Video Game Reviews
Due to having some time to kill I feel like talking about the new Nintendo DS games I got recently. Before I begin please note I am still in the process of playing all of these. I will (hopefully) do a final review when I have beaten these games. So with that said:
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - (Nintendo)
It feels like all other Zelda games and is a sequel to Wind Waker. If you've watched anyone else play any part of Wind Waker then you won't miss much by skipping it. Also Phantom Hourglass tells you all of the key plot points from Wind Waker so you aren't left completely in the dark. Besides, from what I can tell you never interact with anyone from Wind Waker anyway, you're just in the same world (at least not where I am in the game and that's several hours in).
I give this game so many points for good use of the touch screen. You do just about everything with it, including drawing on your maps. Let me tell you after playing Ocarina of Time, and having to run back and fourth between rooms and keep multiple clues in my head somehow, having a place in the game to write this stuff down is very very very nice. It also means that the top screen of the DS has a use since now you can look at it for notes.
The only thing I don't like about the touch screen is that rolling is nearly impossible. Moving, attack, and using items is all fine but the way you have to move the stylus to roll it's such a pain in the butt and takes forever to get the hang of, and even then it's hard to do. Luckily you don't use it much.
My other grip about the game is the use of the mic. Now I applaud the game for having puzzles that need to be solved by using the mic. Other reviewers hate it (see the end of this game review), I just hate how it was presented. The game reminds you every since time you see a clue to write it down on your map. It does this to the point of annoyance. However, when they introduce you to the mic you don't even have to use it. The first time you use the mic your fairy tells you to yell out something to see if someone is there. During the time when I was supposed to be yelling I just sat back and looked at the game going "You're got to me kidding me." My fairy then yelled for me and praised me for doing a good job. I did nothing! Later I have to get into a dungeon and the clue to get in is "Blow out the candles to open the way" (or something very close to that) with "blow" in green. Green is the color all of your techniques are written in. So I assume I have to go up to the candles and attack them or that I missed learning something. I took me a day and a half, as well as lending the game to my cousin to help me figure it out, to realize I was supposed to blow into the mic. There is no precedence for this! They give you 1 mic puzzle before this and then they expect you to figure this out! Gamers, especially long time Zelda fans, aren't used to thinking that outside forces can affect what happens in the game. The game gives you umpteen thousands messages to write stuff down on your maps but it can't spare one clue to use the mic!?!?!?!?
Long story short: Mic puzzles good, lack of hints that you need to use the mic BAD!!!
And don't tell me it was probably in the manual. Honestly who reads that manuals that come with games anyway? Yes their helpful but what if someone gets the game used? Developers need to put this stuff in the game!
Next is graphics. Phantom Hourglass looks exactly like Wind Waker except with lower resolution in spots. When Wind Waker first came out I hated the art style so much I personally boycotted the game for awhile, but now I'm over that and for the style Phantom Hourglass is in it looks pretty good.
So Overall:
Graphics: B+
Story: A
Gameplay: A
Voice Acting: N/A (unless you count Link shouting everytime he attacks...)
Originality: B
It's a Zelda game. They haven't deviated from the basic model with the exception of the use of the Nintendo DS hardware features. If you like Zelda games you'll like this one. If you're new to the Zelda series play Ocarina of Time first because 1)It's amazing and the best of the Zelda games I've played so far and 2) Phantom Hourglass and Wind Waker take place in a destroyed version of Hyrule and you'll appreciate some of the elements of this game more after playing Ocarina of Time.
Here is a video game review by a guy who gets paid to play games and review them (Man do I want his job). It's hysterical and goes into a bit more depth than I do. The only large point I disagree with him on is the "forced stealth section" as he calls it because I think the game gives you enough safe zones in the starting temple that's it's more of a normal puzzle and frankly Nintendo did the same thing in Ocarina of Time when they made you sneak past the bad guys to get to the Forest Temple and I had no problem with that either.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation/2608-Zero-Punctuation-Zelda-Phantom-Hourglass
And now onto.... (Yes this entry is painfully long. Shush!)
Luminous Arc - (Atlus)
I will admit the main reason I picked up this game is that as a Game Development major I need to play a large variety of games and when I saw it was a tactical RPG my game design conscience, and the fact I had spent hours watching my roommate playing Disgaea and loving it, kicked in. That and the back of the box said "...solid storylines combine to give tactical RPG fans the kind of portable gaming experience they've been craving!" and I'm a huge huge sucker for a good storyline.
Right now I'm about 4 to 5 hours into the game and I know damn well this thing is gonna stretch out to at least 40. The game starts off with a random old guy staying he discovered something and letting me choose what to name it from a list of 6 options. Right away I know whatever name I pick is gonna change something 20 hours into the game (that's just how RPGs work) and I'll probably have no idea what the hell he's talking about until 20 hours in. So I pick the most magicy sounding one and just trust I'll understand this later. Then the game takes me to a bunch of monks talking about how the new Grand Cardinal (aka Pope) of the Luminous Church is too young and will probably suck. Cardinal Kingston tries to arrest them but the Grand Cardinal is a nice guy and lets them go. Cardin Kingston says something about research and I'm then taken to another area.
That's when I realize I've just picked up a game where I am the religious right. The main characters are the "Garden Children", who are now teenagers and having been training since they were kids to fight Witches, who are supposedly causing all the trouble in the world right now. After going to Catholic school for 12 years I want to throw the game down at this point so my ears don't bleed from more mindless bullshit, but I do my best to keep going. Not an hour in a snarky maid comes to help take care of the place where the Garden Children live so they can focus on Witch hunting and oh damn, she's a Witch! Wait... maybe not all Witches are bad! Maybe the Church is wrong! Say it isn't so!!!!
That was my VERY long way of saying this storyline is so cliche it hurts. I give the game credit though for doing a damn good job of character design. Each character, even the ones who only appear for a little bit, have their own distinct personalities. You can feel for all of them and the interactions between them seem real. Basically it's like your the fly on the wall watching real people deal with this stuff. The character designer for this game is AMAZING.
However, his/her work is cut off at the heels because everything is so corny and cliche. My Catholic school background might be making this storyline particularly annoying for me, but I've seen way to many movies and way to much Anime where the Church is wrong and the Church's villains are actually not so bad. This theme just seems to get repeated over and over and over. To it's credit the game tries to build off of this idea by throwing you in a new world with it's own history, but they haven't given enough orginal stuff to hide the chiche.
If anyone has ever played "Tales of Symphonia" then you've seen an example where the "The Church is actually bad" theme has worked well. Luminous Arc only kinda sorta does it.
Oddly enough though I still like the game overall. I care enough about the characters and I wanta find out what happens next.
The graphics are like that of Disgaea. Everything is 2D while people are talking and 3D on the world map and during battles. The 2D is amazing and the 3D is good for a portable hardware game.
The game gives you a lot of tutorials to go though so you aren't lost in the dark when it comes to battle, and it also puts them in a separate menu so you can just say screw it and drive right in. While I love the fact they don't force you to go through the tutorials (*coughFinalFantasy8suckedatthiscough*) I wouldn't recommend skipping them or you will be lost. There are a bunch so read them in groups. I read the basic stuff first and then came back to look at the most advanced topics.
Battle also goes very smoothly, with that exception that because of the size of the touch screen the map in each battle is kinda small and if someone on your side is standing infront of a square an enemy is on no matter what you do with the stylus you keep selecting your ally and not the enemy. You have to move the ally who is attacking to another square and then select the enemy.
The voice acting is also done very well. They picked good people to voice act this game. Again however the cilche-ness hits and the problem is that the characters fall into stereotypes at times.
So Overall:
Graphics: B+
Story: B
Gameplay: A
Voice Acting: A+
Originality: C
Even with all it's faults it's still keeping me entertained enough to want to play it. If you have no aversion to the "The Church is bad!" theme then you'll have no problems with this game. If you are like me then it will grade on you. However, the gameplay is well done with one exception and so the gameplay and characters pull you along.
And finally the last game for this review...
Nintendogs - (Nintendo)
Two Words: SOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTE!!!!!!!
*Ahem* Now that I have that out of my system...
I have the Miniature Dachshund version of this game. The version really doesn't matter as far as gameplay goes. Just select whichever version has the kind of dogs that you want to have. You can unlock more as you go but it's better to start out with what you want.
When I first heard of the game is sounded like an improved version of a Tamagotchi. When I got it I realized it is a 20 times better version of a Tamagotchi. The whole game is caring for a puppy. You can have up to 8, although you can only interact with 3 at a time. The rest stay in a Dog Hotel until you want to interact with them. You pet your puppy, take it for walks, teach it tricks, clean it, play with it, and enter it in competitions. The competitions earn money which allow you to buy whatever you want, although the game gives you $1,000 to start off with.
The AI (Artificial Intelligence) for this game is AMAZING. In fact 'amazing' doesn't even come close. I've done a lot of Computer Science work for school and let me tell you good AI is one of the hardest things in the world to have in a game. These puppies act like real puppies. I had a real dog before so I know from experience. Each puppy has their own distinct personality, just like real dogs. They play with each other and with you exactly like real puppies do. They are the closest thing to real dogs you can get without being real dogs. I cannot praise this point enough. The developers did a fantastic job making them seem so real. Then again if they didn't the game would be horrible.
The graphics are pretty darn good but can be glitchy. I have two puppies and when one was sleeping ontop of the other the one on top yawned a couple of times and her lower jaw when through the puppies' head she was sleeping on.
Computer Science jargon: The boundary checking is off at times.
Simple talk: Objects will go through objects they shouldn't be able to. This doesn't happen often but when it does it's noticeable.
Overall though what you see is great.
I also like the fact that the game gets what time it is from the DS so the sky will get darker as the day goes on and the puppies will actually sleep. I couldn't sleep one night so I turned the game on at 2am and the game knew it was 2am and my puppies were asleep. They woke up a minute later because I was now there, but I felt so bad for waking them up I petted them for a bit and turned the game back off. Yes I said I felt sorry for computer puppies. They are THAT realistic!!
A review for a game like this has to be short so...
So Overall:
Graphics: A
Story: N/A
Gameplay: A+ (+++++++!)
Voice Acting: N/A
Originality: A-
If you like real dogs you'll love this game. It's a fantastic casual game that helps pass the time if you're board and is very entertaining. The only disadvantage is it's hard to use when your out and about because the puppies respond to voice commands so you have to play the game in an environment where people won't care if you randomly start saying "Bark!", "Sit!" "Come Sasha!" at a small piece of electronic equipment. Other than that if you don't have this game then you need to go buy it now!!
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - (Nintendo)
It feels like all other Zelda games and is a sequel to Wind Waker. If you've watched anyone else play any part of Wind Waker then you won't miss much by skipping it. Also Phantom Hourglass tells you all of the key plot points from Wind Waker so you aren't left completely in the dark. Besides, from what I can tell you never interact with anyone from Wind Waker anyway, you're just in the same world (at least not where I am in the game and that's several hours in).
I give this game so many points for good use of the touch screen. You do just about everything with it, including drawing on your maps. Let me tell you after playing Ocarina of Time, and having to run back and fourth between rooms and keep multiple clues in my head somehow, having a place in the game to write this stuff down is very very very nice. It also means that the top screen of the DS has a use since now you can look at it for notes.
The only thing I don't like about the touch screen is that rolling is nearly impossible. Moving, attack, and using items is all fine but the way you have to move the stylus to roll it's such a pain in the butt and takes forever to get the hang of, and even then it's hard to do. Luckily you don't use it much.
My other grip about the game is the use of the mic. Now I applaud the game for having puzzles that need to be solved by using the mic. Other reviewers hate it (see the end of this game review), I just hate how it was presented. The game reminds you every since time you see a clue to write it down on your map. It does this to the point of annoyance. However, when they introduce you to the mic you don't even have to use it. The first time you use the mic your fairy tells you to yell out something to see if someone is there. During the time when I was supposed to be yelling I just sat back and looked at the game going "You're got to me kidding me." My fairy then yelled for me and praised me for doing a good job. I did nothing! Later I have to get into a dungeon and the clue to get in is "Blow out the candles to open the way" (or something very close to that) with "blow" in green. Green is the color all of your techniques are written in. So I assume I have to go up to the candles and attack them or that I missed learning something. I took me a day and a half, as well as lending the game to my cousin to help me figure it out, to realize I was supposed to blow into the mic. There is no precedence for this! They give you 1 mic puzzle before this and then they expect you to figure this out! Gamers, especially long time Zelda fans, aren't used to thinking that outside forces can affect what happens in the game. The game gives you umpteen thousands messages to write stuff down on your maps but it can't spare one clue to use the mic!?!?!?!?
Long story short: Mic puzzles good, lack of hints that you need to use the mic BAD!!!
And don't tell me it was probably in the manual. Honestly who reads that manuals that come with games anyway? Yes their helpful but what if someone gets the game used? Developers need to put this stuff in the game!
Next is graphics. Phantom Hourglass looks exactly like Wind Waker except with lower resolution in spots. When Wind Waker first came out I hated the art style so much I personally boycotted the game for awhile, but now I'm over that and for the style Phantom Hourglass is in it looks pretty good.
So Overall:
Graphics: B+
Story: A
Gameplay: A
Voice Acting: N/A (unless you count Link shouting everytime he attacks...)
Originality: B
It's a Zelda game. They haven't deviated from the basic model with the exception of the use of the Nintendo DS hardware features. If you like Zelda games you'll like this one. If you're new to the Zelda series play Ocarina of Time first because 1)It's amazing and the best of the Zelda games I've played so far and 2) Phantom Hourglass and Wind Waker take place in a destroyed version of Hyrule and you'll appreciate some of the elements of this game more after playing Ocarina of Time.
Here is a video game review by a guy who gets paid to play games and review them (Man do I want his job). It's hysterical and goes into a bit more depth than I do. The only large point I disagree with him on is the "forced stealth section" as he calls it because I think the game gives you enough safe zones in the starting temple that's it's more of a normal puzzle and frankly Nintendo did the same thing in Ocarina of Time when they made you sneak past the bad guys to get to the Forest Temple and I had no problem with that either.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation/2608-Zero-Punctuation-Zelda-Phantom-Hourglass
And now onto.... (Yes this entry is painfully long. Shush!)
Luminous Arc - (Atlus)
I will admit the main reason I picked up this game is that as a Game Development major I need to play a large variety of games and when I saw it was a tactical RPG my game design conscience, and the fact I had spent hours watching my roommate playing Disgaea and loving it, kicked in. That and the back of the box said "...solid storylines combine to give tactical RPG fans the kind of portable gaming experience they've been craving!" and I'm a huge huge sucker for a good storyline.
Right now I'm about 4 to 5 hours into the game and I know damn well this thing is gonna stretch out to at least 40. The game starts off with a random old guy staying he discovered something and letting me choose what to name it from a list of 6 options. Right away I know whatever name I pick is gonna change something 20 hours into the game (that's just how RPGs work) and I'll probably have no idea what the hell he's talking about until 20 hours in. So I pick the most magicy sounding one and just trust I'll understand this later. Then the game takes me to a bunch of monks talking about how the new Grand Cardinal (aka Pope) of the Luminous Church is too young and will probably suck. Cardinal Kingston tries to arrest them but the Grand Cardinal is a nice guy and lets them go. Cardin Kingston says something about research and I'm then taken to another area.
That's when I realize I've just picked up a game where I am the religious right. The main characters are the "Garden Children", who are now teenagers and having been training since they were kids to fight Witches, who are supposedly causing all the trouble in the world right now. After going to Catholic school for 12 years I want to throw the game down at this point so my ears don't bleed from more mindless bullshit, but I do my best to keep going. Not an hour in a snarky maid comes to help take care of the place where the Garden Children live so they can focus on Witch hunting and oh damn, she's a Witch! Wait... maybe not all Witches are bad! Maybe the Church is wrong! Say it isn't so!!!!
That was my VERY long way of saying this storyline is so cliche it hurts. I give the game credit though for doing a damn good job of character design. Each character, even the ones who only appear for a little bit, have their own distinct personalities. You can feel for all of them and the interactions between them seem real. Basically it's like your the fly on the wall watching real people deal with this stuff. The character designer for this game is AMAZING.
However, his/her work is cut off at the heels because everything is so corny and cliche. My Catholic school background might be making this storyline particularly annoying for me, but I've seen way to many movies and way to much Anime where the Church is wrong and the Church's villains are actually not so bad. This theme just seems to get repeated over and over and over. To it's credit the game tries to build off of this idea by throwing you in a new world with it's own history, but they haven't given enough orginal stuff to hide the chiche.
If anyone has ever played "Tales of Symphonia" then you've seen an example where the "The Church is actually bad" theme has worked well. Luminous Arc only kinda sorta does it.
Oddly enough though I still like the game overall. I care enough about the characters and I wanta find out what happens next.
The graphics are like that of Disgaea. Everything is 2D while people are talking and 3D on the world map and during battles. The 2D is amazing and the 3D is good for a portable hardware game.
The game gives you a lot of tutorials to go though so you aren't lost in the dark when it comes to battle, and it also puts them in a separate menu so you can just say screw it and drive right in. While I love the fact they don't force you to go through the tutorials (*coughFinalFantasy8suckedatthiscough*) I wouldn't recommend skipping them or you will be lost. There are a bunch so read them in groups. I read the basic stuff first and then came back to look at the most advanced topics.
Battle also goes very smoothly, with that exception that because of the size of the touch screen the map in each battle is kinda small and if someone on your side is standing infront of a square an enemy is on no matter what you do with the stylus you keep selecting your ally and not the enemy. You have to move the ally who is attacking to another square and then select the enemy.
The voice acting is also done very well. They picked good people to voice act this game. Again however the cilche-ness hits and the problem is that the characters fall into stereotypes at times.
So Overall:
Graphics: B+
Story: B
Gameplay: A
Voice Acting: A+
Originality: C
Even with all it's faults it's still keeping me entertained enough to want to play it. If you have no aversion to the "The Church is bad!" theme then you'll have no problems with this game. If you are like me then it will grade on you. However, the gameplay is well done with one exception and so the gameplay and characters pull you along.
And finally the last game for this review...
Nintendogs - (Nintendo)
Two Words: SOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTE!!!!!!!
*Ahem* Now that I have that out of my system...
I have the Miniature Dachshund version of this game. The version really doesn't matter as far as gameplay goes. Just select whichever version has the kind of dogs that you want to have. You can unlock more as you go but it's better to start out with what you want.
When I first heard of the game is sounded like an improved version of a Tamagotchi. When I got it I realized it is a 20 times better version of a Tamagotchi. The whole game is caring for a puppy. You can have up to 8, although you can only interact with 3 at a time. The rest stay in a Dog Hotel until you want to interact with them. You pet your puppy, take it for walks, teach it tricks, clean it, play with it, and enter it in competitions. The competitions earn money which allow you to buy whatever you want, although the game gives you $1,000 to start off with.
The AI (Artificial Intelligence) for this game is AMAZING. In fact 'amazing' doesn't even come close. I've done a lot of Computer Science work for school and let me tell you good AI is one of the hardest things in the world to have in a game. These puppies act like real puppies. I had a real dog before so I know from experience. Each puppy has their own distinct personality, just like real dogs. They play with each other and with you exactly like real puppies do. They are the closest thing to real dogs you can get without being real dogs. I cannot praise this point enough. The developers did a fantastic job making them seem so real. Then again if they didn't the game would be horrible.
The graphics are pretty darn good but can be glitchy. I have two puppies and when one was sleeping ontop of the other the one on top yawned a couple of times and her lower jaw when through the puppies' head she was sleeping on.
Computer Science jargon: The boundary checking is off at times.
Simple talk: Objects will go through objects they shouldn't be able to. This doesn't happen often but when it does it's noticeable.
Overall though what you see is great.
I also like the fact that the game gets what time it is from the DS so the sky will get darker as the day goes on and the puppies will actually sleep. I couldn't sleep one night so I turned the game on at 2am and the game knew it was 2am and my puppies were asleep. They woke up a minute later because I was now there, but I felt so bad for waking them up I petted them for a bit and turned the game back off. Yes I said I felt sorry for computer puppies. They are THAT realistic!!
A review for a game like this has to be short so...
So Overall:
Graphics: A
Story: N/A
Gameplay: A+ (+++++++!)
Voice Acting: N/A
Originality: A-
If you like real dogs you'll love this game. It's a fantastic casual game that helps pass the time if you're board and is very entertaining. The only disadvantage is it's hard to use when your out and about because the puppies respond to voice commands so you have to play the game in an environment where people won't care if you randomly start saying "Bark!", "Sit!" "Come Sasha!" at a small piece of electronic equipment. Other than that if you don't have this game then you need to go buy it now!!