The story of a young boy sacrificing his childhood to eventually save the world is one that has touched many of our staff members. This is why I have questioned them about a variety of topics, from their own impressions on the game to the legacy that Ocarina of Time left behind. The result is a rollercoaster ride of nostalgia, with fanboy moments and some surprising answers thrown in for good measure.

If you are an incorruptible fan of Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda in general, you are in the right place. Even if you disagree with everything I have said in the previous paragraphs, keep reading. You will eventually find a voice that resembles yours.

November 23rd, 1998

About ten years ago to this day, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was finally released. To say that the game was overdue is an understatement. After all, Nintendo had inadvertently built an aura of near mysticism around the game before it was even available to the public. Through a combination of delays and hype, the latest entry in the Zelda series had already achieved legendary status; the only thing left to see was if the game would be remembered for its qualities, or for being the most overhyped flop of all time.

If you are a fan of the franchise, you probably remember you first experience with the game. Most of us are familiar with the game because of its original release in 1998, but there are some gamers who never had a chance to play it until it was re-released for the Gamecube. One thing never changes though, no matter when you first tried the game: it rarely leaves people indifferent.

Here’s what our staff had to say about their initial impressions on the game.

Aaron Sirois: “Honestly, I thought it was too complex for me. You have to understand that I was a very poor child and the most complicated game I owned was Krusty’s Super Fun House. Of course, once I got over this I thought it was the most fun I had ever had playing a game.”

Matt Yaeger: “I missed out on the game during the N64 lifespan, but I played it with the compilation disk for the Cube. It was fun, but after playing it I couldn’t understand the whole best game ever gushing about the game.”

Charlie Marsh: “I found it was kind of hard to get used to the interface at first, with the A button doing so much and the C buttons being used for items. I don’t really know why, I guess it was just different than what I was used to. I was also blown away by the size of the first boss in the Deku Tree.”

Mohamed Al-Saadoon: “Escaping the Gerudo Fortress was my favorite. Duelling with those Gerudo Warriors was the closest Zelda got to a sword fighting simulation.”

Aileen Coe: “I was a bit overwhelmed at how much there was to do and explore. The button layout took a little getting used to as well, but I was able to get the hang of it quickly.”

Guy Desmarais: “The only thing I had time to do before having to go back to school was the preparation to the first dungeon. It means that all I could do was find the Kokiri Sword, cut grass and throw rocks to find some rupees and buy a shield. Still, just by doing these simple tasks, I was completely blown away. Super Mario 64 had been my first experience with 3D games, and while I had a good time with it, it was nothing compared to OoT. Everything was smoother, felt more natural in a way. I think the only other time I was so excited to first play a game was when I first got WCW vs NWO: World Tour, and it was only because I was amazed that a wrestling game finally included more moves than a suplex and a bodyslam for everybody.”

My Favorite Moment

Ocarina of Time provided many memorable moments over the course of its epic quest. Sure, nobody in their right mind would call the Water Temple their favorite part of the game, but the fact remains that ten years later, it is still one of the most famous level or dungeon in Nintendo’s history. On the other hand, has anybody ever complained about horseback riding? It was in fact so welcomed that Epona made it to the immediate sequel, Majora’s Mask, and to this generation’s entry, Twilight Princess.

The game is filled with superb dungeons, fun side quests and magnificent cut-scenes. More importantly, it was the last game before the introduction of every Zelda fanboy’s nightmare, the 35 years old fairy Tingle. Simply put, OoT is the blissful culmination of everything that has ever been right about the series (the dungeons, the items) that has yet to be equalled by any game that the franchise has produced since. With that in mind, I have asked our staffers to pick their personal favorite from the bunch, and here are their answers.

Charlie Marsh: “The cut scene when Link first wakes up in the Chamber of the Sages to find that he’s aged seven years. It was just so cinematic and so well done, especially the lead up to the big reveal of older Link; it wasn’t something I saw a lot of in games back then.”

Guy Desmarais: “When you first start a game, Link has a nightmare where Zelda is taken away on a horse, followed by Ganondorf on his black steed. Ten years ago, that was my favorite moment, as it introduced Ganondorf’s human form, which had never been showed in any game before. I like how they managed to craft a decent back story for what used to be nothing more than a blue pig. I think it adds a lot to the character, as I have always thought that a maniacal, lunatic human being is scarier than a deformed beast.

Nowadays, after playing finishing the game more times than necessary, I can tell that a constant highlight is the Spirit Temple. The dungeon’s design is pretty clever, with both young and adult Link coming into play, and the boss fight is still one of the most fun in the game, right along with Volvagia from the Fire Temple.”

Matt Yaeger: “When you get the horse.”

Aileen Coe: “The final confrontation with Ganondorf. As you got closer to his chamber, the organ music got louder and louder (which served to build suspense) until finally you entered. You’re greeted with Zelda in her crystal on top of this huge pipe organ. He just sat there all casual playing until the Triforce pieces resonated, then the epic showdown began. And of course, Navi can’t help you during that battle (but then, do you really need her help at that point?).”

Aaron Sirois: “Even though I can beat him in my sleep, the battle with Ganon on top of Hyrule Castle is still unbelievably epic in my mind. He was just so huge! Plus, whenever you’d get hit, Zelda would cry out in fear. It really added to the feel.”

The World Famous Water Temple & Other Challenges

While Ocarina of Time mostly built its legacy with its innovative features, there’s another part of the game that almost became a legend on its own. When I asked our staff “What was the most challenging part of the game”, I fully expected to receive a particular answer, and they didn’t disappoint:

Charlie Marsh: “Not the Water Temple itself, but getting far in it, only to die or get frustrated and turn off the game for a few days, then you go back to it and you have no idea how to get back to where you were. That dungeon wasn’t necessarily hard, it was just complicated.”

Aileen Coe: “Having to carry Ruto’s spoiled indolent self around while also having to fend off enemies. Why no, no I totally didn’t accidentally-on-purpose toss her into pits out of frustration a few times, why do you ask?”

Aaron Sirois: “The water temple is the trendy answer for this question and for good reason. I spent several hours on this temple on my first try. There were just so many keys and so many dead ends that I would get lost. It took forever before I realized there was a secret room in the inner chamber that you could only access when you raised the water level so that the giant rock covering the entrance would float up. Also, that boss kicked my sorry behind many a time before I stopped being dumb and moved out of his reach.”

Matt Yaeger: “Not sure, thought the whole game was pretty easy.”

Guy Desmarais: “If I look at the point where I have spent the most time during the many times I have played through the game, the Water Temple has to win this one. This dungeon single-handedly made me question my logic and intelligence as I struggled to get anything done the first time I entered it. I’m guessing that I must have wasted 3 or 4 hours in this one on my first try. The second time I tackled it, it went a little bit smoother but I still felt like it destroyed me. In fact, I don’t think I have ever truly conquered it. Each and every time, I feel more like a survivor than a victor once I kill that temple’s boss. I also used to struggle with Jabu-Jabu’s Belly and the Shadow Temple, but over the years, I have been able to learn their secrets, which is something I have yet to do with the Water Temple. I would also like to give an honorable mention to the second race against Ingo when you try to win Epona. During the first race, everything’s peachy, but in the second one, he goes psycho on you and tries to ram you into the fence all the time. Screw him.”

A Minor Break in the Ocarina-gasming: A Voice of Dissent
By Thomas Pandich

As probably one of the few staffers who didn’t like Ocarina of Time, I feel I need to put out a little bit of negativity into this discussion of Ocarina of Time. It is without question that Ocarina of Time is one of the highest critically reviewed games of all time. Additionally it is one of the most beloved games in the series shaping what fans thinkLegend of Zelda “should” be. Before you accuse me of not giving this game a fair shake, I’ve played it and every Zelda with the exceptions of the CD-I games and Oracle of Ages/Seasons. Also I’ve revisited this particular game several times over the years trying to get why others regard this as the best of the series. I picked Ocarina of Time on launch and have tried both Gamecube versions (the Zelda Collection and the Wind Waker pre-order disc with Ocarina of Time and Master Quest on it). I recently plunked this sucker in my Wii to revise my opinions.

I feel that Ocarina of Time did do some incredible things for the time and really brought Zelda into 3D well for the most part. It’s not a question of whether or not Ocarina of Time is a good game, it is a question of whether it is one of the best games ever. I feel like Ocarina of Time is just a good game, not a great game. The problems with the game start with the first chunk as Young Link is both incredibly unsatisfying and tedious especially on a second play through. Every 3D Zelda game has had at least two significant parts of playing the game (Wind Waker with the ship and land parts, Twilight Princess with the wolf and regular Link parts), and I feel that none is as weak as the sections of the game where you are Young Link. Young Link is an aggravating character to use especially after moving into the second half of the game as Old Link where you are “rewarded” with a better move set and a horse to make the painfully slow exploration move significantly faster. Young Link serves as an extended tutorial without being dramatically different from the main Link sections of the game to feel fully justified.

Beyond my problems with Young Link, I think there are some incredibly poor sections that have not aged well. Whether it’s the tedious stealth in the Gerudo Village or the insanely irritating escort dungeon inside Jabu-Jabu, a significant portion of the game feels like there is a lack of focus for the sake of adding diversity to the gameplay. Furthermore, some dungeons are very and unnecessarily frustrating. For example, the Water Temple serves as the lowest point in Legend of Zelda dungeon design to this very day. There are some excellent dungeons (like the Deku Tree or The Spirit Temple) in Ocarina of Time, but the majority of them are just average.

While many of the flaws can be forgiven, it’s easy to forget the most annoying part of the game, Navi the fairy. It isn’t that the actual character is annoying as much as the jarring voice in her sound effects coupled with the lack variety makes her the bane of my existence. In fact, while the physical soundtrack gets so much praise, the sound design for Ocarina of Time is rather atrocious. Between Navi’s “HEY” and the incessant beeping if your heart meter slips below a certain amount, I end up playing a considerable amount of the game mute.

I will not deny Ocarina of Time its place as one of the most influential games of all time. I will however suggest that Ocarina of Time was overrated at the time and is now defended by a mix of nostalgia and Nintendo fanboys failing to see the obvious flaws of their favorite game character’s “best” game. Listen, Twilight Princess was better. Look, A Link to the Past is still better than Ocarina of Time by a long shot. Hey, even Wind Waker is a better game than Ocarina of Time even though Wind Waker’s exploration ends up being more tedious than Ocarina of Time. I’m not saying Ocarina of Time is a bad game, it just isn’t as great as everyone proclaims it to be.

Epic Soundtrack

Ocarina of Time placed a lot of emphasis on music, from the title instrument itself to the different songs accompanying each location throughout Hyrule. The soundtrack developed by Koji Kondo features many brand new themes that would go on to become mainstays in the series, such as the now-famous Zelda Lullaby or the theme from the Lost Woods. The surprising fact is that the overworld theme from the first Zelda game for the NES, which is recognized as the games’ calling card and has been remixed in nearly every game to bear the Zelda name, is completely absent here.

The original soundtrack is pleasant enough by itself, but with the limitations of the Nintendo 64, it ended up being entirely sequenced. However, different arrangements and remixes are available all over the Internet, more often than not quite well done. While one could get easily tired of some of the high-speed techno remixes I have stumbled upon, places like ocremix.org offer better alternatives, and I don’t think that anybody could find anything bad to say about the Hyrule Symphony album. Featuring every memorable song from the game rearranged with violins, a harp and an actual ocarina, it truly is a must-have for any fan of the game.

Since the game gets so much praises for its music, I asked our staffers what was their favorite part of the soundtrack.

Aaron Sirois: “I love the Epona’s song. Marin sings it so beautifully when you first meet her that you can’t help but be enchanted by it. I often wonder why Link doesn’t go for the milk maid rather than the princess. Zelda’s a bit high maintenance after all.”

Charlie Marsh: “The variation of the Song of Time that plays when you first open the Door of Time. Just epic.”

Aileen Coe: “The whole soundtrack was an aural treat, but I really like the music that plays in Gerudo Valley.”

Matt Yaeger: “Don’t know the names of the songs. The soundtrack is fantastic though.”

Guy Desmarais: “I have always been a fan of the theme for Gerudo Valley. I don’t know if it’s the Spanish atmosphere that you get from the acoustic guitar or the clapping in the background, but there’s something in that track that makes it good enough for me to give it a listen in Winamp every now and then. I also absolutely love the Song of Storm, which might be short, but just might be the greatest succession of notes in history, at least according to me. It’s the only reason why I first tried to get my cell phone to accept custom ringtones. I finally found a way around the restriction, only to realize that having the Song of Storm as a ringtone didn’t sound that good at all because it wasn’t loud enough. So I went ahead and put Bret Hart’s theme instead, to make sure I still looked like a nerd.”

Mohamed Al-Saadoon: “It’s been so long so I’ve forgotten lots of the soundtrack but one piece sticks out in my head: The Temple of Time’s rendition of the Song of Time. I still remember walking into the temple of time for the first time and hearing the vocal version of that song. Simply haunting and beautiful especially for a MIDI music game.”

The Legacy

Many games can be considered classics. A smaller number can be considered as being influential on the industry. Ocarina of Time is one of the few games to belong in that last category. Because it was the first of its series to make the jump to a 3D world, the development team had to find ways of translating the gameplay that gained the series so many fans while maintaining the core elements of the franchise. At the same time, Nintendo already had a hit that helped define 3D gaming with Super Mario 64, even though that one was plagued with a couple of issues of its own. The challenge was to keep the series’ spirit while attempting to resolve the issues that were present in their previous project.

The result was more than satisfying to say the least, and it resulted in a couple of innovations: the most known of the bunch is the now-standard lock-on targeting, but let’s not forget the single action button that would become a staple of future Zelda games, as well as the smoother camera A.I. that for once didn’t look like it was trying to fight you. All of these innovations came together with improvements over things such as enemies A.I. and level design to produce a game for the ages.

Most of DHGF’s staff members agreed about the game’s influence, and thankfully, none of them pointed to the trail of bad Link cosplayers when talking about its legacy.

Mohamed Al-Saadoon: “Lock-on targeting, lock-on targeting, lock-on targeting. Lock-on targeting cannot be said enough. I was flabbergasted at how people loved the crappy dual analog, no targeting gunfights in GTA3 and GTA: Vice City. The first Grand Theft Auto game I liked was San Andreas because they finally included that very simple basic feature in that edition of the game. No targeting, no game.”

Matt Yaeger: “It contributed to future games for sure, hell even Twilight Princess didn’t stray far from the puzzle/level design that was in Ocarina.”

Aaron Sirois: “Look at a game like Okami and try telling me that this game had not influence on future games. I’ll laugh in your face.”

Charlie Marsh: “I wouldn’t say they were directly influenced from this game, but I think some of the more cinematic games we see today took a few cues from story-driven games like this and Final Fantasy VII. The direction and camera movement during the cut scenes really helped set a standard for what games could really do with cinematics.”

Aileen Coe: “Considering how much of a hit it was, what company wouldn’t want to try and capitalize on that?”

Guy Desmarais: “With my two favorite series being Zelda and Mario, I’m just glad that they managed to get the feel of previous games right on the first try when making the transition to that generation. The way they did it laid foundations for every other Zelda game to follow, including the portable versions that included some of the things introduced with OoT, like the bigger emphasis on narratives or the use of a fairy helper. Even Mario games seemed to have less camera issues after Ocarina of Time. Of course, I guess that most games that have included a form of lock-on targeting since then owe something to OoT, but I’m just glad that Nintendo themselves were influenced by their own game.”

Memories and Stories

Like any game that is starting to show some age, talking about Ocarina of Time now involves a healthy dose of nostalgia. No specific element of the game was being discussed here; I simply asked my colleagues to provide fun stories and amusing anecdotes of the time they spent playing the game. Get out the tissues and try not to get too misty-eyed as you read these heart-wrenching tales and laugh-out-loud moments.

Aileen Coe: “The first time a Skultulla dropped down on me I literally yelped and dropped the controller, earning me a weird look from my brother (yes, I’m a bit of an arachnophobe, shut up). I then started whacking it repeatedly with my sword until it turned and knocked me down because I didn’t realize I had to wait until it turned around. Then I got back up and whacked it some more in its soft side and vanquished it once and for all (well, until it respawned, anyway).”

Aaron Sirois: “Why is it that whenever you play Bombchu Bowling the chicken jumps right in front of the bomb at the last possible second? And why won’t it die?!?!?!?”

Charlie Marsh: “I moved from Chicago to Connecticut in the summer of 1998, and we went back and visited that winter. Obviously, my brother and I would go see our old friends, who we knew had this game, and we didn’t have it yet, so we promised each other we wouldn’t play it, we’d just wait until we got it ourselves.

So of course, the first thing I did at my friend’s house was start playing Ocarina of Time, getting through the Deku Tree dungeon. A few days later, on our way back home, my brother just looked at me and said, “You played Ocarina of Time didn’t you?” I said I had, and he said “Yea, me too.” ”

Guy Desmarais: “I got the game on the first day, and its arrival in our house started a competition between my brother and I over who would finish the game first. I thought I had an advantage because of a simple fact: my brother was only 13 and didn’t really know English back then. What I didn’t count on was the fact that he was a much more apt gamer than I was, and his abilities in killing monsters and solving puzzles more than made up for the time he spent wandering aimlessly around Hyrule because he didn’t understand smaller details. This got us all the way to Christmas, with my brother nearly finished and myself probably stuck somewhere in the Water Temple. My then-girlfriend also happened to get the game on Christmas, and decided that she would also enter the competition. I thought that there was no way she could catch up to me, but she was doing so at an alarming speed. In the end, my brother was almost finished with his second play-through by the time I made it to Ganondorf, while my girlfriend was a dungeon or so away. I still finished before her, but I nearly blew a month-long head start. I will forever remember this game as a demonstration of my lacking gaming skills.”

Matt Yaeger: “I had a memory card fail on me and I had to restart the whole damn game.”

Closing Words

Aaron Sirois: “Has anyone else wondered why Darunia gets so excited for Saria’s song? It’s a nifty tune and all, but he practically has an orgasm when he hears it. It’s creepy.”

Charlie Marsh: “I wouldn’t say it’s the best game ever or even the best game in the series, but it’s still a masterpiece, in every sense of the word, and is still fun to play 10 years later.”

Guy Desmarais: “I know I can’t speak for everybody, but in my opinion, this truly is the best game ever. For me, it represents Nintendo at it pinnacle as game designers. Sure, the Nintendo 64 might not have been the company’s high point in terms of sales, but when it comes to software, I think that they have yet to equal Ocarina of Time and other games from that era when it comes to creativity and pure fun. They have released sequels over the years that were more than adequate, but I think it’s going to be hard to top this one. It has the perfect balance between length and flow, between gameplay and storytelling. In my opinion, this is Nintendo’s masterpiece.”

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One of the reasons behind the massive success of Nintendo’s Wii console has been how well they have marketed towards those who only casually play video games, or those who might never have played a game at all. Combine that with how well the music/rhythm game business has been in the last few years and you can see how the idea for Wii Music was born.

Wii Music attempts to find it’s niche in the music video game market by making the game accessible to anyone and providing some more creativity and a wider variety of instruments, without having a bunch of plastic peripherals needed to play the game. Is this approach enough to distract people from the Rock Band and Guitar Hero games? Is it game interesting enough to draw in people who might have been turned off by the high price of the other music games?

Read on.

There are only a couple of modes in Wii Music. There’s a tutorial mode where you can learn different styles of music and can also learn the basic fundamentals of gameplay. There’s a mode where you can view any video you have created, and various ways of sorting these videos.

Then there are the main two modes. There is a Games mode which allows you to choose between three separate mini-games. These games are: Mii Maestro, Handbell Harmony, and Pitch Perfect. Mii Maestro is a simple game where you act as a conductor and move your arm in time with the song in order to conduct an orchestra. With multiple player the game grades how in synch both players were. There enjoyment of this mode is pretty limited though and there are only 5 songs to play through. Handbell Harmony is probably the only mode that even resembles other rhythm games. In Handbell Harmony you will play with both the Wii remote and nunchuck, each representing a different bell that your Mii will be holding. The game will assign your character two colored bells which represent different notes on a scale. The music will start and the notes will scroll by and as they’re scrolling it’s up to you to ring the right bell at the right time that the note passes by. The mode has multiple difficulty levels and a fast scrolling mode making it one of the most challenging modes in Wii Music. This mode is even more fun with multiple players, but like Mii Maestro there is a very small selection of songs for this mode, which I thought was disappoting since I sort of enjoyed this mini-game.

The last of the mini-games is Pitch Perfect. Pitch Perfect is a quiz of sorts, broken up into eight different parts, starting with an easy section and then progressively getting more difficult. In this mini-game there are different questions that you must answer, but most of these are related to different tones. For example the game will play a tone and then you will have to guess between different Mii’s which one is playing a similar tone. It starts out easy since the tone and the Mii’s are all playing the same instrument, later when the game gives you a guitar chord and you have to find that same note between a Sitar, Piano, Bells, and Trumpet it starts getting a little more difficult. There are different questions and at the end of each group of questions the game will task you into putting a specific song in order, if you fail you have to start that group of questions all over again. I liked this mode a lot, but then again I’m a sucker for quiz style games.

The main mode of the game is Jam Session. This is really what all of Wii Music revolves around, everything else is just parsley on a dinner plate. In Jam Session you choose which part of the band you want to play between Melody, Percussion, etc. Once you choose your position then you choose an instrument. Here is where Wii Music is unique, there are a ton of different instruments to choose from. Bagpipes? Check. Sitar? Check. Xylophone? Yep. Cat Suit? Wait, wtf? Yeah, there’s a couple of weird ones thrown into the mix, like a cat suit where your actions make meow noises, and a dog suit that does the same thing but with dog sounds, and strangely enough a cheerleader outfit to add cheers to songs.

Once you’ve selected an instrument it’s time to Jam. With Wii Music you have the option to see a chart sheet with specific notes that will help you play your instrument at the right parts, but it’s optional and even if you do use it the game doesn’t penalize you for just making stuff up as you go along. Once you’ve finished playing you can choose to finish and records the song you just played with the back-up musicians, or you can change instruments and overdub into the song. Overdubbing is a large part of Wii Music. With Overdubbing you can take a song like Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and play every instrument, choosing the correct instruments to turn the song from a lullaby to a Jazz song, or a rock style song. Or you can do something random like play the song with a Tuba, a Bagpipe, a Dog, and a Cat. Sure, it’s complete noise, but it’s noise you’ve created. This can also be done with multiple players, if a band requires 6 instruments to be played than you and a friend can each spend three different times playing a different instruments, If you have 3 players than you need to only do it twice, etc.

Once you’ve finished that you can record a video, then the game will show you your little music video and then you choose from a limited amount of options a design for a CD Jacket, and you can give yourself popularity points for the song. That’s right, there’s no failure, no grading, the only grades you can earn in this mode are grades you give yourself.

Honestly, this is where Wii Music succeeds as an interesting music experiment and fails as a video game. There’s really no doubt that there’s something sort of fun about playing the Mario Bros theme rock style, or taking a classical song and changing all of the instruments to Miis wearing barking dog costumes. It is fun to do. For a while. As a video game though, with no fail mode, no feedback to how well you are doing other than just hearing yourself make awful noise that sounds nothing like the song. You can just play random notes, give yourself the highest amount of popularity for the video, pat yourself on the back and call it a day. There’s nothing in this game that challenges you to play better, or provides anything remotely resembling a challenge at all.

I understand that this game is aimed at a different market than Rock Band or Guitar Hero, and Wii Music is sort of a culmination of a theme that is present in other Nintendo games. There’s no real pressure to do anything in Animal Crossing, or Nintendogs, or some of more casual Nintendo games. The main difference between THOSE games and THIS game is the fact that when you do get items in Animal Crossing, or train your dog well in Nintendogs, or get a low age in Brain Age, there’s a sense of reward whether it’s a new item to collect, a new toy for your dog, or just feeling smart. There’s no sense of reward in Wii Music other than the sense that after ruining a song with the Cheerleader that the person who wrote the song is probably rolling around in their grave somewhere.

Some of that has to do with the control scheme as well. There are four different control types in Wii Music. There’s a Guitar type where you hold the nunchuck up with one hand and strum with the other hand, the Percussion type for stuff like drums, piano and bells where banging up and down with a nuchuck in one hand and the remote in the other produces notes, Flute type where you hold the remote towards your nose and then press the 1 and 2 buttons to produce notes, and the Violin type, which is like the guitar type where you have to hold the nunchuck up with one hand, though this time you slide the remote back and forth in order to produce notes. Pressing different combinations of the C/Z or A/B buttons or moving the joystick while doing these motions will alter the sound.

Except it’s not entirely comfortable or accurate. With either the guitar and piano type styles you’ll often find yourself hitting notes or keys you never meant to, it just sensed a motion twice or not at all. There’s also not really a sense you are the one creating these specific notes because the game will only register the correct note if you hit it in time with the onscreen music chart. The rest of the time a strum might be a high note, or it might be a low note, and it’s this randomness that really limits the creative freedom the Wii Music seems to be encouraging. Hey cool, I can add a bunch of extra notes to Happy Birthday To You, except I can’t control if they’re high notes or low notes so it sounds like a bunch of junk.

If you fail to hit the correct notes instead of creating a cool new version of some public domain song you end up making a song that sounds like a grade school recital. Somehow it always manages from sounding like complete garbage, but it will probably not end up sounding like the idea you have in your head. There are no vocals, and strangely for a big Wii title all of the songs appear to be public domain songs over more popular licensed music (and considering the fact that the Big N is making a truck ton of money currently this seems odd to me) but otherwise the music in the game is well represented and all of the instruments sound exactly like they should. The biggest pain in the ear of the whole game is the extremely annoying mascot for the game. Seriously, you’ll here this character’s simlish style of speaking a lot in the game, and it’s extremely annoying each time. The character sounds like Beaker from The Muppet Show, only on meth and with an annoying Italian accent. After a few hours I’ve changed my mind and instead of the Duck Hunt Dog being my most hated Nintendo mascot, it’s this…thing. Whatever it is.

The graphics are as simple as you can possibly get. The game uses Miis for all the characters, and the backgrounds are very plain, even though there’s a decent variety to them. All the instruments look good, but this isn’t a graphically challenging Wii game. It almost seems like in addition to streamlining the gameplay they decided to make the graphics as uncomplicated as possible as well. It’s just bland looking.

So there you have it, Wii Music is not the rhythm game that’s going to take the genre by storm, but it also doesn’t seem like it’s meant to be. Essentially it’s a very simple music game that allows for some creativity in how you play the songs, and between messing around with the different sounds, instruments and mini-games, there’s a pretty good amount of stuff to do in the game if you’re looking to waste some time. I feel though that the gamers who will benefit the most from this are the much younger gamers who might want a game like this where they can just screw around and make noise with. Remember when we were all young before plastic guitars and drums where something we hooked into our video game systems and instead where toys where we created such a racket that our parents questioned their own sanity? That’s what Wii Music is. It’s less of a video game and more of a toy to create noise with. If you consider it that way, then Wii Music gives you a lot of different songs and options to create noise. When you think of it as a video game is where it all starts to fall apart.

The Scores:
Game Modes: Mediocre
Graphics: Bad
Sound: Above Average
Control/Gameplay: Decent
Replayability: Decent
Balance: Mediocre
Originality: Great
Addictiveness: Decent
Appeal: Mediocre
Miscellaneous: Good
Final Score: DECENT GAME

Short Attention Span Summary:
Wii Music is a good example of trying too hard to capture the casual gaming market; eventually you create something that isn’t really a game at all since it has no point or objective. That’s not to say Wii Music isn’t fun, for a while it’s fun to just goof around with the different instruments and songs and the mini-games are well thought out, but once that passes there’s no reason to keep playing. I think younger kids will have a blast just pounding away with different instruments, but parents should only buy this title for their kids if they have a lot of aspirin around for when little Johnny goes into a bagpipe solo.

http://diehardgamefan.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/musicbox1.jpg

Metal Slug 2
Developer: Nazca Corporation
Publisher: D4 Enterprises
System: Neo Geo
Original Release Date: 1998
Price: 900 Wii Points

Matt Yeager: Know what would be awesome? If they had a collection of these games available for the Wii.

—

Alex Lucard: Here’s the thing. Metal Slug 2 is an excellent game. One everyone should at least play. It’s a superior game to Metal Slug 1, but there are two big problems.

1. Metal Slug 2 suffers from slowdown. LOTS of slowdown. This is why the game was re-released as Metal Slug X, which is far superior and it probably the second best game in the series, after MS3. I would never recommend Metal Slug 2 over Metal Slug X, which is easily available on the PSX.

2. There’s a little something called the Metal Slug Anthology for the PS2 and the Wii. This title, which goes for about $20 these days not only has both MS2 and MSX, but it contains 1, 3, 4, 5, & 6 to boot! That’s 7 metal Slugs for $20. Why would you buy a single MS for only $9. That’s just crazy!

There’s absolutely no reason to buy this game. None at all. Especially when you can get every Metal Slug except the 7 and the two Neo*Geo Pocket Colour games for a little over double the cost of the VC console download. Come on SNK, give us titles you HAVEN’T released an anthology for, like Mark of the Wolves or the first Baseball Stars.

—

Christopher Bowen: As Alex said, this isn’t even the best version of Metal Slug 2; Metal Slug X is superior, far superior, and is also available on the Metal Slug Anthology…the $20 Wii disc that comes with every version of the game other than Metal Slug 7 and the Neo Geo Pocket games (which were pretty good, actually)

I can see why they’re coming out with this game this week (and for those that complain that we’re not descriptive enough with our entries, read Alex’s Metal Slug 7 review, and rewind about fifteen years, adding in camels and shit. Bang, Metal Slug 2), with Metal Slug 7 being out for a couple weeks, but really, is Mark of the Wolves too awesome for us or something? Even barring that, where in the blue fuck are the games that Europe got last week? I still haven’t forgotten PSIV and Castlevania III, Nintendo!

—

Nathan Birch: Oh boy, they’re back to dumping SNK games on the service…wake me when it’s over.

—

Aileen Coe: Joy, another game you can buy cheaper and with other games in an anthology (in this case, available for the Wii, even!). Man, this seems to be a recurring theme with the VC as of late. Nintendo, there’s a near infinite library of games to choose from, both domestically and abroad - surely you can do better.

—

Mark B.: Uh, two things. First, as noted above, compilations exist with this game on it that come with OTHER games, and this are a more economical deal. Second, uh, aren’t there about a billion SNK games that AREN’T on compilation discs that COULD be coming to the VC? Couldn’t I, theoretically, be downloading Sengoku 3, or Cyber-Lip, or Mutation Nation, or hey, how about Samurai Shodown RPG? Couldn’t you perhaps give us something we HAVEN’T played in the past month? I mean, I know that the whole point of the VC is to re-release old games we loved as kids to get some more money out of them, but that only really works when I don’t own the games somewhere else, especially if it’s on a disc for this very system, guys. Let it go.

—

Well, I think we can all agree on this one…go for the Anthology if you get the Metal Slug urge. Otherwise, you might check out this weeks Wii Ware releases, Space Invaders Get Even and Pit Panic.

Animal Crossing for me, personally, was easily was the most-played game I ever tried on the Nintendo Gamecube. So when I heard that a brand-new Wii version was coming out I couldn’t resist the chance to “call it” to the rest of the DHGF staff months in advance. I was hoping that with all the new capabilities of the Wii, plus a true online experience that lacked on the Gamecube version, Animal Crossing: City Folk was destined to become a huge hit on the Nintendo Wii. Did the game live up to my expectations? Simply put…not really.

1. Story/Modes

Animal Crossing has no “modes” to speak of, you just live your life in the town that upon starting the game, you get to name yourself. There’s never a true finish either, which adds to the uniqueness of the game. You simply must play, and continue to play, over time to let the game evolve and develop. If you’re playing in the winter, you’re limited to things only available to your town during the winter. On certain holidays, you’re subjected to special gifts and rewards that are only available on that given day.

For those familiar to Animal Crossing, none of this is new to you, and unfortunately for those of us who were addicted to the original version (or the later Nintendo DS release) there really is nothing new to see here. If you fought, scratched, and sold your way to the top of the Gamecube or DS world, you’re stuck to start from scratch and build your way to the top.

In other words, rookies and veterans to the series alike will be subjected to earning a living working as a servant to town businessman Tom Nook. Tom gives you your first house, which is tiny, basic, and weakly equipped, and you must pay off your mortgage to him as you go along. You can do this in a variety of ways, and in reality it is pretty much the basic premise to the game. Just when you think you’ve got it all paid off, suddenly he’s building you a bigger house, and the bills just keep on rising.

Granted, as you play along the bigger house will be necessary as evolving your house is one of the game’s main objectives. You’ll trade with your neighbors, or earn some of their things by performing simple tasks for them. You’ll even get placed on certain deadliines, which is where the Wii’s internal clock kicks in. The “real life” date and time plays a big factor, and nothing short of cheating by messing with your internal Wii settings is going to change things. If you’re looking to conquer the game in a week, its not going to happen. To have success and make progress in this game you MUST come back to it on essentially a daily basis, over months, to achieve true success.

Needless to say, as of this writing the game has only been on shelves for a couple of weeks, so this reviewer’s experience in the town still has a ways to go to see how everything is going to play out. So far, the experience has been extremely similar to the original versions, with a few exceptions…

The “City Folk” tagline introduces a new concept of being able to board a bus and head into the city for a big of a different experience. You’ll meet tons of new “neighbors”, which are a variety of creatures that have their own unique dialogue and expressions. You can spend your time mingling with these people, as well as give your character a makeover, and acquire new items.

You can even hook up with friends for a new “Auction” feature, where items get shipped off to the highest bidder. You’ll need your own friends, entered with their 12-digit code to get to try this out, which for some of us can prove to be difficult if you don’t have friends with the game. It’s a shame that the “City” aspect isn’t a fully interactive online world, where you can mingle with complete strangers, and auction against complete strangers, I think that could’ve had a lot of potential and a way to really make the game truly interactive.

Modes Rating: Good

2. Graphics

City Folk doesn’t look a whole lot different from the original on the Gamecube, which, in turn was actually originally designed for the Nintendo 64. That’s quite a few generations back for a console in 2008-2009. The designs of the village are easy to navigate around, and everything is crisp for what it is, but by no means will you ever be impressed by anything you see as far as visuals are concerned. I wouldn’t call them bad, because they’re passable for the feel of the game, but I’m just not convinced they could’ve added a little more detail this time around.

Graphics Rating: Mediocre

3. Sound

The fine folks in Animal Crossing have their own unique voices AND languages, but in general, they amount to nothing more than squeaks, burps, growls, or whatever their character prefers. The dialogue is limited to text boxes, and the music is light and pushed to the backburner to the point you don’t even really notice it, even during long stretches of game play. Like the graphics, nothing really stands out, yet nothing is really bad either. Its amazing that I can review a game and have so little to say about graphics and sound, two traditionally huge factors in the quality of a game, but I guess we can chalk it up to just how unique a game Animal Crossing: City Folk really is as an overall experience.

Sound Rating: Decent

4. Control and Gameplay

Simple to learn, and for those who love to test of the unique functions of a Wii controller, City Folk does let you try and “do it yourself” as opposed to simply pressing buttons, at least as an option. You can swing the controller as a fishing pole or net, and dig with a shovel. You also can point and click to navigate your way through in-game menus, something clearly you couldn’t do on previous versions. This is an area that I actually can say is different from the others, and for some, this is a really good thing. For those who like to keep it simple, the nunchuk and buttons can also serve as basic, easy controls without the “grunt work” of digging or casting. Having the option is always good, and all aspects of the controls are very easy to learn within minutes of turning on the game. The challenges of Animal Crossing are about developing your character, not complex controls, and in turn it makes it a very easy, light pick up and play game that anybody can figure out in a hurry – which is the way it should be!

Control Rating: Great

5. Replayability

There’s technically no “replayability” because the game never officially ends! But, in the spirit of the rating, you have to keep coming back to it to fully achieve everything in your Animal Crossing life. If you get into the game, you’re going to come back on Christmas or your birthday to check for a gift, you’ll want to see the differences in the weather in the Fall versus the Summer. Unfortunately, in the ADD world of gaming, I can see some getting impatient with waiting for everything to come to them, but the options are limitless, and you’re never going to see an official “End” making the replayability of City Folk very good.

Replayability: Very Good

6. Balance

There’s only one way to play in Animal Crossing, so balance is another category that provides somewhat of a shade of gray in terms of how we can fairly evaluate it. The heart and soul of the game is a single player mode, and while there are new opportunities available via multiplayer mode, they’re still kind of limited and it doesn’t reach its full potential.

Balance: Mediocre

7. Originality

The Animal Crossing franchise as a whole was a revolutionary, but unfortunately City Folk is way, way too similar to the Gamecube or DS to be considered very original. To those of you who have never played those versions, the game is unlike anything you’ve ever played before, but it still has to stay in competition within itself, and the similarities end up coming back to haunt it in the end.

Originality: Mediocre

8. Addictiveness

If you’re new to the genre, or are a longtime Animal Crossing fan looking to prove themselves all over again, prepare to devote time every day to come back and progress in your City Folk life. Some fans of previous versions may have a hard time feeling motivated to literally start from scratch and build a whole new life when you’ve already proven yourself in the past. However, there’s plenty to come back to if this game hooks you fromt the beginning.

Addictiveness: Great

9. Appeal Factor

A game like this really sets no borders, as young and old, male and female, everyone can find a reason to like a game like this. It doesn’t really appeal to any one target audience, and with such a broad variety of people owning Nintendo Wii’s these days I can see a lot of people, new to the series, really finding a reason to play and be motivated to come back for more. Those of us longtime gamers have seen this before, but that’s the great thing about the Nintendo Wii, the base of customers is so large now that a game like Animal Crossing: City Folk could definitely appeal to a new base of customers.

Appeal Factor: Great

10. Miscellaneous

Finding rare items, and really just finding items in general to fill your house and the town museum is a cool perk that really doesn’t have a set category. There’s plenty of cool little things to try, and people to meet, and so many little things in general that can keep this game really fresh and new every time you power on the system. There’s a lot to see here, but like I’ve said time and time again, its not THAT much different from the older versions to fully satisfy long time fans of the series.

Miscellaneous: Good

The Scores
Story/Modes: Good
Graphics: Mediocre
Sound: Decent
Control and Gameplay: Great
Replayability: Very Good
Balance: Mediocre
Originiality: Mediocre
Addictiveness: Great
Appeal Factor: Great
Miscellaneous: Good
FINAL SCORE: GOOD GAME

Short Attention Spam Summary
If you’ve never played an Animal Crossing game before, City Folk is absolutely worth checking out because of its unique experience of building a life in a fully interactive, fun little town. Long time fans of the series, be warned, there’s definitely a “Been there, done that!” feel and the online additions are good, but not what some of us may have hoped them to be when this game was first announced. Overall, a fun experience and likely one of Nintendo’s bigger – and possibly better - releases this holiday season.

http://diehardgamefan.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/boxts.jpg

Story:

Continuing the story first begun in Tomb Raider: Legend, Underworld picks up on the theme of finding mythical weaponry, this time in the form of Thor’s Hammer. While playing I had the distinct impression that the developers had been watching a bit too much Stargate SG-1, but that’s probably just me. The story has never been anything more than a way to move the gameplay forward in Tomb Raider, and this one is no different. Lara is seeking Thor’s Hammer because it is required to gain entrance to the Viking underworld, where Lara believes her Mother may have been mistakenly transported to when she was a child. The woman simply has to know. So it’s off on a merry chase across the world to desecrate holy ground and further encourage the extinction of rare animals.

Graphics:

The game looks really nice on the whole. Lara is looking less whorish than she used to, though you do get the option of picking her outfits at the start of every level. These outfits range from the smart, actual outfits you would expect an adventurer to wear (for the women) and the slutty no-business-wearing-this outfits we’ve come to expect from Lara for the men.

There is a large variety to the levels, ranging from tropical Mexico to deep in the Mediterranean to India and naturally, somewhere in Norway. Every level looks appropriately old, and the enemies are all “appropriate” to the setting.

Sound:

Considering one of the characters you interact with is an Atlantean God, you would expect her voice to have a certain….gravitas. Instead she sounded like my neighbor. Aside from that minor quibble, I can’t really complain about much of anything when it comes to the sound in Tomb Raider Underground.

Actually that’s incorrect. The background music on the first stage is absolutely horrible. It wouldn’t really be a problem if it wasn’t constantly looping in the background. After that things got better. Or perhaps the rest of the game simply got worse?

Gameplay:

When you have a game like Tomb Raider you expect certain things. You expect vast ridiculous puzzles. You expect to see some form of treasure. In short you expect huge levels and you expect that the camera won’t screw you over while you are traversing those levels. So how does Underworld do? Well you certainly get massive levels filled with ridiculous puzzles. And you do get to find various treasures. And you do meet and slay various forms of exotic wildlife.

Unfortunately what you don’t always get is a camera that wants you to finish the game. At many points during the game I found myself wishing for a camera control option that would let me immediately look straight ahead. Some of these times were explained by an automatic camera that just couldn’t compensate for the tight spaces that Lara manages to squeeze her way into. Other cases aren’t nearly as forgivable. On the motorcycle for example, the camera is desperate to stay right behind the bike, far too low to see what’s ahead of Lara without constant guidance from you.

Another problem I found was the lack of consistency in terms of jumping, or more accurately landing jumps. There are points in the game where you must jump from spot to spot over vast chasms, you know the type. Unfortunately there seems to be little to differentiate between a good jump and a poor one. There were many times where I thought I was jumping from the proper location, and actually was, but something caused me to go off course, or not jump far enough, etc. Then after the reload, when jumping from the exact same location I would land the jump. Fortunately the game provides a multitude of checkpoints. Every five steps there appears to be a checkpoint, and I couldn’t have been happier to have them thanks to those quirky jumps. I really don’t know if I could have finished the game without them.

Lastly you will quickly learn to just not bother trying to jump on certain slopes. This is due to the difficulty the game has with allowing Lara to navigate certain angles. She seemingly cannot do it, and will if you make the mistake of trying get stuck and bounce around as though she was being electrocuted. You are then left with the option of mashing the buttons in hopes of finding an action that will cause Lara to jump out of this predicament. Stupid things like these make me think that Eidos have started with their BS of pushing these games out the door before they are ready again.

Replayability:

After completing the game you can reload the various levels to find whatever treasures you may have missed, but once you’ve finished the game I can’t really say that there is all that much reason to play it again.

Balance:

Most of the difficulty found in the game comes not from the various enemies you’ll fight but from the camera and jumping system. Some of the puzzles can be a little difficult but the developers provided for that by giving you access to Lara’s inner thoughts regarding what she should do next. I think it’s a great idea. After all, she’s the super archeologist, not you. It’s not always perfect though, and it doesn’t always tell you flat out what you should be doing, but sometimes all you need is a push in the right direction.

Originality:

Underworld is the 8th game starring Lara Croft, not counting expansion packs and the remake. It is also the third game by the new developers when one includes the remake. So the newness of items like the grappling hook is gone. What I am left with to measure the originality are the story and the levels, neither of which are truly that new. In fact one of the levels in the game is used twice. Yes ok that’s not exactly a new phenomenon, but when they go out of their way to be cheeky about it, I have to comment. I’m sorry but “Hey remember that ship you sunk? It had a sister ship. No I’m serious.” is not a good excuse for reusing a level.

Addictiveness:

About as addictive as unbuttered toast. The game is not horrible but there is nothing truly memorable or addictive about it. If you want that go play Uncharted again.

Appeal:

Lara Croft. From the way she holds an M-16, she’s a lefty, which I never noticed before. So she’s a female role model and a lefty role model. If you don’t fall into either of those demographics, or if you aren’t a slobbering teenaged boy who hasn’t discovered what the web was really invented for, then this game will really only appeal to you if you are feeling nostalgic.

Miscellaneous:

The menu seems to have taken it’s inspiration from the old NFL 2K games, with its wheel of options. I don’t know why it has. It really only served to make the intro menu more complex that it really needed to be.

<>uThe Scores:
Story: Good
Graphics: Incredible
Sound: Good
Gameplay: Mediocre
Replayability: Poor
Balance: Great
Originality: Pretty Poor
Addictiveness: Very Bad
Appeal: Mediocre
Miscellaneous: Poor
Final Score: Decent Game

Short Attention Span Summary:

Considering how Legend breathed new life into the Tomb Raider franchise, it’s sad to see its sequel suffering from many of the flaws that nearly killed it in the first place. Oops they did it again.

http://diehardgamefan.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/cover1.jpg

I’ve always felt that Metal Slug 3 was the best in the series. One and two were great, but three blew me away, especially with the eventual port of the game to the Xbox with a lot of bonus features and frills. MS 4 & 5 were a step down in quality, but they were still enjoyable games. MS 6 made its US debut on the awesome Metal Slug Anthology for the Wii and PS2 and all six games thrown together gave that compilation our “Shooter of the Year” award for 2006.

Two years later and we finally have the much delayed Metal Slug 7, exclusively for the DS. Anytime a series gets up to the number seven, things start to get a little stale. Is MS7 able to show us something new, or has the series picked up the same issues that detractors say about KoF, where SNK just makes cookie cutter games to sate an ever shrinking core audience?

Let’s Review

1. Story & Modes

It’s Marco and gang against General Morden once again. This time though, it appears time travel is involved, or at least it seems that way from the scene you get in the game. Much like every other SNK game, Metal Slug 7 is very sparse when it comes to story details, leaving much of it up to the imagination unless you find one of the many sites that go into detail with the official canon plots of these games. My one big complaint with SNK is that the stories are left only for the zealots to enjoy rather than having them fully fleshed out in the games.

Like is all MS games, you’ll be killing enemy fighters and vehicles, using your own vehicles known as “Slugs” to help propel you through the game and each stage ends with a massive boss fight. You’ll save POW’s who in turn give you power ups and you play until you beat the game, die, or achieve a high score. From just a plot and core gameplay point of view, MS7 does appear to be a paint by numbers game. Thankfully, first impressions can be decieving.

There is one new mode in Metal Slug 7 and that’s “Combat School.” Combat school is actually a lot of fun as they are drills in which you go through mini levels trying to achieve one of several different objectives. In each of these, the goal isn’t necessarily just to beat the mission, but it’s to achieve whayt would normally be a secondary objective in the main game. These goals may range from “Save as many POW’s as you can” to, “Only shoot living enemy targets.” When you complete each level, you get a rating. Each rating equals points, and points act as XP, where reaching a certain threshold of points earns you a new military rank. These are many missions in combat school to complete and this gives the Metal Slug series a nice breath of fresh air similar to “Fat Island” in MS3.

I’m at that point where I find the side games like Combat school to be more entertaining than the main game versions of Metal Slug. Maybe it’s because we are at the 7th game and it’s in these offshoots that we really see SNK get creative. Combat School is actually the main reason I would recommend this game to long time MS fans like myself as it’s something outside the box and it can be quite difficult to obtain an S rating, while quite easy for someone new to MS to barely eke through the mission.

I wish the main game of MS7 had a bit more innovation, but Combat School gives the game some much needed depth, especially at a $29.99 MSRP.

Story & Modes Rating: Decent

2. Graphics

It should really come as no surprise that Metal Slug 7 uses some of the same sprites we’ve been seeing for over a decade. This is SNK after all. Still, this is one of the brightest and sharpest looking Metal Slug games ever and you can really see a difference in graphics when compared to the ports of MS4 & 5.

There are some new animations in the game to reflect each character’s new “special attacks” (more on that later), and I love all of the new bosses. Each boss is HUGE in stature and they each provide some fun and harrowing battles as you try to figure out their attack patterns and ways to kill them.

There is no slowdown present in MS7, which is amazing considering the amount of enemies and shots on the screen at all time. I was very impressed that the little DS cart could handle all the action on the screen, especially when slowdown has been present in shooters and fighters on the system.

Visually Metal Slug 7 is a generation behind what can be done in portable systems. MS7 would have easily worked as a GBA game, or even an Xbox or PS2 game. Although the graphics are a bit outdated in terms of texturing and pushing the limits of the DS, they still have the classic retro feel the MS series is known for and it’s still appealing to look at, especially since so many characters have nuances about them when shot, killed, or made angry. The little details make up for the usual SNK sprite reuse.

Graphics Rating: Decent

3. Sound

There’s a lot of classic Metal Slug sounds in this game. The POW’s “Thank You!” when you say them. The cries of pain when someone is shot or stabbed. The familiar machine gun shooting when the game first starts. All the sound effects and tiny “voice acting” bits Metal Slug fans have come to cherish are still intact and make this latest MS game a joy to play through.

The music of MS7 is quite nice as well. Like with all MS games, the music is enjoyable and sets the tone of the game, yet is never annoying or distracting. This is importance because it allows the gamer to concentrate on the high rate of firepower blazing across the screen rather than the music. I honestly can’t even remember the music with the game turned off, but if I boot it up in my DS and listen only to the background tracks, I can hum along with them with ease.

Unlike most games, the special effect noises are more important than the score with MS titles. Each gun has their own unique sound, each Slug makes specific unique noises, and even run of the mill cannon fodder soldiers have their own expressions and noises. Like with graphics, MS7 tends to let the little subtle nuances stand on their own, and it’s the perceptive gamer that catches these. If you take the time to listen to the myriad of noises in MS7, you’ll walk away quite impressed with all that they crammed into this little cart.

Sound Rating: Good

4. Control and Gameplay

Thank you SNK for not doing a touch screen & stylus version of controls. No siree, you’re playing Metal Slug 7 the way the series was meant to be played, with button mashing action all the way. You use the D-pad for moving, the Y button for shooting, the A button for gernades, the B button for jumping and the R button for changing between weapons. It’s classic Metal Slug controls all the way, and the game plays perfectly here on the DS.

There are six playable characters this time around, and each has their own specific abilities that you can use. Some characters have two abilities, while others have one. Marco, the main character, actually has two to three depending on the difficulty level you choose. Some special abilities are innate with the character such as Marco’s double damage with the handgun or Eri’s ability to have twice the normal amount of grenades. Four characters however have special abilities that can only be used by pressing Up, L and Y at the same time. These characters are Clark, Ralk, Tarma and Marco. Tarma and Clark’s aren’t very useful in my opinion, but Ralf’s is pretty impressive, it’s just too bad his inherent weakness is too strong for even his special ability to overcome. Marco simply has a salvo shot that does extra damage, but he has to be stationary to do it. Thus Marco is the best of the four with special abilities and continues to make him the best character choice overall. The special abilities are new to MS7, while the strengths/weaknesses bits are holdovers from MS6.

Something you might not notice at first is the “Rush Blaster System.” This is because it only pertains to your score. The faster you kill enemies on the screen, the higher your rush blaster meter gets. The higher the meter, the bigger the point multiplier you receive. You can get the meter up to 16x, so for those of you concerned about high scores, keep a close eye on this meter.

MS7 is an amazingly solid game with some of the tightest controls for a DS game this year. The gameplay is exceedingly simple to get a hold of and master. It’s surviving the waves of enemies that are your real challenge here.

Control and Gameplay Rating: Unparalleled

5. Replayability

If there is one thing MS7 excels at, it is replayability. You have six different characters to play as, each with their own unique moves and styles. Sure you can beat a game with Marco, but can you with Flo? This puts a nice new twist on the game and lets you discover which character works best for you. Combat School is another area you can spend a lot of time on as you try to raise your rank, or replay each mission to get a better score. Finally, you have the prisoner list, which shows you how many POW’s you have freed in each missions. For gamers who like to complete every little aspect of a title, this is more than enough reason to replay a mission as you try to save every single beardo in the game.

If that’s not enough, there’s also trying to set a new high score. Remember once upon a time when that alone was reason to beat a game?

Replayability Rating: Good

6. Balance

Generally this is an area where most SNK games, including MS titles score a bit low. This is because SNK’s idea of “Easy” is what most developers would call “Normal” or “Hard.” With MS7 however, they have provided an easy mode that is actually well, better suited to new gamers or those that can’t hack “SNK Boss Syndrome.” I actually found myself enjoying all the different difficulties settings and one can even argue that the game plays differently in each, which certain characters performing better on say Easy, then on Medium or Hard.

In terms of character selection, there are some characters that are superior to others. This may come as little surprise, but the series mainstays of Fio and Marco are the top tier characters, with Tarma and Eri acting as the middle tier. I put newcomers Ralf and Clark (You do know where these characters originally came from right? Nice bit of fan service SNK!) at the bottom simply because Ralf’s speed issue is far too annoying for me to enjoy him and Clark’s back breaker move is only there for people playing to set a high score rather then beat the game. Still, each character has their uses.

I love SNK for letting you have the mission select option in MS7. This means people can start on whatever missions they choose, making progressing through the gamer easier for newcomers to shooters. However, I also love SNK for limiting the amount of continues you get. Too many shooters with unlimited continues make the game eatable by anyone who just wants to press the continue button over and over again, making the game fundamentally worthless as the average gamer tends to ignore the actual level design and insane difficulty of the game. It also makes them play recklessly because hey, unlimited continues. Screw that. SNK has struck the perfect balance here with MS7 and although I prefer, “The more you play, the more continues you earn” style, this is arguably just as good.

MS7 is probably the most balanced of all Metal Slug titles. The difficulty levels are different enough that you can feel it, and easy is actually easy for the first time in SNK history, making one of their titles accessible to all gamers. Sure the game is still pretty hard and only an idiot savant wilol beat the game on his first playthrough, but MS7 managed to strike the perfect accord between being challenging and rewarding, making it playable by all.

Balance Rating:Unparalleled

7. Originality

The main game of MS7 is indeed a cookie cutter experience. Only level design and boss fights separate one MS game from another, and even then it can be a blur for even the most ardent of MS fans. Combat School is highly enjoyable, but even here, many of the missions are the same exact level, just with a different goal, making things run together. Plus, this isn’t the first time SNK has done Combat School. Just play Metal Slug X and you’ll find it there too.

Although MS7 is a lot of fun and offers some nice new gameplay issues and a fun new mode, it really is bereft of creativity. The core game, albeit it quality, has not changed since the very first Metal Slug title. This makes these few innovations truly stand out, but also reinforces just how little the series as grown since its inception.

Originality Rating: Bad

8. Addictiveness

I have to admit I spent a lot of time on this game, but most of it was trying to improve my scores in Combat School. The main game of MS7 was fun, and I enjoyed trying out all the new characters, but because Combat School was new and different, I found myself drawn to doing something other than the same old, same old.

The main game has its moments, but after seven Metal Slugs featuring the same exact runthroughs, the eyes tend to glaze over a bit, even if this IS the best MS since MS3. Combat School will definitely keep MS veterans glued to this game as they try to raise their rankings and scores, while the new MS7, although derivative of the previous six, will provide a lot of entertainment as you try out all the new characters, regardless of your previous Metal Slug experience.

Addictiveness Rating: Above Average

9. Appeal Factor

Well Metal Slug and run n’ gun shooters in general have gone from being one of the most popular forms of gaming (Ikari Warriors, Contra, Rush N’ Attack) to being a very niche type of game. It also doesn’t help that a small publisher like Ignition won’t be treated on a level playing field with the larger publishers like Konami, Capcom and EA. It’s a pity too, because MS7 is a really fun game and SNK has made huge headway with this game in regards to making it accessible to all types of gamers rather than their core psycho audience, of which I am a proud member.

MS7 is a great little action game, and its sliding difficulty level means that most anyone can pick it up and have fun with it. Combat School and POW collection are still there for the long time fans of the series to provide them with a nice challenge while their younger siblings or less experienced friends take on General Morden for the first time. If Ignition can get the shelf space and some quality press, MS7 has the potential to be a DS sleeper hit and a great first glimpse into the SNK catalog for a lot of gamers. Will it be the best game people have played on the DS this year. No. Will they have fun with it even while being challenged? Yes, and that’s what counts.

Appeal Factor: Above Average

10. Miscellaneous

On one hand, this is the best MS since the third game in the series. One the other hand, there are two big strikes against it that need to be addressed here. The first is that there is no multiplayer mode. There’s not even a linking of two carts to each other over wi-fi. This is a shame because multiplayer Metal Slug is a lot of fun as well as a source of the series’ appeal. The other big strike against this game is that it is coming to Xbox Live in the beginning of 2009 for a fraction of the cost of the DS game. Now, for hardcore MS fans such as myself, that’s not a problem. I love having portable Metal Slug for the first time since the awesome titles for the Neo*Geo Pocket Colour, but most gamers will be better off going for the Xbox live version as it will be cheaper and just as good, and boasting a bigger screen to boot. If you DON’T have an Xbox, then yes, this is the way to go, but remember you’re paying for the portability and chance to play this game a few months early. It’s up to you if it’s worth more than doubling the Xbox Live purchase price it’ll have. The real wait and see will be if the XBL version has Combat School or if it’s just the main game you are buying. From a consumer standpoint it is probably smarter to wait and see what the XBL release is like, but from a supporter of a small indie publisher standpoint, it may be better to buy the game for the DS simply to see what other awesome titles Ignition will bring stateside.

Miscellaneous Rating: Mediocre

The Scores
Story/Modes: Decent
Graphics: Decent
Sound: Good
Control and Gameplay: Unparalleled
Replayability: Good
Balance: Unparalleled
Originality: Bad
Addictiveness: Above Average
Appeal Factor: Above Average
Miscellaneous: Mediocre
FINAL SCORE: ENJOYABLE GAME

Short Attention Span Summary

Although the main game of Metal Slug 7 is getting both predictable and a bit stale, I can’t deny that this game is a lot of fun and the best Metal Slug since MS3. Combat School is surprisingly fun and long time MS fans will spend most of their time in here simply due to the shiny new nature of this spin off. Casual gamers or those new to the MS franchise will be happy to hear this is the most accessible game SNK has put out since the original Baseball Stars for the NES, which a sliding difficulty scale that actually prevents SNK Boss Syndrome. This is certainly a better purchase then the Commando: Steel Disaster rip off from a few months back, and traditional run and gun shooter fans will be quite pleased if they decide to add this to their collection.

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The story of Mirror’s Edge revolves around Faith, a Runner (a free-running delivery person) who does odd jobs for clients while generally skirting the outside edge of the law. This isn’t a particularly important point of the story, of course, as after the first chapter, your mission is less about running and more about figuring who set your sister up as a murderer, as she’s been implicated as the murderer of family friend and mayoral candidate Robert Pope, and it’s up to Faith to figure out who set her up and why. There’s a whole bunch of political subplots going on throughout the story of the game, most of which involve Project Icarus, a shadowy project that essentially is meant to further restrict the already tightly monitored communications of the city, by any means necessary, and as you’d expect, the story is mostly meant to be one of those stories that cheers on those who value freedom while chastising those who sacrifice that freedom, even if it means saving their lives. The actual telling of the story isn’t bad, all in all, and the various characters are written well enough to be interesting in context, but the story is meant to be part of something greater, and as such, the ending is fairly flat and doesn’t really “end” the game, and further, the actual story is fairly by the numbers; your character works for an underground “free voice” in a repressed city run by a totalitarian dictatorship, her sister is a good cop in a city of corruption, friends become enemies and enemies become friends, the whole song and dance is exactly as you would expect it to be, and while it’s told competently, it’s utterly devoid of shock and surprise of any sort.

Also, as a note to any other writers in the world who might be penning a game script/screenplay/novel/whatever, when you feel the need to drop the titular line fifteen seconds into the product, that is an urge you should seek to repress, by any means necessary, ESPECIALLY when it’s delivered in the ham-fisted way Mirror’s Edge does it. “We exist on the edge, between the gloss and the reality… the Mirror’s Edge”? That was the best someone could come up with? And someone PAID THEM to write that? If you ever wonder why movie critics marginalize video gaming as an art form, read that line aloud as many times as you have to until it makes sense.

Visually, Mirror’s Edge is artistically interesting, largely because it focuses heavily on style over substance, to surprisingly solid effect. The world visuals are represented in bright, vibrant whites, oranges and blues, mostly, with splashes of red as needed, that all come together in a way that’s very artistic, almost as if the world were drawn in some sort of shiny comic panel style that’s surprisingly compelling. The various character models that pop up here and there are well animated and lifelike, but the city Faith runs through is the biggest visual star of the game, so its fitting that it looks as good as it does. The cutscenes aren’t AS good as the game graphics; they’re more akin to something from Liquid Television than anything gamers would normally expect, though they, too, are not without their artistic style, as the characters are generally animated well and the color contrast from the game world is applied to the cutscenes nicely. The audio is also well done; the game music is a mix of hard driving rock and techno tunes that manage to be ambient and/or pulse-pounding as needed, and fit the tone of the game nicely, and the various sound effects sound exactly as they should throughout the game. The voice acting is also well done, with a minor exception or two (Celeste, Faith’s friend, doesn’t sound like she’s all that into her role at times), and it sells the experience well. If the presentation of the game were the only thing to judge it on, Mirror’s Edge would be a far better experience than it is; sadly, such is not the case.

The gameplay of Mirror’s Edge can be summed up neatly in ten words and four punctuation marks: It’s Prince of Persia, in first person, with less combat. The primary gameplay element of Mirror’s Edge is running around the city, however and wherever you can, doing the most insane and unrealistic stuff imaginable, to get from place to place. The controls are a little odd to understand at first; the left and right stick look and move as you’d expect, but the two most useful buttons are the high and low actions, which are mapped to the left bumper and trigger, respectively. High actions involved jumping, running along walls, and climbing things, and low actions involve ducking, sliding, rolling, and dropping off of things, and you’ll be doing a ton of both as you run through the city from place to place. The whole purpose of the game amounts to doing tons of acrobatics as you run from place to place, and the world is set up well for this, as you’ll often find yourself running up walls and bounding from said walls to nearby ledges, or swinging from pipes to ledges, or (in one case) jumping between trains moving down the tracks, among other interesting things. The world, simply speaking, is designed in an interesting way, and offers a lot of interesting missions and actions to perform as you progress through the game.

Of course, Mirror’s Edge also has a few of its own tricks to keep it from becoming just another game in the genre. The biggest one is “Runner Vision”, which essentially highlights areas of the world in bright red; these areas are highlighted to tell you, the player, where you should be going to next, which is both an interesting visual trick and a useful tool for new players to see where they need to go to get from one place to the next. Runner Vision isn’t a constant, of course, and some areas leave it to you to figure out the puzzles contained therein, so it also helps that by holding down B, you can also have Faith look towards the next objective, which also gives you a decent idea of where you need to go and how you need to get there. The game also offers a bullet-time mechanic that charges as you play that, when full, allows you to slow down your perception of the world around you, which is convenient both in combat and for timing precise jumps, making it absolutely invaluable in later sections of the game. And yes, there is combat, though how you engage in it depends on what you want to do with the game. Faith has a few basic attacks at her disposal, between regular high and low punches, slide kicks, and jump kicks, but her most useful ability is her ability to disarm foes; sneaking up on enemies or goading them into striking her allows the player to press Y, which prompts her to grab the weapon, knock out the foe, and in many cases, take the weapon for her own use. Whether or not you then use said weapon is up to you; many of the guns the enemies drop are certainly useful, but they cramp your running and jumping abilities significantly, and as there’s almost never a NEED to shoot enemies, whether or not you choose to do so will depend entirely upon your personal preferences.

The core game will take about six to seven hours to complete, depending on how quickly you learn the basics of your agility maneuvers, but the game is hardly over once you complete it the first time. There are multiple difficulty levels through the game (though the difficulty only really affects combat, and in one case, disables Runner Vision), and throughout the game there are various satchels you can collect to unlock concept art and such. Further, once you’ve completed the game, there are various Time Trials to complete, each of which allows you the ability to race through the game world as fast as possible to score better than others on XBL, which can also unlock neat stuff to play around with. You can also go back to your favorite stages after the fact and play through them again as you wish, which allows you to simply play around in your favorite sections of the game whenever and however you want. If you’re a fan of what Mirror’s Edge does, you’ll find the various unlockables and extras worth your time, especially since the time trials are all about learning and perfecting the jumping puzzles first, and ignore the “dodge hails of gunfire” mentality of the story mode altogether, making them ideal for those who want to perfect their timing with the controls over dodging gunfire and fighting enemies.

Unfortunately, Mirror’s Edge suffers from a series of significant, potentially off-putting flaws that can neatly be categorized as the sorts of things that would give David Wong an aneurysm. For one thing, first person agility-based platformers are often a bad idea, largely because, simply speaking, there is no way to adequately replicate the sensations one would experience doing such things in real life, meaning that attempting simple jumping sequences becomes a lot harder than it would be in a third-person game. In real life, your feet are attached to your body, and you know WHERE they are relative to where everything else is and can time real jumps accordingly. In third-person games, you can SEE your feet, and can therefore determine the appropriate launching point visually by looking at where your feet are relative to your jumping point. In first person games, you either need to stare down at your feet to see your appropriate launching point (which often makes your landing off-target) or you need to simply leap blindly (which often results in misjudging the jump distance), both of which will often result in a lot of trial-and-error gameplay. This, in turn, robs the game of its cinematic feel by way of forcing the player to repeat the same sections multiple times; watching an experienced player run through a section that they’ve completed countless times would, no doubt, be cinematically invigorating, but playing through the same situation yourself for the first time when you’ve got no clue what you’re doing often ends up with you dying, badly, leaving the immersion of the experience lacking in key areas.

This is further compounded by the fact that, bluntly, dodging hails of gunfire while trying to make precise jumps when your character is not a meat shield feel like a perverse form of psychological torture. Look, wanting to put complex jumping puzzles and not-immediately obvious pathways into a game? That makes sense. You want to do that during quiet sections of the game, knock yourself out, that’s part of the wonder of being a gamer. Gamers love figuring things out on their own, and making a game that allows them that option is an easy way to make money. But when there is a team of heavily armed, dangerous, combat-trained police officers on the player’s ass, it is not productive to make the escape route obtuse or difficult to do on the first try, since this often means that the player will have to do the same section five, ten, or twenty times to complete it, which robs the experience of its cinematic presence and charm. There’s a difference between “tension” and “frustration”, okay? Tension is “running from the bad guy fast and dodging all obstacles in my way”, frustration is “having five seconds to figure out that there’s a very tiny vent in the ceiling that I have to escape through that will require a wall-running jumping sequence to access when I have about five seconds to figure this all out before death comes ripping its way through the wall to end my existence”. Mirror’s Edge mistakes the latter for the former FAR too often to be considered a “good” experience, and the fact that the only thing the difficulty impacts, in most cases, is your ability to withstand bullets and your ability to actually know where you’re going seems as if it were designed to appeal only to the most masochistic and self-loathing of players.

Assuming you can look beyond the trial-and-error gameplay, a lot of the other elements of the experience don’t hold up as well as one might hope, either. Combat is limited in its variety and, in many respects, not terribly useful; dodging your way in close to disarm a foe (and why are the foes all too willing to strike you when they know you might disarm them, anyway) is often your best choice for any encounter, and while that makes sense in context, it’s not an excuse for a boring mechanic. Gunplay is serviceable, but seems like it was included in the game mostly to appease the sort of gamer who would be attracted to a first-person game in the first place; logically, it makes no sense for the character to kill people when she’s trying to CLEAR her name as a killer, and functionally, you end up dropping any gun you acquire five seconds later since Faith can’t carry a gun and do acrobatics at the same time, so there doesn’t seem to be any reason for the gunplay except to say “Hey, we know you like guns so HERE YOU GO,” except in a few later sections where holding a gun seems almost required. Also, aside from playing the game over again or playing the Time Trials over and over again, there’s no real reason to play the game after you’ve completed it, and unless you’re looking to actively improve your scores to hit that elusive three-star mark on every course in the game, you won’t find much reason to play the game after you’ve completed the story (and for some of you, long before that).

In the end, Mirror’s Edge is a lot like first-person brawler Breakdown; an interesting idea based on taking a third-person style of game and converting it into a first-person experience that is ultimately flawed too much to be enjoyable as anything other than a curiosity. Those who love games like Prince of Persia and Tomb Raider will most likely get some significant joy from this game; the controls are solid and reasonable, and thanks to the open environments and the ability to run through preferred stages, either normally or in an enemy-free Time Attack, there’s lots of fun to be had memorizing the stages and timing your stylish techniques to perfection for those who love it. That said, this sort of experience doesn’t translate as well as one might hope to the first-person style of play, and between the trial-and-error gameplay, the all too frequent “figure this out before you’re shot to death” sections, and the general break in immersion because of the frequent stop-and-start death and reload segments, this may be enough to put off even the most interested player. Worse, once you’re finished with the game, the only reason to go back to it is to perfect your runs through the environment, and while that may appeal to some, others will find this to be an unappealing way to spend their time. As a rental or a budget title, Mirror’s Edge is worth checking out, if only to see what was done with the experience artistically and what could have been done better mechanically, but only the most devoted fan of the genre will really get enough from the game to merit a full-priced purchase, as casual fans will find it short and frustrating, and non-fans will find even LESS to like about the genre with the perspective change, leaving this as a novelty for serious fans… and little else.

The Scores:
Story: ABOVE AVERAGE
Graphics: GREAT
Sound: CLASSIC
Control/Gameplay: ABOVE AVERAGE
Replayability: POOR
Balance: MEDIOCRE
Originality: ABOVE AVERAGE
Addictiveness: MEDIOCRE
Appeal: POOR
Miscellaneous: POOR
Final Score: DECENT GAME

Short Attention Span Summary:
Mirror’s Edge is ultimately a game that promises more than the final product is capable of delivering. The presentation of the product is artistically interesting, and the game looks and sounds pretty good across the board, and while the story isn’t anything special, it carries the game well enough to be acceptable. Players who enjoy what the game does or is trying to do will also find the ability to return to levels whenever they want or to jump into Time Attacks of specific sections welcome and enjoyable, and will enjoy being able to unlock content by searching everywhere for hidden goodies. The flaws of the game will prove too overbearing for some, however, due to the awkward trial-and-error gameplay, the frequent deaths, the frustratingly bad attempts at creating tension by killing the player a lot, and the general break in atmosphere by constantly reloading to try again. Even if one can get beyond those complaints, however, the core game is fairly short, and the ability to take on levels over and over to improve your score, though amusing, wears out its welcome quickly, leaving little reason to play the game upon completion, if even that