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Here comes another repurposed review, for your perusing pleasure.
Art Style: Precipice (or Art Style: Kubos, overseas) is yet another little slice of downloadable (DSi) heaven from the lovely lads at Skip. It's a really cool physical puzzle game. Sort of like Mr. Driller in reverse. Or Congo Bongo meets Tetris (meets Q-Bert?). Blocks fall in a small 3-D grid, and you manipulate a minimalist 3D stick figure character to 'paint' each block by walking over it and climb ever upwards without getting squashed or falling into nothingness (when the bottom layer drops off). You can also reshape the field by pushing or pulling blocks. The game is intuitive, simple, and fun, with a nice dash of added complexity by way of Bomb Blocks to defuse, Energy Blocks to harvest, and a limited Blast move. Because of the deliberate speed of movement and telegraphed block drops, Precipice has a measured, strategic feel, which belies the underlying tension in a very interesting way.
This game is a prime example of what a WiiWare title should be. Given its huge limitations, titles on the service should not try to emulate full retail releases, but rather be simple, original and straight-up fun concepts executed well. Take a game like Jett Rocket for example. While it is a great game, in the end it just makes you wish it were a retail game so it could look better, last longer, and be overall bigger.
But then there are games which don't need to be bigger, and so are perfect for WiiWare. The Art Style games are a good example of that. There's five of them already, all very good, however one of them stands as easily the best: Art Style Rotozoa.
In the game you control that ... thing with tentacles you see in the picture above, maneuvering it around ... somewhere with the d-pad, and twsiting it clockwise with the 2 Button, and counter-clockwise with the 1 button. The goal of each stage is to collect as many "pieces" of the tentacles as you're told in the beginning (for ... Read More!
My first remark is whoever said it looked like an N64 game deserves to be shot (wait, I haven't said that, have I)? I think it looks absolutely fantastic, visually.
And then, no voice acting? Disney needs to get with the times and start pushing the envelope again. It's sad to see how much Mickey has fallen behind and lost its significance. They could have given the Mad Doctor its original voice (lol)!!!
And then, some comics will describe both the world Mickey will visit from before the game, and then some others tell the game story (source: NintendoLife). ... Read More!
Soul of Darkness is a Castlevania knock-off and doesn't hide it. The main character, who looks like a Belmont, has to travel to a castle in order to fight a vampire and save his lady. Even the title sounds like a Castlevania subtitle. So is this $5 downloadable game good enough for someone craving a quick Castlevania fix? It depends on what you're looking for.
If you're someone who places a lot of importance of the presentational aspects of a game (story, graphics, music), you might find the game satisfying. Graphics-wise, the style apes the Castlevania style perfectly, and the quality is almost there. Other than having to deal with a strangely low frame rate when the "camera" is panning, I don't have any complaints. Music-wise, this game doesn't come anywhere close to its inspiration, but really, did you expect to? The midi samples are not of a high quality, and the compositions sound a little bare. Story-wise... well I've never played these games for their story, but it seemed to me ... Read More!
Dive: The Medes Island Secret Publisher: Cosmonaut Games Players: 1 ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Mild Violence Price: 1,000 Wii Points™ Description: During the past five centuries, hundreds of ships flying every ensign have succumbed to the power of the ocean. Merchant boats, pirate ships, navy vessels – all have ended up covered in coral at the bottom of the ocean. All of them guarded secrets that remained hidden... until now. In Dive: The Medes Islands Secret, you are John Sanders, a treasure hunter and experienced diver who spends months planning and documenting a major expedition to locate and recover several ships of different ensigns around the world.
Heavy Fire: Special Operations Publisher: Teyon Players: 1-2 ESRB Rating: T (Teen) – Blood, Violence Price: 500 Wii Points Description: Join an elite army unit in Heavy Fire: Special Operations, an arcade shooter for the WiiWare service. Play challenging missions in the Middle East from the ground, Humvee or Blackhawk. You will need a ... Read More!
I do. I love it. And I'm not ashamed to admit it. Well, I'm a little ashamed, but not much. Because it's awesome. This game, Yoshi's Touch and Go, and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat are similarly wondrous games to me, in that they invented a novel mechanic and just nailed the fuck out of it on the first try. All of these overlooked gems recall my favorite parts of the dearly departed arcade experience.
But most of you have experienced Jungle Beat and Touch and Go by now. Let's focus on King of Swing, one of the GBA's unsung heroes. Developed by Paon (who just brought us Glory of Heracles), a company apparently made up of bits of Data East, King of Swing takes the basic premise of Clu Clu Land (swinging around pegs) and throws in gravity and the deep, physics-based precision of something like Bionic Commando NES. The basic mechanics are easy to grasp, but very difficult to master, and holy hell, does the game encourage you to master them. It gets pretty challenging, but mostly in a "I'm going ... Read More!
AquaSpace Publisher: Nintendo Players: 1 ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) Price: 600 Wii Points™ Description: Turn your television into a virtual aquarium with AquaSpace. You can simply relax and watch the fish or take the opportunity to read detailed information about them, such as scientific names and habitats, using the illustrated encyclopedia. If you want to get up close and personal with the fish, you can send your Mii™ character on a dive to swim with them, feed them or hunt for trivia icons to discover fish-related facts. Choose from eight aquarium themes and spruce them up with dozens of different fish and a variety of decorations, wallpaper and plant life. You can also change the background music by taking your pick from a selection of songs or using the sound of water. Then, once everything is set up, you can view your aquarium from a variety of camera angles (including a fish-eye view). Visit every day and watch your aquarium change – your fish will grow, and new fish may be ... Read More!
You know, like how The Cars should have been the blueprint for post-80s rock'n'roll, but weren't?
I nominate Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Such a brilliant, brilliant execution of storytelling within a game. It's really one of the ONLY good examples I can think of. But it seems that its lessons were largely ignored. I'd almost add Super Metroid, in terms of storytelling, but there were a few games that followed that formula, and I'm not sure it was the first.
I might add WarioWare. That game has a seriously amazing concept. It might be hard to apply it directly to other game designs, but the principles it's based off of are very interesting. At the very least, developers could start appealing to us ADD folks and cut out the tedious, boring shit.
Bonus question: Which games DID change the direction of the industry, but shouldn't have? I will nominate my favorite whipping franchises - Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy, and Gran Turismo. And Call of Duty, maybe? ... Read More!
So, a thought came to me the other day. I'm not sure what brought it on, but here it is. Let me me know what you think.
I was reminiscing to myself about the various power-ups and suits in the Super Mario series. For me, I don't think anything has topped Super Mario Bros. 3. The amount of power-ups in that game have yet to be matched, and some of the elusive ones (like that super-slick Hammer Bros. suit!) are just so much fun to use. I was a little disappointed by the lack of decent power-ups in the DS version of NEW Super Mario Bros., but was pleasantly surprised at the variety in NEW Super Mario Bros. Wii. It at first appeared to be a return to form from the 8-bit glory days.
But then I noticed something. There was no real equivalent to the Racoon Suit. Or Tanooki Suit. Or the Magic Cape. Heck, Yoshi can't even sprout wings in this game like he was able to in Super Mario World - his debut game. Mario and the gang were permanently stuck on the ground, for the most part. There was no ... Read More!
Toribash Publisher: Nabi Studios Players: 1-2 ESRB Rating: T (Teen) – Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence Price: 1,000 Wii Points™ Description: Toribash is an online fighting game where you make all the moves. Use precision motion controls to create any move you want – the only limit is your imagination. Manipulate your fighter's joints for maximum impact and take out your opponents with precise hits. Boost your joints for added speed and strength to hit harder, then grab your opponents and slam them to the ground. Fight online and challenge players around the world using Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection (broadband Internet access required). Want to make your own fight movies? Just jump into the replay editor. You can enter replays at any point in time and review your fight to catch that mind-blowing move you missed. When you're done, share with your buddies through WiiConnect24™.
Balloon Pop Festival Publisher: UFO Interactive Players: 1-2 ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) Price: 800 Wii ... Read More!
