Getting back on track

Wow, so I have been living under a rock for the past few months (a rock named school *cough*) Anyway, I've been able to read the May issue of Nintendo Power and realized how many things I didn't know about. Yay?



Image from IGN

First off I want to express how awesome the Guitar Hero game looks for the DS, I guess I'm just a fan of cool peripherals but I think it's a pretty innovative way to play the game on a hand held. I mean, it'd be kind of awkward jamming on the subway with a mini guitar... what sucks though is the missing orange button (not that I was able to play on hard mode but the option would have been nice...)

On Tour will contain a line-up of more than 20 licensed songs from bands as Nirvana, OK Go, and No Doubt; Activision will most certainly reveal the full list of bands and songs as we get closer to the game's summer release date. Players will be able to pick from six different guitarists to represent them in-game -- while four guitarists have been in Guitar Hero before, two of the characters have been designed exclusively for the Nintendo DS game. As they get through career mode, they'll unlock venues as well as outfits to deck out their chosen persona.

Excerpt from IGN.com

Next, are the re-releases, Disgaea for the DS?! Aghhh noooo, so much of my life has been lost to that game and the item world... but I will probably get this game anyway... lol, just like I do whenever they release another Final Fantasy... Oh, they're doing that again? Great. Despite all my griping, it does look awesome. I just wonder if I'll be spending all summer replaying games or if I'll manage to play some new ones...

When did this happen? There are two cheerleading video games for the Wii? I don't know whether or not I'll buy it, (Although All Star Cheer Squad is choreographed by the same guy who did Bring it On... and I do love me some spirit fingers XD) it's nice to see developers trying to create games for girls...? When are they gonna make some games for women?

As far as I can tell, the difference between the games is ASCS uses the balance board from Wii Fit.

Finally!

(Fire Emblem pic from ign.com)
Hey all!

Lately since school, I haven't been able to get my hands on any games... until a couple days ago (see how long that lasted?) Anyway, I was able to play some DK: Jungle Climber, Taiko Drum (Japanese release) and Drawn to Life for the DS. I was also able to clock a couple of hours on the new GW expansion Eye of the North. I hope to at least provide quick reviews of a couple of them, very very quick reviews since I have to get to school to do my animations.

DK: Jungle Beat - (Game play time 15 min)
To sum it up, there is little difference between this version and the version for GBA (I haven't encountered any use for the stylus yet). The premise of this game is to be able to jump and swing your way through using hand holds and special jumps. Timing is key in this game as you rotate around hand holds aiming for various items and enemies.

Taiko Drum - (Game play time 25 min)
I love music games, and for a hand held version of the PS2 one I've played it's pretty addicting. You use two styluses and hit the picture of the drum on the touch screen. It plays like the one to the PS2, hit in the middle for the red circles and hit the sides for the blue ones. There are also classic 8-bit themes as well that you can play, but the other songs are all in Japanese because it's an import.

Drawn to Life - (Game play time 25 min)
A very innovative game that really utilizes the stylus and touch screen! I was pretty involved drawing all the little aspects of my world. You can draw what your character looks like, what the objects he/she interacts with and the background and people involved. So far so good! Hopefully this will lead to a full review!

Guild Wars: Eye of the North - (Game play time about 10+hrs)
So far I'm enjoying the expansion, there are a lot of little things that they've added like sound clips to some of the characters (which freaked me out at first because it was pretty loud) so it reminds me a little of Warcraft. Obviously they've added more skills and armor, they also have a hall of monuments, which is alright... I think I have to play this one a bit more or write reviews on the other ones....

Oh and in other game news, Fire Emblem for Wii looks awesome, gotta get around to finishing the one for GC O_o;;

Bye for now!

Back for a bit!

Hey!

Long time no posts! As explained in the last post I am organizing everything for school, (paperwork, tuition, schedule, etc) catching up with a lot of friends I haven't seen or won't see for a while, cleaning up the house and packaging up stuff for donation and am generally still pretty busy, but it's exciting stuff! Two weeks left!

As for gaming related experiences I was able to play some Wii, mostly Mario Party 8, Wii Play and Wii Sports. I brought the Wii to two different parties and we all played MP8, so I'll have to share that experience in another post.

I wasn't able to play too much DS as I sent it with my brother to NYC to get it engraved at the Nintendo World Store, only to find that they have discontinued that service! BOO!!! But, in the meantime I found some neat software that helps the user learn to write and translate Japanese (you have to import it though) find out more from this handy dandy link to tofugu.com! Who says games can't be educational?

I've been playing a lot of Guild Wars, but not as frequently as I am waiting on the expansion. I've also got demos of Tabula Rasa (NCSoft) and Sword of the New World: Granado Espada (IMC Games) that I have to try out.

I also got a bunch of new Nintendo stuff from my friend who traveled all around Europe! When he asked me what I wanted I said "Nintendo stuff" and I actually got some, sweeeeeeet! :D

Oh yeah, and I'm re-reading the Doom series I'm also reading Making Comics by Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics, his works are extremely helpful, easy to follow and very detailed (not to mention fully illustrated!)

Preview: Drawn to Life

I was surfing around IGN and came across Drawn to Life for the DS. The game looks pretty interesting as you have to draw the objects, characters and hero which then get incorporated into the game.

Drawn to Life takes players to the next level of interaction and creativity on the Nintendo DS. Your exact drawings populate the game, and no tedious animating or image manipulation is necessary. In other words, your drawing comes to life!

Here are some links to more info on the game, they also have a contest for creation of the main character (which can also act segway to how some of the gameplay would be!)

Zomg! More announced for Taiko Drum for DS

I was happy to read that more information is available about the Taiko Drum game for DS!! Game | Life - Wired Blog has more on this (and is where I got the pic from).

It has a release date of July 26! I'll definitely keep an eye out for it if I do end up going to Japan this year!

Nice weather

Yesterday was a nice day so I decided to play some DS outside during my lunch break. It was incredibly hot though, so I wasn't able to stay outside for too long. Also, the glare from that pesky sun was preventing me from moving my armies in order to kill some golems. Oh, nerdiness prevails again.

Last night I also watched Shinobi, it wasn't spectacular, but it wasn't horrible either (horrible like the live action Death Note movie, but maybe I was expecting too much as I really like the manga). I actually fell asleep at the end, my friend had to tell me what happened when I woke up. It had a lot of already seen characters. Kagero, who is a female shinobi and has been fed poison all her life so she can make a poison mist and poison men she kisses. She is identical to Kagero the female ninja in Ninja Scroll which was made in 1993. I don't know if there are any ties to that but I thought that weird, same name, same powers, same profession. Anyway, the plot was also a familiar one, it was similar to Romeo & Juliet, two rival ninja clans who fought each other for years, have two young leaders who fall in love with each other. Blah, blah... lol, I guess I wasn't that impressed at all.

Well, this evening I'll be at my friends place and we're gonna get started on that costume! Woo!

[edit: Shinobi and Ninja Scroll were both based off of Futaro Yamada's work The Kouga Ninja Scrolls! And that's why there's similarities there, and now I know, and so do you, and knowing is half the battle! XD]

Puzzle Quest for DS

So, it seems that I've been playing an awful lot of DS games, I was hoping to be able to play some more console games and review some, but I can't seem to stop playing my DS! I recently have borrowed a copy of Puzzle Quest from my friend and I was pretty impressed with it. It is a lot like Bejeweled but the stones have different characteristics associated to it (HP, Mana, Damage, Gold, etc) so to trigger those attributes you have to match three or more of the same stones. There are also techniques/spells you can execute by building particular colours from those stones.

At first I was indifferent about it, but when I started getting the hang of it it became pretty fun, there's more strategy involved in this than Bejeweled, so don't go in thinking it's just a straight puzzle game. I might write a review but I think that I should play more console games.

O-M-G it's over!!!11 Taiko Drum FTW!

Namco has announced a Taiko Game for the DS!!! AHH! My hands cramp in anticipation!!! Hopefully they'll release it in North America too.

Ch-ch-ch-check it out at Wired.

Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales DS

FINAL FANTASY FABLES: CHOCOBO TALES

Developer: H.A.N.D
Publisher: Square-Enix
Released: April 2007
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Multiplayer: Yes & WiFi
Genre: Adventure


[Edit: After reading the review in the April edition of EGM they mention the lack of "download play" for multiplayer, so I'll have to check on that when my friend comes back in May, we'll try out the multiplayer option and see if it's true.]

[Edit: 06/05/07 Well, I tried to play multiplayer with my friend when we went to NYC and it didn't work.

Official Website - An interactive 2D website with information on all aspects of the game. Has movie clips of gameplay and shows how you interact with the game.

Hours played: Approx. 6 hours, reached the tree in the forest and unlocked all but a few of the challenges in two of the books and three of the minigames.

Synopsis: You play as a chocobo who must save your friends from an
evil book that imprisoned them. Through a series of card battles and mini-games you have to find and save all the chocobos in the chocobo farm. The books consist of common fairy tales like "The Admantoise and the Cactuar" in place of "The Tortoise and the Hare" or "Titan and the Beanstalk" instead of "Jack and the Beanstalk".

Tutorial: None, they have instructions integrated into the gameplay, which is a staple with most Final Fantasy games. The beginning of the mini-games also have instructions on how to play, although they can be misinterpreted at times resulting in frustration. The card battling is also explained with terms and examples and you're able to practice with other characters.

Story/Characters: The story is simple, and appropriate for this game, you have to save your friends from bad guys through playing mini-games in enchanted books. You also see familiar characters like Cid and Shirma the white mage.

Graphics/Cinematics: 3D top down view, I immediately thought of Final Fantasy III when I started playing. It even has the drop down menu on the right side of the screen. No cut scenes, the whole story is in-game.

Interface: Clean, simple, and similar to the "blue FF7" screens. What I liked about it was it wasn't overly crowded, everything was visible. My only gripe would be in the card screen, selecting and creating new decks were troublesome at first.

Sound/Audio/Voice Acting: If you are a fan of the series you'll recognize many of the songs in the game. Both sound effects and songs has been sampled from previous FF games. There was no voice acting in the game.

Gameplay/Controls: Very good, the game is entirely by stylus. I didn't have any trouble with sensitivity or accuracy. I find it interesting though with the level of difficulty, this should not be marketed towards a younger audience, some of the mini-games are hard to accomplish (they are more complicated than Wario Ware, I'll have to check if they're more difficult than Raving Rabbids for DS later). I've also seen a lot of reviews complaining about the difficulty which causes a dilemma because to get better cards you have to unlock them in the harder versions of the mini-games.

Replay value: Medium, depending on if you unlock everything first, it will make you want to go back and unlock everything to get all the cards. The multiplayer also encourages replay through playing with friends.

Learning Curve: Easy-Moderate

Pros:
+ Uses many great Final Fantasy songs
+ Many different mini-games and ranging difficulties
+ Great interface and use of top screen (for maps, in-game cinematics)
+ Great graphics identical to Final Fantasy III for DS

Cons:
- Some mini-games are pretty demanding for the casual gamer
- Confusing instructions for the games & takes multiple tries to figure out
- Card battling system can be hard to get used to
- The card battles can get tedious

Summary: Hardcore fans of Final Fantasy who like mini-games will love this, I know it sounds obvious but you really do have to love challenging mini-games because that and card battling make up the entire game.

Score: 7/10




Some screens from the website

Pokemon Diamond and Pearl

Well, it appears that many other game stores were busier than mine. The sales numbers came in and Pokemon has sold over 155 million copies! Check the full story here. Diamond was more popular than Pearl, but I'm sure it had to do with the different Pokemon you get (as usual).

Speaking of Nintendo, they managed to outsell Sony and Microsoft again in the March NPD numbers with 259,000 Wii's and 508,000 DS units. It doesn't really surprise me that the numbers are so high since a lot of game stores have been sold out for months. They practically fly off the shelves and every time I'm working I get at least 3 inquires about the availability of the Wii. I'm sure with the release of Pokemon, Nintendo DS sales boomed as well.

Touch Detective DS

TOUCH DETECTIVE

Developer: Success/Bee Works
Publisher: Atlusre-evaluate
Released: October 2006
ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+
Multiplayer: No
Genre: Adventure

Official Website - pretty good, has a lot of gameplay examples.

Synopsis: You play as a new "Touch Detective" named Mackenzie. Using the stylus you can navigate through areas and have her check out different sections of those areas. These can contain items/clues/people you can talk to that you must use to solve the cases you are given.

Tutorial: Yes, there is a very brief tutorial that you go through to get the basics. The main things you will do is search around tapping in different places on the screen, talking to people you meet, and collecting the items/clues you find. Taking a closer look at the clues will help you figure out what to use it for. You can then use them to solve the case. Yes, it's as easy as it sounds, in theory. But the actual gameplay can get annoying, more in the upcoming sections.

Story/Characters: The main story is Mackenzie must make a name for herself because she recently inherited the detective agency from her father. The characters have a cute but awkwardness to them. As the different characters interact with Mackenzie, you can see her thoughts on the top screen about what she's thinking at the moment (related or not). This feature can get annoying, mainly because you're looking up and down a lot, but you get used to it (or just ignore it). The other characters are also quirky, and tend to say lots of random things. However, they also say the same things over and over, which can get frustrating when you're tapping around and touch them by accident.

Graphics/Cinematics: Has an anime style to it, with chibi 2D illustrated cartoon characters. They are seen as 2D when speaking on the top screen, and 3D when on the bottom touch screen when you're looking around. The environments are great, they blend in well with the characters.

Interface: I was rather happy with the simple and clean interface. The menus were easy to navigate through and made sense but sometimes there were too many option screens which can get tedious. I think a storybook orientation like that of Hotel Dusk and Brain Age would have worked well with this game, especially since you're a detective, and it can mimic you holding a notebook.

Sound/Audio/Voice Acting: No voice acting, but the music is very upbeat, it matches the style of the game.

Gameplay/Controls: Stylus with the option of using the d-pad, I find the d-pad to be better just because sometimes it registers better, but that kind of defeats the purpose of having a touch screen.

Replay value: None, I don't think I'll be trying to play this one again any time soon...

Learning Curve: Easy

Pros:
+ Easy Interface
+ Great anime visuals (Quirky, interesting characters, nice looking environments)

Cons:
- Character talking on top screen while they're talking on bottom
- Better to use the D-pad in some cases
- You end up tapping the touch screen blindly in an attempt to move the story along
- Other character dialogue gets irritating after a while

Score: 4.5/10 [edit: I looked over my post again and realized that this game deserves a lot lower]


A screencap of the gameplay from the official website

Oh so very tired

So, I'm recovering from a night of multiplayer action that was Games Night. It was a fun time! Didn't get home until 4:30am-ish though. I was glad at the turnout considering I was the only one who brought an extra TV.

Some games I played were:
Guitar Hero 1 & 2
Taiko Drums
Mario Kart (after a while it was more about the battling than the racing lol)
Rub Rabbits
Tetris
Fire Emblem 2
Karaoke Revolution: American Idol
Karoke Revolution 1-4

I mainly enjoyed the food that was brought more than the games ^^ I love cucumber and chips and salsa! Good times!

On another note, there's another Final Fantasy Chocobo game, except now it's for the DS! It's called Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales. Find more out about it here at the Nintendo website.

As a loveable chocobo, players will tap, swipe and slide their way through fables from the Final Fantasy world as they journey to rescue their lost friends and restore peace to the land.