I won't spoil here). So, you're thinking "Okay... co-op... so it's still like every other FPS on Earth?". No. I've played my fair share of FPS games, some against my will, some with it, and as a general rule, the enemies tend to be suicidal and tend to run STRAIGHT AT YOU while you blow them into itty-bitty pieces, only posing a threat should they have the stamina to get close enough to you without being disemboweled. The AI of Resistance is something else entirely. They will actually LEARN your tactics as you progress through the levels, and I'm not kidding. The Chimera are amazingly resilient creatures, requiring an entire clip be emptied into them from standard assault rifles, but they also have this annoying tendency to use your tactics against you, or find a way to sabotage them before you pull them off. Did I forget to mention I've only played the game on "Easy" thus far? The game is challenging, and makes you think on your feet, which is a breath of fresh air from the breeze I was expecting after my previous experiences with other FPS including but not limited to: Golden Eye on the N64, Perfect Dark N64, Unreal for the PC, Halo 1, 2 AND 3 and others. The challenge, tactics, and various locales you'll venture through make it a worthwhile gesture. While that's more or less all I can say concerning how the game IS, there are some things I also like about it I'd like to briefly mention. For one thing, you know from the get-go you're playing an American soldier, yet there's no mindless flag-waving that could be a turn-off to foreign gamers, stereotypes are managed to be tiny in number, the AI helpers actually tend to be somewhat useful, and the main hero mostly stays quiet rather than trying to be the next Duke Nukem with self-congratulatory one-liners. All these little things added up to be a story worth telling and a game worth playing. I don't have a PS3, but I can say to anyone who does - Resistance is worth every penny. It's awesome. |
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Come visit me and my thought processes at my website: http://www.publishedauthors.net/tdotdw/news.html "In the cold light, justice and morality always look corny and you can't wave the flag and look cool. But like it or not, society needs its heroes." - John Hart; actor who played The Lone Ranger. | |
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| Jeff | Jul 8 2008, 11:16 AM Post #10 |
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Destroyer of Worlds
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By special request of Rem, today I present to you my thoughts on the DOS-based PC classic - Oregon Trail. Back when I was in elementary school (oh God, that just caused me physical agony to write...) every Friday was the day where the teacher said "Forget this crap" and let us little hellions play games, have extended recess periods and probably went out to go smoke or something. (I'm kidding, I had great teachers in elementary school.) However, the kids lined up from all across the classroom to get a chance at one of the two old, blocky Apple computers the school managed to get per classroom from an electronics bargain bin that had copies of the game every kid wanted to squander their school day away playing - Oregon Trail. The game really hasn't changed much since then, except in the rudimentary version I was playing as a child gave the player the option to make epitaphs for their fallen party members. Needless to say, I'm a little relieved that that particular feature is gone, as in a room full of 30-33 1st graders, by the time I had gotten halfway along the trek to the west, seeing tomb stones with names and engravings making references to one's behind had gotten a little stale. Story: It's the year 1848 and the great westward expansion movement is in full swing. Every day covered wagons take off to the west to find a better life in the valleys of Oregon - and you're one of the families en route too. Setting off from Independence, Missouri, you're objective is to get to the Oregon destination of Willamette Valley. And living to see said destination is a bit harder than you'd imagine. Graphics: Okay, okay. The game was made for old, 1992 computers (assuming you're playing Oregon Trail Deluxe, as I did for the sake of this review. God only knows how old the version I played 15 years ago was!) But for their time, they were good. Not great, but not bad. PC's of the era never could hold a candle to say, the Super Nintendo, but they got the job done and in enough detail to accurately portray whatever it was they were attempting to portray. Music/SFX: There aren't any. In a lot of gamer's minds, that might actually be classified as a bad thing, but go ahead and find a version of the game that actually DOES have music and sound effects, and you'll probably be happier just muting it and turning on your own MP3s or CDs. Suffice to say, it's better that way. That, and it really does give a more accurate sense of how the trail actually was - often times very quiet and alone. A similar feeling was done in Shadow of a Colossus, but now I'm digressing. Gameplay: You start off in a menu, where the game prompts you to pick names for your leader, four party members, and your occupation. Your occupation is important because certain occupations make more money, but get fewer bonus points, while others make less, but get much higher bonuses in the tabulated score for the end of the game. If you simply want to BEAT the game, then disregard the scoring system, but if you actually aim to play for high score, the trade-off is that you start off with piddly for money. Afterwards, you select which month you want to start from, ranging from March to August, and the game warns you that setting off either too early or too late can end up causing you grief. Frankly, the trek is a long and arduous one, so it hardly even matters in some ways. Personally, I start off early in the year and endure all the hardships immediately rather than later when I'm more vulnerable, but that's just me. Then you're brought to a store, where you get to stock your wagon with necessities such as bullets to hunt with, clothes, spare parts, food and oxen to pull the wagon. The game tells you to plan ahead, but unless you take the time to look ahead in the guide, or have played the game before, you probably will blow all your money in the first store just trying to max everything out. This is not a good idea. Each unit of bullets you buy accounts for 20 hunting bullets, and if you're a carpenter or a blacksmith, odds are good you won't need as many spare parts as other classes. Also, down the road you'll run into more shops, and rivers where you can pay a piddly 5 bucks to be ferried across and avoid any terrible disasters such as having the best swimmer in my party drowning in 2.5 feet of water. You're probably laughing. I laughed, at the time, too. But the gameplay's biggest flaw is that the game itself, constantly telling you that skill and preparation can help make the venture to the west a simple feat, fails to inform you that most of the game is this little thing called DUMB LUCK. Every in-game day, which takes all of seconds to pass, the game spins a little, invisible roulette wheel to see what it can do to make your life a little bit harder and depending on time of year, the location where you are and some other things, it can be pretty vexing. Of course, another little, invisible roulette is also used in order to see if you can bounce back from these issues. Of course, as a result of this fact, and the fact that some of the events can be flat-out catastrophic and the in-game trading system is one rip-off after another, getting to the end or perishing at the hands of the anticlimactic is all a matter of luck. Imagine my frustration during one of my play throughs where at the VERY FIRST RIVER of the game, measuring all of 2.5 feet deep, I attempt to ford the river, reasoning oxen are large animals and the average height of my troupe is somewhere between 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 feet, outliers such as myself notwithstanding, only to have Sean (yes the Sean of this website with whom I've done many reviews, and the best swimmer of the party) DROWN. BEST SWIMMER + 2.5 FT DEEP WATER = DROWNING?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Suffice to say I was agitated, but not deterred. Then, at the 2nd river crossing at the game, no longer willing to take such risks, I caulked up the wagon and attempted to float it safely to the other side, only to have it topple over like the plot of a Dan Brown novel and Root and Rem perished at the hands of very cruel irony in 4 ft deep stream. Needless to say, I didn't get to see Oregon on THAT run. The flipside of the coin is the reality that in some runs you can have amazingly unprecedented luck, even if only for a brief spell. In one game, Root, (yes, I dragged a lot of my FAN buddies along for the ride) was bitten by a snake FIVE DIFFERENT TIMES and didn't die. He died later, the day after getting a broken arm whereupon the game informed me "ROOT GOT SICK AND DIED". From a broken arm? Seriously? Yes, anything and everything in this game can end one of your party members existences. You have absolutely no control over this - and sometimes you just can't stop and rest to help them, because you might have the poor luck of ending up in an area where there's bad or no water. Why your party wasn't bright enough to invest in canteens is anyone's guess. I guess it was a radical departure from games that were the same time and time again, as multiple parts from midway on in the quest to the west can vary and branch out at your discretion, but it doesn't improve the fact that your living or dying often times is in the hands of some omnipotent CPU with a sadistic sense of humor as your only pick-me-up for dropping dead is "DON'T FEEL BAD! LOTS OF WAGONS DIDN'T MAKE IT TO THE WEST!". This didn't exactly cheer me up immensely, as dying on the doorstep of victory is a very real possibility and has happened to me in the past. Conversely, the victory screen didn't really feel all that victorious, as I've yet to make it there with my entire party alive. The best I've done is 4/5, and "Congratulations, you made it to Oregon alive enough to count!" didn't really feel as though I had won, but rather the game was mocking me for being victim to circumstances beyond my control and losing a party member for the dumbest of reasons only makes me want to beat it perfectly all the more. It's like battered wife syndrome in that regard. Again, it was at least different, yet the fact that 95% of the gameplay facets are random and can often end your quest prior to it even getting off the ground, and random dumb luck was not fun then and if MegaMan X5 was any indication, time has not sweetened it. Okay, okay, I guess I'm being hard on it. The game is FUN, the historical value is over-flowing and for mutants like me who legitimately enjoy edutainment games, this one is a golden classic. It still gets very vexing, however, when fate decides to screw with your head, by having a single party member suffer multiple ailments in rapid succession only to later give you a "THEY'RE ALL BETTER NOW" message and I was left scratching my head as to WHICH handicap they had recently overcome - only to find that one party member can only suffer one ailment at a time, as any new ones to appear afterwards immediately over-write their predecessors, should they not be given ample time to heal from it. However, my sole remaining complaint is that while in 1848 the Civil War had not yet happened, and several southern states still believed in segregation and slavery - and yet along the trek you'll encounter every single human being of every conceivable ethnic background lacking only a person on crutches or a wheelchair, or at least a war amputee to complete all politically correct stereotypes. But that's a minor grievance, since even bothering with other humans is 100% optional. All-in-all Oregon Trail is a good game, my only major complaint being that the events are random and uneven, often granted the player either a free ride or complete and total hell along the way, with limited control over the variables involved in the equation. However, being wiped off the face of America doesn't make you lose anything but a little bit of time, as you can always start again and try for the goal one more time. It's a good game, especially for an era where good PC games were quite limited in number. |
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Come visit me and my thought processes at my website: http://www.publishedauthors.net/tdotdw/news.html "In the cold light, justice and morality always look corny and you can't wave the flag and look cool. But like it or not, society needs its heroes." - John Hart; actor who played The Lone Ranger. | |
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1:21 PM Dec 6
