There was one game that pretty much everyone here at DHGF was going crazy about last year. As you can surmise, that game was Batman: Arkham Asylum. I don’t know if everyone here is a Batman fan or what, (Wait….there are people who don’t like Batman?) but you couldn’t get near a top ten list without the game popping up. It even won our game of the year award for 2009.

Obviously, it had some fans here.

Anyways, there was no small chance that I was going to pass up the game when I got my PS3. I waited a bit for the price to drop and picked it up. I decided it would be best if I didn’t let the game collect dust on my shelf for long, so here we are. This will be only my second column about a game not for a hand held system.

I’ve always liked Batman. Whether it was the early films, the animated series, or the action figures that first hooked me in, I’ll probably never know. He’s pretty much the one DC hero that makes my favorite list, surrounded by the likes of Wolverine, Hulk, Colossus, Beast, Venom, etc. I’m a Marvel guy obviously, but Batman transcends any loyalty I might have for one brand over another. He’s just that damn cool.

I’ve kept an eye out for Batman games over the years. I believe I got to try the NES one and once rented Batman and Robin on the SNES, but I’ve largely avoided the other games because I knew that none of them could possibly live up to the kind of Batman game I dreamed could be. So, when everyone started praising B:AA as the game Batman fans had always wanted, I decided that it was probably time to give it a shot.

So, can the game possibly live up to the hype?

Let’s Catch Up!

What’s The Game?

This weeks game is Batman: Arkham Asylum, an action adventure game for multiple systems. I’m going to cover the PS3 version.

Who Made It?

Rocksteady Studios, who had only developed urban Chaos: Riot Response before this, was given the task of making a next gen Batman game.

When Did It Come Out?

It was released on August 25th, 2009.

The Game of the Year edition was subsequently released in May of 2010.

Where’s The Review?

Alex Lucard himself wrote the review for us back in August of last year.

Why Didn’t You Play It In 2009?

Well, I did try the demo and long for the game most of the year. It didn’t help that I had to sit by and hear people talking about how awesome it was.

The reason I didn’t get to play in in 2009 was simply because I didn’t have a console or a PC capable of playing the game until early this year. After I got my PS3, it only took me a couple of months before I found the cash to pick it up.

I didn’t get it sooner because I was preoccupied with games I felt a more pressing need for. I had to get UFC Undisputed 2009 and I needed God of War III the day it came out. That, and the sixty dollar price tag that Batman was still sporting at the time seemed a bit much. To date, I’ve only paid that much for two PS3 games. God of War III was worth it, but I probably shouldn’t have given in on Bioshock 2. (I blame the first game for being so awesome that it clouded my judgment.)

Anyways, even after I bought it, I had to wait a week or so before I could find time to play it. That’s mostly due to games I was playing for the site in one shape or another. Still, I’ve gotten to play the game so its probably about time I started talking about my experience with it.

So What Did You Think?

I can only assume that I let my expectations of the game run rampant during the many months between the game’s release and the time I got to play it. I had heard so many wonderful things, seen the game on so many “best of” lists, and longed so much for it to be awesome I may have put the game on an impossible pedestal to reach.

What I’m trying to say is that I’m a bit disappointed by the game.

Don’t get me wrong. The game is good. As a Batman fan, I’m still in awe at how this game looks, sounds, and how well it digs into the essence of Batman. From the allusions to some of the greatest moments in Batman history to the perfect casting of the voices and sublime atmosphere, Rocksteady got the aesthetics down pat.

It’s the gameplay that bothers me.

“But Aaron”, you ask. “The combat harkens back to the beat-em-ups of yore and the stealth gameplay fits perfectly with Batman’s character. For crying out loud, you even get to be a bit of a detective for once!”

To that I say, “Sure, but something just doesn’t feel right.”

From the moment I started controlling the Dark Knight, the movement felt stiff to me. I’m sure a big part of it deals with the fact that you have to hold down the x button in order to run. I much rather prefer a game where running is the status quo. I also don’t like the single button combat. True, triangle is for counters and you can use the Batarang and cape to stun enemies. However, if you want to punch someone in the face at a moment’s notice, there’s only one button to do that. My problem is that you don’t always know what move Batman is going to perform and often not even who he’ll perform it on. The game throws over a dozen enemies your way at once and things get hectic. I want to transition from attacking the guy in front of me to the guy with the gun in the corner, but instead I start bashing on the guy directing behind me. Then, said guy with the gun blasts into me. It just feels wrong. That, and for a guy who is a master martial artist, it feels weird that Batman doesn’t have some sort of sweeping attack that can hit multiple enemies at once. I’m also not a fan of the idea that you have to unlock the throwing move and then build up a combo before you’re allowed to use it.

“But what about the stealth gameplay? That was pretty awesome!”

I’m not so much sold on that. True, when I first started playing the game, flying down from the rafters and knocking people out with a kick and then dashing away in the darkness was awesome. But, towards the end, it seemed the game realized that this was too easy and took those chances away, forcing you to use gadgets and tactics that weren’t as fun. I was amused the first time I used explosive gel to knock an enemy off of a platform The next time just didn’t feel the same.

I also grew tired of the incessant back tracking in the game. It seemed that every time you painstakingly worked your way through a building, you had to turn around and go right back through it again. I must have went through this one area a dozen times in the main story, and that wasn’t to try and look for any of the Riddler trophies either.

Perhaps the thing that has bothered me the most is how the Bane and Joker fights went down. Bane is supposed to be one of Batman’s biggest foes, and yet he’s merely a weaker version of an enemy type you fight more of later? The Joker fight is being led up to the entire game, but you don’t really fight him at all. You fight a bunch of goons and then get to perform a context sensitive move to beat him. I pretty much felt robbed of my boss fight.

I’m not saying by any rights that the game is bad at all. What I’m saying is that it never quite clicked for me in the way that it seemingly did for everyone else I know who played it. The game is still quite good. The Scarecrow sections are an absolute blast, Harley Quinn steals the show when she’s not being overshadowed my Mark Hamill’s brilliant Joker, and there are some flat out amazing moments in the game.

It’s a very good game. I just don’t think it was THAT good.

Again, it’s entirely possible I let my expectations ruin it for me. Perhaps had I gone in knowing less, I would have had the same experience as everyone else.

What Score Would You Have Given It?

I’d give it a score of Good or Very Good at the most. There are a lot of things the game does right, but it just didn’t fire on all cylinders for me the way that a classic does.

Would It Have Made Your Top Ten List?

Sadly, I can’t imagine this game making my top ten list. The games that made that list are games that entertained me to no end. I didn’t leave a single one of those games with a feeling of disappointment. I can’t say the same for Batman.

How Much Does It Go For, In Case I want It?

You can find the original version for about forty bucks new, but if you’re willing to fork over another ten bucks, you get the GOTY version that includes a 3D take on the game. For diehard Batman fans, that should be something worth checking out.

Final Thoughts?

I liked Batman: Arkham Asylum. The problem is that I was expecting to love it and the love just wasn’t there. It is entirely possible that I’m one of those fussy people who will never be satisfied with a take on one of his favorite characters. Then again, I loved X-Men Legends. I’m looking forward to this game’s sequel and can’t wait to see what these guys come up with next. I’ll just be sure to temper my expectations so as not to let myself down again.

Next Time: I think I’m going to hit another PS3 game, mostly because I have one on deck that shouldn’t take that long to beat and won’t interfere much with my UFC playing. Look for my next rocking column in about two weeks. See ya then!
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It is beyond easy to take one look at Monster Racers, decry it as nothing more than a cheap Pokemon clone with a gimmick, and move on. However, a lot of games have done something interesting and occasionally quite good with the Pokemon formula, but weren’t actual Pokemon games themselves. Last year’s Fossil Fighters is a great example. There was a game that could have been nothing but a clone, but it turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable game with a cute story, fun mini-games, and satisfying strategic battle system.

It was, in no small part to that game, that I offered to review Monster Racers when it came in. Sure, I was knee deep in Picross 3D, working on a new game for my “Catching Up” column, a mere day or two away from purchasing Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3, and trying desperately to find time to play Again. On top of that, I knew I’d only have a couple of weeks to play all of these games before UFC Undisputed 2010 and ModNation Racers ate up all of my time like Pac-Man on a power pill. I was booked, and reviewing a game that I knew little about except that Lucard thought it looked like “Pokemon with racing” should have been in all rights a terrible idea.

I think that should speak volumes about how much fun I had with Fossil Fighters.

So, after all of this exposition, did Monster Racers manage to be worth my time, or did I make a terrible, terrible move?

Story

You can probably guess how this game starts out.

You play as either an unnamed boy or girl who arrives on Star Island with the dream of earning your monster racing license and making a career out of travelling the world, befriending monsters, and racing them to glory. In this world, monsters were discovered a mere ten years ago. Once found on Star Island, they started making themselves known everywhere. Thing is, whenever two monsters meet each other, the feel an uncontrollable urge to race. Naturally, humans started training monsters and racing them against each other. It took almost no time at all for this to become a global phenomenon.

You travel the world, collect monsters, and battle the regional champion. There’s even a ill-intentioned gang called the Astral Force to contend with. However, this game does take a direction that I found almost refreshing. For once the “evil gang of doom” isn’t all that bad. They’re just misunderstood. The plot quickly gets away from any sort of save the world nonsense and actually delivers the promise of playing someone with the sole intention of becoming the best in the world. Even the ill tempered rival turns out to be a good guy once you get to know him. Sure, there’s a lot of stuff in there about creating relationships with the monsters and stuff like that, but for the most part the story is extremely light-hearted.

That’s not to say that it is all that good. The characters aren’t well defined, we have to take the game’s word for it that the main character is a good person, and the big twist at the end seems a bit silly, although not as predictable as I had pegged it. At one point, a main character essentially bullies someone into continuing a life they aren’t happy with because her fans will be disappointed. I found that despicable.

Overall, it’s a light story that gives you an additional reason for all of the training and racing. Getting your butt kicked by the world champion early on spurs you forward and sets the tone for the rest of the game. It isn’t bad.

Graphics

Monster Racers visual style is split into two different sections: the exploration sections and the racing bits.

The exploration sections are par for the course for this type of game. You move along the world, choosing paths and occasionally solving environmental puzzles. There are more than twenty or so locations to explore, and the do a good job of looking different. From the savannas of Africa, the frozen wasteland of Russia, and the sandy beaches of Star Island, each location stands out. It uses a small color palette and simple lines, but the world is bright and cheery, which fits the game perfectly.

The racing sections are a bit different. The game turns into a 2D action platformer. This focuses on the monsters and their animations, and it works out rather well. While the animation isn’t perfectly fluid, it does hold some charm. Just watching the gorilla-like Thompa run on his arms as opposed to his feet makes for an interesting visual effect. On top of that, the backgrounds are fairly well detailed and feature some occasional niceties. For instance, flaming rocks will pour down during the fire themed levels.

What can be called into question is some of the choices made for monster designs. A lot of them are simply an oversized version of a real animal with one or two alterations. For example, one monster is nothing more than a tall Koala with big ears. Oh yeah, and it’s purple. Others are bad attempts at adding an element such as fire to an animal. Howlfire is an ugly beast. When the monsters stray from the animal kingdom, it looks a lot better. Zaal is great example. He’s this crazy black monstrosity that slithers more than he runs. Still, some of them are pretty cool and the worst ones aren’t quite as bad as some of the things I’ve seen in Pokemon. It’s a pretty decent package overall.

Sound

Like the graphics, the audio is light-hearted, with some tunes that fit the action to a tee. Generally speaking, there is a tune for each location, in addition to a different song for each race type. Races against wild monsters are met with a much more relaxed tone than those against trained monsters. It serves as quick reminder that you need to be on top of your game in those races.

Like most games of its ilk, Monster Racers also features sound clips that represent the battle cry, so to speak, of each monster. I liked these, as they do a good job of sounding like the animals the monsters are based off of without sounding quite as tinny and dated as the nonsense of Pokemon.

The sound effects are another nice touch. Grabbing speed pick up or activating a turbo boost provide a satisfying sound that goes along well with the visuals. There are a lot of nice little touches that punctuate the experience and add to the game.

It’s not a perfect setup, but it fits the game well, which is all one should really ask for in a game.

Control and Gameplay

With a name like “Monster Racers” you might assume this game involves bizarre creatures riding around in Karts. Thankfully, MR doesn’t take this route. Instead, monsters take part in foot races over varied terrain.

Getting into a race is simple enough. Travelling in a location, you’ll come across star emblazoned orbs that represent a wild monster. By touching it, you initiate a race. You can choose one of three monsters on your team to race up to three monsters. In a race, you hold the direction you want your monster to travel, (races are always left to right), jump over obstacles, pick up helpful items, and try to finish first in order to gain experience. Experience increases your monster’s level, which in turn increase the monster’s stats such as speed, thrust, power, and spirit.

There are three types of races. First, there are wild races, in which you face wild monsters. In these races, you can attempt to befriend a monster by tapping the appropriate button. Your monster will have to be of the same or greater level than the monster you befriend. You shoot out stars that must hit the monster in order to fill up a meter. Once the meter is full, the monster is yours. However, using this move causes your monster to slow down, meaning a miss can put you way back. When you’re trying to befriend a single monster out of three, things can get a bit hairy. Also, you don’t need to cross the finish line to win in all cases. If you get far enough ahead, the wild monster will admit defeat and drop out.

The second race type is a challenge race. Whilst moving around the world, you’ll encounter other racers who want to test your skills. In these races, you can look at the opponent’s stats and skills before the race. These races are tougher because the monsters are well trained and grant more experience as a result. The only way to win is to cross the finish line first.

Lastly, there are tournament races. These are broken into three different sections that all must be cleared in order to win the tournament. First, you have to run a solo lap and beat the qualifying time. Next, you race against three other people and have to land in one of the top two spots. If you make it that far, you face another set of three racers and need to finish first in order to get the cup. These are the toughest sections of the game, bar none.

Each monster has a special turbo move they can utilize to cover great distance and damage opponents. This meter fills up slowly over time depending on the monster’s spirit ranking, but can be raised by collecting special items on the field. Knowing when to use these moves is crucial, and finding a monster with the right move for your style can be incredibly beneficial. There are a few basis types of turbo moves. Some monsters merely charge forward, some teleport, and others launch ranged attacks.

Beyond that, there are other tactics to consider. By charging into another monster from behind of jumping on them from above, you can cause damage. The monster that takes damage is slowed considerably depending on how much damage is done. Heavier monsters do more damage, but tend to have less speed, whilst smaller monsters are usually faster but can’t dole out the damage with much effect. Obstacles on the field also cause damage, so choosing the correct path and timing jumps is essential.

Every monster has a set of skills they learn independently from their levels. Skills are earned through loyalty which is in turn earned by using the monster in races. Each monster can have up to ten skills. These include basic stat increases to giving the monster advantages in different types of terrain. Loyalty can also be earned by giving the monster orbs you find in your journey. These have the bonus effect of allowing you to customize the color of your monster.

The different types of terrain play a huge factor in races. For instance, when a monster races in snow, said snow builds up in front of them and slows them down. The only way to get rid of this pile is to jump or switch direction. Monsters with an advantage in snow can move much more quickly in these sections. Also, most courses have bits where you can drop down from one ledge to another by pressing the down button. Not only is this useful for dodging obstacles, but allows you to drop down on enemies and cause damage. There are five main types of terrain. They include fire, snow, grass, sand, and water. Other types, such as dirt or rock don’t impede movement at all. Most monsters eventually gain at least one advantage. Obviously, keeping a well balanced team is essential to victory.

Another huge part of the gameplay is creating hybrids. Early on, you find a crazed professor who is willing to create hybrid monsters that take traits from two different monsters. You don’t have to lose the monsters in order to make a hybrid, but the monster you get in return will be of one of those two species. More to the point, it will have a mix of skills from its two parents. For example, I had a monster who was good in the sand cross with another that was good in the water. The result I got was a monster with slightly lower stats, but could run well in both sand and water. That kind of thing was incredibly useful, as I could fill up two problem areas with a single monster. You can breed as much as you want, but you’ll never know quite what you’ll get, so expect a few rejects along the way.

Overall, the game is pretty fun. The races control well and the courses are chock full of obstacles and monsters so as to give the player a good sense of accomplishment when a close race comes out in his/her favor. There are eighty different monsters to collect, but with exotic variants and hybrids, that number is a bit misleading. You can probably end up with three or more versions of each monster if you really wanted to.

One big concern is that each map location generally has only two different courses; one for wild races and one for challenge races. Some areas that change in climate as you go along fix this, but for the most part, long stretches through one location can get old fairly fast. At least you can avoid most races if you want, as it is fairly simple to dodge the wonder orbs that contain the monsters.

Basically, the game may take a cue from Pokemon, but it goes in another direction and pulls off a rather decent racing game using action platformer mechanics. It might not appease all, but it avoided the traps that usually befall a cross breed like this. If you’re the kind of person who though Pokemon was wasted on turn based combat, you might want to look into this game.

Replayability

Playing through to the end credits took me about eighteen hours, though a good hour and a half of that was spent levelling up so I could win the final races. During that time, I visited all seven regions and well over a couple dozen locations. Still, beating the game is hardly the end.

There are four different tournaments in each region. You always have the regional open and grand prix that you must complete in order to move the story forward, but there are two other cups to participate in as well. One is a tourney where only regional monsters are allowed, and the other generally puts a special prerequisite in place, giving you a chance to use a wide variety of monsters.

On top of that, beating the game offers you the chance to befriend seven different legendary monsters that you can’t get until after you’ve beaten the game. You have to track down some special items in order to summon these monsters, but having the complete set is a temptation that some will not be able to resist.

There are some multiplayer options as well. You can play with up to four people via wireless play, but there is sadly no Nintendo Wi-Fi support. You can also trade monsters. Thanks to the hybrid mechanic, you can get multiple copies of your starter so you don’t have to give anything too important up. In Pokemon, having a complete set on one cartridge usually meant playing two different games on two different systems and constantly starting the game over to get and trade one of each starter. If you had a friend willing to do this with you, you’d need to double the amount of time spent in order to give them copies as well. Also, Monster Racers allows multiple player files, a feature sorely lacking in Pokemon games.

Therefore, if you spend time filling out your roster, racing against other players, and the like, you can get upwards of thirty hours at least out of the game. It isn’t as much as similar games, but it is still plenty of play for the dollars spent.

Balance

For the most part, if you balance your use of monsters properly, the game is pretty good at giving you an appropriate challenge. The only time it gets particularly hard is when you bring a small fry to a high level race. Also, if your playing on unfriendly terrain against a monster who’s good on it, it would probably be a good idea to use a qualified monster of your own.

One problem I had was right before the final race in the story. I was going against three other monsters, each at level fifty. My monster was over level sixty and had up to double digits higher stats in every category. However, I found it unreasonably hard to keep up, let alone finish first. It took several tries and needless amounts of time training, but I finally got the win. The crazy thing is that the annoying monsters in question were ones I had already beaten not that long before. It’s like they took some steroids or something.

Overall, the game is fairly well balanced. There are times that feel a bit too easy and other times that feel a bit hard, but you can still get a sense of satisfaction from a well fought victory. That alone speaks well for the game.

Originality

You might be expecting me to decry this game as nothing but a rip off of Pokemon with a gimmick. While it is true that a lot of the setup comes from that series, the racing truly makes the game feel different, even when some of the monsters look as if they were Pokemon rejects.

For one, grinding for levels is much different when you’re actively engaged instead of mindlessly using the same attacks over and over again. If you don’t look where you’re going in a race, you can fall down a pit, run smack into a rock wall, or get overrun by an angry mammoth. You have to keep your attention on the game or feel the consequences.

Also, the game puts force a sense of camaraderie I never got from Pokemon. I guess it comes from having a good natured race as compared to pitting your monsters in glorified cock fights. The monsters don’t end up hurt, and losses merely lessen a monster’s will to run as oppose to knocking it unconscious. Even the toughest opponent shows your character respect. I like that. It’s also refreshingly original to have a game like this where you don’t have to deal with a cockamamie “save the world” plot.

Addictiveness

When I first started playing this game, I was almost sure that I would have problems playing it for long stretches of time. Instead, I’d play it for hours at a time, often clearing whole sections in one sitting. I put roughly fifteen hours of my playtime of this game in about three days. During those days, I was busying writing another review as well as playing another game for my column. Clearly, I was addicted.

That’s the thing about collect-a-thon games. There’s always that need to explore, to see what the next areas will bring. What kinds of monsters are there in North America? What happens when I breed this monster with that monster? How useful will this skill be in practice? You get the idea. It just sucks you in and refuses to let go.

I even thought I wouldn’t play this game anymore after I beat it, but I found myself playing for another hour within maybe a few hours of finishing the game. That surprised me.

Appeal Factor

No doubt a lot of people will take one look at this game and brush it off. It seems like a silly idea really. Still, those that give it a try will probably end up liking it,which is a decent sign of the game’s appeal factor.

The biggest thing going against this game is that it came out so soon after Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver. It has a high chance of being seen as nothing more than a knock off, not to mention that a lot of people are still playing those games due to their high replayability.

This is a perfect game for kids. It has the a bright atmosphere that carries over well and lasts long enough to preoccupy the kids for hours on end. Mature gamers looking for a engaging experience will also find it suitable.

Once you get past early preconceptions, Monster Racers isn’t a very tough sell.

Miscellaneous

The game doesn’t really come with any extras, but there are a few notable things about it that are worth mentioning.

Again, the ability to have multiple save files is something I really want to see in games like Pokemon, but it seems it isn’t meant to be. I like that this game breaks that trend. This way, if a player wants to try out a different starter, they don’t have to erase one file to keep the other.

One annoying trend in the game is the names of the monsters. While many are merely plays on the animal the monster is based off of, others are truly uninspired. I’m talking mostly about the names that are merely “element x plus animal x = monster name.” For example, there is Pyrefox, Magmare, Whirlwolf, Wolfreeze, etc. These are groan worthy and show a lack of imagination on the developer’s part. It makes the unique names stand out that much more.

One last thing I’d like to mention is a nifty bonus in the game. When you chose your gender at the beginning of the game, the avatar representing the other gender becomes an alternate dimensional version of you that visits your world from time to time and bestows gifts upon you if you visit him/her on days they are in town. That’s just cool

The Scores

Story: Above Average
Graphics: Enjoyable
Sound: Good
Control and Gameplay: Good
Replayability: Good
Balance: Enjoyable
Originality: Decent
Addictiveness: Very Good
Appeal Factor: Above Average
Miscellaneous: Enjoyable
Final Score: Enjoyable Game!

Short Attention Span Summary

This is two years in a row that I’ve been surprised by a game that looked to be nothing more than a Pokemon clone. Monster Racers effectively takes the basic concept of Pokemon, throws in a competent racing mechanic, and puts it all together in a rather agreeable package. Is it going to sway Pokemaniac’s away from their favorite franchise? Probably not. What it will do, however, is over a few dozen hours of entertainment to those willing to give it a try. I didn’t think I’d be saying this, but Monster Racers is pretty darn good.
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Taking an established 2D franchise and making the jump to 3D isn’t anything new in the video game world (and it’s starting to become the norm for movies as well). Even when you’re talking about puzzle games, this holds true. Games like Lights Out and Tetris have made successful transitions, though they drastically changed the way the game was played.

Nintendo’s Picross series has been fairly successful on hand held systems. I got into the series with Mario’s Picross and I’ve kept an eye out for Picross DS ever since I got the system. I hadn’t even heard this game was coming out until about a month before it did. I was willing to pay any price to get my hands on it, but Nintendo was charging a mere twenty bucks for it!

Given the pedigree of the series, it wasn’t out of the question to think that this could compete for puzzle game of the year. The only thing left to do is see how it all panned out.

Modes

Picross 3D might seem sparse in its offerings at first, but when you discover just how much content is on the cartridge, the fact that there isn’t even more will no longer be a concern.

From the start, you have two options. You can play through the campaign on either beginner or easy difficulty. The former contains an in depth tutorial that teaches you all of the basics and gives you a few easy puzzles to kick start your game with. Easy is simply the beginning of the game. After you’ve finished easy, you unlock normal and then hard. You also have the ability to have the game randomly choose a puzzle for you, based on some prerequisites of your choosing. Since you won’t know what object is hidden within the blocks, it can make an old puzzle feel new again.

The newest and biggest addition to the series is the My Picross section. Here, you can create and share your own puzzles. All you need to do is create the shape that you want, color it, and the game will generate a puzzle around it. You can then upload it on Nintendo Wi-Fi, as well as download others’ puzzles. You can share your puzzle with another DS player to play as a demo as well. The tool can be a bit clunky at first, but once you’ve got a few puzzles under your belt, it can do pretty much whatever you want. The only real downside is that you have to build off another block. Meaning, if you want a single block separated from the rest, you first have to build to the location you want and delete the ones you don’t want. It is far from ideal.

From there, you have the gallery. You can view any of the items you’ve unlocked complete with animations. There are hundreds of these things, so the dedicated player will feel a great sense of reward as it fills up.

It may not look like much, but there is so much content and value in these few modes that anything extra would feel like it was diluting the game. This is a pretty spectacular set of modes for a puzzle game.

Graphics

When you’re making objects out of large gray blocks, graphics are clearly not your primary concern. For most of the game, you’re looking at a large group of blocks that need to be chipped away one by one. You can mark which ones you want to keep, which does add a little color to the proceedings, but it can often be very hard to tell what a shape is supposed to be until after you’ve beaten the puzzle. Then, the blocks are all colored and the shape is revealed. In these cases, there are some extremely cute animations that go along with it. Whether a mermaid with her hair flowing in the water or a charging rhino, these animations have the same kind of undeniable charm as the LEGO series.

The rest of the package is a bunch of pretty lame backgrounds and menu options. You can choose which background you like from the full compliment at any time, but each level has a clear theme it’s going for. In either case, it doesn’t give the game any extra flare.

I know I didn’t write much here, but this is a puzzle game that features gray blocks. There isn’t exactly a lot to write about.

Audio

Yet again, there isn’t much to write about. This won’t be a long section.

The music covers a fairly good sized range of midi tunes. You get a Latin beat, an 8-bit throwback, and one fit for a Disney princess movie. Oddly enough, you also have the “tropical rain forest” and “babbling brook” options that you tend to find on those sound machines to play while you’re going to sleep. I can only imagine it was put in as a joke. The music is OK, and at times pretty darn fun. The problem is that none of the songs are long and they loop. This is fine for the early puzzles, but when you start getting puzzles that last for fifteen minutes, it gets extremely annoying. It has gotten to the point where I no longer play with the sound on.

If you turn off the music, you’re left with sparse else to listen to. There’s a beep to let you know when time is running out, a rather nice crumbling sound when you chip away a block, and a sound that reminds one of a depressed owl when you break a block that wasn’t supposed to be broken.

I will say this. For as low key as the audio is, the tune that plays when you win is pretty epic. You long to hear it for the sense of accomplishment it bestows.

Gameplay

The whole concept behind Picross is that you use numerical clues to remove blocks in order to reveal a hidden picture. Previous Picross games have only included width and length in their equations, but 3D adds depth. This may sound redundant, but adding that third dimension significantly increases the depth of the gameplay. As you can imagine, this also drastically changes the way you play.

At the start, you’re given a group of blocks that have various dimensions. These blocks have numbers on them that give you clues as to which blocks are a part of the hidden picture. For instance, a zero on a column or row means that none of the blocks are a part of the picture and that they should all be removed. A one, however, means a single block should be kept and the rest removed. Generally speaking, you won’t always be able to figure out a specific row right away, as gathering clues from from other rows and columns is the only way to progress.

The game furthers its depth through circles and squares around the numbers. A normal number means all of the blocks are subsequent, making it easy to chip away at stranglers. A circle around a number means the blocks are split into two groups that equal the circled number. For example, if you have a row of three blocks and you see the circled two, you know that the center block must be removed and the ends kept. Squares around a number are tricky. They mean that the enclosed number is split into three or more groups. For a low number like a three, this makes it very easy to solve, but as the number rises, so does the complexity.

There are two ways to fail a puzzle. Firstly, there’s a time limit. Unlike in previous titles, this time limit doesn’t decrease when you make mistakes. Rather, it merely counts down throughout. It ends up being pretty hard to fail a mission because you ran out of time. The other way is to get five strikes by breaking the wrong blocks. Such blocks are brought back and colored in so you know not to do it again, but on the harder puzzles, hitting that five strikes limit is not a hard proposition.

Apart from losing, there is an incentive to finish puzzles timely and without mistake. Each puzzle is worth up to three stars. You get one star for merely completing the puzzle, but the other two are harder to get. One is for making no mistakes, and the other is for completing the puzzle within a separate time limit. More than just a ranking to brag about, you unlock new puzzles by earning stars. You won’t be able to complete your gallery without these puzzles, so it is worth the effort.
The gameplay isn’t entirely the same puzzle format. Throughout the game, you’ll be given challenges such as a puzzle you’ll fail if you make a single mistake or another type where you need to break blocks in order to add time. The best of these is a puzzle that requires you to solve several puzzles in order to put the whole picture together. These are great distractions from the main game and they usually offer some of the better pictures.

Control is done with a combination of the stylus and d-pad. Sliding the stylus on the screen rotates the image in the desired direction, allowing you to see the puzzle from any angle. You can hold the up button to use the hammer and chip away blocks. Holding right on the d-pad allows you to paint blocks with color. This not only lets you know not to break the block, but it also provides protection from the hammer so you can’t break it unless you remove the paint. It does take a little while to get used to, and expect several moments where you break a block you were trying to paint, but that goes away eventually.

You can “slice” into larger puzzles in order to access the inner blocks of a large puzzle. This temporarily removes blocks either depth wise or width wise. Without this tactic, the game would be impossible to play and it soon becomes second nature.

Overall, the gameplay is fun, addictive, and challenging and controls perfectly for a DS game.

Replayability

If there’s one thing this game does well above all else, it’s give you plenty of bang for your buck. There are well over three hundred and fifty puzzles in the game to start with. The early ones take only a minute or two, but the normal and hard difficulty puzzles average around ten to fifteen minutes, meaning there are dozens of hours of gameplay potential.

Apart from that, the create and share aspect aspect will no doubt add value to most players’ games. Nintendo will also be offering bi-weekly downloads for free to further the content. I’ve also heard that contests will be held and players that have the winning creation will have it be made for download (normally, you have to outright share a puzzle with someone).

For a mere twenty dollar price tag, this game packs in more content than almost every other DS game I’ve played. On top of that, it is the kind of game where you can simply play a puzzle a day on a bus ride to kill time and have it last for well over a year before you’ve beaten them all. That’s replayability to a tee.

Balance

With all of those puzzles, there are a ton of options no matter what your skill level. Some puzzles take mere seconds to complete while others will confuse you for over fifteen minutes. It all comes down to how well you can interpret the clues and use logic to clear out blocks that simply can’t be a part of the puzzle.

The structure of the game works rather well. Each difficulty level is split up into ten levels. Each level houses eight puzzles that gradually increase in difficulty until the toughest one at the end. Then, the next level features eight puzzles as well, but the difficulty is lowered a bit, giving your brain time to rest between tough puzzles.

It is the kind of game where you get more and more skilled as you go and those skills are constantly being put to the test and allowed to grow. The challenge is great and pushes you to move forward.

Originality

There’s nothing this game does that hasn’t been done before. The 3D aspects have been covered in other series and even the creation mode has roots in other puzzle games (for the love of me though, I can’t think of any names right now).

Adding that third dimension does make the game feel new as compared to the other Picross games however. While it will feel eerily familiar to those of us versed in Picross, that feeling goes away after a while as the gameplay is simply a whole new animal.

As such, the game isn’t wholly original, but it is far from derivative.

Addictiveness

My god. This game can suck away hours like no one’s business.

At one point, I started playing, merely intending to clear a few puzzles and then go out and do something. I didn’t realize just how long I’d been playing until my low battery light clicked on. Unknowingly, I’d been playing for something like five hours straight. My entire day was shot.

I’d say I was addicted.

Even when you’re doing back to back fifteen minute puzzles, the incentive is there to continue on. It is so easy to give into that voice in the back of your head telling you that you’ll do just one more. Even my sister, who never plays puzzle games, got sucked into the game and harasses me until I let her play whenever I’m over for a visit.

To make a long story short, this game is addictive as hell.

Appeal Factor

Picross taps into the same part of your brain that games like Sudoku have hit upon to great effect. In that regard, Picross 3D is a game with mass appeal. The stylus controls fit the game like a glove. Furthering its cause is the fact that it is one of the few of these types of puzzle games that isn’t plastered all over convenience store racks. On the other hand, the lack of recognition might hurt it as well.

The biggest thing this game has going for it is its low price point. A mere twenty dollars is a pittance to pay for this amount of fun and content. Nintendo published titles tend to be some of the most expensive games on the DS and they rarely go down in price. I’m glad to see this game as an exception.

Miscellaneous

I’m not sure what else there is to cover at this point. The creation tool and the ability to share puzzles and/or send a demo to a friend shows the game uses the DS functionality to its fullest (apart from using the microphone, of course).

I’ve played my fair share of portable puzzle games. I love them. This game sits firmly as one of the best I’ve played on any hand held.

The Scores
Modes: Incredible
Graphics: Decent
Audio: Decent
Gameplay: Classic
Replayability: Amazing
Balance: Classic
Originality: Decent
Addictiveness: Incredible
Appeal Factor: Very Good
Miscellaneous: Great
Final Score: Very Good Game!

Short Attention Span Summary

What it lacks in presentation, Picross 3D makes up for in sheer fun, addictiveness, and replayability. The game fits the DS like a glove from top to bottom, making it almost a necessity for DS owners. If you’re in the market for a challenging puzzle game or merely looking for something to kill time during a daily commute, you should definitely keep this game in your sights.
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I have often lamented how my love for Hotel Dusk and the Ace Attorney series has led me to play a myriad of poor detective games on the DS. I won’t go on about that again for fear of becoming a broken record. Suffice it to say that I still haven’t learned my lesson in that regard.

Back in 2008, I learned of a game called Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles. I figured a game about a hard boiled private eye would be a safe buy for someone like me, so I went through some hoops to get it. (Not a single store was carrying it, so I had to turn my attentions online.) I ended up spending more money than I should have and got a horribly mis-translated mess in return. On top of that, the game took a mere few hours to beat and offered nothing extra, meaning it didn’t even offer some sort of value. I was so disgusted, I couldn’t even bring myself to talk about the game.

And then Mark reviewed Memories of the Past. It had all of the cases that were in the first game, three new cases, and a new mode called Jake Hunter Unleashed that had some merit as well. Best of all, it featured a brand new translation that didn’t suck! Needless to say, I had my eye on the game.

It’s very rare that a company actually takes a second stab at something like this. Did it work, or did I waste even more money on this damned detective?

Let’s Catch Up!

What’s The Game?

This week’s game is Jake Hunter Detective Story: Memories of the Past, an adventure game/visual novel for the Nintendo DS.

Who Made It?

This game was developed by WorkJam and published by Aksys. This is the same team who did the last game.

When Did It Come Out?

Jake Hunter’s second trip to the U.S. was published on May 26th, 2009.

Where’s The Review?

Mark reviewed the game for us at the beginning of July.

Why Didn’t You Play It In 2009?

As I said earlier, I had a terrible experience with the previous game. Despite that, I was intrigued by the new translation and the added content. I kept a lookout for the game, but it rarely showed up at any of the stores I frequented, and when it did, I didn’t feel like ponying up the cash at that moment.

It was not until this past February that I finally had the desire and funds to pick the game up. I grabbed it and a gaggle of other DS and PSP titles that I intended to play for this column. If nothing else, this column has proved useful for reasons such as this.

So What Did You Think?

I can’t imagine this section is going to be nearly as long as it usually is. After all, we are talking about a visual novel here.

The game puts you in the shoes of the titular Jake Hunter. Jake’s a private investigator who runs shop in city of Aspicio. He covers the typical stuff such as tracking down a missing person, finding out if a husband is cheating on his wife, and the like, but he also seems to get caught in a number of cases dealing with murder. Thankfully, the stories in the game always take the interesting route.

Jake is an anachronism. He chain smokes, drinks scotch, calls women “dame” and seems more comfortable hanging out with an elderly cop than anyone close to his age. He’s also ripped straight from a noir film. He has constant inner monologue that spouts off similes like you wouldn’t believe, something that the Jake Hunter Unleashed cases take no small amount of joy in poking fun at. Jake also seems to prefer walking to using any sort of vehicle, furthering the idea that he is someone from another era even though everyone walks around with cell phones and uses computers.

The game plays out pretty simply. After a brief introduction, someone hires Jake to solve the mystery, often dealing with someone close to him or his secretary Yulia Marks. Most of the game is spent navigating through dialogue, so be warned. In fact, there is very little “game” to be had. The most you get are sections where Jake will think back on what happened that day and you have to answer questions. Sometimes there are puzzles, but even if you can’t figure them out, you can just guess until you get it right. There’s no way to fail. It makes it feel like you’re just moving through the game rather than playing it, but that’s OK because the game is designed around that. The story and new translation are good enough that you’ll be interested to the end, which is a huge step up from the last game.

Besides the six normal cases, you also have the Jake Hunter Unleashed cases. These are parodies that poke fun (in a loving way) at the style of the series. The characters are drawn as caricatures and Jake’s similes are ridiculous. The biggest change is that you actually get to do some detective work. This mostly involves getting to the crime scene, inspecting some evidence, questioning the suspects, and then solving the case. However, you yourself actually need to figure out what happened, because one wrong guess sends you straight to the game over screen. Sometimes the game’s logic is a bit off, but overall the mode is interesting and funny, serving as a nice reprieve after the serious tone of the other cases.

One thing the game does well is the aesthetic. The music feels like something you could expect to find in proper film noir. On top of that, the visuals fit the mood perfectly, often with a dirty grain that appears to be intentional. (If it wasn’t, than it’s pretty ugly.) More on point is the dialogue, which doesn’t reach the heights of something like Phoenix Wright, but is exceptional for this kind of game. I may not be mentioning this game for a best story award any time soon, but I can’t deny I was fairly hooked. I usually played straight through a case.

This is what the last game should have been.

What Score Would You Have Given It?

I pretty much have to agree with Mark on this. I’d give this game either “Above Average” or “Enjoyable”, whereas the last game would have gotten a “Poor” at best.

This is one of those rare cases where a developer takes another crack at something and gets it right. I’m a little ticked I had to buy a second game in order to get the experience I should have gotten with the first, but I got this for cheap, so I’m not too bitter.

Would It Have Made Your Top Ten List?

Once again, 2009 was just too crowded for something like this to make the list. I know it’s been a while since that hasn’t been the case, but I’m looking at a few games to cover in the future that might make the cut, so here’s hoping!

How Much Does It Go For, In Case I Want It?

I got my copy brand new at Gamestop for a mere ten bucks. I can’t imagine anyone selling it for more than twenty. There’s enough content on the cartridge to make that more than acceptable. It’s almost a steal.

Final Thoughts?

While it wouldn’t even make my top five detective games on the DS (There are that many Ace Attorney games!), I’m glad I have this in my collection and I’m glad I gave the developers a second chance. Now, I’m kind of hoping we get more games down the line, whereas before I almost prayed they’d go bankrupt. It’s more novel than game, but if that doesn’t scare you, then give this game a chance.

Next Time: I take up the helm of yet another detective, but this time it isn’t a mere adventure game. I’m doing only my second game for the PS3. Don’t miss out!
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T.A.C. Heroes: Big Red One
Publisher: Storm City Games
Developer: Hoplite Research
Genre: Turn Based Strategy
Release Date: 03/31/2010

World War II isn’t exactly new territory for video games. More to the point, almost every genre is represented, and every system as well. That being said, it is incredibly hard for such a game to stand out, even on the DS, which doesn’t have as many shooters or RTS games as other consoles. Still, I liked the last couple of TBS games I’ve played on portable systems, so I figured I’d give this a chance.

Can this small developing and publishing team make a splash in a crowded field, or are they doomed to fade into obscurity?

Modes

There really isn’t any plot to the game. You do get short briefings before each mission, but they mostly just tell you what your goal is, or serve up cliché military sayings. Also, the troops you use appear to be members of the development team in army hats, so there isn’t any dialogue or character involvement.

You have two options for play. First up is Campaign Mode. In this mode, you’ll guide your group of soldiers through a set number of missions. If a character dies, he stays dead, and you won’t be able to resupply after every mission. You will eventually get more troops, but letting a strong one die isn’t acceptable. Also, soldiers that survive missions will often gain increases to their stats, furthering the benefits of keeping them alive. You have two different campaigns to play. One is set in 1942 and the other in 1945. The missions don’t really follow history though. In 1942, the Americans wouldn’t be invading France, let alone fighting Frenchmen. It doesn’t make any sense. You have a couple of difficulty levels, but neither of them is particularly easy unless you bother to study the level layouts.

Your other option is to play through Scenario Mode. This simply allows you to play any of the missions at your leisure. You get some cash to outfit your troops, and you can choose which side you play as. You can also play with two players on one DS in a pass around mode. For those frustrated by the perma-death of the main mode, this mode should satisfy.

That’s pretty much all there is. Without a plot or characters, this game doesn’t meet up to what other games of its type can offer. I do like the options available in Scenario Mode, as they do allow players to customize the experience. Overall, it isn’t a bad setup.

Graphics

Graphically speaking, this game isn’t going to impress anyone. The sprites are extremely tiny on the screen, and they don’t animate well. There are only a handful of effects, such as the explosion of a rocket propelled grenade or standard bullet fire. These too are unimpressive.

The maps are pretty bland. Buildings seem too small compared to troops, and tanks are undersized. Layouts only feature a couple of colors and everything is flat, making it seem like you’re playing a pen and paper grid rather than on a battlefield. Troops can simply walk onto the roof of a building, ignore the presence of trees and most other obstacles, and generally don’t have any interaction with the environment.

It’s pretty bland.

Audio

One thing you’ll notice about the music in the game is that it relies heavily on drum snares. It makes a degree of sense, but they get old after awhile. For the most part, the music fades away from your consciousness after a few levels, apart from the drums. Honestly, I had to pop the game in real quick to remember what the music was like. It isn’t bad or anything, just unmemorable.

There are also several voice clips used throughout the game. When you give a command to a soldier, he’ll say things like “right away sir” or “copy that”. The sound is tinny, but it was still a nice surprise because games like this on the DS don’t tend to feature any voices whatsoever.

Beyond that, you have plenty of explosions, various gunfire, and a few other sounds to compliment the action on screen. Again, it comes out tinny, but very few games on the DS escape that fate, so I can give this game a pass.

So, the music might not be worth much, the rest of the package gets the job done well enough.

Gameplay

TAC Heroes is a turn based strategy game where players move and take actions with their troops in rounds. You start off either guarding an area or stuck in a group with a lot of map to cover. Objectives range from simply killing all of the opposition, guarding supply trucks, or taking over positions on the map. There are a certain number of rounds you have to complete these objectives, but I never ran out.

Controlling your troops is done entirely with the stylus. You can tap them to open up a menu with a plethora of options. You can move along a hexagonal grid, attack, throw grenades, change equipment, or use various “tactics”. The tactics are the where the game’s depth comes in. Switching from a standing stance to a kneeling stance grants you the ability to launch a defensive strike against enemies that come within your range. Prone stances greatly increase your defensive position, but you don’t get the attack. You can spot ahead of your normal range, sneak to avoid defensive fire, and launch cover fire. It all works rather well, except for the cover fire. The manual claims that it is supposed to reveal the enemies’ threatening range, but I never experienced any such thing. All it seemed to do is miss more than regular fire. Performing these actions requires command points. Each soldier has anywhere from two to five command points, usually predetermined by their rank. A corporal with four command points is far more useful than a private with two.

Each soldier has several stats that affect his effectiveness on the field. Having a high shoot ability means you’re more accurate with gunfire, while a good throw score increases damage with a grenade. Other stats, such as melee or strength, only see the light of day during up close situations. Melee can be helpful when dealing with entrenched opponents or if you don’t want to use any ammo. HP is perhaps the most worthless stat. It might seem better to have more HP, but most of the time, a single grenade or a couple of shots from a gun seem to be all it takes to kill even the most hardy soldier.

Managing your equipment just might be the most important aspect of the game. Each soldier can carry two weapons, four accessories, and one special. The weapon types include pistols, rifles, machine guns, and bazookas. There are only a couple of options for each weapon, usually a cheap one and an expensive one. Accessories include extra ammo, grenades, and melee weapons. These aren’t clearly labeled. You can tell what most things are by the way the picture looks, but if you make a mistake, you can leave a soldier with the wrong ammo for his gun. You do have the ability to loot corpses for equipment, but this is only an option during larger missions, because using one of your command points to loot equipment could leave you without enough left to actually fire the weapon you needed ammo for. The special equipment includes a medical kit, radio, and binoculars. Med-kits can heal small amounts of damage, but rarely see use because by the time someone needs healing, he’s probably already dead. Radios are required to call in air strikes and artillery strikes, though these abilities are only available on certain levels and require a round or two before they launch. Binoculars are the most useful item in my opinion. They greatly increase a soldier’s sight range, allowing you to get a great view of the battlefield. On more than one occasion, I found groups of enemies before I would otherwise normally would be able to. One well placed RPG sent them into a tailspin.

There are a couple of big problems with the game that make it a chore to play. The first is that the stylus controls feel imprecise and sloppy at best. You can tap a soldier several times before it actually reads the input. Then, you have to tap one of the menu choices, and you’ll hit the adjacent one almost as much as the one you wanted to hit. It is mainly a product of the objects being so small, and a change in design could have gone a long way into fixing it, but as it is, the controls are just too imprecise.

The biggest problem with the game is a sin it commits against all strategy games. You don’t get to chose the starting locations of your troops. Instead, the game automatically picks the location based on the soldier’s position on your selection list. This wasn’t so bad on missions where all of the troops are clumped together, but when they are spread out in defensive positions, it caused nothing but problems. On nearly every occasion, the guy I wanted as a sniper was on the front lines or my tank buster was the furthest from where the tank would show up. My only option would be to switch up everyone’s equipment and tailor it to the level. However, that would require me to have played the level enough times to memorize the layout, where each selection would end up, and most damningly, be able to switch equipment between every level. In the campaign, that just isn’t feasible/possible.

The control issues and the fact that you have no control over where your troops are placed make this game a chore to play at best and absolutely frustrating the rest of the time. At no point was I having any fun, nor did I feel as if I was being challenged. I just felt annoyed.

Replayability

One good thing the game does is provide enough content so that if you enjoy the game, you will get plenty of bang for your buck.

You can play either campaign on two difficulty levels. The first is challenging enough (though mainly due a lot to the problems listed above) that playing it on a harder difficulty might be just the ticket for a dedicated player. With over thirty missions between the two, it will take some time, especially if you’re trying to save as many troops as possible.

The Scenario Mode is the biggest hit, as it offers multiplayer and the options to play any mission with settings set to your liking. If I ever feel like playing the game again, this will be the mode I end up playing.

Balance

If you, for any reason, are unable to keep your boys alive, the perma-death will prove to be insanely trying. I’ve tried one level close to a dozen times and can’t escape without losing at least four troops. Sure, there are troops to replace them, but they are limited and they are significantly weaker, meaning I’m handicapped at the beginning of the next level. More to the point, there will be a time when you run out of replacements. On my first file, I didn’t realize that I wasn’t always getting reinforcements. This left me stuck with a mere three troops against a level with tanks! I had to start the game from the beginning in order to try and prevent this from happening again.

Speaking of tanks, they are a pain the butt. The can kill anyone in one hit, and can only be hit by grenades and anti-tank missiles. The problem is that you often only have one grenade per soldier because the rest of his gear is reserved for armor. Then, you have to hope the guys with bazookas are near and that they have enough ammo to do the job. Even if you get the tank down, often enough the soldier who managed the deed will end up being wide open to an enemy solider.

The “friendly” AI you get in some missions is another pain the butt. During an escort mission, the supply trucks I was supposed to be guarding took a suicide course. They went right into uncleared territory and did so long before I could get any backup to them. The small number of troops that came with the trucks ran off in the wrong direction, essentially making them useless. I lost the mission while desperately trying to catch up with the trucks.

“Balance” is a term this game has never heard.

Originality

I pretty much covered this in my opening statement.

World War II has been covered by just about every genre for just about every system. It’s no surprise. Never before or since has such a devastating war occurred. Whether it is to pay tribute or simply to make money, companies of all sorts have used the war because it carries instant international recognition.

The game does have a lot of nice ideas, such as looting equipment, the various stances, and a leveling system uncommon in turn based strategy games, but it never truly feels unique.

Addictiveness

I found it nearly impossible to play this game in shifts longer than even fifteen minutes. The controls were the biggest factor, as well as the inability to place troops at the start of battle. Also, the game just never was fun.

If you play the campaign, you’ll need to replay levels several times over so you can finish it without losing too many troops. I’m sure there are a few people who get into that kind of thing, but I found it extremely annoying. Personally, I’m surprised I got as far into the campaign as I did before I just started playing all of the levels in Scenario Mode.

Basically, if I ever pick this game up again, I will be shocked.

Appeal Factor

Who is this game intended to appeal to? The mechanics are a bit too deep for casual players, and hardcore strategy players tend to stick to PC titles or at least the Advance Wars series on the DS. Basically, there is a better option for anyone who might show interest in the game.

One of the most damning things going against this game is that no one has heard of it. Gamespot had this game listed as not having a release date until about two weeks after it came out. I tried to find the game on Gamestop and all I found was old Call of Duty titles.

It isn’t completely hopeless. This game is priced at a mere twenty dollars, so anyone who is looking for it won’t have to spend much to play it, and there are always those people who see a cheap game and grab it simply for the price.

Miscellaneous

I’m not sure what else I can say about the game at this point. There’s no extras to worry about and no online features to like or dislike. You have the gameplay and that’s it.

I would like to say that the game could have been a lot better. For starters, a little more testing with the stylus controls would have gone a long way. Even simply being able to place your troops would make the gameplay much better and far more balanced. It’s usually hard to pinpoint a single thing in a game that could have made the whole thing better if it had been done differently, but this is one of those cases.

The Scores
Modes: Decent
Graphics: Poor
Audio: Mediocre
Gameplay: Very Poor
Replayability: Above Average
Balance: Very Bad
Originality: Very Poor
Addictiveness: Very Bad
Appeal Factor: Bad
Miscellaneous: Poor
Final Score: Poor Game!

Short Attention Span Summary

After my first hour spent with this game, I was sure it was going to be tied with the lowest score I’ve ever given a game. Though my opinion didn’t change drastically enough to call this game good, I can say that there were some solid ideas here that were hampered by bad decisions and poor implementation. I certainly won’t be clamoring for a sequel any time soon, but I’d be willing to give the developers another chance.
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It was about two years ago that Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2: The Phantom Fortress showed up in Alex’s mailbox and he asked us who wanted to cover it. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I volunteered. I was never a fan of Naruto. I usually can’t watch anime, and I stuck my nose up at Naruto in any of its mediums. I guess I just wanted a new PSP game to play.

Anyways, I felt it prudent to at least watch some of the show before I passed judgment on the game. I tried the American version and couldn’t stand it. On a whim, I found the Japanese version and got almost immediately hooked. Then, I discovered that I was enjoying the hell out of the game. In fact, it made my top ten games of that year. Suddenly, I was a Naruto fanatic.

It goes to show you one thing above all else. You should never turn your nose up to something without trying. You never know when you’ll find something great.

Anyways, since then I’ve reviewed several Naruto games, watched hours upon hours of the show, and read even further in the Manga. Still, none of the games I’ve played matched the fun I had with that first Naruto game. Apart from it, all of the other games I’ve played had one thing in common. They were for the Nintendo DS. Now, I love the little system, but it can’t seem to produce a new Naruto game.

So, last year, when Naruto Shippuden: Legends: Akatsuki Rising was announced, there was no way I was going to miss it.

It just took a while for me to get it.

Let’s Catch Up!

What’s The Game?

This week’s game is Naruto Shippuden: Legends: Akatsuki Rising, a 3D brawler for the Sony PSP.

Who Made It?

Like all of the PSP Naruto games, this was developed by CyberConnect 2 and published by Namco Bandai.

When Did It Come Out?

Akatsuki Rising was released on October 6, 2009.

Where’s The Review?

I was unable to review this game last year, so I’m making up for that here!

Why Didn’t You Play It In 2009?

I was really psyched for this game when it was announced. Then, I found out it wasn’t a fighting game and the forty dollar price tag didn’t seem quite worth it. I was hoping it would drop in price rather quickly, but I had to wait until late March before I could finally afford it.

Being the Naruto fan that I am, you might wonder why I didn’t feel like the price tag was worth it. Well, it again falls on the low quality of the DS games. There was a part of me that was convinced that only the fighting games were worthwhile. (Apart from maybe the two games on the 360, which I haven’t gotten to try.) I also had several other games in the months before and after that I needed to focus on. There was Kingdom Hearts, WWE Smackdown, and Tekken 6 to name a few. There just wasn’t room for this game. Then came Christmas, my mom’s birthday, and before I knew it, it was spring.

Oh well. At least I have it now.

So What Did You Think?

This game (hereto-after referred to as AR) covers the Gaara retrieval arc, meaning the first season of Naruto Shippuden. It manages to be the best retelling of that story for any game I’ve played. The characters are full of personality, aren’t afraid to have conversations, and you’ll find yourself chuckling along when characters such as Guy or Naruto get up to their shenanigans. More to the point, characters like Lady Chiyo and Deidara are far more interesting in this game because they actually have lines. The game covers a lot of material and does it well.

The Scenario Campaign lasts for ten missions that will take you around ten hours to complete, but it isn’t the only thing the game has to offer. Rather quickly, you unlock Mission Mode and Survival Mode. Mission Mode is full of ranked missions that offer up rare scrolls and cash for rewards. They also house some of the game’s toughest challenges. The only catch is that you can only use the Leaf Ninja in this mode, but since there’s about seven of them, it isn’t a big problem. They also serve up some amusing story sequences at the end of each mission. Survival Mode allows you to use the three Sand Ninja as well. This mode tasks you with fighting large groups of enemies in waves or fighting two of the main characters at once. You won’t get to use support characters, so you’re stuck on your own for these fights.

If these three modes aren’t enough, you also unlock a mode that allows you to complete a story mode as the Akatsuki. The story isn’t up to snuff, mostly because you fight the same people over and over again. Still, you can feel the power of the Akatsuki when you play as them, and it is a ton of fun. You also have Battle mode, which lets you pit either your custom characters or game generated characters in one on one battles. There’s even an Ad-Hoc mode to let you team up with a friend. Add on managing your equipment, combining scrolls, and leveling up your characters, and this game has some serious mileage for you to trek across. I’ve gotten more play time out of this game then I did out of all of the DS Naruto games I have.

It is a good thing then, that the gameplay is decent enough to keep your entertained. At heart, it is a simple 3D brawler with a JRPG style leveling and equipment system. Your traverse through 3D locales with the goal of moving on to the next section, or in the case of Mission Mode, defeating a certain number of enemies or finding items. There are usually no shortage of enemies to contend with. The combat seems overly simple at first, but grows on you. You can attack with the square button and mash it to launch into combos. Triangle allows you to throw weapons or access your item panel, x let’s you jump, and circle allows you to use a teleportation move that is useful for dodging or catching up with distant enemies. The depth of the combat is discovered when it comes to using jutsu attacks. These consume chakra, which regenerates over time, and often require a little bit of a charge time. Each character has their own sets and they all play differently. Naruto uses his clones to distract enemies so he can land a Rasengan. Gaara uses his sand jutsu to keep foes at a distance so he bombard them with strong moves. Kisame can imprison a foe so he can use a devastating water jutsu that normally has a tough time landing. These attacks are available when you’ve equipped the corresponding scrolls. You also have scrolls to increase stats, absorb hp, or even use less chakra for your moves. You can only equip a certain amount of scrolls, and even then you have to equip within your potential. Potential is a numerical limit that each scroll takes up. If you don’t have enough to equip a scroll, you can’t use it. You can combine scrolls to get better effects, though this usually results in raising the potential cost as well. (Although I did find that it could lower them.)

The equipment system and jutsu attacks go a long way to break up the monotony you would otherwise feel when playing the game. Also, the large number for projectiles you can equip add another layer of strategy. On top of that, you can use supporting characters to gain bonus effects. This grants them some of your experience, but it can do things like greatly increase your stats, raise the experience earned, or increase the item drop rate. It can be very helpful. Throw in the various enemy types and moments where only a sound strategy will lead you to victory, and this game avoids the typical problems of a 3D brawler on the PSP.

As far as presentation goes, the game fairs pretty well. The graphics aren’t all that much, but the cell shaded characters animate fairly well and the effects are nice to look at. The music is full of high tempo beats with a strong Japanese flare, and the game features a ton of voice acting. You get both the English and Japanese voice tracks, so you can have which ever you prefer. Me? I wouldn’t touch the English voice cast unless I had to, as they way they pronounce words like “chakra” drive me nuts. It’s a decent package overall.

The game certainly isn’t going to break the mold, but I got a lot of quality time out of it.

What Score Would You Have Given It?

As we don’t have a review for this game up on the site, here are the official scores.

Story/Modes: Good
Graphics: Decent
Audio: Enjoyable
Gameplay: Enjoyable
Replayability: Very Good
Balance: Above Average
Originality: Poor
Addictiveness: Above Average
Appeal Factor: Enjoyable
Miscellaneous: Good
Final Score: Above Average Game!

Would It Have Made Your Top Ten List?

It would probably sit somewhere just out of the top fifteen, especially with the list having been expanded by the games I’ve played for this column. While I certainly enjoyed the game, it just can’t compete with the best of 2009.

How Much Does It Go For, In Case I Want It?

You can probably find this new for about twenty bucks now, though I’m not sure if that price is reflected outside of Gamestop.

Final Thoughts?

CyberConnect2 is proving to be adept at bringing over the Naruto franchise to the PSP, which makes me happy, as they’re the developers of the soon to be released Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3. As far as this game goes, it isn’t going to blow you away, but Naruto fans will easily get their monies worth. As I can count myself among the throng, I enjoyed the hell out of this game.

Next Time: I tackle a detective game for the DS. That wouldn’t be so odd, as I do that a lot, but this one is different. It’s from a series I had pretty much sworn off of, but am now giving a second chance. Tune in next time to see how it panned out!
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Though I’m not sure when exactly this thing is going up, at least it finally is. I think I started playing this game about a month ago. You might be wondering why it took so long to get this piece up, but the truth is that I only finished the game late on Saturday night. I’ll go more into why that is later on, but suffice it to say I’ve been waiting to write the column until I finally beat it.

I’m not a fan of the rogue-like genre of RPGs. It isn’t that I think they are bad games or anything, it is just that the very things that make them appealing to some gamers, repulses me on a fundamental level. I never get the urge to go down a treacherous dungeon in order to find a slightly better sword or fill up an empty spot on my bestiary. I could care less if there is a monster type I haven’t found yet. Nor could I care less that my character is only just powerful enough to beat a boss and could become much more powerful through leveling. If there is a minigame that allows me access to a useful item I can’t get anywhere else, I just ignore it.

Basically, I hate grinding.

Why then, you might ask, would I ever sit down and start playing a game of this genre?

It’s because Alex Lucard said it had some of the best gameplay ever. It took the basic RL formula and mixed in randomly generated battle with SRPG combat. This managed to get me very intrigued, so I waited for the game to drop in price and grabbed it my first chance.

Let’s Catch Up!

What’s The Game?

This week’s game is, finally, Adventures to Go! for the Sony PSP.

Who Made It?

The developers are Global A, who are well known to PSP owners for the Dungeon Maker series.

When Did It Come Out?

It was released on 10/28/2009 as a Gamestop Exclusive. (A fact which drew ire from many.)

Where’s The Review?

Our own Alex Lucard reviewed this game last year.

Why Didn’t You Play It 2009?

It wasn’t that I wasn’t interested. I had a gut feeling that said this game wasn’t meant for me in any sense of the word. As such, I held off buying the game at full price. Thankfully for me (Though not so much for the developers.), Gamestop didn’t hesitate to drop the price after only a couple of months. I picked it up sometime in late January I believe with the sole intention of playing it for this column.

I will say that it jumped to the head of line over some games I would much rather have been playing. This is, again, thanks almost solely to the fact that Lucard gave the gameplay such high marks. I trust my fellow staffers, you see.

Granted, I really should have read that review more carefully. I think I glossed over all of the parts that clearly labeled the game “NOT FOR AARON SIROIS”. When am I going to learn to pay attention to things like that?

So, What Did You Think?

Reading so far, you might think I think the game is bad or something. To the contrary, the game definitely has some strong points. It just isn’t my kind of game.

The story starts off with young Finn deciding he’d like to make his mark on the world. The problem is that he doesn’t want to leave the comfort of his own village to do so. Instead, he ventures over to Adventures to Go, a business run by a few wizards. ATG summons fields and some basic monsters with the intention that heroes and adventurers could use these constructions in order to train before they go out into the real world. Finn decides to make ATG his headquarters and to pay the wizards to summon new land types and monsters so he can get all of the loot he wants without ever having to leave town limits. Basically, we’re told the main character is lazy and has found a way to be rewarded for it.

The rest of the story is pretty loathsome as well. You meet a young witch who joins up because she has a crush on Finn, though he couldn’t care less. You’ve got a sister who does nothing but nag you every time you get up in the morning. She yells at you to get a job when you’re clearly the richest man in town. Finn’s father is also a useless bum who gets himself into trouble often and gives you boring quests the rest of the time. There is no story to this game, though it tries to be witty and funny. I’m sorry, but Finn being a greedy brat isn’t very fun to watch.

As far as gameplay goes, you too will never have to leave the town, not that there is all that much to do in it. You have the clerk’s office where you can get quests and turn in quest items. You have your house where you can sleep and save. You have the Professor’s house, where your bestiary and other such things are located. The Professor is also Finn’s go to guy for special quests or more information on how to get an item. And then there is ATG itself. Inside you’ll find a handful of stores that sell magic crystals, items, weapons, and armor. The clerks always say the same line every time you enter, and you can usually find the items they sell in the field. Most of your time in these shops will be spent selling off loot. Finally, there is the help desk, where you can place an order for an adventure.

You see, like in the Dungeon Maker games, there is no set path for you to take. You can order exactly what type of dungeon you’d like to explore. Basically, you start off with simple badlands and a bug type. Both of these are free. As you continue, you can order more land types, caves, dungeons, mazes, and a host of enemy types to go along with it. By mixing and matching these options, you can get different monsters and loot. For people who get into it, this mechanic can offer hours and hours of fun on its own. Me on the other hand? I got bored of it after the first ten or so hours of the game. After that, I was playing for the end.

In the adventures you purchase, there are only a few things to worry about. On each screen, there are stone monoliths that have a range of effects. Some clue you in on how to make a new spell, what combinations you might try to get a monster you need to beat for a quest, or even buyback restorative items for more than the stores would give you. You can also use event tickets at the main desk in order to receive seemingly random effects such as boss fights, exploding dungeons, or a casino that houses special items you can’t get anywhere else.

Of course, there are the battles themselves. You run around the fields and at any time, a battle may start. This battle takes place on the exact location you are in, so if you were crossing a bridge or in a forest, you’ll have areas that are closed off because of this. (You can’t very well walk through a tree, after all.) Battle itself works much like a turn based strategy game. Each character on the field gets a turn and the battle ends when one side has been wiped out. You get action points that get spent for every action you do. Moving and turning take up one point. Using items, attacking, and guarding take up two points. Spells can take up different amount of points depending on how powerful they are. The most interesting option is “ambush”. Ambush allow your character to raise his weapon and threaten the area in front of him. If an enemy moves into that area, your character will get a free attack that also drains some of the enemy’s action points. This was great for strategic play and is something I want to see in more SRPGs. The combat was pretty well done all told.

The real problem is that the game never evolves. Sure, you get new weapons, spells, and enemies, but that is simply progression. What I mean by evolution is that the game feels the same from start to finish. Characters are locked into what kinds of equipment they can have, they don’t learn new abilities, and there is almost no customization. All you can really change is the spells, and I found that only the witch ever need use them. Truly great SRPGs evolve. In Final Fantasy Tactics, you could train a character in multiple jobs and then mix and match abilities from those jobs. Training a knight as a ninja for awhile could grant you the ability to wield two swords at one, for instance. In Jeanne D’Arc, the penultimate SRPG on the PSP, you could craft and equip stones that granted all kinds of abilities, spells, and buffs. An archer could become more than a simple distance fighter if you equipped them right. That is not the case with this Adventures to Go. No matter what kind of enemy you take on, you’re stuck with the same abilities you had at the start. It just doesn’t have the kind of depth to keep it interesting for me.

That being said, the game isn’t short. I truly dug into the game for the first ten hours, but after that, I was rushing through it to get to the end. It took me nearly twenty hours of gameplay before I reached that goal. The story didn’t go anywhere, the combat didn’t evolve. All that happened was dungeons got longer and weapons got slightly higher stats. It dragged on and on.

This did lead to some hilarity. Lucard has said there were twenty-five chapters in the game. When I got to chapter twenty-six, he said that was the last one. Then I got to twenty-seven and nearly tore my hair out. As it turns out, there are twenty-eight chapters. I’m hoping Alex was just misremembering, and not messing with me.

After I finally reached the end credits, I celebrated with a lot of cheering and a lot of whiskey. My roommate thought I went insane. I was just so happy I was done with the game.

Again, it isn’t that this game is bad or anything. It’s just monotonous and stays way past its welcome.

What Score Would You Have Given It?

Needless to say, I wasn’t as impressed with the game as Alex was. Still, I’d give the game a score of “Decent” if only because the basic combat was great and there is a ton of content on here for someone who gets into the game.

Would It Have Made Your Top Ten List?

If you’ve read the rest of the column, you should already know the answer to this. I don’t pound whiskey after every game I beat.

How Much Does It Go For, In Case I Want It?

Gamestop is not a friendly store to the smaller developers. You can already find this game for fifteen dollars new, which is half of the game’s initial price. It dropped to that price at the beginning of the year, which means it wasn’t even in stores for three months before it was cut.

Still, if you get into it, you have a game that will last you a while for a pretty cheap price. If you like rogue-likes, look into it.

Final Thoughts?

Thank God I finished this game. I spent three times as many hours as I was willing to in order to finish it, but I finished it all the same. That should show you how committed I am to continuing this column. I’m willing to slog through hours of monotony just so I can fairly judge every game I write about.

Adventures to Go is a decent game with a lot of neat concepts. The problem is that it doesn’t do enough with the formula and so it lags on for dozens of hours. The story is no good, so you don’t even have that to fall back on if you don’t get into it.

Basically, if you still like the game after the first ten hours, you’re in for a good time. If you don’t, be prepared to put the game down unfinished. It will be easier that way.

Next Time: A game I’ve wanted to play for months finally went down in price and I’m working on it for the next column. That’s right, it’s time to get my Naruto on! Believe it!
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I’ve been looking for a new type of puzzle game for my DS. Lately I’ve been playing mostly adventure games and random things like Bakugan Battle Trainer. When I saw the trailer for Rooms, I was immediately interested. Here was a puzzle game that took a classic puzzle type – slide puzzles – and gave it a fun twist that promised to make for some nifty brain teasers. I couldn’t wait.

I’ve played plenty of great puzzle games for portable platforms. Not even counting classics like Dr. Mario and Tetris, there are games like Lumines, Gunpey, Exit, and so on. In particular, I’ve had success with another obscure DS puzzle game in Prysm: Light the Way. (Look it up. You can find it for less than ten dollars and it is an absolute diamond in the rough.) My hope wast that Rooms would be the next game in this auspicious list.

So, did it make the cut, or did it only have a nice concept?

Story/Modes:

The game doesn’t start off very well in the originality department. Mr. X is your average Joe who is bored with his life. Just as he’s wishing for something exciting to happen, he receives a package for his birthday. Whether it was actually his birthday or not, the game never mentions. Personally, I’d like to think it wasn’t, because that makes the whole scenario funnier. Anyway, the package ends up being an unfinished jigsaw puzzle that teleports Mr. X to another world.

That world is one of puzzles. He soon meets and animated talking book named, what else, Mr. Book. Mr. Book tells him that the only way to escape this accursed world is to enter the Rooms Mansions and solve all of the puzzles. A bit tiffed at this whole thing, Mr. X nonetheless toils onward in attempt to free himself from this fresh hell.

The setup is a bit odd, and again, not original, but it at least attempts to put some subtext to the proceedings. There isn’t much of a plot after this, though there is a bit of a twist ending. They try to make the characters interesting with some personality rich dialogue, but it doesn’t really work all that well. It’s nice that the story is there, but you’ll be playing this game for the puzzles.

From the start, you’ll have two modes available. The first is the main story, in which you complete puzzles to advance the plot and unlock more puzzles. The other mode is called “Build”. In “Build”, you can create your own puzzle using any of the backgrounds, tools, and abilities you find in the story mode. The creation tool is rather simple once you know what you’re doing, and it can be a cinch to create something. Where would the fun be, however, if you couldn’t share your creations? While you can’t do so over Nintendo Wi-Fi, you can trade puzzles with another person as long as they have a copy of the game as well. This is a great feature exclusive to the DS version of the game. The Wii version has the creation tool, but no sharing. (Though it does have a versus option that the DS version lacks.)

After you’ve cleared the story, you’ll unlock two challenge modes to fiddle around. One sets a time limit on solving the puzzle, and the other gives you a limited number of moves to work with. The big kicker is that you have to not only reach the exit, but solve a background puzzle as well. Those same background puzzles are merely optional in the main game, so this adds quite a bit of challenge to the game.

Beyond that, you have a trophy room where you can see the awards you’ve earned for your various accomplishments. It’s a pretty good amount of content on the disk, with the challenge modes and creation tool easily keeping the game interesting long after you’ve watched the credits roll.

Graphics:

In the visual department, this game appears to be just a cut down port of the Wii version. That isn’t to say it looks all that bad, though. The game has a strong early twentieth century England feel to it. Mr. X sports a trendy trench-coat and old school phone booths are abundant. The style works rather well despite the limited number of implementations. There are only a handful of backgrounds in the game, and most of the visual flare comes from the various items in the rooms themselves.

There are some nifty animations as well. Mr. X moves fluidly from one room to the next, though his low pixel count doesn’t do him any favors. A nice dust blowing effect occurs whenever you move a puzzle piece, and you get a golden sparkle when something is in the right spot.

Overall, it is a pretty okay looking game, though it is clear it is just a port. If the developers had tailor made it for the system, I’m sure it would have ended up a lot cleaner looking.

Sound:

The music in this game fits the theme rather well, but for most of the game, the same tune plays. It feels weird when the start up screen has a theme, the profile select screen has a theme, but there’s only one song for a whole mansion! It goes on to hurt the game in another way. You’re very likely to tune the music out in your head because it plays on loop. That is, of course, if you don’t get too into solving the puzzle long enough to actually listen to it in the first place.

The rest of the audio is represented by the various sound effects. Of particular note, the grinding stone sound of a room sliding from one place to another never gets old despite the hundreds of times you do it throughout the game. Also, the bells that sound whenever you move all of the pieces in the right spot is not only useful, but extremely easy on the ears. Mr. X himself rarely makes a sound, however. In fact, the only time you’ll hear from him is if you manage to get yourself killed, which is pretty hard to do.

The audio ends up being a great fit for the game in terms of style. It might be a bit tinny coming out of the DS’s speakers, but it’ll get the job done.

Gameplay:

The core gameplay of Rooms is that of a basic sliding puzzle. You’ve no doubt played a few of them in your life. That alone wouldn’t make a worthwhile game, but that’s not all the game has up its sleeve. The goal of each puzzle is to get Mr. X from the starting block to the block with the exit door. To do this, you can slide occupied pieces to adjacent empty ones, move him from one piece to another, and use various tools.

It starts out simple enough. The first level merely has you sliding one room and unlocking a door with a key. New items are introduced regularly. Telephones allow you to teleport to any other telephone on the map. Ladders allow you to climb up or down to new slides. Using wardrobes allows you to switch one room with another while staying in the same location. Candles can be used to light explosives, fire hydrants can move water from one room to another, and fish bowls allow you to travel underwater. There are plenty more tricks than even the ones I just named, but my goal isn’t to throw a huge list in this review.

Everything is done with the stylus, and the controls work great. You’ll rarely come across a moment when you’ll hit something unintentionally. Some items can be a bit small, but most items require you to make some sort of confirmation, so you won’t have to worry. And, apart from the challenge modes, you can pretty much take back any move you make.

Each level has two puzzles. The first is getting Mr. X to the exit. That, however, will only get you a silver medal for clearing the level. In order to get the gold, you must also arrange the pieces so that the backgrounds form a picture. This picture is always a section of the map for the Mansion, so you get a good idea of what goes where eventually. Also, you can check to see the outlines of where all of the pieces will go. You can’t see the picture itself, so it isn’t a crutch, but it can help. For the main quest, your goal is to solve a series of these puzzles in order to unlock chests. In the chests you find items that you must then use to solve simple point and click puzzles in the overworld. These involve getting an animated chest to spit out a puzzle piece or fixing a magical clock. You’ll pretty much need to finish most of the levels in order to get the required items, but there will be several puzzles that are optional.

Overall, the concept works. Sliding blocks and moving Mr. X through the various rooms is fun, and can often be puzzling. When you’ve gotten far enough that the puzzles use all of the various items, things can get pretty nuts, not to mention pretty fun.

Replayability:

If your only goal is to clear the story, the game won’t last you very long. I managed it in less than four hours. The reason is that most of the puzzles can be finished in less than a minute. If you’re not bothering to get gold rankings on everything, it will be an even shorter game.

The good news is that if you’re willing to keep going after the credits, the game really opens up. You unlock a new mansion full of the toughest challenges in the game. You can finish all of the mansions in order to earn new trophies. And, as mentioned, you can play the challenge modes. Plus, if you get into the build mode, you can spend hours trying to create the most devious puzzle for friends to solve, and they can do the same as well.

So, while the story won’t last long, there is plenty of content for you to play around with.

Balance:

One of the biggest problems with the game is that a lot of the levels exist solely to introduce and get you used to the new items. Because of this, most of the levels in the game are extremely easy. By the time it gets challenging, you’re pretty much done with the story.

The game does really kick it into high gear at the end. While it won’t be too hard to figure out how to beat a level, it will become tricky to get the gold ranking. When you throw in the challenge modes, things can get pretty taxing for your poor brain.

Still, seasoned puzzle vets may get bored of the game quickly since it takes so long to get challenging.

Originality:

While slide puzzles themselves aren’t anything new, this take on the genre, where you can only move a piece with a character in it, and using items within the blocks themselves, is rather novel. It is one of things that first drew me to the game. You can’t really find anything else like it.

The creation tool is another rarely taken step for the genre. While there are puzzle games that allow you to create your own twisted monstrosities, there aren’t enough of them, and even fewer of them work as well as the one is this game.

The concept is refreshing and relatively unique, which is something gamers can look forward to.

Addictiveness:

It is very easy to play this game for a couple of hours on end. The puzzles are brief and can be satisfying to complete. That adds up to long sessions of play. It won’t hook you in quite like its gem dropping cousins, but it does pretty well on its own.

That is, of course, unless you get bored of the relative ease of the early puzzles. If the basic gameplay doesn’t hook you in, the lack of a real challenge until late in the game has a good chance of souring you on the whole experience. It really depends on your disposition and important a good challenge is to you.

If creation is your game, you will definitely get a good amount of play out of the build mode. It has enough content and options to let you really flex your muscles.

Appeal Factor:

There are two very big things going against this game in terms of appeal. First, the Wii version has better graphics, a multiplayer mode, and can be bought for the same price. The bigger problem is that there is a downloadable PC version that costs a mere seven dollars! If you’re willing to pay thirty dollars to have a portable version of the game, then this is for you; otherwise, there are better versions of the game available for the same price or even cheaper.

Disregarding the price point, the game is highly recommendable. The novel concept combined with the high amount of content make it a great buy for puzzle fans. It might take a while for the challenge to set in, but the game is still pretty fun even when it is easy.

Miscellaneous:

This game follows an ever growing trend I’m noticing among DS games in that it is offering trophies for accomplishments. I guess the success of achievements on the 360 and trophies on the PS3 have gotten through to even portable developers. I suppose they’re fun enough to work towards, and they encourage players who wouldn’t otherwise go for it to try and master the game.

I really feel that charging thirty bucks for the game was a bit of a stretch. PC version be damned, it would have been much more consumer friendly of them to put this game out for twenty dollars. A lot of puzzle type games come out for that price, and it just feels like the right about for a handheld puzzle game.

My one wish for this game was that it included Nintendo Wi-Fi support. Not even first party games take advantage of this ability, and it is a shame. With an online community to support the creation tool to its fullest, this game would be a must have for all DS owners. As it is, only puzzle fans need apply.

The Scores
Story/Modes: Enjoyable
Graphics: Decent
Sound: Decent
Gameplay: Great
Replayability: Very Good
Balance: Enjoyable
Originality: Above Average
Addictiveness: Enjoyable
Appeal Factor: Mediocre
Miscellaneous: Decent
Final Score: Above Average Game!

Short Attention Span Summary

Rooms: The Main Building is an enjoyable puzzle game for the Nintendo DS. Above all else, it is fun to play and features plenty of content on top of a great creation tool. Puzzle veterans might find it a bit too easy, and the lack of Wi-Fi is a bit disappointing, but that shouldn’t stop anyone from having a blast with the game. If the price tag is too much for you, look for the downloadable PC version. Otherwise, I can easily recommend this game.


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I was a bit surprised when this game was announced. That’s not because I’m foolish enough to think Bakugan games won’t sell or that the first game wasn’t good enough to warrant a sequel. However, this game was released a mere five months after the last game. That’s pretty darn fast.

I had enough fun with the first game that I though it would be cool to grab this and review it. All they had to do was tweak a few things and it could have been a great DS game. However, after a trailer or two for Battle Trainer was released, it became clear that this would be a different type of game all together. This kind of thing happens frequently with licensed games, so I wasn’t too surprised by that.

Even with a new developer at the helm, I figured this would be a safe buy. Was my faith rewarded, or did they screw the pooch on this one?

Story

This time around, you’ll be playing as Dan. It starts off with him losing his memory for no apparent reason. However, this isn’t really a plot device. Instead, it is meant only so that when Marucho explains the basics of the game to you, it doesn’t seem odd.

What it boils down to is that a strange space ship has appeared above the earth and sucked all of the Bakugan up. The Brawlers have teamed up with a Professor Trevoc in order to find a way to get aboard the ship and set things right. As it turns out, only Dan is able to go back and forth between the ship and earth, and he only starts off with one Bakugan. It’s up to him to rescue the Bakugan and thwart the evil plot of the Guardians.

It’s pretty straight forward this time around. There’s very little dialogue, and no real characterization. The big twist at the end can be seen from a mile away. It’s nothing offensive or bad really, but it doesn’t go anywhere either. Heck, most of the characters from the show don’t even appear, or have only a couple of lines. It’s nothing to get excited about.

This wouldn’t be so bad if there were extra modes to play around with. However, there isn’t. There’s no free play mode, no store to buy new items, or even multiplayer. The latter is an absolute crime for a Bakugan game. This time, you only have the story to play, and it isn’t up to the task of carrying an entire game on its shoulders.

Graphics

The graphics in Battle Brawlers was one of the best aspects of the game. They were bright, well animated, and gave you some really nifty locations to look at.

Sadly, this isn’t the case here.

You get one “arena” in the game, and that is simply a top down area where you train your Bakugan. It’s a plain area with a few colored sections for each attribute, and no real effects. The battles this time around are nothing more than immobile sprites on a flat background with no effects.

The only good thing about the game are the battle animations that show up on the top screen. Why are these good? It’s because they were stolen from the last game. Still, it is nifty to watch Laserman blast away or Sirenoid slither around. I just wish the rest of the game looked as good.

This isn’t to say the game looks all that bad. There just isn’t much to it. The training minigames are mostly the kind of thing I could make on Fyrebug with little to no effort. It doesn’t take advantage of what the DS is capable of.

Audio

Much like last time, the music is generic rock fare that sounds good enough for background music, but doesn’t do anything remotely interesting. It works fine for the game, but you won’t remember it after you’ve turned the DS off.

Once again, there are several voice clips performed by the actors from the show, though Dan did sound different to me. Even still, there are perhaps half a dozen characters that get any voiced lines, and they only have a few clips that are played repeatedly. It isn’t bad by any means, just another aspect of the game that feels pedestrian.

The sound effects do their job, but because of how the game plays, there are significantly less of them. The roars and screeches of the Bakugan are cool yet again, certainly better than the tired noises that Pokemon make, but that’s about all you can say.

The audio isn’t bad, and it certainly works for the game, but don’t expect to be impressed by it.

Gameplay

Talk about taking a huge step backwards.

There are two aspects to this game: training and battling.

To train a Bakugan, you must head to the training facility and select one of your Bakugan on the field. You first need to build up their mental power. You do this by either collecting batteries on the field, moving the Bakugan to its respective attribute corner, or by playing a short minigame. The mingames are simple fares like answering trivia, blowing into the mic, or flicking the stylus in rhythm. These don’t take much time, and it is easy to build up the mental power meter in a few seconds. If you don’t want to play them, you can simply leave the Bakugan in its corner and it will build up eventually.

Once you’ve built up the mental power, you can play a training game. There are five of these, and they are unlocked as you level up a Bakugan. These include moving your Bakugan through a maze to find points, blocking oncoming projectiles, tapping point tiles before they disappear, avoiding obstacles as you move down a track, and a simple gem dropping game. The goal of these games is to obtain a set amount of points before time runs out. The point amounts and complexity of the game increase with the level of your Bakugan. Winning grants your Bakugan GP, but only up to a cap set by its level. It also increases your bonus against the attribute that your Bakugan is strong against. You earn the same amount of points no matter what game you play, but you can earn bonus points if you best your high score. Otherwise, there isn’t a reason to try after you’ve passed the required mark.

Completing these games also gives you actions you can use in battle. Each Bakugan can carry five actions. Even if you’ve maxed out your GP, you can still play to try and earn better actions for your Bakugan.

What are these actions used for? Well, battle this time doesn’t require cards or throwing your Bakugan. Instead, you pick your three man team and face an AI opponent. You can view which Bakugan they have and their power, as well as the attribute bonuses for that arena. Once in battle, you find a simple turn based strategy game. You first select which Bakugan you want to use and then pick one of your opponent’s Bakugan to battle. You each get to play up to two actions in turn in order to get the most GP. Whichever Bakugan has the most wins, but has the losing Bakugan’s GP subtracted from its total. The computer then selects another of its Bakugan as well as one of yours. This process repeats until one player is left without Bakugan. You can gain levels by defeating a Bakugan with an arrow icon hovering over it.

There is a lot more strategy this time. You have no stylus minigames to boost your GP, nor do you have cheap action cards or gate card bonuses to rely on. You only have your base GP and your hand of actions. Actions range from simply adding to your GP to causing effects such as tripling your next bonus, canceling a bonus, or even swapping GP with your opponent. You can have a strong base GP, but if you don’t back that up with a good hand of actions, you’re probably going to lose. You also have to worry about attributes. Each attribute has another that it is strong against. Darkus is great against Haos. Subterra is great against Ventus. When one type goes against the type it is strong against, the opposing type loses a ton of GP. In some cases, it can drop them to zero, causing an instant victory without having to play actions. Also, victorious Bakugan tend to have significantly lowered GP scores, making them great targets. Still, a proper strategy goes a long way. On several occasions, I was able to make a comeback with only one Bakugan and even clear the field using the same Bakugan for every battle. It all boils down to how well you’ve set up your team to deal with the battle and how you play your actions.

Overall, however, the gameplay is a huge letdown. It doesn’t emulate the show or game at all. The turn based gameplay can be fun and certainly strategic, but it is simple. There are no tag team battles or battle royales to play. There are only four opponents and they have no differences, as the Bakugan they use aren’t character specific. The training games aren’t very fun, and take too long to get challenging. I’d say it’s decent enough on its own, but it isn’t what you would want from a Bakugan game at all.

Replayability

This is where the game takes the biggest hit when comparing it to the last game.

The story will only take you about four to five hours to beat. When it’s over, you’ll already have all of the Bakugan in the game. There aren’t any other modes to play, no multiplayer, and no post game activities. There aren’t even multiple difficulties. All you can do is replay battles to level up your Bakugan. There isn’t any reason to do this because there’s nothing to use them for after you’ve bested the boss.

So, even if you spend the time to level up all of your Bakugan, which there isn’t any reason to do, you won’t get even ten hours out of the game. That’s just sad.

Balance

I managed to beat the game without losing even once. I even managed to crush the final boss only using Laserman. However, the game is still much more challenging than the last game. Because winning Bakugan lose power, it offers a way for even your toughest Bakugan to be bested if you don’t play your actions right. Also, if you don’t spend at least some time playing the training games, you won’t have good enough actions to pull off the victory. You have to put some time and effort towards training in order to win.

The training games do eventually get challenging in that they become far easier to fail. Still, I found that the gem dropping game and the tapping game were easy enough to pass without much problem. There never seemed to be much of a difference in what kinds of actions you’d win no matter what game you play, so if you find a game you can win at every time, it becomes a breeze to train. Even if you fail, the only setback is that you lose some mental power and have to earn it back. That only take a few seconds.

It’s an easy game, but it isn’t mind numbingly easy. That, at least, is a step in the right direction for the series.

Originality

The idea of collecting monsters and training them for battle is certainly nothing new. Nor is the concept of turn based strategy. Battle Trainer clearly has its roots set in come classic design choices.

Still, the strategy behind combat feels novel enough that you don’t feel like you’re simply playing a straight up clone of another game. Also, being only the second Bakugan game on the market keeps it from feeling as overly familiar as say a Dragonball Z game would.

So, while it won’t win any awards for originality, it isn’t completely devoid of it.

Addictiveness

I pretty much played the game in two shifts. In the first shift, I played through about seventy five percent of the game. The only reason I didn’t finish it all at once was because I decided to sleep for a few hours. Even though the game was pretty short, I still found myself glued to it in some ways.

The main thing that will keep you going is earning new actions and experimenting with them in battle. When I mentioned how I defeated the final boss using only Laserman, that was because I focused a lot of attention on getting his actions just right for some sweet combos. I chose to fight an Aquos Bakugan so I could use a special action that gave me a huge bonus against Aquos characters. I made sure I took enough damage that the computer would target me next. After that, I waited to spring an action that caused me to swap power levels with his best Bakugan, not only clearing him off of the board, but giving me just enough strength to finish off his last guy. None of that would have been possible if fiddling around with a Bakugan’s hand of actions wasn’t addicting.

It isn’t as addicting as something like Bejeweled, but there’s enough here to keep you interested until the game ends. If only that wasn’t so short.

Appeal Factor

Once again, this game has a lot going for it simply because it is a Bakugan game on the most popular gaming system on the market. As such, this game has a fairly large market. However, there are other factors that eat away from this advantage until it is nearly eradicated.

Firstly, the last Bakugan only came out five months ago and is still widely available. Not to mention, you can get it cheaper. It doesn’t help matters that this game isn’t as good as that one.

This game doesn’t have multiplayer, wireless or otherwise. For a game based on a popular mutliplayer game, this is an unforgivable sin.

The timing of this game’s release also coincides with that of Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver. A lot of this game’s target audience will still be playing that, or simply not have the money to get both.

There’s also been almost no hype towards this game’s release. It kind of just appeared on shelves.

All of that adds up to make this game a tough sell, despite its strong license.

Miscellaneous

There’s not much to talk about in this section. There aren’t any extras that come with the game in any sense. There’s not even a special Bakugan like in the last game. You get the story, and that’s it.

I would like to talk a bit more about how much of a disappointment this game is. While it is clear that a different developer worked on this game and that it was probably being made the same time as the other games, that’s still no excuse.

Every single aspect of the game is lessened by a lack of content. The presentation is bare bones, the gameplay is nothing like the real thing, and there’s only one mode. That just isn’t acceptable. It will certainly make me hesitant to pick up any future games in the series.

The Scores
Story: Below Average
Graphics: Poor
Audio: Decent
Gameplay: Decent
Replayability: Very Bad
Balance: Decent
Originality: Mediocre
Addictiveness: Good
Appeal Factor: Mediocre
Miscellaneous: Very Poor
Final Score: Below Average Game!

Short Attention Span Summary
Bakugan Battle Trainer isn’t bad, but it doesn’t do itself any favors. The amount of content is severely lacking. The adventure is short and not worth playing again. Even the presentation is a big step down from what the last game did. Worse off, there is no multiplayer element in a series designed for it. If you like Bakugan, you might find some amusement in it, but anyone just mildly interested will not be entertained. Hopefully, the next game will make the proper adjustments and deliver a proper Bakugan gaming experience.
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It has been three long years since God of War II left us with the unforgettable image of Kratos leading an army of Titans up the face of Mount Olympus, declaring to Zeus that he brought the end with him. It has been three long years, but the wait is finally over. God of War III is here.

The game certainly had some challenges leading up to its release. For one, it had the pedigree of the first two games to live up to. It also switched directors for the third time with Stig Asmsussen taking the helm. It also had to live up to the expectations of what the series could be like on the PS3. For a team who had never before worked on the platform, the pressure was enormous.

Thankfully, these guys weren’t novices. Many of the team worked on the series since its inception, and they already had a strong idea of how to end one of the most critically acclaimed series of all time.

The only real question is if they would rise to the occasion or fall like Icarus trying to fly too high.

Story

The story picks up the very instant that God of War II ends. Kratos has used the power of the Fates to summon all of the Titans to lead a war on Mount Olympus. Zeus, on the other hand, summons his Olympian brethren to defend the attack. The action from the start is unrelenting. Needless to say, the path to Zeus is not an easy nor a short one. You meet a ton of interesting characters and you get to kill just about all of them.

The story doesn’t end up as deep as the first game or as epic as the second, but it does fit the bill well. Part of the problem lies in that most of the history between Kratos and the Gods happened between those first two games. There are clearly relationships of some sort that have formed, but the player isn’t given much information on them. The worst part is that you end up killing characters just as they get really interesting.

Still, the plot is incredibly exciting due to the personality of Kratos, and the sheer gravity of the actions you are taking. It feels like the ending to a blockbuster trilogy. It might not be as good as the others before it, but by now all of the key players are so familiar that we don’t need the same depth. Just watching these behemoths of the gaming world collide is enough. As action plots go, this game can sit with some of the best.

The ending doesn’t disappoint in either its scale or meaning. As the final blows are struck, you’ll feel a profound sense of accomplishment and closure. As this is the final game in the trilogy, that feeling was what was needed. It also throws the player a bit of a curve that allows for the most empathy towards Kratos since Chains of Olympus provided gamers with the most heart wrenching quick time event in history. It almost feels tacked on, but it ends up working, especially if you’ve followed Kratos from the beginning.

For series fans, the story does everything it needs to and more. For those new to God of War, the plot is still easy to follow and fills you in enough on the back story so that you don’t get lost. It isn’t going to be winning any awards, but we couldn’t have asked for a better send off.

Graphics

Scale. It’s a word often taken for granted when it comes to video games. Most games seem happy to have a large city to explore or maybe a big enemy to fight. God of War III doesn’t stop there. The opening sequence of this game blows pretty much everything out of the water. As you’re battling the undead on top of a moving, breathing Titan while it is battling the constructs of Poseidon, or while you’re climbing up the side of a mountain with boulders and fireballs flying all around, you’ll simply run out of words that aren’t “wow”.

The technology at work here is simply impressive. Dozens of small enemies track you down while a larger enemy patrols the background. There is an insane amount of activity going on, but the game and the system handle it, giving you a visual feast like none other. It gets better. The attention to even the smallest details is astounding. Kratos moves more realistically then ever before. Entrails dangle in the air after you’ve gutted a Centaur. Skin stretches and tears as you cut into your foes. Blood soaks the Ghost of Sparta’s skin until he’s covered in red. It’s unbelievable, brutal, and awesome.

I want to pay particular note to the lighting. It is truly next gen stuff. There’s this section where Kratos is shuffling along the side of a wall. A torch shines its light on his armor and obscures some of the Spartan. As he moves away, he comes back into focus, with the glow of his blades providing the only immediate light. He then steps into complete darkness before he unleashes the head of Helios, which works better than any flashlight could ever hope to be. It’s all done so perfectly that you’ll swear it’s real.

The only, and I mean only, complaint I can think of anyone bringing up against this game is that there isn’t enough color. So much of the world you explore is covered in black or brown that it does manage to take away some from the splendor. Still, when the game goes full out with the the palette, it only makes those scenes stick with you that much longer.

Truly, this game has some of the most powerful and memorable visual effects to ever grace any system.

Audio

What this game does in the visual department, believe it or not, pales in comparison to the aural experience.

Firstly, the voice acting is absolutely superb. TC Carson has mastered the guttural bellow of Kratos and it never feels overdone. Even when he whispers, the effect is of a powerful individual. On top of that, veteran actors such as Rip Torn and Malcolm McDowell lend true acting chops to the game, perfecting their characters immediately. The game even has Kevin Sorbo reprising his role as Hercules, though there is enough of a difference that you don’t get the characters confused. One of the bonus videos shows the crew during the recording process. You can see it on their faces that they are blown away by the quality of what they’re getting. You will be too.

Secondly, the music is as good as ever. It picks up when it needs to and fades into the background when things get slower. These are tunes that any epic movie would kill to have in its soundtrack, yet here they are in a video game. It truly pushes the experience to an epic level.

However, the best thing about the game is the absolutely sublime audio effects. The weapons you wield are filled with weight and menace. The larger creatures roar in pain and anger. It is impossible not to get immersed in the world of Ancient Greece when it sounds so real. You wouldn’t think the sound of tendons ripping would be all that important until you play this game. Then, you’ll see what you’ve been missing.

The crazy thing is that I haven’t been exaggerating.

Gameplay

If you’ve played any of the God of War games before, then you know exactly what to expect from the gameplay. There is a ton of offensive-minded combat interspersed with platforming sections and thoughtful puzzles. That’s not to say there’s nothing new, however.

You start off with your typical chain blades, but you eventually get four different weapons that all have uses. You can launch heavy or light attacks that string into combos. The circle button is used for grappling. This time around, you have a special item bar that powers items such as the bow of Apollo and the much publicized Head of Helios. This bar regenerates, meaning using these items in combat is much more feasible then in previous games. When God of War II came out, there were plenty of videos showing off how you could juggle enemies in the air with arrows. However, that was a tactic you would almost never use in the game because the bow used up your magic. Here, however, the bow becomes and important tool not only for launching these nifty combos, but also for lighting foes on fire and keeping enemies at bay. The Head of Helios is good for blinding foes as well as a powerful knock back attack. This new bar can be upgraded just like the magic and health bars can. Kratos can also grab smaller enemies and use them as battering rams, a very useful tactic that is far from just a gimmick. Also new this time around is the fact that magic spells are assigned to a weapon. They’re also upgraded by upgrading those weapons. Each spell has its uses, but you’ll want to save them for bigger fights.

You’ll still have the Blade of Olympus that you acquired in the second game, though this time it is used only when you activate the Rage of Sparta. In this mode, you’ll move hyper fast and launch extremely powerful strikes that can clear an entire room if you use it right. It has to recharge through combat, so it should only be used for the toughest sections.

Like always, you can upgrade your various weapons and items. The weapons each have several levels to upgrade and you can feel each weapon get significantly stronger as you upgraded it. The best example is with the Nemian Cestus. Just a couple of upgrades grant you the power to throw enemies around like pieces of driftwood. You won’t end up with enough experience to completely power everything, up, but whatever weapon you do upgrade will fit the bill fine.

Basically, the combat is more streamlined than ever, but also deeper than ever. You have a ton of options to deal with your foes, and rarely is one weapon more useful than another in most situations.

There is also a new gameplay section that shows up multiples times. In these sections, Kratos will either soar upwards or fall downwards through narrow tunnels full of outcroppings and falling debris. You need merely to move out of the way, but the section whizzes by fast enough to make this challenging. The sense of speed is exhilarating to say the least. There is a problem, however, in that hitting an obstacle obscures your vision for a second. This makes it far too easy to get stuck hitting many obstacles in a row, shrinking your life total exponentially.

As hyped, you can also ride enemies in some sections. These moments are extremely controlled in that you have small areas and limited time to use these abilities, but it is still fun to hop on the back of a Cyclops or a Cerberus and use their fearsome powers on your enemies for a change.

That’s not to say there aren’t problems. The new technology that allows scores of enemies to be on screen at once expose some serious holes in the gameplay. For one, the targeting system isn’t up to snuff. You can’t lock onto enemies unless you’re using the bow. What ends up happening often is that you’ll try to grapple a dazed enemy only to grab a healthy one. Not only will the healthy one knock you back, but you’ll be open to attack from the enemy you were trying to grab in the first place. Also, there is one section in particular that suffers because of this. You need to grab onto a harpy in order to get above rising spikes. However, there will most likely be several enemies around you. If you’re not careful, you’ll grab one of them and get skewered, forcing you to restart the section. It happens enough to be a problem.

The camera is another issue. In previous games, the camera was better about giving you the best angle. Sadly, the larger scale has kind of ruined that here. The camera will often peel far back to give you a great visual shot, but will leave you squinting as you try to fend off an enemy attack. In another section, I had to fight an enemy I couldn’t see because the camera got stuck behind a wall. Obviously, this is not ideal.

Invisible walls, long a bane in the series side, are even worse here. There are a ton of areas you will be tempted to go, but can’t for some reason. On more than a few occasions, I fell to my doom because I thought I could grab onto a ledge.

Still, these problems are not nearly enough to ruin experience. They merely cause annoyances from time to time. In fact, I only died in combat a few times. Almost all of the deaths I suffered were during platforming sections. Here, the camera angles fail miserably. It can shift rapidly, throwing your bearings off and making your jump either too early or too late. Also, I found the controls for the double jump and glide to be a bit touchy. You need to immediately input the command to get it to work. If you try and time the presses to get maximum distance, you’ll likely fall to your death.

I’ve gone on a bit about these problems, but that is mostly because I’m trying to be a fair and objective reviewer. Believe me when I say that these instances don’t stop the game from being an absolute blast to play. The combat is as good as ever thanks to tight controls and a ton of depth and variety. The puzzles are fun brain teasers that grant perfectly timed respites from the action. The level design is so tightly and expertly paced that there is a constant sense of progression. There is almost never a moment when you won’t be enjoying yourself. Even when you die, your only thought will be to keep playing so you can see what happens next. It never gets dull.

This is a rock solid action game with some of the best combat you can find.

Replayability

My first play through of the game on normal difficulty took about nine hours. That is a bit shorter than the last game. Still, once you’ve beaten the game, you unlock the hardest difficulty and challenge levels. Besting the game on Chaos difficulty will prove a worthy challenge for even the hardiest player, but if you don’t get into replaying on harder difficulty, there isn’t much replay value in the game. The game is extremely linear, so each subsequent play through will yield a near identical experience.

There are reasons to suggest that there will downloadable content in the near future in the form of extra challenges, and there are always trophies to hunt, but don’t expect this game to take up too much time. I’ve always considered God of War to be something akin to the perfect one night stand of gaming. It is a complete blast to play the first time, but the second time just can’t live up that experience.

Balance

As is usually the case with these games, series vets should start on the hard difficulty. I found the combat to be a bit easy on normal. I could button mash my way through most fights if I wanted to, though there were still plenty of tough fights. Your finger dexterity will be tested in the boss fights and some of the puzzles will tax your poor brain.

What is really nifty is watching the AI work. Enemies will respond to your attacks. Enemies that are lit aflame will rush towards you and try to repay the favor. Smaller enemies will attempt to dog pile Kratos while the larger enemies block and counter almost as well as human players. If you try to sleep through the combat, you will die, and you will die often.

Overall, I’d say the game is nearly perfectly balanced as long as you play on the appropriate difficulty setting. Players who want a challenge will find the game eager to comply, while those looking merely to play through a great experience will be able to move forward without too much frustration.

Originality

This is God of War. It isn’t going to break the mold in terms of new gameplay types any time soon. What it does do is take everything that games have done before, and take that to the next level. How many game can you think of where you’re battling on top of a moving colossus where each step affects the terrain you battle on? I’m guessing not that many.

Still, there is an overwhelming sense of familiarity for those who’ve played the other games. You have the prerequisite swimming, rope climbing, wall climbing, and puzzle sections. A lot of the combos for the Blades of Exile are carried over from the first game. If you can’t perform the armor breaking combo by now, then may the gods help you.

God of War is about pushing the PS3 to the next level, so a lack of originality is acceptable. It’s better they worked on further perfecting the gameplay then risked failure for the sake of change.

Addictiveness

The game flies by. I’ve played for hours without realizing what time it was until I decided to take a break. Any time I did anything besides play the game, it felt like merely an interluded. The game had to be beaten. Zeus needed to be put down once and for all.

Basically, the game is crack.

Rarely are action games quite this addicting. It just goes to show you how pacing and a good story are just as good as a solid combat engine. I mean, you’d think that after you’d bested a couple of gods, the game couldn’t possibly pick up the pace, but it does so time and time again. It sucks you in because you always wonder what they could possible do for an encore. It’s become a hallmark of the series to blow gamers away from start to finish. That is still the case this time.

Appeal Factor

Are you kidding me?

Sure there was Heavy Rain and Final Fantasy XIII, but the one PS3 game that people were really waiting for was God of War III. Kratos’ popularity has done nothing but boom over the years and the sheer thrill at the thought of being able to play a next gen God of War games had people chomping at the bit to play this before it was even announced!

True, there are those who never cared much for the series, but they are in the minority. Except for maybe Gran Turismo 5, this will hands down be the biggest game on the PS3 this year.

If you like action games, cinematic games, or you’re just looking for a fun game to kill time with, God of War III has you covered. Fans and non-fans alike will enjoy the game.

Granted, the game is clearly intended for mature audiences. There is a ton of realistic gore, nudity, and mature themes. If your kid is asking you to buy this for them, take a good long minute to think about it first. Then buy it for yourself and steal the PS3 away for a day or two.

Miscellaneous

This game doesn’t need to install and there are almost no load times in the game. Generally speaking, the only load times you’ll encounter are during sections where you suddenly backtrack or when you restart after dying. The game accomplishes by loading sections ahead of time. This can cause the odd moments where the frame rate will drop for a second, but for the most part the game is one seamless experience from start to finish.

Once you’ve beaten the game, you will unlock a ton of behind the scenes videos including a making of documentary and vignettes that cover specific sections of the game making process. These are interesting to watch and much better than the typical unlockables you get in games.

On top of that, you can find treasures in the game that grant special bonuses or hindrances if you chose to equip them. These range from doing more damage per hit to getting more experience and even a slowly draining health bar. It should be noted that if you use these or any of the bonus costumes, that you’ll forfeit the ability to earn trophies.

Also, if you can complete the Challenge of the Gods mode, you’ll unlock a battle arena where you can set up scenarios to your liking so you can train against certain monster types. This is a great tool for learning how to beat the toughest enemies on the highest difficulty.

Overall, the game is a complete package for a single player game.

The Scores:
Story: Very Good
Graphics: Amazing
Audio: Unparallelled
Gameplay: Great
Replayability: Enjoyable
Balance: Great
Originality: Mediocre
Addictiveness: Incredible
Appeal Factor: Great
Miscellaneous: Great
Final Score: Great Game!

Short Attention Span Summary

God of War III is a great game from start to finish that proudly bears the series name while pushing the boundaries of what is capable on the PS3. Is it the best game in the series? I’d say not, but it is by no means an inferior product. If you’ve been looking forward to the game or simply want to check out what all of the talk is about, it won’t disappoint. If you’ve got a PS3, you owe it to yourself to pick up this game and experience one of the most finely crafted games in recent memory.


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I’m sure there are at least a couple of you that read my last column. Those few of you may recall that I teased this week’s game as being some sort of RPG. So, upon seeing the title for the column or any of the pics, you’re probably wondering if you missed an edition or something. Worry not. The game I teased will be covered. There were just too many reasons that I had to delay it a couple of weeks. Firstly, I realized a couple of days ago that we are a single digit number of days away from Wrestlemania XXVI. I thought I’d write about something to acknowledge that fact. Most of the other reasons deal with me being too busy playing through UFC 2009 Undisputed, Bioshock, and most recently, God of War III. I had already completely beaten LoW. Therefore, it wasn’t very hard to commit myself to writing a column about it.

Anyways, if you couldn’t tell, I’m a pretty huge wrestling fan. My first paycheck was spent on a replica replica winged eagle championship belt. It was three hundred dollars and I have no regrets. I grew up with posters of Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior on my wall. The first game we bought for our NES was Wrestlemania. I remember when the Undertaker debuted and when Brother Love used to terrorize guests with his ridiculously red face.

That’s why when Legends of Wrestlemania was announced, I was ecstatic. It had a roster full of old favorites like Big Bossman, Jim Duggan, and Mr. Perfect. It had the ability to relive classic matches through an interactive mode. Most importantly, it was on next gen consoles, which meant that I could change all of the entrance music so that it was correct. Bossman comes out to “Hard Times,” not “Security,” damn it!

The Legends of Wrestling games left bitter tastes in my mouth. RVD as a legend? Really? That junkie/spot monkey couldn’t lace up the boots of a real legend. I’m kind of getting off topic, aren’t I? So, would this game suffer the same fate, even though it was made by Yukes?

Let’s catch up!

What’s The Game?

The game is Legends of Wrestling. I’m covering the PS3 version.

Who Made It?

The game was developed by Yukes and published by THQ. This is pretty much the case of every WWE game for the past decade.

When Did It Come Out?

It was released on March 24th, 2009. It was just in time for the twenty fifth anniversary of Wrestlemania.

Where’s The Review?

Legends of Wrestlemania

Why Didn’t You Play It in 2009?

That should be fairly obvious to anyone who’s used to reading my stuff. I didn’t have a PS3 until this past February. Legends of Wrestlemania was actually one of the first games I picked up. I believe that was only because I wanted a wrestling game and it was a mere twenty bucks new. That fit in nicely with how much (or little) money I had at the time.

Of course, I had meant to have a PS3 in 2009, but the loss of my job and my complete inability to save money killed that pretty quickly.

You know, I bitch about that a lot. A friend pointed that out to me. I promise to try and tone that down from now on. I’m pretty sure you’ve all got the picture by now.

So, What Did You Think?

The gameplay isn’t like anything I expected or wanted for all that matter. I think Alex praised it in his review as a return to arcade style gameplay akin to Wrestlefest. I say it is an easily broken system that isn’t all that much better than something like WCW Thunder.

Want to know what I mean? This is how you can win almost every fight. You wait for the opponent to attack. You reverse it. Then you initiate a chain grapple. This tasks you to press a button when the prompt appears. In all but the highest difficulty, you shouldn’t ever lose to the computer. Repeat this process a couple of times and your momentum meter should be filled. After that, just reverse and perform a few strong grapples. Then perform a finisher. Your opponent will be down for the count and the match will be over in less than two minutes.

On Legend difficulty, the computer will win some of the quick time events, but you can still pretty much get by using this tactic. The only times you will have problems is when there are at least two opponents as opposed to one. Then, you have to deal with the computer breaking up every pin. It is nearly impossible to get someone down and then deal with another wrestler before pinning the first before one or both of them get up. I’d suggest merely using a wrestler with a submission finisher. If you time that right, they will always submit, as these moves cannot be broken up.

Another problem I have is with the roster. There are a lot of great guys in the game, but there isn’t nearly enough. The game has thirty-eight wrestlers and a mere four Managers. Off the top of my head, I’ll list a group that not only would significantly expand the roster, but help make it less dependent on the first few Wrestlemanias.

Randy Savage
Ricky Steamboat
Tito Santana
Rick Martel
Ax
Smash
Owen Hart
Kane
Razor Ramon
Earthquake
IRS
Marty Janetty
Jim Cornette
“The Doctor of Style” Slick

This would bring the roster up to fifty and the managers up to six. It stays within the game’s limits of the first fifteen Wrestlemania’s and opens up a ton of matches for the Relive, Rewrite, and Redefine mode. The one guy that was left out that bother me the most was Tito. Here’s a man that was at the first nine events, is in the hall of fame, and he doesn’t make the list? How does that happen? I know why Savage didn’t make the game, but Tito should have been a surefire inclusion.

Speaking of the Relive, Rewrite, and Redefine, I can’t help but be disappointed by them. The Relive Mode is awesome. You need to recreate key moments from matches using event specific grapples and mini-games. I only wish there were more of these. The other two modes are a wash. The objectives are boring and merely waste your time. There’s nothing to make them stand out from each other. Sadly, these two modes are where you’ll find everyone that isn’t Hogan, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, or Stone Cold. You’d think the idea of Andre the Giant and Big John Studd in a Hell in the Cell match would be nifty. You’d be wrong.

The best thing about these modes are the recaps that play before each match. It does remind you, though, about how many old matches ended in DQ or double count out. That way, the good guy could win, but the bad guy kept the title. That isn’t the kind of ending you’d want at the biggest PPV event of the year.

Perhaps the biggest downer of the game is the surprisingly small number of match types available. I’m used to the Smackdown games where you have dozens of match types. Here, there are only about eleven and a small number have variants. There’s no hardcore match, tables match, TLC, elimination chamber, inferno, or even a three on one match. There isn’t any women in the game either. That just makes me sad. Where’s Wendi Richter, The Fabulous Moolah, and Sensational Sherri? They were as much a part of Wrestlemania as most of the roster.

The graphics are another sore topic for me. I think the Gamespot reviewer put it best when he said that it looked like the wrestlers were smuggling meats under their skin. There’s very little definition and a lot of the roster is unrealistically proportioned. Hogan is much bigger than he ever was. Oddly enough, Andre is actually smaller than he should be. The crowd has blur effect over them that doesn’t do nearly enough to hide the ugly models. It hurts when the camera pans over to one of them during an entrance.

I’m not exactly a big fan of the game if you haven’t noticed. It isn’t all bad. It can definitely give you that grand sense of nostalgia when you hear Howard Finkel calling out names or whenever Hogan drops the leg. Then you realize that JR and the King are giving the commentary when your brain is telling you that it should be Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan. Then you also realize that that the commentary is often flat out wrong or that the Fink will state the rules of the match multiple times. The missteps just pile up and make the game a less fulfilling experience than it should have been.

On the plus side, you can import the entire male roster from Smackdown Vs Raw 2009 into the game and all of the trophies are easy to get. Actually, this game is a trophy hunter’s dream. Of the twenty or so trophies, only two are bronze and all of them can be acquired with little skill. Hell, you get two trophies for doing the same thing. It’s a small consolation.

I could go on and on. I guess I liked the game enough, but it is really one of the worst wrestling games to come out in years. If it wasn’t for TNA Impact, it would be the worst.

What Score Would You Have Given It?

I’m thinking the score would either end up being Below Average or Mediocre. It would be a lot lower if nostalgia wasn’t tugging at my heart strings every time I turned on the game. It could have been something truly special with some tweaks. As it is, it is still better than Legends of Wrestling.

But really, is being better than Acclaim really all that much to be proud of? That’s kind of like taking pride in being able to tie your shoes.

Would It Have Made Your Top Ten List?

Ha Ha!

No.

How Much Does It Go For, In Case I Want It?

I mentioned it earlier, but it bears repeating I suppose. You can find the game new most places for a mere twenty dollars. That isn’t much to ask, since old time wrestling fans will get a kick out of it. If you go the used route, it probably won’t cost much more than fifteen bucks unless Gamestop is feeling particularly evil that day.

Unless you’re really jonesing to play as some of the guys on the roster, I wouldn’t really bother with it.

Final Thoughts?

I can think of so many great things they could have done with this game.

They could have made it so each character had multiple attires from throughout their career. Depending on which era you chose, that wrestler would have different stats. Hunter Hearst Helmsly wouldn’t be anything special, but when he upgraded to Triple H, he would suddenly become the cerebral assassin we all know and love. Hogan would become slower and more weapon friendly in his NWO gear. You get the idea.

By adding just a few more wrestlers, they could have added a ton of matches to the Relive modes. Think how great it would be to suddenly have the Owen/Bret match become a submission match or have Shawn best Razor in the ladder match? And those are both just from Wrestlemania X! Heck, if they had just went up to Wrestlemania XX instead of XV, it would have been so much better.

Overall, I’m glad I have this game, and not just for the easy trophies. There aren’t too many games out there that give me classic Bossman and Koko B. Ware to play around with. For someone who grew up on the WWF and learned to love the WWE, this game was worth it, even if it wasn’t that good.

Next Time: I swear I’ll get to that PSP game I hinted at last time. It will be Adventures to Go! I promise you!
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When this game arrived, I didn’t hesitate to call it. I have no idea why. It was a licensed game for a movie that I had no interest in whatsoever. What can I say? Johnny Depp has always annoyed me outside of Pirates of the Caribbean and Edward Scissorhands. I guess I just wanted a quickie game to review so that I’d have something to distract me until God of War III hits shelves on the sixteenth.

Anyways, I wasn’t expecting much when I looked at the cover. I was expecting another game like Garfield’s Fun Fest or Aliens in the Attic. It would take me a couple of hours to beat and I’d end up giving it a low score.

Imagine my surprise when I started the game and started enjoying myself.

Story

Alice in Wonderland follows the basic plot of the movie, though minus some of the setup. You don’t have to worry about Alice’s melodrama one bit. The story starts off with McTwisp the white rabbit bringing Alice down into Underland. It was foretold by the wise caterpillar Absolem that Alice’s return was the only thing that could save the land from the Red Queen’s evil rule. Alice sets out to find the mystical armor and Vorpal Sword so that she can defeat the Jabberwocky and end the oppression. The Jabberwocky is of course the Red Queen’s monstrous minion that serves as her method of maintaining rule.

It would all be silly if not for the clever writing and quirky characters. From the Mad Hatter to Chessur the cat, each character is bursting with personality. Even Alice manages to be interesting after the initial few minutes. The story is told completely through dialogue at key moments. It even breaks the fourth wall at some points. You don’t have to worry about compressed clips from the movie or a truncated version of that plot. The game does its own thing and it does it well. It actually made me interested to see the movie, whereas before I couldn’t care less.

Graphics

The art style in this game is certainly unique. Everything looks like an ink drawing that wasn’t colored in all of the way. Rather that use white as a color itself, things like skin and backgrounds just have an absence of color. It isn’t the Wonderland we’re all used to, but it looks great and when color does show up, it makes those instances pop out that much more.

There’s also an incredible attention to detail here. Bits of armor fly off of the red knights as you damage them until they’re nothing but naked cards. A swirling tornado is full of bits of debris that can damage you. Facial expressions are clear an vivid. When you walk slowly, Alice gleefully skips behind you. The Mad Hatter holds onto his hat with one hand as he runs.

None of that is as impressive as the animations, which are perhaps the best I’ve seen on any DS game. I’m not kidding. The cat moves so lithely that I could have sworn I was looking at the real thing. Each of the four playable characters has a robust set of animations when it comes to moving, attacking, and even just interacting with Alice. The cat lowers his tail to help her up, whereas McTwisp will bend over to lend a hand. These guys move so convincingly you’ll mistake the game for a Prince of Persia game at points. Seriously.

It doesn’t push the boundaries of the DS, but the unique art style and fantastic attention to the little details make this a pretty game to look at and head and shoulders above other licensed games on the DS.

Audio

Sadly, the audio can’t quite compare the to visual package the game offers.

The main reason is that the music is simply the score from the movie. Tunes that make decent background tunes during a movie don’t quite have the same effect for a video game. Most of the time, the music is took dark and brooding. When you’re gay-fully skipping along and the music reminds you of something that would be playing during and episode of CSI, it just doesn’t feel right.

On the other hand, the original sounds are quite good. When Alice needs your help getting up a steep jump, she’ll call out “hey-o!” The sound was so clear here that my family thought I was calling my brother Adam. At another point, her shrill cries were freaking out the family dog. These kinds of effects are usually annoying, but ever in sections where they were going off every few seconds, I enjoyed them.

There’s no voice acting in the game, so the music and effects are what you’re left with. The music might not be up to the task of getting you into the world, the the rest of the package works great. I have a feeling that if some original music was made for the game, it would have been something special.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Alice in Wonderland is about two things, navigation and combat. You control one of four playable characters with the stylus. Holding the stylus in a direction will move the character while swiping it down will cause that same character to attack. For the most part, the controls work great. The only problem I had was the dodge roll that you need to use frequently. You need to slide the stylus and then hold in below the character and then swipe upwards in a diagonal direction. It takes a while to get use to the way the game wants you to flick the stylus, and even then you’ll still fail to perform the move about twenty to thirty percent of the time.

You control either the Mad Hatter, McTwisp, Absolem, or Chessur. You can switch between them on the fly, but no matter who you chose, you’ll have Alice tagging along behind you. She can’t take damage, but if you get too far away from her, she’ll start getting sucked into a vortex. If she gets pulled through, it’s game over. You’ll also have scripted battles against the red knights. In these sections, you’ll be stuck in an enclosed area. They’ll attack you and try to get at Alice. If they grab her, then they’ll place her in a vortex. If you try to rescue her, they’ll attack you, meaning you’ve got to rush to clear them out before you lose. You have a health bar, but all that happens when you run out is you can’t move for awhile. The only way to lose is for Alice to go through a portal.

Each of the four characters has three unique abilities. Two are used for navigating the environment and the other is for battle. The rabbit can effect time in different ways, Absolem can reverse gravity in certain sections, the cat can make some objects disappear or reappear at will, and Hatter can turn a world around to allow you to reach otherwise unreachable areas. They’ve also got movement abilities that allow them to reach places the other can’t.

Your main goal at the start is to find pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that create a map. Once you’ve opened up a place on the map, the door to that section activates, allowing you to enter. However, some pieces can and must be rearranged so that you can skip sections and get to places more quickly. The map, in this way, is malleable and it makes exploration much easier than it would otherwise be. It also helps tone down the backtracking, though there is plenty. Of course, at the end of the game you get an ability that allows you to teleport anywhere, but it comes so late that that all it is good for is finding the last few treasure chests you missed.

Getting through the environment is often simply a case of knowing what abilities to use and in what order. In one case, you need to make a windmill reappear with the cat, then use the rabbit’s rewind ability to repair the windmill. Then, you need to blow into the mic to make the windmill spin to knock over a tree that you used the rabbit’s fast forward ability to make grow. It might sound complicated, but you’ll always know if the character you’re using is the right person for the job because they’ll have a red exclamation point above their head if they can use their power.

That’s pretty much the game. You explore each location to find treasures and puzzle pieces. You fight off waves of red knights, and you make sure Alice safely jogging behind you. The controls work great for the most part, the powers are fun and easy to use, and the combat can get pretty hectic when you need to dodge roll behind opponent’s and swipe at them during short windows. I was shocked at how much fun I was having with the game, even if it wasn’t as challenging as I would have hoped.

Replayability

The game will last you about five or six hours your first time through. After that, your only real option is to explore around to find the last few remaining treasure chests. These really only unlock still images for you to view outside of the game, but the game does keep track of what you have found for each area, so completionists will be tempted to find everything.

Beyond, that, there really aren’t any other modes to fiddle around with, nor are there multiple difficulties. There is an extra feature you can use, but it has very little to do with the game and I’ll go more into detail about that down in the Miscellaneous section.

It isn’t as short as some licensed games I’ve played, but it doesn’t really offer you anything to do once the game has been beaten.

Balance

The game is clearly designed for a younger audience. Life and energy are abundant everywhere you turn, you don’t die if you run out of life, save points are everywhere, and the timer for Alice being sucked into a vortex is extremely plentiful. I only got a game over once, and that was because I got careless and got too far away from her.

More to the point, the puzzles, though nifty and often times clever, aren’t something that is going to challenge anyone over ten years old. Even then, there are only a handful of these puzzles that require more than simply using someone’s power.

In the end though, the game isn’t so easy that you get bored. I like that there are still some kid’s games out there that don’t treat children like morons.

Originality

This game actually combines a lot of nifty ideas from good games. Being able to switch characters on the fly to get through specific areas reminds me a lot of Teenage Zombies, which was one of my best early DS finds. Keeping Alice safe is like a more hands off version of Ico. You don’t have to drag her around, but you do have to help her out at points. The malleable landscape is akin to things we’ve seen in games like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. There’s a lot of good stuff here.

Even still, the game never feels like it is ripping something off. Thanks to the unique setting and fun puzzles, the game manages to carve its own niche in the gaming world. Considering all of the derivative movie games I’ve reviewed, this was a breath of fresh air.

Addictiveness

I played through this game in about four or five extended sittings. One of those breaks was because my DS was running out of power, so that should tell you something. I often bring my DS with me to my family’s house when I visit, especially when I have a game to review. Rarely do I spend enough time playing a game to drain my battery. (Though, to be fair, my battery life isn’t what is used to be.)

There’s something about the game that makes you want to keep going. It isn’t as strong as something like Bejeweled, but you’ll find it won’t take you long to finish the game.

Appeal Factor

The biggest thing going against this game is that the price of thirty dollars isn’t quite worth the five or six hours the game will last you, especially given the limited replay value. Take even five dollars off the price and the game is easily more recommendable.

Another tough selling point is that the game is clearly designed for a younger audience. This makes it great for kids, but older DS owners will have to decide if the art style and quirky personality are worth it.

While I’m glad I played this game, I’m not going to tell anyone they should buy it unless they’re really into Alice in Wonderland or something. Though it would be a great game to give to a kid.

Miscellaneous

One of the first things I noticed about the game was a new feature that Disney appears to be adding to all of their new DS games from not. It’s called D-Gamer. D-Gamer is a social networking application that allows owners of these games to chat with each other, as well as create avatars. The game also has an achievement system that unlocks new outfits for this avatar, as well as earns the player honors that can be viewed. I’m not sure how this system will work if you have multiple games, and I didn’t get to hook it up online to see what kinds of parental controls were in place. It appears that it works with a friend system, meaning you have to know the person you’re chatting with. It is an interesting addition that should interest a couple of people, but only if they’re not old enough to use a cell phone.

Beyond that, the only extras that come with the game are those unlockable images. It gives you something to search for while you’re playing, but you won’t be hard up to find them unless you need to have everything to get a sense of closure with the game.

Still, the overall game is fresh and enjoyable.

The Scores
Story: Above Average
Graphics: Great
Audio: Decent
Gameplay: Good
Replayability: Poor
Balance: Mediocre
Originality: Above Average
Addictiveness: Enjoyable
Appeal Factor: Mediocre
Miscellaneous: Enjoyable
Final Score: Above Average Game!

Shot Attention Span Summary

Alice in Wonderland for the DS won’t dazzle you with it’s gameplay, but it still manages to be quite good thanks to a brilliant sense of style and enough cleverness to keep you interested. The lack of replayability and relative ease of the game might make it a tough sell to anyone but a younger audience, but if you get the chance to play the game, you shouldn’t let it slip. It is definitely above the bar for licensed games.

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I usually start these columns off with a little paragraph of two that relates in some way to the reason I decided to play the game. I won’t do that this time.

Instead, I’d like to apologize for not getting a column up in the past two weeks. My computer at home suffered a massive breakdown and I’m still working on a permanent solution. The plan was to get a PS3 and install an OS on the thing so I could use that. I’ve had the PS3 for over a week at this point and I haven’t got quite around to that. I’ve been too busy playing games for it.

Even still, I’m committed to this column. I will however, switch it from a weekly column to a bi-weekly column. This isn’t just so I can play my PS3. I have reviews to write too, you know. I know I’m going to busy throughout March and I just won’t have the time I did in the earlier parts of the year.

I also might start adding PS3 games to the list of games eligible for one of these columns. I’m still working on that idea. I do have a good number of games I picked up for the DS and PSP specifically so I could write a column on them, so I really need to get to those.

Anyways, this week’s game is Big Bang Mini.

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Let’s Catch Up!

What’s the Game?

This weeks game is Big Bang Mini, a shoot-’em-up for the Nintendo DS.

Who Made It?

The developer for this game is Arkedo Studios, who previously made Nervous Brickdown for the DS. Journeymen publishers SouthPeak Studios released the game in the States.

When Did It Come Out?

Big Bang Mini was released on January 21st, 2009.

Where’s the Review?

Aileen Coe wrote up a review for us back in early February.

Why Didn’t I Play it in 2009?

To be honest with you, there isn’t a good reason for me not playing the game in 2009. I had heard it was good, I was interested in it, and I passed it in stores constantly throughout the year. It was even on the discount shelf in Wal-Mart for a good while. For some reason, I just never grabbed it, even as I was grabbing other games I had less interest in or couldn’t afford.

The funny thing is that I always intended to buy it. In fact, it was one of the top games on my list of games to buy for this column. So, when I found it brand new for cheap, I finally picked it up.

So What Did I Think?

This was certainly an interesting game.

Big Bang Mini is a unique vertical shooter that places your ship on the touch screen while the enemies are on the top. That isn’t so unique, but the real kicker comes in how the game controls. You fire off shots by striking the stylus in the direction you want to fire. This is, as the game points out numerous times, representative of striking a match to light fireworks. To move your ship, you need to tap it with the stylus and then drag it to wherever you need it to go.

That’s right. The ship’s movement controls are independent from the firing controls. You can’t fire and move at the same time! This might sound like hell to experienced players. However, it forces you to play the game differently. It also allows you to take advantage of the touch screen. Before I get more into that, I should mention a couple of other things to help you put the picture together.

First of all, when you miss, your shots will hit the top or the side of the screen. This causes them to explode. The debris from these explosions can kill you. Basically, firing off a ton of random shots can kill you even faster than the enemies’ own fire.

Secondly, defeated enemies drop stars. You need to collect these stars in order to fill up a meter. When the meter is full, you’ve beaten the level. You can blast away enemies until the cows come home, but if you don’t collect stars, it will all be for naught. This allows the game to use another feature. Enemies comes in waves. When you’ve defeated all of the enemies in a wave, the wave restarts and all of the enemies go away. The only way to move on to the next wave is to collect enough stars. You can get the number of stars you need without having to repeat a wave, but failing to do so may hurt you. For example, there were some waves that nearly killed me every time I got to them. Beating them usually required me to miss a few stars I otherwise would have gone for. Had I not gotten enough stars, then the wave would have reset and I’d be stuck with the full force of enemies again. That just wouldn’t be good.

As you can see, there is a lot going on in any battle. You need to move your ship our of harm’s way, fire off accurate shots, and collect stars. Failing to do so is a death sentence. However, it ends up being a ton of fun thanks to the incredibly well thought out worlds.

Each world has a theme. You’ve got a winter themed world where icicles can come at you from any direction (even below you!), a savannah themed world where some enemies emit devastating heat rays as a last ditch effort to kill you, a superhero themed world where you can steal foe’s powers to use against them, another world where you can slow down time, etc. There are nine worlds in total. Each has nine levels plus a boss encounter. This means you get a good sense of progression and no two worlds ever feel alike.

Also, at the end of each level is a bonus challenge you need to complete. These involve connecting the dots with various rules. It might sound silly, but some of these bonus levels are quite challenging and can even get your heart rate up.

I mentioned how the game utilized the stylus. I’ve already covered how you drag your ship along and fire by making a gesture not unlike that of striking a match, but all of your powers require stylus input as well. The best example is for the swirling vortex you can create to absorb enemy fire. You need to draw a spiral on the screen. This can save your life, but you’ve got to use it carefully, as it will need to recharge. Also, if you’re too slow in performing the action, you can get killed by a stray bullet. The same thing applies to a power you get for the underwater themed world. You can encircle bullets to remove them, saving you from disaster, but only if you can do it fast enough.

The only real downer about all of these cool moves is that only a couple are permanent additions. Most of your powers can only be used on the world you got them from. I can’t tell you how many times I played a level and thought, “If only I still had the mirror shield”. Still, it does help each world to feel unique from the ones before and after it.

Big Bang Mini also scores some serious points in its mode selection. The standard Arcade Mode pits you against the nine themed worlds and ends with an awesome boss fight that truly exemplifies the game’s style. After that, you unlock Mission Mode. Mission Mode tasks you with completing levels with various handicaps. You might have to beat a level with a limited number of shots, a time limit, or even without hitting clouds. Those clouds are everywhere. For those looking for a tough challenge, Mission Mode will surely deliver. There is even a mode where you can aim for a high score that can be posted to online leaderboards. To top it all off, you have single cart multiplayer, which is simply a great touch.

On the presentation side of things, the game is still a hit. The vibrant colors and trance like songs will appeal to pretty much anyone. I often found myself humming the various tunes as I played. The art design is also something to be praised. You’d think having a giant turtle throwing croissant boomerangs at you would feel weird, but it just ends up being awesome. I can’t state enough how unique this game feels.

What Score Would I Have Given It?

I’d pretty much have to agree with Aileen, though I feel I’ll have to go a little bit lower. The control scheme might be different and paramount to the game’s experience, but that doesn’t stop it from being a bit awkward. Still, I’d have to give the game a score of Good at the very least. It wasn’t the best DS game I played in 2009, but it is up there.

Would It Have Made My Top Ten List?

I would have to say “not quite.” If my list were to be a top fifteen, the game would get in no problem, but games like Resistance Retribution and Bowser’s Inside Story raised the bar.

How Much Does It Go For, in Case You want it?

Good news on this front: I found my copy brand new, shiny box intact, for a mere ten dollars. You can also pretty much find it anywhere. For such a small price, the game is incredibly worth it.

Final Thoughts?

Big Bang Mini falls into the category of “hidden gems” on the DS. You’re not likely to have heard of it because of the small publisher and the lack of marketing. Despite that, the game is one that pretty much every DS owner should try if not own. I’m proud to have it in my collection.

The only thing that would have made it better would be if Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture was playing in the background.

Next Time: I deal with a main character so lazy that he won’t even leave his home town to embark on his adventures!
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At this point, I’m clearly no stranger to detective games on the DS. It all started when I played Hotel Dusk. After the awesomeness that was that game, I was ready and willing to play any any other detective game just on the off chance it was that good.

I’ve played a good number of bad games that way.

From Unsolved Crimes to CSI, I’ve gotten nothing but stinkers when it has come time to review one.

When Crime Scene arrived on our doorstep, I was certain that my bad luck would run out. The law of averages demanded it.

Am I really so unlucky as to get yet another bad game for the DS?

Story

You play as Matt Simmons, a rookie forensic detective hired right out of school. Still, he looks like he’s in thirties. Whatever. Anyway, he’s assigned a case involving a murdered detective right off the bat and things don’t get any easier from there. By the end of the fifth case, you’ll have dealt with so much corruption in the government that you’ll wonder if there is such a thing as an honest cop.

Things aren’t exactly Shakespeare worthy in this game, but thankfully, there is enough character to keep you from getting too bored. Matt does a lot of thinking on the job, and for once in these games, he’s incredibly talkative. His partner has a personality as well. Sure, he just makes bad puns and tries to avoid work at all costs, but it is above the norm for these games from what I’ve played.

The real problem is that the game has an overall plot in mind for the entire game. As such, you don’t learn anyone’s motivations until so late in the game that you’re as like to have forgotten half of what you learned. There is some effort to mitigate this by having recurring characters, but it doesn’t solve the problem.

Still, the five cases in the game cover enough content that you’ll at least be interested.

Graphics

I know I like to mention Unsolved Crimes and CSI a lot, but the funny thing is that when I turned on the game, the first thing I thought when I saw the graphics was that it looked like a cross between the two. It has a realistic look done in a cartoonish style. At least that is true for the character portraits. It works for most of them, but a couple look really silly. The worst of the bunch is Alexandra, who happens to be your boss and the person you will speak with the most. There is also only one model for each character, so the doctors you speak to always have a stethoscope and a lab coat, even after you’ve put them in jail.

The crime scenes are a bit different. The environments themselves look OK, but the bodies you examine are some of the worst looking representations of the human form I’ve ever seen. However, the blandest looking thing in the game has to be the background when you’re looking at things under the microscope. It is this off white mess that never fails to bore.

Overall, the graphical style is acceptable, though it does nothing to push the DS at any point.

Audio

The sound is by far the weakest point of the game. There are two musical tracks; one that plays during most of the game and another that plays when you’re performing analysis on evidence. The latter is actually kind of catchy and great background music. The former is just some low tones and odd background noises. It gets annoying instantly. Thankfully, the sound is mixed so quietly that you won’t be able to hear it if there is anything else in the room producing any sound whatsoever. I had it on full blast and less than a foot from my face and couldn’t hear anything because my teenage sister was blabbing on the phone in the next room.

There’s no voice acting, so the rest of the aural experience is covered by effects that accompany whatever actions you take. You get some nifty clicks when you’re taking pictures, performing a blood test, and the like. There aren’t enough for my tastes, but they get the job done.

So, you get one good tune and that’s about all I can really say about the audio.

Gameplay

For the most part, I like what they were trying to do with this game. You start off by visiting a crime scene and inspecting points of interest. Using a variety of tools, you’ll collect evidence which you will later process. You’ll use tweezers to pull a bullet out of wall, a swab to collect a blood sample, dust for fingerprints, etc. When you process this evidence, you’ll run prints through databases to find a match, get a DNA profile, compare ballistic marks on bullets, etc. You’ll at times have to interview witnesses and/or suspects and have to present evidence to get them to talk. You’ll even have to put together a file in order to get a search or arrest warrant. Finally, you’ll have to give a statement, which results in you answering questions about the case you just solved. You know, just to make sure you paid attention.

It isn’t a bad setup really. It combines a lot of ideas that I’ve seen in various other adventure games. Honestly, the only complaint I have about the setup is the parts where they ask you questions when you’re not just giving a statement. You’d think the superintendent wouldn’t be surprised that your prime suspect was a cop when you’ve been talking about it together for the past day. You’d be wrong.

Anyway, where the game goes wrong is in the controls. Everything is done with the stylus, but it isn’t done well. For instance, after you’ve found a print through dusting, you’ll need to lift it with a piece of tape. The game wants this tape to be placed in a very specific way, yet it does nothing to clue you in on what that way is. I’ve sat there for minutes on end simply trying to place a piece of tape. Then, you need to press down on the tape to make sure it picks up the evidence. You can rub some parts all you want but in won’t make a difference. You’re better off waving the stylus around like a moron. Finally, once you have that tape on nice and good, you’ll need to pull it off. This is simply supposed to be a downwards slashing motion, but half of the time it doesn’t work. Similar accuracy issues arise when you use the scalpel, tweezers, and swab. It can get frustrating.

At the side of the screen is your credibility bar. If you mess up a procedure or ask for help, you lose credibility. If that meter drains completely, you lose and have to restart from your last save. The bar can be refilled by doing things correctly the first time. Each of the game’s five chapters is broken into four sections. At the end of each section, you’re given up to one hundred fifty points depending on how full this meter was. The game keeps track of your high score.

Having a life meter is nothing new for these kinds of games, but thanks to the often frustrating controls, the meter will drain rapidly as you struggle in vain to perform what should be a simple action. Every time I failed, it was because of these silly control issues.

Another problem arises in that it isn’t always clear what you can and can’t collect. There are times when you’ll happen on an area littered with debris. It turns out that you need to tape up one small section of this, but none of the rest. Sadly, if there is something you can tape onscreen, such as a fingerprint, the game kind of goes nuts. Normally, if you try to use tape in an area where it isn’t needed, you get an exclamation point that lets you know you don’t need it. However, if you’ve dusted a print and collected it already, the tape will still function. However, it will think you’re trying to collect the tape again. I know this isn’t making the most sense, so let me just give you an example. In one of those sections filled with debris, I found a print. I dusted it. I collected it with tape. Then I thought that I should be able to pick up some powder with the tape. It turns out I was wrong, but there was no way to tell. The game let me use the tape and it kept on telling me I was either too short or too big. This was because even though I was using the tape on the powder on the other side of the screen, it was reading as if I was picking up the print again. This cost me mountains of credibility and frustrated me to no end.

Overall, the gameplay wouldn’t have been so bad if not for the bad implementation of stylus control. A few of the mini-games were fun, but most either just weren’t interesting and suffered major control flaws. They also got old as you repeated them over and over again over the entire game. Still, the game doesn’t come close to unseating Unsolved Crimes as the worst adventure game I’ve ever played.

Replayability

The game has five cases that run various lengths. The shortest will last you probably about an hour and a half while the longest is closer to three hours. Overall, the game ended up being well over ten hours in length which surprised me. However, you can probably bump an hour off due to having to try the same mini-games over and over because of the controls.

The game does save your high score, so there would theoretically be some incentive to beat the missions again, but this isn’t the case. The story will be the same every time and the control issues will make it hard to max out your score. It just isn’t worth it.

Still, the game lasts significantly longer than other detective games out there. At least the one play through you get will last you a while.

Balance

As far as balance goes, there isn’t anything to judge apart from the points where the game asks you questions. Sadly, the game manages to mess this up to. While a lot of the questions are easily answered, there are some that require either odd leaps of logic or are so vague that you end up in the habit of presenting everything until something sticks. It’s a typical adventure game failing.

There is a minor spike in the difficulty curve I guess. A few of the motions you need to make to collect evidence become harder, but the difficulty really lies in finding everything and wrestling with the controls.

Originality

If you’re looking for something new, don’t look here. The game uses the same techniques that detective games on the DS have been using for years. Collect the evidence with the stylus. Examine it in the lab. Answer a bunch of questions about the case you’re working.

Oh yeah. If I play one more adventure game where I’m the hot shot rookie on the force, I think I’ll puke.

Addictiveness

The problems I’ve outlined in previous sections would normally point to an exceptionally low score. However, for some reason I was playing this game for hours at a time. I don’t know what it was really. I wasn’t into the story because it was merely mediocre. The control problems were frustrating me greatly. I had a bunch of better games I could have been playing. Still, I pushed on.

I think that’s the thing about these games. They just make you want to push on in spite of all reason.

Appeal Factor

One has to wonder what on earth these guys where thinking when the scheduled the release date on the same day as Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney. Fans of adventure games are significantly more likely to pick that game up over this.

Also, the price point of thirty dollars is hard to swallow. Chances are, you’re only going to play this game once and never again. A lot of adventure games thus price their games at a more palatable twenty dollars. I know for a fact that I wouldn’t have played this had we not been sent our copy.

Still, for fans of detective games, this game does incorporate a lot of what’s been used in other recent games, so it should be a familiar setup. You’d just probably be better off waiting a few months until you can find it cheaper.

Miscellaneous

There is one thing I just wouldn’t feel right about if I didn’t mention. After you complete a section, the game says that it is saving. Rightfully, I assumed that this meant that my progress was being saved. Instead, it was just saving my score. Imagine my surprise then, when I turned off the game and came back to discover I had lost about an hour’s worth of work. That is just bad game design right there. Whatever you do, make sure you save the game yourself.

Unsurprisingly, there aren’t any extras with the game. I don’t really expect any different, but it just reinforces that the game is good for one play through and nothing else.

The Scores

Story: Mediocre
Graphics: Poor
Audio: Very Poor
Gameplay: Poor
Replayability: Very Poor
Balance: Below Average
Originality: Poor
Addictiveness: Above Average
Appeal Factor: Below Average
Miscellaneous: Very Poor
Final Score: Poor Game!

Short Attention Span Summary

Overall, I’d say that Crime Scene fits in nicely between CSI and Unsolved Crimes. It doesn’t avoid the fate of those games and ends up being a rather poor experience overall. Still, it isn’t unplayable and fans of procedurals just might find enough fun to justify the purchase. If you need a good adventure game, look towards Miles Edgeworth. If you’ve played that and you still need something to satisfy your fix, then perhaps give this a try.
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There were two reasons I was really excited to get my hands on Overlord Minions for the DS.

The first was that the Overlord series is one that I find interesting. I don’t know if it is the charm of the minions or the sheer thrill of getting to play the bad guy for once, but the series has a special place in my heart. The second is that a DS release seemed like a great idea. Touch screen controls involving the minions could seemingly only lead to good things for player.

However, that alone wasn’t enough to get me to play Overlord Minions before the many other games on my list.

The biggest reason is that I am a huge fan of the stylus based gameplay that it promised. I’m a sucker for an overhead map, movement with the stylus, and as little button input as possible. Why, might you ask? Take a look at the best examples of this kind of game. First up, you’ve got the two Zelda games, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. Both are awesome games, with the latter easily making my top ten games of 2009. Another example, and one you’re not as likely to have heard about, is Dragon Ball Origins. Now sadly, we don’t have a review for that one, but I have played it. As far as I’m concerned, it is the best use of the Dragon Ball license you can possibly find. The gameplay is fun, the story is remarkably faithful to the manga, and it was a great title between Zelda games. Basically, as far as games I’ve played go, this style of gameplay has been nothing but hits.

Basically, what was going through my mind when I booted up the game was that I was in for a great experience in the Overlord universe. I couldn’t wait.

Was my anticipation rewarded, or did this game turn out to be just another bad handheld hack job of a good license.

Let’s Catch Up!

What’s The Game?

This week the game is Overlord Minions, a action adventure game for the Nintendo DS.

Who Made It?

Climax Studios, who also made the ATV Offroad series and the Silent Hill games for the PSP, helmed this game. The publisher would be Codemasters, perhaps best known for the Operation Flashpoint and Overlord games.

When Did It Come Out?

Overlord Minions was released on June 23rd, 2009.

Where’s The Review?

Matt Yeager wrote the review back in July.

Why Didn’t I Play it in 2009?

As I mentioned before, I wasn’t completely sold on the game when it came out. Sure it interested me, but I had other games to buy and a limited amount of cash to buy them. Since I hadn’t actually had a chance to play through any of the other games in the franchise, it almost felt like I shouldn’t start with this one. This is the same reason I haven’t played Daxter on the PSP yet. I just haven’t gotten around to finishing the PS2 games in that series.

Anyways, I ended up receiving this game as a gift, towards the end of summer in 2009. It was a nice surprise, but by then, I was so wrapped up in Dissidia that I couldn’t be bothered to play anything else. Subsequently, the game sat on my shelf for several months.

When I decided to start this column, Overlord Minions was one of the first games I thought of. Finally I could find an excuse to play through the game and not feel that I was depriving myself of something that needed my immediate attention. (Games to review and the like.)

That is why I am so glad I started this thing.

So What Did You Think?

There is one phrase that I can use to describe the game that should tell you both what I thought of it and how good (or bad) it ended up being.

It had such potential.

The idea of the game is that a new evil power has started rising in the land. As the evil Overlord, you can’t abide while someone else starts messing with your claim, so it becomes time to send in the most elite force in your entire minion army.

Meet the minions. We have Giblet, Zap, Stench, and Torch. Giblet is the strongman of the group. He hasn’t got any brains to speak of, but he does the most damage and can move heavy objects around with ease. Zap is the support of the group. He is the only guy who can travel through water as well as the healer. Combat-wise, he’s easily the weakest, but he makes up for that by being the only minion who can damage ghosts thanks to his magic punch. Stench is the rogue of the group. He can hit multiple enemies at once, become invisible, pass through toxic fumes, and even emit a combustible gas when he eats certain plants. Torch, in case you haven’t guessed by his name, is the fire guy. This makes him the only long ranged attacker, as well as a great pairing for Stench. He can ignite said combustible gas. He can also withstand intense heats to the point where even lava has no effect on him.

Given that each minion has so many special skills, you can easily surmise that there are some puzzles that require you to switch between the imps in order to solve them. That is basically how the game works right there. You need to get from the start to the finish, and there are plenty of environmental puzzles and enemies in your way. Some of the puzzles are really well thought out. One section has you controlling Giblet, Zap, and Stench through a dungeon. Meanwhile, Torch has been separated and is stuck on a mine cart away from the troops. Using Torch, you can clear pathways by hitting out of the way switches and exploding charges. As the others, you need to move forward while finding switches that move Torch to new locations as well. In another section, all four of the minions are separated, and the goal becomes to perform actions with each minion in order to bring them together. The key you find with Stench is useless to him, but if you throw it down to Giblet, he can then in turn pass it off to Zap to open a door. Torch is in an area where all he can do is ignite black powder that leads to an empty space on the ground. Using one of the other minions, you throw explosive barrels down strategically in order to cause a chain reaction that opens up new paths for Torch. It ends up being rather cool.

Sadly, the combat just can’t compete with the puzzles. Using the stylus, you need only to draw through an enemy in order to have your minions attack it. This basically leads every fight into you slashing the touch screen in the same spot repeatedly until the enemy dies. The only time you need to worry about dodging or timing attacks is during boss fights. Those are only enjoyable thanks to the fact that there is a puzzle element to each of them as well.

What kills the game though, is the controls. I mentioned Zelda and Dragon Ball Origins before. Those games are known well for getting the control scheme down right. This game fails to live up to their example. Moving feels lose. The minions will even float along on the ground for a bit after you’ve lifted the stylus. This can cause you to slide off a floor switch you needed to stay on or put you right into sniper fire. Since you control all four minions at once, things get kind of hectic. In just about every level, I had one or more characters get caught on the background. Not noticing, I led the others away, which disconnected said minion from my group. This meant I had to turn around and get him back. When I got there, he was still running in place on the side of a fence. It just makes the game less fun.

The throwing mechanic, which Matt touched on in his review, is a wash as well. I didn’t have any problems figuring out how to throw. It works pretty much the same it does in other games. However, I did have a problem getting the imp to throw object where I wanted it. This problem was exacerbated during areas where you need to throw a barrel in an exact location. You can tap somewhere, and the minion will just throw in the other direction. It gets extremely frustrating when you spend the better part of five minutes just trying to get a barrel in place.

The game also has several points where you can get stuck. I don’t mean this in the sense where a puzzle is too challenging or a boss is too powerful to overcome. Rather, you can get a minion stuck on the environment in such a way that you can’t move him and you’ll need to restart the entire level over again. In one section, I tried to move a cannon using Giblet. I know for a fact that this was possible. When I tapped on the cannon to have him engage it, he instead climbed up on top of it. In this game, you can’t move up or down without stairs. This meant that I couldn’t get off of the cannon. I tired for a while, and even manage to get two others stuck before I gave up. In another section, There’s a room with a wall that closes in on Torch. You need to hit two targets to reset the wall and unlock a door. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t see the switches the first time, and I died. When I respawned, I immediately went back. I could open the door to get back into this room, but the wall mechanism wouldn’t reset and I was stuck behind it. There was no way to reset the wall, nor get back out of the room. Once again, I had to restart the level. That kind of thing just shouldn’t happen at all in a game, let alone multiple times.

Oh yeah. The game also crashed on several occasions. For this problem, the only thing I could do was reset the DS, often losing twenty minutes of work.

Another problem areas for the game is the presentation. The graphics are OK, but the textures are bland. The world is incredibly dim, making it boring to look at even if the locale is something cool. The minions look great though. The worst part is the audio. The music is decent, but is extremely tinny coming out of the DS speakers. It makes it hard to listen to. Beyond that, you’ll hear the same grunts and yells over and over again. At times, there will be no sound apart from the music, which is just unnerving. I can’t remember the last time I played a game where your footsteps didn’t make a sound. It just feels like the game wasn’t given enough polish.

Speaking of not having enough polish, that is how the whole game feels. It is clear that there are some great ideas in the game, but due to technical issues and a lackluster presentation, these great ideas are lost in a sea of near frustration. I liked the game, but it could have and should have been much better than it was.

What Score Would I Have Given It?

Despite the fact that I just spent the better part of a page decrying how unsound the game is on a technical level, I still think it is a decent game. Therefore, I would probably have given this game a score of, you guessed it, Decent.

Even if only the controls were tighter, that would send the score up as high as Enjoyable and maybe even Good. If the developers get another shot at this, they should really take these criticisms to heart. I believe that this gameplay formula can work great with the Overlord franchise. Someone just needs to give it the attention it needs.

Would it Have Made My Top Ten List?

I can say for certain that it would not. It just wasn’t good enough.

How Much Does it Go For Just in Case You Want it?

The price seems to have dropped rather recently. I saw this game in stores for twenty dollars, but according to some websites, you can find it new now for as low as ten dollars. If you’re a fan of the Overlord series or simply want a decent DS game to kill some time with, this isn’t that bad of a choice, especially for a low price.

Final Thoughts?

Oh what could have been.

I very much wish I could put this game up with Zelda and Dragon Ball Origins, but it just didn’t receive the same attention to detail that those two games did. The premise is solid. The puzzles are interesting. It is just that the controls are shot and the presentation is boring. It ends up lowering the experience so much that anyone is apt to be disappointed by the outcome.

Here’s hoping they get another chance to make this game as good as it could have been.

Next Time: Sparks fly as I take on a unique shooter for the DS!
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Here we are in week four of Catching Up With 2009. It has been nearly a month since I started this column, and trust me, I’ve still got a ways to go before I’ve fully caught up with everything. I even ventured over to a new Gamestop in my area and picked up about six games, several of which will likely end up in future editions. If I’m not careful, I’ll be running this column straight into 2011!

Now last time, I teased that this game would be an Atlus title and that I may not end up liking it. That isn’t to say that I have a general disliking for all Atlus games, but rather that I usually don’t enjoy them as much as I would another game from another publisher. The big exception here is the Trauma Center series, which I absolutely love on the DS. (Although, to be honest, I really suck at them.) I’m guessing this feeling has more to do with the fact that most of the Atlus games I see lying around are JRPGs, which I very rarely get into. I checked the other day, and I’ve beaten very few of the JRPGs I’ve played, even if I liked them. I played something like twenty hours into Final Fantasy VIII and then just stopped. I enjoyed the story, the world was just opening up, and Triple Triad was one of my favorite things ever. I just couldn’t finish the game!

The same kind of thing has happened so many times that I’ve lost count. The best example of this is that I have almost every numbered game in the Final Fantasy series. I’m missing IV and XI. To date, the only ones I have finished are VII and the Final Fantasy remake on the PSP.

Worst of all, I have Chrono Trigger for the DS sitting on my shelf, and I haven’t so much as popped the game in for a go. Even for someone like me, that is practically unforgivable.

Anyways, I still end up buying a surprising number of JRPGs. I think there is a part of my brain that really wants to get into the genre, but doesn’t know quite how to do it. Maybe through a column like this, I can get there someday.

Oh. I probably should have mentioned that the game for this week, Steambot Chronicles, is not a JRPG. I kind of went off on a tangent there. Whoops.

Ahem.

Let’s Catch Up!

What’s the Game?

Steambot Chronicles: Battle Tournament for the Sony PSP. This is the second game in the Steambot Chronicles series to make it to the U.S.

Who Made It?

Series developers Irem return to for the PSP iteration. They are most famous for the R-Type series. Atlus is the publisher. If you don’t know who they are, you’ve probably never played a non-Final Fantasy RPG,

When Did It Come Out?

Battle Tournament was released in the U.S. on June 30th of 2009.

Where’s the review?

Our own D.J. Tatsujin covered this game for us back in August!

Why didn’t you play it in 2009?

To be honest, I had never intended to purchase this game, let alone play it. I had heard a little about the first game on the PS2, but I wasn’t really all that interested. I guess I’m one of those few people who don’t get excited for mech combat.

Now you may be wondering why I would buy a game I had no real interest in. As I explained in my first column, I have a bad habit of buying games simply because they are cheap or something on the cover catches my eye. In this case, Gamestop was carrying the game brand new for only ten dollars. How am I supposed to pass that up?

It also helped that this was subtitled “Battle Tournament.” That just sounds cool to me. Anyways, this is one of those games that sat on my shelf for months. Occasionally, I’d get the urge to try it out, but I was always busy with another game that I had to review, or there was a new episode of Survivor Samoa to watch.

Games like this are exactly the reason I started this column in the first place. I have plenty of games to play. I don’t need to buy more. Normally, this wouldn’t stop me, but seeing as I’ve taken a great interest into this column, it’s helping me overcome my natural tendency to stop playing a game when I get bored. I’m actually finishing these things. If nothing else, it is helping me broaden my gaming horizons, which can only make me a better reviewer.

So What Did I Think?

The first couple hours of this game reminded me a lot of Mega Man Legends. You come to a new town to make your fortune as a trotmobile fighter. Basically, you drive a mech around and use it to complete jobs and win battles in the arena. You have a companion who serves as a friend and mechanic. (Not to mention a love interest, at least if you play as a male character.) The jobs you take part in are basic errands that local business owners need a trotmobile for. You deliver newspapers, chop down wood, and even help fight off a gang of trotmobile drivers. The money and fame you earn here are used to improve your trot as well as enter tournaments. The ultimate goal is to defeat the champion and take the crown for yourself.

It might sound pretty interesting, but what I’ve just described is the entire game in a nutshell. It is a seemingly endless grind for cash. When you’ve delivered a dozen newspapers and chopped down half of the forest for a lumberjack, you’ll get tired of it. There are plenty of enemies in the surrounding areas, but they don’t provide any challenge.

The real thrill of the game comes when you battle against other trots in the arena. There are somewhere around twenty battles over four ranks. What settles for level progression in the game is earning enough fame to unlock the next rank. There’s also a mandatory job you must take for each chapter.

When you’re battling, you have a few options at your disposal. You get two weapons to use, one for each hand. There are a host of weapons to buy and upgrade. They mostly fall into melee or long range weapons. You can lock onto enemies, boost for greater speed, and jump. Depending on what parts you have equipped, your HP, carrying capacity, fuel, and jumping power will change. Again, these can be upgraded in the shop. Battles largely revolve on moving to get a better position as well as finding ways to land your attacks without getting hit in return. As you might imagine, all kinds of combinations are possible and useful in different situations. I generally stuck to a long ranged weapon on my right arm and a melee on my left. Overall the combat is fun, though the action isn’t as deep as proper action games, nor the customization as deep as other mech games on the market.

The problem is that you don’t battle nearly enough. Most of your time is spent traveling in the areas around the city as you try and complete jobs. Moving around in the mech is slow and tiresome. The jobs are monotonous and uninteresting. Worse off, the entire game lasts only a mere six hours. If it can’t hold your attention for that long, it just doesn’t speak well for it.

In terms of the presentation, the game is intriguing. The town and the trotmobiles are rendered with a cell shaded look that is pulled off decently. The characters, however, are two dimensional drawings with simple features and bright colors. The combination is far from ideal. More importantly, the character portraits just don’t look all that good. They seem like something you’d draw for art class in middle school. The audio fares better, but isn’t remarkable. There’s a ton of voice over work that is better than the average game, but can still be annoying at times. The music is mostly unremarkable, but at least there are some nifty tunes when you switch from day to night.

Overall, the game isn’t that bad at all, but it fails to live up to what it could have been. The game is too short, the missions are uninteresting, and the presentation leaves you scratching your head at times. However, battling in your trot is fun. It just tells me that somewhere along the way, the developers lost focus on what made the game good. When you have to slog through hours of boring bits in order to get to the fun parts, something went wrong during conception.

What Score Would I Have Given It?

I’m a bit undecided here. On one had, the game wasn’t very good, but it wasn’t really all that bad either. The final score would probably be either Below Average, Mediocre, or Decent. Mediocre being right smack in the middle of those two I suppose I’ll go with that.

Would It Have Made My Top Ten List?

Definitely not. I’d even go as far as to keep it out of my top thirty, and I’m fairly certain that as we continue on with this column, it will keep getting pushed down. This kind of game just doesn’t click with me I guess.

How Much Does It Go For?

Here’s the good news. If you find yourself wanting to play the game, you can find it brand new for only ten dollars! If you find it used, it will probably only cost you eight! For some, this is a pretty darn good deal, especially if you get really into the game. If it were more expensive, I would have written it off, but for a measly ten bucks, I do feel as if I got my money’s worth.

Final Thoughts?

Steambot Chronicles: Battle Tournament for the PSP is a game I bought without knowing anything about it. Ultimately, my experience with the game proves why that kind of mindset is always a bad idea. Still, I’m glad I played it and I’m glad I didn’t rush to play it in 2009. If you like action RPGs, you might want to try it out. There is always a chance you’ll have a better time than I did. At worst, it will only cost you ten bucks!

Next Time: I go back to the DS to play a game where the evil warlord is actually the hero, and his lackeys are the stars.
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It’s kind of funny really. The genre “puzzle RPG” was created by Infinite Interactive back when they released Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords. However, they seem to be the only developers working on this kind of game. They made Galactrix, Puzzle Kingdoms, and now this game. Plus, they’ve also got Puzzle Quest 2 in the works. You’d think that with all of the publishers out there trying to earn a buck stealing other peoples work (i.e. EA Sports MMA), that SOMEONE else would make a puzzle RPG at some point.

Still, you can’t complain that Infinite is bleeding the concept dry by releasing roughly the same game with a few cosmetic upgrades. Galactrix was completely different from the first PQ and Puzzle Kingdoms took the concept in an entirely new direction.

This time, the Bejeweled style gameplay has been excised for a more real time combat scheme more akin to Puzzle Fighter than anything else.

Does the Puzzle RPG formula still work without the gem swapping action?

Story/Modes

As the game starts out, you are a member of a warrior tribe. In fact, the game’s tutorial is meant to be your day to officially become a warrior. Soon after, however, your tribe is attacked in the night by a group of slavers lead by a horned daemon. Your entire tribe is sold into slavery including you. As luck would have it, however, the mysterious sorceress Morgana decides to buy your freedom in exchange for a favor later on down the road. She serves as your guide as you attempt to free your tribe mates and take your revenge on the horned daemon.

The setup is a bit basic, but the story as a whole has a rather nice flow to it. It almost feels like something that would have been a great TV show in the vein of Hercules: The Legendary Adventures. Unfortunately, the plot isn’t as good as it could be due to a number of reasons.

For one, your character isn’t likable in any sense of the word. He is a barbarian through and through. Kill first and ask questions later. You do several dastardly things that no self respecting hero character would be caught dead doing. Worse off, there isn’t even a good reason for your character’s actions, so he doesn’t even make a good anti-hero. There are even several moments where the writers seemed to realize this and tried to correct it. For instance, at one point in the game your character decides the best way to raise an army is to steal a boat and become a pirate for a while. This requires him to murder all of the guards at the harbor, as well as slaughter the entire crew of the ship. To try and compensate for this, you find out that the ship you’ve captured is a slave ship and that you’ll be freeing a bunch of people. The problem is that your character didn’t know about this before all of the slaughter began. Basically, he’s an ass!

Overall, however, the plot is at least mildly entertaining. There were some moments, like the approach of a giant, that was done rather well. The comic book inspired cut scenes were also interesting choices. As far as stories in a puzzle RPG go, this is better than anything else Infinite has done. Granted, that isn’t saying much.

Beyond the story, you have a few other options at your disposal. You can free battle any opponent you’ve already defeated, manage your inventory, and play any of the minigames you’ve unlocked. There’s also a multiplayer mode that allows you to battle against a friend via an Ad-Hoc connection.

It’s a typical setup, but one that works.

Graphics

There are three different things to talk about in the graphics section.

First off is the overworld. It kind of reminded me of the old “find the object” books they had in the library when I was a kid. The towns and locales are full of little details such as buildings, pits, caves, etc. However, the style is kind of cartoonish in a way. It certainly doesn’t go for the realistic look in any way.

The cut scenes I mentioned before are very similar. These scenes are where the character designs are fully realized. Body parts are accentuated, costumes are outlandish, and it’s all done in a comic book panel style that will definitely be hit or miss with players. There were a few moments where it was hard to tell what was going on, but the style worked. Fully animated scenes would have been preferable, but I’m not about to fault the game for not doing something that so few games these days do. It is certainly better than the simple static portraits in the developer’s previous games.

Finally, there’s the battles themselves. The greater part of the screen is for the puzzle combat, while there is a good bit reserved on top of the screen for the characters to actually do battle. As you build up rage in the puzzle, you’ll deal damage. All of the attacks are played out by the models, and effects such as poison or fear are represented with glowing icons over the fighters. Seeing your barbarian charge in with a multiple hit combo after you’ve just cleaned house in the puzzle section is far more satisfying than merely watching an HP meter drain.

Overall, the graphics for this game are certainly not going to impress those who are used to games like Resistance Retribution or Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny, but they are far superior than has been seen for other Puzzle RPGs. It could go a bit further, but I was satisfied.

Audio

One huge change you’ll notice right away is that the game is chock full of voice acting. Every cut scene is fully voiced and the voices are surprisingly adequate. Compared to the horrific narrator from CotW, this is a blessing. It also helps breathe life into otherwise dull characters. The only reason I didn’t outright hate the main character was because his voice was so fitting for his character.

You’ve also got a fully orchestrated soundtrack that does a pretty decent job of heightening the action on screen. Most importantly, the tunes never become grating. Perhaps this is because your attention is completely focused on the real time puzzle action below, but it is yet another improvement over past games in the genre. I even found myself humming the victory tune every time I won.

The effects are still a bit disappointing. The tinny explosions of gems being destroyed are usually followed up by stereotypical attack sounds that do get a bit old after a while. Still, that big combo is a bit more satisfying when your character yells as he plunges his blade right into the enemy’s heart.

Like the graphics, the audio is simply better than other games in its genre, though it doesn’t hold up as well to other games on the platform.

Gameplay

First off, I’ll reiterate that this is not your typical gem swapping affair.

The playing field has been flipped on its side so that pieces fall from left to right rather than top to bottom. You’re given a group of three gems at a time that can be rotated and placed on the field. There are several types of gems that have a variety of uses. Rage gems take the shape of colored skulls that build up your rage meter when they are destroyed. Wildcard gems can be used for any color they’re adjacent to. Multiplier gems double the power you gain from a destroyed colored gem. Battle gems are what actually destroy gems on the field. If they touch a gem of the same color, all connecting gems of that color will be destroyed. There are also blank gems that merely serve as one of the four colors. The final gem type is the power gem. These don’t fall, but rather must be created on the field by creating 2X2 blocks of the same color. The creation of this gem grants you the benefit of any of the gems used to create it. For instance, if you used a rage gem, you’ll gain the equivalent rage in your meter. More importantly, the power gems represent special pieces of your equipment. Red power gems represent your weapons, green represents your shield etc. If you destroy a power gem, you’ll gain the ability of the item it represents. For instance, the great sword power gem would grant you bonus rage, and the great shield power gem would make you invulnerable to damage for a short while.

The point of battle is to build up your rage meter so that you deal damage to your opponent. However, neither of you has HP that must be depleted. Instead, there is a line that divides your side and your opponent’s side of the field. As you deal damage, this line moves in the direction of your opponent’s side, causing your playing field to become bigger and your opponent’s field to become smaller. The goal is to push this line so that your opponent tops out, giving you the win. Of course, they’re dropping gems on their side of the field trying to do the same thing. It ends up being a kind of tug of war mechanic. When the bar moves towards your opponent, any gems it passes are added to your side and you can gain their effect once they are destroyed. The same holds true for your opponent, so you have to be careful about how you set up combos. Rage is generated by destroying rage gems and using special abilities. You have around eight or so equipment slots you can fill to boost different aspects of battle. For instance, I used a belt that increased my red power as well as blue whenever I destroyed blue gems. There are also various status effects like poison and fear can affect either player. Poison slowly causes the white bar to creep forward, stun makes it so you can’t rotate gems for a while, and other abilities have other such adverse effects.

You also have a warbeast that can learn various abilities through training. By destroying gems, you build up the power for these abilities. For example, if you teach the warbeast an red ability, you need to destroy red gems to power it up. When it’s charged, you can unleash the beast so to speak to grant that ability’s effect. The skill tree for this isn’t all that deep, but you can mix and match them as you see fit. Basically, if it weren’t for these powers, the blank gems wouldn’t be all that useful. That tug of war mechanic can make battles tense and exciting, especially playing against another person.

The only real problem I have is that the combat doesn’t go at a fast enough pace for a gem dropping mechanic. There’s a slight delay in nearly every action you take, which can really effect you if your field gets too small. When you’re used to games like Tetris, Lumines, and Columns, the delay is really annoying. Still, the differing strategies, chances for combos, and thrill of shooting that white bar forward several spots at once makes the combat quite enjoyable. If not for the slower than average pace, it would be simply awesome.

The setup for the game is pretty much similar to any puzzle RPG you’ve played. You move around the map examining points of interest to gain quests, fight battles, etc. You can visit shops to buy new items, unlock dungeons to fight endless waves of enemies, craft new items, train your skills, train your warbeast, and even search for treasure. There are a couple of sidequests in each location that you can either perform as you go or save for later. Generally, however, you can pretty much stick to battling and moving the story forward. New locations are unlocked as you progress the story and places where there are quests available are highlighted on the map. It’s nothing all that special, but it works.

Put simply, the setup is like any other game in the genre, but the real time gem dropping combat is such a refreshing change of pace that it manages to make the game feel brand new. With a few tweaks, it could have been simply awesome. As it is, it is a very enjoyable experience.

Replayability

Because of the nature of the gameplay (i.e. not being turn based) battles tend to be shorter. Thus, the game doesn’t last nearly as long as other puzzle RPGs. Still, expect the basic run through of the story to last somewhere around fifteen hours or so. If you chose to to go about collecting all of the items or work on maxing your stats, you can add several hours onto the total. The game does have a awards system in place to keep track of your accomplishments. These don’t really add anything, but completionists will get something out of it.

Beyond that initial first run through however, there isn’t really a reason to play the game again. There are no character classes to chose from nor even branching storylines. Everyone who plays the game is going to get the same experience. Your character will always be that Conan wannabe with the gruff voice.

Thankfully, that first playthrough is more than likely going to get you your monies worth and the option to play at four difficulty levels should mean the chance to play it again on a harder difficulty.

Balance

Speaking of difficulty levels, I can’t help but mention how easy this game can wind up being. I started off on normal difficulty and switched over to hard about halfway through because I was getting bored. As it turned out, the items I’d equipped and my strategy for using them was so useful, I only lost twice throughout the entire story. One of those times was really early on before I had a full complement of equipment. The second time was the first time I came into contact with the poison status effect. For that first time, I had no answer to it, but afterwards it was no problem. Point in case, I defeated the final boss in about thirty seconds without him so much as landing a hit on me.

I did go back and try the game on “deathbringer” mode from the get go. This was nearly impossible. The way it works is that the rage bar starts off halfway closer to your side. In addition, the enemies deal damage far more often. I couldn’t even beat the first battle because all I had was a sword and not even a warbeast yet. The best bet for someone who wants a real challenge is to start the game on hard and then move up to “deathbringer” after they’ve had a chance to level up a bit. Then the game should prove quite challenging.

Basically, the game can become a bit easy once you have enough equipment. If you up the difficulty before you get too far in, the balance is just perfect. Still, any game where you need to manage the balance like this doesn’t deserve the same score as a game with a proper curve.

Originality

At first glance, the puzzle combat might seem completely original, but there’s actually some precedent for it. Puzzle games have long had versus modes where you attack your opponent by making chains that drop junk on them, forcing them to top out. Also, the versus mode in Lumines involved moving a dividing line around to give yourself a larger field of play. The groundwork was there. All Infinite needed to do was add in some RPG elements and they had a unique battle system. Again, it isn’t wholly original, but you can’t play anything quite like it.

The rest of the game is stripped straight from CotW. The customization options, the overworld, and even the various mini games are straight in line with the genre’s roots. Even the story feels like your typical action movie plot. I might has well have been playing The Scorpion King.

Addictiveness

I had a surprisingly hard time putting this game down. While playing, I told myself that I could stop anytime I wanted to; that the only reason I was continuing was because I wanted to finish the game quickly. However, the fact that I was playing for two or three hours at a time speaks volumes about how hooked I actually was. What can I say? Puzzle games are almost universally addicting because they are simple to pick up yet offer enough depth to keep you satisfied. Throw in a battle mechanic that works, and it is almost like crack.

There are a few elements that keep it from being as addicting as it could be, however. There are rather lengthy load times for any time you want to open your inventory and even longer load times before battles. At one point, the battle took less time to finish that it took for the game to load the battle and load back to the map when I’d won. It got really annoying.

Also, the main character is just so unlikable, you’ll find yourself not wanting to press onwards simply because you won’t feel he deserves his revenge. That might sound a bit out there, but it is simply true.

So while there was so much this game did in terms of presentation and combat that was above the norm for puzzle RPGs, the addictiveness just isn’t as high as those other games.

Appeal Factor

On one hand, I can easily say that this game can pretty much be enjoyed by anyone. On the other hand, it doesn’t appeal to nearly as wide a base as it could have. This is mostly due to the fact that you are shoehorned into using the main character and there are no classes to chose from. It still boggles me that developers haven’t realized that creating your own character is what a good RPG is all about. It’s why games like Diablo are so huge. True, you can customize your equipment, but it isn’t on the same level at all.

This game is also probably going to have a harder time on the market than you’d think. Most people don’t realize that all of these games are made by the same people, and I’ve seen a good number of them think that this game was an attempt by Konami to cash in on Puzzle Quest‘s success. There isn’t even the little tag that Puzzle Kingdoms had to remind players of who made the game. That could definitely hurt the game’s chances of selling to the average consumer.

Still, the game is accessible and fun enough that anyone can get some enjoyment out of it. Also, this is only the second puzzle RPG to make it to the PSP as well as the first in nearly three years. That alone should help ramp up the interest.

Miscellaneous

I mentioned the annoyingly long load times earlier. What bugs me is that this could have been solved by a simple option to install the game on your PSP. We’ve seen this work wonders for games like Dissidia and Soul Calibur, so why not do it here as well? It just seems lazy not to have it.

There’s nothing really in the way of specials. I can’t really think of any suggestions right now as to what they could have put in, but nonetheless the lack of any sort of bonus is a bit disheartening.

Worst of all, the game’s plot leaves the game open for a sequel. That’s not so bad you say? It does this at the expense of a major plot line not being properly resolved. It can almost take the sense of accomplishment out of beating the final boss.

Overall though, the game leaves positive vibes. It just didn’t reach its potential is all.

The Scores
Story/Modes: Decent
Graphics: Above Average
Audio: Enjoyable
Gameplay: Enjoyable
Replayability: Mediocre
Balance: Above Average
Originality: Decent
Addictiveness: Good
Appeal Factor: Decent
Miscellaneous: Mediocre
Final Score: Above Average Game!

Short Attention Span Summary
Puzzle Chronicles on the PSP is a bit of letdown in terms of what the game could have been. The main character isn’t likable, the gem dropping isn’t fast enough, and the load times can be killer. Still, the puzzle combat is fun, the journey is lengthy enough, and the game will definitely hold your attention from start to finish. For PSP owners looking for a fun puzzle RPG, this game will fit the bill, even if it doesn’t hook you quite as well as Puzzle Quest did. I’m hopeful for an eventual sequel, because with a few tweaks, this could be something truly special.
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So, first things first. I promised that any game that came up in my journey of backlogged games that didn’t have a review, I’d review. That hasn’t changed. I was initially planning to write a separate piece for both the column and review itself. However, after discussing it with my fellow staffers, I’ve decided that this simply isn’t feasible. For one, the column would be nothing more than a rehash of what I’d already said in the review. Also, I’d end up spending far too much time writing about a game rather than playing them. That defeats the purpose altogether.

So instead, I’ve decided that this column will house the review, and that I’ll pretty much write it free form, so as to maintain a column like feel. However, I will still hold the game up to our normal high standards and include a full breakdown of the score.

Now, onto the column itself.

If there’s one reason I can’t wait to get a PS3 apart from God of War III, it is the ability to get my hand on all of the games that Insomniac made for it. You have no idea how much it kills me that I’ve missed out on three Ratchet & Clank games. However, I’m also really looking forward to playing the Resistance games as well. When Insomniac first announced the series, I was skeptical, mostly because it meant that I had to wait longer for the next Ratchet game, but also because I was worried they wouldn’t be able to work their magic in a fist person shooter. By all accounts, I was dead wrong. Still, I’ll need to play the games for myself before I can deliver a verdict.

Back in the summer of 2008, the future was bleak for the PSP. It seemed that its biggest titles were behind it, and that no one was making any more games for it. Plus, what could possible top God of War? At E3, not much changed. They announced very little, and most of it was ports and sports. I was just about ready to call the PSP dead.

There was but one small glimmer of hope. That glimmer was Resistance Retribution. Insomniac wouldn’t be at the helm, but thankfully, neither would High Impact Games, who had mucked up Secret Agent Clank just a few weeks earlier. Instead, the dev team that would handle the PS3′s marquee franchise would be Bend Studios. This would be the first time in over a decade that they would step out of the Syphon Filter series, so we didn’t know what to expect. All we could tell was that the game looked like it could be great. The presentation looked epic, and the action looked frantic. I wasn’t completely sold on a third person shooter for the PSP, but I was ready to believe.

Then came 2009. Bad things happened to me. I lost my job. I almost lost my place of residence. I was pretty much living off a diet of games I was sent to review. I could only stare at Resistance Retribution on the shelves, hoping someday that I would get the chance to play it. The demo being awesome didn’t make things easier. I was a sad man.

But now I’ve got it! Things are looking up! Now the question has to be asked. Did this game live up to it’s potential, or did it end up being doomed due to the lack of a second analog stick?

Let’s catch up!

What’s the game?

Resistance Retribution for the Sony PSP. This would be the third game in the Resistance franchise, though it takes place between the first two.

Who made it?

The developer is Bend Studios, sometimes called Sony Bend. They are the long running developers for the Syphon Filter series, including two games on the PSP that met with critical acclaim.

When did it come out?

RR was released on March 17th, 2009

Where’s the review?

You’re looking at it.

Why didn’t you play it in 2009?

I was totally planning to get this game soon after it came out. Then I got laid off in December of 2008. This wouldn’t have been so bad, as I scored a temp job and the promise of a full time position in a couple of months. However, the full time job fell through and the temp job lasted me about to the end of March. I found out that I would be going on unemployment roughly the week the game came out. Talk about bad timing.

Normally, I probably would have just asked my parents to grab me the game for my birthday in April, but I decided to go for a gaggle of cheaper games so that I would have more stuff to play through when the inevitable drought of new games to play hit. (You see, I built up a rather large Time Warner bill thanks to a bunch of WWE Pay-Per-Views that I actually wanted to watch. I was so poor that I was eating nothing but Ramen and PB&J.)

So, it came to pass that it was the end of the year, and I still didn’t have arguably the biggest PSP release of 2009. Thus, I put it atop my Christmas wish list and hoped. Thank God it was under the tree, because otherwise I still wouldn’t have been able to afford it. (Now I’ve just got a couple of months to save up enough to buy a PS3 in time for God of War III. If I don’t play that the day it comes out, it will drive me nuts!)

Anyway, let’s get down to how good (or not) the game turned out to be.

So what did you think?

When you hear that a shooter of any kind is coming to the PSP, there will undoubtedly be some trepidation when it comes to playing it at all, let alone buying it. The problem is the same as it has been for five years. It is nearly impossible to have a functional first or third person shooter without two analog sticks.

Bend Studios has made a name for themselves by debunking this notion. They further their cause with this game.

You can tell this is a game tailor made for the PSP controls. For starters, there is a strong auto aim mechanic in play. For just about every weapon you have, there is a large reticle on the screen. Your character will lock onto anything inside that reticle. When you’ve killed whatever it was you locked onto, you’ll lock onto the rest. Normally, this would make a game too easy, or require no thought, but that is not the case here. I’ll go into that more. Secondly, you move with the analog stick while you change your view with the face buttons. This isn’t ideal, but it allows for far more camera control that other games offer. Lastly, each weapon in the game has a secondary fire feature. There are several of these that clearly work to help you get over any control problems you might have. For instance, the secondary fire of the sniper rifle allows you to slow down time temporarily. The chain gun offers a strong shield that moves with you, though it does slow you down. The rocket launcher has the most interesting secondary fire. If your target moves or you missed, you can tap the L button to halt the rocket in midair. Then you can tap the fire button again to relaunch the missile!

There’s also a lot of context sensitive actions that don’t require input from the player. For instance, if you walk into a dark area such as a cave, you’re flashlight will turn on automatically. When you head back out, the light goes off. The cover system is also context sensitive. This causes a few problems but is helpful for the most part. For instance, your character will duck down when there is an enemy close by, sometimes before you actually see them. However, there are plenty of times where you’ll stay glued to cover when you needed to move. For the most part, however, the mechanic is solid.

Because of the auto aim, you’d think the game would be a breeze. Here’s where you would be wrong. Rather than make this a shooter that emphasizes marksmanship, this is instead a game where timing and strategy is everything. You need to time when you’ll pop up out of cover in order to maximize damage to your enemies while minimizing damage to yourself. You’ll need to prioritize some enemies over others. For instance, there are several sections where a group of gun toting Hybrids are taking shots at you. At the same time, a new enemy type called Boilers are racing towards you. These boilers are female Chimera that don’t carry weapons. Instead they, rush towards you in order to get close enough. Then they explode. They can be killed with regular weapons fire, but often this will be too slow. You’ll need to zoom in with the up button and shoot their heads to get an instant kill. Here’s where the dilemma arises. You can’t zoom in while taking cover. This means if you try to take the Boilers out first, then the Hybrids will have an open shot on you. However, if you try to take out the Hybrids first, you might leave enough time for the Boilers to get to you. You need to find the right strategy for you and get it working fast in order to survive. This is just one example. When you add in enemies, it gets more chaotic. Steelheads carry weapons that can shoot through cover. Titans take massive amount of damage to finish off and can launch projectile explosives. Slipskulls leap around the ceilings to get behind you. Leapers are tiny little monsters that can latch on to you. Brutes carry powerful chain guns. There are drones who can fly over your cover. There are several more enemies to contend with, but you get the idea.

On the same token as choosing which enemies to kill, you also have to figure out what weapons to use and when. You get eight weapons throughout the course of the game, but there are several more than can be unlocked through various means. You’ve got your standard machine gun, shotgun, rocket launcher, sniper rifle, chain gun, and grenades. You’ve also got the Auger, which can shoot through cover as well as put up a defensive shield around you. Then there is the Razor, which is the standard weapon for Chimeran Hybrids. More than just a machine gun, the secondary fire allows you to charge up shots that ricochet across the map at the expense of more ammo. Hopefully you see how useful this can be. You can also gain access to a rail gun, as well as a magnum that shoots explosive rounds. There is a ton of fire power in this game. The secondary fire functions only add to it.

Hopefully you’ve seen by now that the gameplay is pretty awesome. It isn’t perfect, but that was never going to be the case on the PSP. In either case, I can start talking about some of the other aspects of the game.

You’re probably wondering if there is a story to this game. The Resistance games are more known for the interesting world it exists in rather than the narrative, but that is not the case here.

The story starts out with Lieutenant James Grayson running a raid on a Chimeran conversion center with the objective of killing the poor souls who are quickly becoming Hybrids. After he finds his own brother and is forced to put him down, Grayson goes rogue. He deserts the army and starts a one man mission to bomb as many conversion facilities. He’s eventually captured and sentenced to death for desertion. However, his experience proves to valuable for other groups to ignore. He is offered a full reprieve if he joins the Marquis, a French group whose goal is figure out a way to stop the Chimeran conversion process once and for all. Grayson joins up simply to put some lead in as many Chimeran “gorillas” as possible.

This doesn’t end up being a gripping drama or anything, but there is enough personality to keep the characters interesting. The story is told through cinemas, in game events, radio chatter, journal entries, and even hidden pieces of intel scattered around the levels. The game also strays away from the whole “war is hell” cliché. Instead, the story is really about what makes Grayson tick. There’s a lot of predictability going on, but it still ends up being satisfying. When you’ve finished off a particular bad guy, you’ll know what I mean.

What really stands out about the game is the presentation. For starters, the graphics are some of the best on the PSP. At the very least, they where the best when the game came out. Even now, the only game that flat out looks better is Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny, and that game doesn’t offer much else. The levels are large, well detailed, well lit, and dynamic. There is one level early on where you’re battling through the trenches trying to get to an anti-air gun. The gun in question in occasionally visible in the skyline when go topside, but eventually you work your way to it much like some of the vistas in God of War: Chains of Olympus. It really puts this game apart from the pack. Perhaps the best thing about the graphics are the textures. They are smartly designed in that they give significant detail to each environment while at the same time hiding the low polygon count. (This is a PSP game after all.) There are several locales that will simply amaze you. In one level, you’re trekking through a conversion plant. All around are tubes filled with water that transport human beings. It sets the mood perfectly. The effects are nothing to laugh at either. The explosion following a head shot on a Boiler is simply a sight to behold. The game is gorgeous.

More than just a pretty face, the sound design is simply out of this world fantastic. The score could pass for a bid budget action flick. It’s fully orchestrated, full of booming drums, and plenty songs that excel at ratcheting up the tension. Th e constant gunfire keeps you focuses while giving the battle the kind of chaotic feel that battles should have. The roar of a Titan as it comes through a hole in the ground will get your heart pumping. The satisfying boom of the shotgun when you blast a Leaper into oblivion will have you clamoring for another shot. It just doesn’t end. The voice acting is also top notch. There are several accents at play here, and apart from maybe Raine, they aren’t overpowering at any point. Constant radio chatter lets you know of the goings on in the war, keeping you invested in winning. I could go and on.

Basically, the production values are through the roof. If you’ve ever wondered what a AAA title on the PSP looks and sounds like, this game is the perfect example.

I’ve been going on for a while now, so I’m just going to try and hit a few more points before I move on.

The main campaign is well over ten hours long the first time through. It is good enough that you’ll even want to play through it again on a harder difficulty. Also, the game features the ability to hook up to Resistance 2 in order to infect Grayson with the Chimeran virus. This grants him new abilities such as the ability to breathe underwater and a regenerative health bar. He can also access new areas in order to get more Intel. Infected Mode gives you access to the magnum I mentioned earlier. On top of all that, when he’s infected, all of the character interactions change in accordance with that. The only black spot on this mode is that you’ll need to reinfect the game every time you shut off your PSP. Still, that is a strong incentive to play through the game up to three times through, giving you a ton of content for your money solely with the single player options.

For those hoping to play with others, you’re in luck. There is support for either eight players both offline and online. Modes include the basics such deathmatch and capture the flag. It also offers Assimilation. In Assimilation, one player starts off as a Cloven while the others are human. As the Cloven player kills humans, they join his side until only one human is left. That guy wins. There are similar modes in other shooters, but not really on the PSP. It isn’t going to blow the minds of those used to games like Halo or Call of Duty, but there is a ton of options for a portable system.

Oh yeah. If you want, you can hook up the game to your PS3 and use the Dualshock controller instead of the PSP. This might be preferable to some players, but just be warned that it automatically shuts off the auto aim feature.

I’m sure I’m forgetting a few things, but I’ve gone on long enough. All you need to know is that this game is the complete package from top to bottom, and one of the best games you can get for the PSP. Had I the chance, I would have pushed my fellow staffers for this game to get the nod for best PSP game of 2009.

What score would you have given it?

Being that this is an official review, I don’t need to speculate. Instead, here are the actual scores.

Story/Modes: Very Good
Graphics: Amazing
Audio: Classic
Gameplay: Very Good
Replayability: Classic
Balance: Great
Originality: Decent
Addictiveness: Very Good
Appeal Factor: Very Good
Miscellaneous: Great
Final Score: Great Game!

Would it have made your top ten list?

Most definitely. The hard part is trying to figure out just where it fits on the list, especially with Mario & Luigi knocking a game off last week. In the end, I’ve decided it goes right above Fossil Fighters in the number seven slot. The list has been updated below.

1. Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure (NDS)
2. Rock Band Unplugged (PSP)
3. Plants vs. Zombies (PC)
4. UFC Undisputed 2009 (360)
5. Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP)
6. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (NDS)
7. Resistance Retribution (PSP)
8. Fossil Fighters (NDS)
9. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (NDS)
10. Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (NDS)

This knocks Motorstorm: Arctic Edge off of the list while also giving the PSP a stronger presence overall. Looking at the games I have coming up, I’m not sure if any will be able to crack the list with this configuration. However, there are a lot of games on my list that others have called extraordinary, so who knows?

How much does it go for, you know, just in case I want it?

To buy the game new, you’ll probably still need to spend the full forty dollars the game cost at launch. Thankfully, the amount of content on the UMD makes this a worthy purchase compared to what we usually get on the PSP. If you settle for a used copy, expect the price to drop somewhere around ten dollars.

If you have any interest in the game, you should try out the demo available on the PSN. If you like what you see, forty dollars won’t seem like all that much.

Final Thoughts?

This is one game I’m sorry I didn’t play in 2010.

Resistance Retribution is one of those games that showcases just how good a game can be on the PSP. Between its stellar presentation, fun and complex gameplay, satisfying story, above average length, and all of the cool bonuses such as infected mode, it just offers a complete package. I can recommend this to anyone with a PSP without skipping a beat.

It proves one thing above all else. Sony is really good at finding people to bring their biggest franchises to the PSP. It started with Twisted Metal: Head On. I, and a lot of other people, consider it to be one of the best if not the best in the entire series. Hot Shots Golf Open Tee 2 is another game that simply got better on the PSP. Then there’s Wipeout Pure and Wipeout Pulse, Killzone Liberation, Motorstorm: Arctic Edge, Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, and so many more. Notice I didn’t even mention God of War: Chains of Olympus, the best PSP game of 2008 if not of all time. Add Resistance Retribution to that fine list of games.

God I love my PSP.

NEXT TIME: I continue my journey through my backlog of 2009 games with and Atlus game for the PSP. So far, I’ve loved every game I’ve played for this column. Will this be the game to change that?
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Yep. I got a new banner for this thing. Yep. I’m aware it has all the artistic merit of a Miley Cyrus CD. What do you expect? I’m a writer, not an artist. I have several teachers from middle school that can attest to that. If nothing else, it will make sure Henry Hatsworth gets his mug plastered on the internet every week.

Here we are in week two of my laughable attempt to catch up with my backlog of games from 2009. As always, you can check out my first column to get a full description of just what this column is supposed to be.

I remember when I first glimpsed a game in the Mario & Luigi series. It was back when Toys R Us still had some relevance and the video game section was expansive. I, being of poor family, was still getting heavy mileage out of N64 and PS1 games while I had friends laughing it up with their Dreamcasts, Gamecubes, and Playstation 2s. Still, I never hesitated to check out what was coming out, if only to try and create some semblance of a list of games to get when I finally got the chance.

That was when I checked out the GBA display. It had been more years that I could remember since I had played a Mario game on a handheld system. On top of that, I had somehow never heard of Super Mario RPG. Or rather, I didn’t know what it was. This was my first experience with Mario outside of his platforming specialty. Well, that and his appearances in games like Donkey Kong and Punch-Out!

Allow me to reiterate. My family was poor. I didn’t even have the internet to keep me up to date with the goings on in the video game world. I still considered WWF Attitude to be the best wrestling game I’d ever played.

Anyways, something about that little demo station caught my eye. I don’t know if it was my lack of experience with RPGs at the time or simply the familiarity of the Mario Bros, but I was interested. My few minutes spent goofing off with the game left me wondering just what the full game would be like.

Sadly, it would be five years until I finally had a system I could play the game on.

When I got my DS, I knew of only a small handful of GBA games that I needed to have. Not the least of which was Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. I had my updated copy of Pokemon Red and the NES port of Dr. Mario, but the brothers wouldn’t be denied. I found a copy on Ebay and made sure I came out the winner. Twenty hours of gaming later, and I was satisfied by a Mario game in a way I hadn’t been since Super Mario 64 first graced my family’s N64. It was a classic from top to bottom.

So, in 2009, when they announced Bowser’s Inside Story for the DS, I knew it was only a matter of time before I got my hands on it. Chances were, it’d be an even greater experience.

What’s the game?

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story for the Nintendo DS.

Who made it?

Alpha Dream developed this title, as well as the other games in the Mario & Luigi series.

When did it come out?

Bowser’s Inside Story came out on September 14th, 2009

Where’s the Review?

Matt Yeager put up a review for us back in December

Why didn’t you play it in 2009?

This is simply a case of me hating the price of first party Nintendo games. Seriously, do they really need to tack on that extra five dollars just for that little symbol on the box? Sure, the quality of the games does tend to be higher, but a price for a Nintendo published DS game is a mere fifteen dollars cheaper than a Wii title. Also, that thirty-five dollar price tag is fixed among all games, whereas Sony is willing to offer first party titles such as Patapon at a lower price. Granted, Nintendo is in a better position to set higher prices.

In any case, I didn’t want to pay full price for this game if I could help it. I pretty much waited until after Christmas before I finally caved, and that was only because I was being stupid. Honestly, I don’t have the money to be buying as many new games as I do.

So what did you think?

In a nutshell, this is one of the best games on the DS that came out in 2009. That is no small feat.

For starters, the story is absolutely hilarious. The brothers are called to Peach’s castle after a disease called the Blorbs strikes the townsfolk. It seems a shady merchant has been selling mushrooms that cause all who eat it to morph into Violet Beauregarde from Willy Wonka and Chocolate Factory. (Except they don’t turn blue.) In either case, this is precisely when Bowser decides he can’t live another day without kidnapping Peach. After a funny little battle which also serves as a tutorial, Bowser is defeated and slumps off. There he meets the merchant, who tricks him into eating a special mushroom. This bit of fungus doesn’t give the Koopa King the Blorbs however. Instead, it causes him to suck up most of the denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom. Somehow, they’re all miniaturized by this process, and manage to make a living inside his guts.

What follows is the best story in the series so far. This is thanks mostly to Bowser himself, who has the best lines, the best scenes, and the only honest to God rivalry in the game. Most of his interactions are with Fawful or some of his (former) minions. With some serious situational comedy and more than just a dash of slapstick, I was laughing almost as much as I was playing the game.

Now normally, I don’t get too much enjoyment out of the gameplay in RPGs. I’ve never been the kind of person who must take up quests, fiddle around with character sheets, or find that ultra rare piece of loot that makes the end boss fight feel like the first fight. Generally speaking, I play just long enough until I can finish the story. Then I put the game away and call it a night. The Mario & Luigi is a very strong exception to this.

The plumbers can once again hop around, acquire special moves, solve puzzles, and fight enemies. Exploring is much more fun when you actually have things to do apart from talking to NPCs or selling loot. The platforming isn’t nearly to the standards of a typical 2D Mario excursion, but it doesn’t need to be.

The combat is also much more engrossing than your typical role playing experience. Each brother has a button assigned to them for dodging and counter attacks. This puts a huge emphasis on learning the timing of opponent’s attacks and keeps you invested in each battle. Also, timing your own attacks properly can result in bonus damage or even a second attack. True, there are plenty of times where you’ll get in the zone and this mechanic will make the game a bit too easy, but there’s usually enough variety in enemies and the moves they use to keep you interested.

Bowser isn’t forgotten either. Battles with him are even more fun as he has two different dodging techniques and touch screen based special attacks. He’s also got a few special sections where he grows in size to meet a building sized foe for some serious turn based action that at times even requires use of the DS microphone. If anything, there are too few of these sections.

From a production standpoint,t he game is simply top shelf material. The sprites are gorgeous and well animated, the music is fitting for any situation, and the controls are pretty much perfect. It is the kind of game where everything is done so well that you get immersed in the experience and stop noticing what you’re seeing as a “game”.

Basically, I loved it in a way I haven’t loved a Mario game since I first played Super Mario World.

What score would you have given it?

We’re looking at something between a Very Good and a Great. This is a little lower than Matt ended up giving it, but that is mostly do some nitpicking I have about things like the game’s replayability. Sure it’s a decent length and all, but I don’t see myself coming back to it any time soon. It was certainly great while it lasted.

Would it have made your top ten list?

At this point, I’d have to say it would knock Tekken 6 off of the list as well as surpass Motorstorm: Arctic Edge. This would make my list look like so.

1. Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure (NDS)
2. Rock Band Unplugged (PSP)
3. Plants vs. Zombies (PC)
4. UFC Undisputed 2009 (360)
5. Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP)
6. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (NDS)
7. Fossil Fighters (NDS)
8. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (NDS)
9. Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (NDS)
10. Motorstorm: Arctic Edge (PSP)

Interestingly enough, this now puts the DS in a majority position, whereas before it was tied with the PSP for number of titles on my list. That just goes to show you how great 2009 was for the system.

How much does it go for, you know, just in case I want it?

As you might have guessed by my bitching earlier, the game is still full priced at thirty-five dollars. That is, of course, unless you grab it used, which might save you up to five bucks. This would put in it line for the new price of most DS games.

I wish I still had a job.

Final Thoughts?

This is one game I’m glad I picked up, even if I couldn’t really afford it. Without a doubt, this is the best game of the series and an absolute must have for any DS owner. Now I simply can’t wait for the next game in the series. If they can keep the momentum going, it should be one hell of a ride.

Next time, I play my first PSP game for this column. On top of that, it is a game we don’t have a review for, so expect a super sized column!
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