The Wrap-Up returns after the long holiday to breakdown the latest reviews including two expensive pieces of hardware and of course the latest games including LittleBigPlanet, Way of the Samurai 3 and of course Modern Warfare 2.
This week I break down the latest reviews on ZTGD including Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias, A Witch’s Tale and so, so much more.
The fifth episode of the Wrap-Up covers a handful of reviews including Dead Space Extraction, Demon’s Souls, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 and a host of others.
The latest weekly review wrap-up is here. Games include: HYBRID: Eternal Whisper, MySims Agents, Toy Story Mania, Gran Turismo, Zombie Apocalypse, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, NHL 2K10 and Tales of Monkey Island: Lair of the Leviathan. (more…)
Gamescom has dished the accolades and Uncharted 2 emerges as the console victor from the event’s juried selection of the industry’s best. Also in the ribbons are Legend of Zelda: Spirit tracks for best handheld game, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for best family game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 nabbed best PC game and AIon won in the PC category. StarCraft 2 was awarded best of the Gamescom 2009 citing, “Certainly the game with the perfect balance of the game from graphics, sound, gameplay, fun and progress.”
(As reported by German site Videogames Zone)
In a field of whimsical takes on Olympic eventing, The Game Factory’s World Championship Games: A Track and Field Event stands out as a downright serious take on the likes of hurdling, javelin and archery. The game is intense, and very focused on a rather particular control scheme that ranges from pleasant and addictive to downright maddening over the fourteen different events.
A collection of addictive mini-games, World Championship Games; Track and Field Events is gameplay-centered. In this way, it is not the typical time-killer, though it certainly could make for easy to pick up and play title. The controls require a little dedication, and events with essential action on both screens are the most taxing (I’m talking ’bout you, hurdles!), but it’s this very same level of challenge that will give the game staying power with track and field fans.
A darkly methodical FPS on the DS should be entirely refreshing but instead feels phoned in, as though Renegade Kid covered all the basics without tapping into a deeper gaming vision. It’s too bad that the proficient Moon is a disappointing example of how technical achievement is not enough to make a compelling game.
Last week we delivered buyer’s guides to inform our readers what to get the gamer in their life this holiday season. Today we bring you a list of ten games that should, in no circumstances, be placed under the tree for your joystick junkie. This list of games was actually harder to construct than a list of must-haves for the simple fact that there were a ton of games this year that we should avoid at all costs. Each game represented below is a mockery of why we came to love games in the first place.
Iron Man
For the gamer in need of another reason to hit the bottle.
An awesomely bad storyline, cut scenes that should have been cut, repetitive gameplay and diabolically re-spawning enemies make for a title sure to land anyone in rehab. Unless you know and care for the most masochistic of gamers, Iron Man is unfit for human consumption. On the upside, not playing this embarrassment to lower game-forms known as movie cash-ins leaves plenty of time to go watch the movie itself.
Wii Music
For the gamer who hates winning – and losing.
Experiential and experimental to a fault, Wii Music is a title that is best described as an anti-game, perfect for the anti-gamer. With no penalty for diversion from the chosen tune and the ability to create a veritable cacophony of bagpipes and dogs barking, Wii Music is sure to torment any properly goal-oriented, natural progression loving gamer.
A lot of things just plain work in this title, while other elements – like the addition of god powers – are a bit too nuanced to pack any real punch. In all, Mythologies follows the tried-and-true tactical formula of collecting resources to develop tech and increase units and then go fight some battles. With gameplay to rival Advance Wars, Mythologies lacks the graphical oomph to set it apart from the pack but remains a robust strategy title. A solid, deep game it gets a lot of things right and is such an improvement over its predecessor it is an ideal pick for gamers looking to try the series – and a must have for those disillusioned with the last iteration’s meager graphical effort.
With cute, stuffed origins in Shawnimals, Venan Entertainment’s Ninjatown avoids the pitfalls of many a licensed game and delivers a portable tower defense game á la PixelJunk Monsters – and that is high praise. Definitely a gateway RTS drug, the addictive title may well lead to harder things than plushy ninjas.
I love cooking, my DS and yes, Jamie Oliver, which made me a more than willing guinea pig for this foray into foodie gaming. Sadly, what could have joined the ranks of Cooking Mama and her slicing and dicing ilk is little more than an interactive cookbook, and I have the Internet for that. If you are fond of cooking and Jamie, I will gladly recommend any one of his cookbooks currently available for less than this underachieving game.
Welcome to the curious village of St. Mystere, a perfect getaway for gamers hungering for a point-and-click brain bender of an adventure. Much like any other European town, St. Mystere is just head over heels for puzzles and the eclectic lot of village-folk won’t give up a scrap of info until you prove sufficient mastery over them, from math to logic to just plain riddling.
Think of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass as Wind Waker: Episode 2 for your DS, right down to the sailing through cell-shaded prettiness. Don’t be hasty and write off Phantom Hourglass because of its accessibility. Where hardcore gameplay is shaved off, pleasing diversity replaces it. A pocket-sized adventure it lives up to the captivating quality of its predecessors. There’s remarkable scope for a handheld in this game, and the fifteen or so hours of gameplay are layered with fun. A completely touch-based, 3-D world, this portable addition to the saga is a success in spite of some quirks.
You will once again don the green garb of your favorite questionably pubescent hero as the game opens on you and Tetra, sailing in search of the mysteriously threatening Ghost Ship. Tetra, an otherwise admirably hardy heroine type promptly lands herself in the middle of some damsel distress, and the young gent we’ll call Link must retrieve her. Classic. Next on the traditional Zelda plot arc is the obligatory helper meet-up, this time with a sassy fairy creature called Ciela, and useless future-role-for-Hugh-Grant Linnebeck, a lazy treasure hunter in dapper garb.
There’s a lot of graphical punch packed into this pocket-sized game, and very little cinematic neglect. Shots are framed nicely, and you get just as much attention to character as in prior console versions. If you don’t like all the chatter of Link’s expanding social circle, you may find your life as Link cluttered up by all the companions. They stick with you through the game, which adds to the game’s depth while taxing the patience of Zelda traditionalists who just want to get on with their quest. You might start to wish they would just get left behind on one of the islands.
The stylus-based controls made me grumpy for the first ten minutes, and then I got over it. When you drag the stylus across the screen you move Ciela, and Link then obediently follows the fairy. Don’t question it. Link will always run from his current position to the tip of the stylus. How far you pull Ciela from Link determines how quickly Link moves. A good swipe of the stylus or a direct tap on an enemy will do the trick, or you can draw a circle around Link to cue the spinning attack. The least successful maneuver is the roll with about a 50/50 success rate. Righty or lefty, there is just no avoiding that your hand will cover the screen at some point, leaving me grateful for my dainty lady hands. The system isn’t broken, just not quite so gamer-intuitive as the d-pad. Once my d-pad grumblings were over I found myself on the receiving end of a pot shot from the ghost of a fallen warrior who declared his longing for d-pad controls was his “only regret” in life. Otherwise, those ghosts are pretty un-helpful for folks with unfinished business.
The use of the stylus-based control is a good innovation, though it’s no Wii-Stick. The course-charting feature and handy item usage are big pluses, and once you get adept at it there is a definite precision advantage. Things like drawing the path of the boomerang are really fantastic little tricks, and you’ll be solving puzzles by chucking your boomerang around items, across chasms, and down hallways.
The adventure packed into this relatively short game in is great; though, call me greedy, I still found myself wishing for the depth of exploration found in console versions. Each labyrinth focuses on a single item and then tests your skills against one boss. The items acquired in tandem with the stylus controls mean that no two labyrinths or bosses are dealt with quite the same way, and they all make good use of the dual screens. The boss battles are a bit short-lived, and if any give you any trouble it will only take you one try to figure them out. It isn’t until late in the game when there are any boss battle casualties and the fights start to last longer than a minute.
Labyrinths are more linear and a bit abbreviated. The puzzles are pretty contained and you will typically only find yourself retracing one section instead of the labyrinth in its entirety. You will, however, be replaying a certain temple over and over. I find time-based challenges irritating in general, so when I was forced to replay the Temple of the Ocean King ten times, grumpiness set in. Fortunately, if you take good notes the time trials aren’t overly taxing. This temple runs throughout the game and keeps everything contiguous; at the time, I as bugged by the repetition but in retrospect it was a good convention. You will be replaying the same sections (with only one halfway point) pretty regularly, so just resign yourself to perfecting your technique.
One of my favorite stylus-driven additions was the ability to take notes, which you’ll do anytime you come across maps, levers, tablets, or other significant features that not so crypitcally point you in the right direction for puzzle solving. Additionally, the stylus resolves the sailing monotony of Wind Waker by using a point A to point B course plot method. Your map also tracks other seaborne vessels from pirate ships to Beedle and his shop of wares to a hot headed pirate chick that really likes to duel. Treasure hunting returns with a stylus-centered spin, a handful of mini-games for rupees and prizes, and there are plenty of uncharted islands to sate that hunger for exploration. An interesting change to the treasure scheme is the ability to sell goodies you uncover as well as unlock pieces for ship customization. In addition to acquiring the latest in nautical trends, ship customization improves your ship’s strength.
The music is memorable and worthy of the Zelda ouevre, and if you play while wearing headphones you will notice some location-specific adjustments to the sound. There is a multiplayer mode with a one-on-one battle aspect through which users can connect in a Link vs. Phantoms mini games that are basically tri-force stealing capture the flags. It’s no four-swords. You can keep track of your win/loss record, though, and choose between battling friends or someone random. The online mode is also used for the trading of treasure and ship parts: neat, but a bit superfluous.
Phantom Hourglass not only capitalizes on the potential of a Zelda game, it taps into the oft neglected talents of the DS, from great graphics, to touch controls, to the casual appeal of the handheld. The game is satisfying to both longtime Zelda fans and casual gamers alike.
Score: 8/10
I’m Community Manager and Admin for the N4G Network and write for ZTGD.
CatPlaysGames is a blog in its design infancy and under construction. Pardon my mess.