Category Archives: DS

Jul 11 0 comments
DS, PC, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360

What I’ve been playing this summer (part II)

Mystery Dungeon: Shiren The Wanderer

Mystery Dungeon: Shiren The Wanderer

Brütal Legend

Brütal Legend

Alan Wake (Xbox 360)

Alan Wake finally came out and for me, it was well worth the wait. Top of the line storytelling all through, with unparalleled pacing and cinematic conventions. Great setting, great writing, great characters and good gameplay. It could have used a bit more variety in the combat mechanics towards the end, but aside from that, this is one of the best adventures I’ve been on in years. One of the setpieces is an instant classic (the farm fields), and the other scenes don’t fare much worse. They have clearly cut all the fat and only kept the very best parts. Remedy are really the masters in what they do. Must play, if you have a 360.

I’ve recently been replaying Max Payne 2, and everything that’s great about Wake is evident there. It may be hard to recall what an ambitious step in storytelling the sequel to Max Payne was, despite a short development time. If you’re thinking about a revisit, for a seven-year old game, on the PC it has stood up graphically amazingly well.

Dead Or Alive 4 (Xbox 360)

I initially disliked (whoah, four years already!) DOA4 because the computer is super hard. But this time I stuck to my guns and learned how to play it. It’s easily the best title in the series, in every way an evolution. I’ve been playing single player and grown to not be frustrated with the CPU. My wife has become rather proficient in it, as well, usually soundly beating me. (I think I’m thinking too much.)

I’ve also played some online, but that’s just harsh. The guys still online are way too hardcore for me.

Mystery Dungeon: Shiren The Wanderer (Nintendo DS)

All the way from 1995, this DS port of a 15-year old SNES game just sucks me in. It’s a graphical, less complex roguelike, which does not make it the slightest bit forgiving. A really hardcore experience, you’re supposed to perish dozens if not hundreds of times before making it to the end. Every time you die, you start from the beginning, although if you’re clever, you can carry over some of the stuff you’ve accumulated in your previous adventures. The narrow scope with lots of depth makes it very compulsive to play.

Soul Calibur Broken Destiny (PSP)

Still a great game. Both the fighting and the character building are fun and really at home on the PSP. If you have a PSP and like fighters at all, I’d say it’s a must have, even if you don’t have anyone to play it with locally.

Brütal Legend (PS3)

Tim Schafer’s heavy metal tribute is built for guys of my age (born in late 70s). I can’t help but smile! Right from the start menu, you’re in a world of metal, and it feels good. The writing is very good, often laugh out loud funny, and very well acted. The gameplay works, although it isn’t anything really special. If you’re into metal, you need this game.

Jun 20 0 comments
DS, PS3, Xbox 360

E3 2010

E3 2010

I went to my first Electronic Entertainment Expo this year. Los Angeles was loud, slow and relatively cold, with only the rioting Lakers fans generating some excitement outside of the show. I don’t much care for the city. We stayed in Santa Monica, which is a lot nicer, but the over one-hour transits on the freeway to pretty much anywhere begin to grate in no time at all.

As for the show proper, there were definite highlights and definite disappointments.

Bad: Front Mission Evolved

I am a sucker for mecha and I’m sad to say that it looks like there’s no way I’ll be picking up Front Mission Evolved, not unless it comes with Front Mission 3. Everything from the handling to the setting to the mech designs and animation was seriously lacklustre. It’s a shame.

Bad: Twisted Metal

The new Twisted Metal looked like it was from the previous generation. Barebones arenas with little effects or satisfying destruction going on, it feels like it’s trying to ride on its bygone charms alone.

Bad: MotorStorm Apocalypse

MotorStorm Apocalypse in 3D should have been a wild ride, but turned out to be a poor framerate show of questionable worth. Some of the rollercoaster pacing was spot on, but overall I wasn’t impressed at all. The story mode does sound intriguing, though, and I’ve been expecting them to deliver on the initial promise of the franchise for three games now. Still one to watch.

Bad: 3D | Good: Nintendo 3DS

Speaking of 3D, I am not impressed. Some of the games are nice enough, but they really need to be 60 FPS to work. Super Stardust HD and Gran Turismo 5 are probably the best examples so far. But you won’t see me wearing a pair of glasses.

Which is one of the main reasons that the Nintendo 3DS was so impressive. No glasses required, great 3D effect, some great demos. Pilotwings was the best one. I am likely going to finally upgrade my DS Phat. Sony and Apple have some catch-up to do!

Bad: movement

Both Microsoft Kinect and Sony Move failed to generate much buzz. Not very surprising as there were no proper games on show. Out of Kinect only Ubisoft’s yoga exercise program and Harmonix’s Dance Central seemed to interest people. Somebody did mention Kinectimals in a positive manner, but that’s about it. I didn’t see anything I would’ve been interested in on Move.

Bad: Epic Mickey

Epic Mickey was featured in a major way, with a huge booth, plenty of demo pods and live performances. Too bad the actual gameplay failed to interest at all. It doesn’t help that it’s on the Wii – the lack of HD is beginning to really hurt Wii. (Some of the Nintendo booths did have very high quality visuals, though, I can’t figure out how they did that.) When it looks and feels like a barebones platformer, it’s hard to get that much into it. But then it might be a game which just needs more time than what you get at an expo.

Good: Dance Central

Kinect was going to play host to a good dance game and I’m super glad that it’s Harmonix doing it. I am a Rock Band fanboy and in my eyes Harmonix can do no wrong. There was a very nice buzz to the title. It feels like a title I might have to get and it’s the only Kinect game which felt like a potential system seller to me. But that’s mainly due to Harmonix’s pedigree, too early to say how it’s going to properly work. But four friends dancing together and Harmonix’s taste in music – it probably can’t go wrong.

Good: Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2

Need For Speed has been on the wane for years now, the golden days of Underground and the original Hot Pursuit a fading memory. EA has now put Criterion on lifeguard duty and what do you know – returning to Hot Pursuit, the game the fans have been crying out for for years now, seems to work. The game mechanics aren’t quite there yet, but it sure looks and feels nice. The handling isn’t as twitchy as Burnout, but a huge improvement over the previous NFS titles nevertheless (Shift excluded). The simple cops versus racers scenario just works.

Super good: Vanquish

Game of the show for me was Platinum Games’ Vanquish. Whereas Tecmo Koei’s Quantum Theory looks like a poorly deconstructed rip-off of Gears Of War, Shinji Mikami’s new title is Gears on amphetamine. It’s a sci-fi third person shooter, but this kind of speed and spectacle is not on offer anywhere else. Apparently the section on display was the first level of the game and I find it very hard to imagine the action becoming even more intense later on. Everything in the game is a sci-fi off-white, and yet it looks more spectacular than anything else on show. Certainly the days of Japanese developers not being able to wring power out of the current-gen consoles are over.

Jan 01 0 comments
DS, PC, PS3, PSP, XBLA, Xbox 360, blog, culture, miniatures, tabletop games

The best of 2009

My 10 best games of 2009

My 10 best games of 2009

For the most of 2009 I spent my gaming time playing games from 2008 – Far Cry 2, Fable II, Rock Band 2, lots of cheap PSP & DS titles, Company Of Heroes, Dawn Of War (the first one) – but I thought it could be fun to put together a list of what was the best 2009 had to offer. For future reference, see.

I have not played many of the big hitters of 2009 so there’s bound to be holes, but these days, gaming is too big a pastime for one man to wholly take in with his free time (and income). Major omissions include Halo: ODST, Modern Warfare 2, Resident Evil 5 and Dragon Age: Origins, to name a few.

My ten best games of 2009:

  1. Space Hulk (board game)
  2. Batman: Arkham Asylum. I haven’t written about Rocksteady’s phenomenal take on Batman (because I’ve been too busy playing it), but it ranks as one of my all-time favorite games. Play it.
  3. Demon’s Souls
  4. GTA Chinatown Wars (DS)
  5. Shadow Complex
  6. Torchlight. I’ve been playing this for most of the holidays, it’s crazy good. Too bad about the lack of variety and the still missing multiplayer.
  7. Killzone 2
  8. Plants Vs Zombies. This Popcap title stole a ridiculous amount of time this year. Probably the best value for money all year.
  9. Street Fighter IV
  10. Rock Band Unplugged

I’m surprised by how many “small” games there are – mobile games and cheap PC games. Remarkably, the only one I was looking forward to before it hit was Killzone 2, the rest of these have been more or less very happy surprises.

Dec 01 0 comments
DS

Bangai-O Spirits

I could not finish the tutorial of Treasure’s puzzle shooter Bangai-O Spirits without a trip down to GameFAQs.

This is a brutal game. If you do not succeed at a level, you typically die within a couple of seconds, the screen so full of missile fire that your DS chugs along at a sad framerate. Then you hit retry and change one or more of your four weapons to try a new loadout. You take a deep breath and go in again. There are 160 levels and a level editor. You can transfer levels by recording them as music you can play back to another DS’s microphone.

You are a giant robot, although very tiny on the screen, and make your way through small levels of ingenious death traps, wielding plasma missiles and power swords and baseball bats and bouncing balls of death. Ninja robots and buildings fall in your two-dimensional barrage. Then a screen-sized enemy robot closes in and swipes the whole screen in the span of perhaps half a second, whacking you to within an inch of your life. You freeze time and bombard it with plasma missiles, closing in to bounce now stationary enemies at it with your baseball bat. It’s not enough, and you die, and the game laughs at you.

I picked this now rare game up on the same trip to the US west coast as Demon’s Souls (which is pretty much sublime and worth a post in the near future, once I’m in a little deeper). Surely that’s enough self-punishment to buy me some good karma down the road.

Jul 14 0 comments
DS, Freeware, PC, culture

Post I.T. Shooter

Kloonigames has a new game up. Falling resolutely on the “art” side of the “games as art” debate, it’s an experience you shouldn’t miss. It’s a scrolling shooter presented as a stop motion animation, composed of Post-It notes.

Coincidentally, I just bought Space Invaders Extreme for the DS and have been playing that. Pretty great stuff, actually. If only my trigger finger could be pressed to service like in days long gone. Nice tunes, great rhythm and suitably hard.

May 05 5 comments
DS

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

GTA Chinatown Wars

GTA Chinatown Wars

GTA Chinatown Wars is the best portable game I’ve played in years. Its status as not just a disappointment in sales but as an actual flop is a lesson in marketing. Take2 and Nintendo really haven’t understood the DS demographic, as their marvellous outing just isn’t finding an audience, despite stellar reviews and huge brand recognition. Huge on other platforms, that is.

It’s not like they’re doing anything wrong. The Rockstar Social Club is a great way to extend the game’s appeal beyond the initial purchase and something I’m hoping other developers and publishers take note of. I didn’t know you could do such things on the DS, such as the Rampage Tracker, which shows you on a cool map which side missions you’ve found and which you have yet to find and which rating you’ve got on them. So you’ve got to manually sync your progress over Wi-Fi, but it’s an easily accessible feature and it only takes a couple of seconds. No need to input any passwords or anything. (Obviouly you still need to link your DS friend code with your Social Club account.)

The game itself is just as great as everyone’s saying. It’s easier to get into than its big brothers and its exceptionally well-written dialogue and missions are always entertaining. The controls work very well and the numerous touch screen mini-games are all excellent diversions. This is how you should bring a big-screen franchise to the DS.

But the Nintendo crowd doesn’t seem to care. In most games stores, I don’t even look at the DS/Wii shelves as they’re full of shovelware, except of course if I’m looking for something. Of course Take2 is too smart to not be aware of the Nintendo dilemma and they’re counting on the word spreading and the sales picking up over a long period, but the initial numbers do seem damning.

Also, region-free gaming? I bought this game in the United States and put it into my European DS and it worked, somewhat to my surprise. I did the same with a couple more DS and PSP games on the same trip. Someone explain to me why it is such a bad thing to be able to do this on my PS3 or 360.