Ni no Kuni TGS 2010 Trailers

I really want Ni No Kuni to come state side. It's being developed by Level-5 (who does one of my all time favorite game series) and animated by Studio Ghibli (one of my all time favorite animation houses). I think this is a winning combination. What makes this even more interesting to me is that it's being developed for both the DS (trailer above) and the PS3 (trailer below,) and I'm actually thinking of buying both versions. This is mainly due to the fact that apparently each console copy will feature a different story and, obviously, different game play. I really want this game.

Loot of the Week

I picked up a TON this week. I'm going to write about it all!

Alpha Bounce
This was the first game I ever picked up for the DSiWare. I found an article over at IGN that updates weekly with micro reviews for each DSiWare title. I basically ran through that seeing which ones they liked (or loved) and decided if the price point sounded alright. I believe this was 500 points and they really loved it. It's a traditional brick break game with some RPG elements (specifically a loot system). I definitely see myself playing this game a lot.

Escapee Go!
This was another of the DSiWare games I found from the IGN article and mainly bought because they "liked it" and it was 200 points. I find the $2 price point very appealing, that's basically pocket change and even if the game sucks, oh well. I haven't played much of it yet but the premise I got from the first level sounds interesting. Looking forward to diving more into it on the way to PAX.

Don't Cross the Line
This was the last DSiWare game I picked up this week. It's the most puzzle oriented considering it's literally a series of variations on one logic puzzle. You need to connect like images without letting your connecting lines cross - hence the name. It's very straight forward and the number of different levels make this an easy steal for $2. The one downside I find with it is the lack or a quick restart to each level.

Gunpey
I'll be honest; I know nothing about this game besides that it got some average reviews from almost everyone. I just found it for $3 and the box art immediately drew me in. The concept of a simple puzzle game developed by Q Entertainment is what sold me though. Considering the fact I'm going on a series of trips soon, it was an easy choice. I am really looking forward to playing it.


Ultimate Board Game Collection
I have no idea if this is really the ultimate in board game collections. I highly doubt it is. The fact alone that it doesn't have Scrabble is criminal, but it does have Go so there you are. It was $5 and I could really go for some Go (see what I did there?).


Shank
I am very much enjoying this game and feel that it's worth the 1200 Microsoft Point price. There is a great single player campaign and the fact that the co-op has its own prequel campaign is great. Co-op specific bosses and some great silhouetted moments are amongst my favorite parts to this game. I'll probably run through it again on hard to get every last achievement.

I've decided to start doing a "winner" or "prize pick" section to these each week. The prize pick (maybe "choice pick"?) will always be at the end and will be either the item I had the best time with, or maybe spent the longest with. It may also be the purchase I'm most interested in and haven't even tried out yet. I'll go about explaining them each time they come up.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World: The Game
My love for achievements made me wait for this game to finally come to the XBLA and I'm glad I did because they are easy. I've played through the game three times now and I'm already on my fourth and awaiting my fifth. Really great game, can't say that enough. Despite the numerous bugs I've found it still remains incredibly charming. There is so much detail in this game and the fact that it came out for 800 was amazing.

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future - E3 Trailer

I can not wait for this game, it's so close!

Level 5 announces an announcement

I am a huge Level 5 fan. The first Professor Layton game on the DS is my all time favorite for the system and I loved Jeanne D'Arc on the PSP. The gameplay in these games wasn't the only great part either, the art in each was great. In fact, Jeanne D'Arc has one of my all time favorite box arts.

Now Level 5 is announcing an announcement (stay with me) for three new games. They plan to unviel the 3 games at their Level 5 Vision 2009 event. You can see their main website here.

For more news and the names of some titles Level 5 is currently working on, you can check Kotaku's article on this here.

Troubles with translated JRPGs

It's weird using your own name on a JRPG game's main character when your name is distinctly not Japanese. Not even close to Japanese sounding either.

I encountered this dilemma when starting up Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor. The main character has no set name. This may be a good thing for someone wanting to make their own name (possibly put their own name in the game). I on the other hand much prefer when everything has a set name.

Having each object or character their own preset name is much easier for me. Sure it doesn't make the game completely "my own" but it relieves me of a great deal of pressure. Choosing names can be a very complicated thing. You don't want something cheesy, but at the same time, you don't want something too bland. So I much prefer when they already have a name in place and I can choose to just go with this.

The issue with Devil Survivor is that the main character doesn't have a preset name or suggestion. You need to pick one. Not wanting to sit around all day thinking up the perfect name that I would grow to hate in the end, I used my own. It was simple to think up and easy to see. Or that's what I thought. Since every other character in Devil Survivor has a preset name (in fact, you can't change their names at all) and due to the game being an RPG from Japan, they all have Japanese names. The issue - my name isn't Japanese. So throughout all the preset names, there is mine sticking out like a sore thumb.

Lucky me, I get to continue through the game with the oddest sounding character. Hopefully I won't cringe everytime a supporting role calls out to me for much longer.

P.S.

LocoRoco 2 and WipEout Pulse are great!

Coming Soon

I really like the box art for Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (click to enlarge). I picked this up today after reading some good reviews on it and I needed something to play on my trip next week. This will be my first game in the Shin Megami Tensei series, though I've always wanted to get into some of thr Persona games. I will be gone for the whole week but plan to write a review on this game when I get back. Around that time I should also be recieving a copy of The Conduit for the Wii; therefore a review on that should be coming in the next couple weeks.

Review: LifeSigns - 6

LifeSigns is a point and click adventure game with a focus on performing surgeries and other hospital related tasks. You play as Dokuta Tendo, a second year intern, as you establish your grounds as a surgical doctor. The overall story and presentation of the game is nice and can lead to some well thought out stories. However, the weird pacing presents some high difficulty sections and overall awkward game play.

The visual presence of LifeSigns is quite nice. Everything is hand drawn to showcase a manga-like feel to game. Along with this, the game presents itself in an easy to use user interface and basic map layout. Along with a fun look to the characters, the game becomes quite inviting and fun to watch as you read your way through the adventure and medical stories.

The majority of the game play involves you going through conversations with your fellow colleagues and patients. This ends up becoming a double edged sword as around 70% of the game is reading. You really have to enjoy story driven games in order to find enjoyment from LifeSigns. The bad part of this is that the game can become quite boring as you have to spend hours at a time reading dialogue and then selecting the next place to go to read more dialogue at. However, for the majority of the time, the conversations going on are either interesting, intense, or quite funny. The game also goes out of the way to put conversations in there that relate to nothing and are only there to give the player a laugh.

The sound and music in LifeSigns isn’t anything exceptional, but it does the job. During the intense conversations or surgeries you’re faced with high speed music while the depressing and low-key moments are presented with soft melodies. Though, during any conversation you will have to present the person with the correct documents or objects in order to continue through and when you present something correctly, you hear a “ding” sound. I quite liked this because it told me when I was proceeding correcting in the story and when I didn’t, I got a muffled buzzing noise. This was great in order to verify I was on track and doing things right.

The rest of the game will be centered around examining and performing operations on your sick and injured patients. During the examination you are to use either the Listen, Feel or Visual Inspection commands to find out what is wrong with the person. This sounds good on paper but ends up becoming quite the hassle and can take far longer than it should. The problem with these parts is that you have no hints on where to look on the patient. There will be times when they have a physical bruise and you can know to visually inspect that region, but when it comes to internal issues, you’re stuck with the guessing game. These sections can end up with you just randomly tapping your patient’s body until you finally find the right spot. There should have been much more guidelines to this.

During the surgical operation parts you must perform a specific surgery in a set amount of time. Not only are you working against the clock during this, but you have to make sure to perform all your tasks well enough to not kill the patient. To ensure you are aware of your patients remaining life, you are shown a meter and are notified of their heart rate. If these hit zero, or you’ve run out of time, you will fail.

Throughout these surgical sections, you will need to perform a sequence of tasks in order to save your patients’ life. These can range from stitching someone all the way to removing a blood clot in the brain. The majority of these operations can come off as a bit stressful but considering each task usually only requires a slow swipe of your stylus across the screen, it evens itself out. With this, each procedure becomes quite fun and you’ll notice yourself just rushing through that countdown. What started out as a 30 minute operation will quite short when you finally realize your done. These surgical procedures are the best part of LifeSigns as they can be incredibly stressful but very fun.

What sets LifeSigns back the most though is the pacing between each of these operation parts. The beginning alone will have you reading through almost 2 hours of dialogue before you finally reach your next surgery. And though the conversations are fun and informative, they really start to become overwhelming when you have to truck your way through several hours of them.

The worst part of this is that the surgeries can be quite hard and stressful. Some of the tools you use during the operations require specific actions and after a while of text, you end up forgetting how to perform. There were times when I almost lost because instead of using my tools correctly, I had to guess and check my way through the procedure. It would have been much better if the operations came more frequently, or I was I told more often how to go about them.

The aspect that sets LifeSigns apart from other hospital based adventure games is the inclusion of persuading mini game sections. In these you will have to try and convince another character to do something/tell you about something by showing them pieces of information or objects you are holding on to. This is probably one of the more engaging parts to the game since it involves you having to think which documents and articles you should show this person to try and get them on your side. If you show them the correct objects, you will be granted with bonuses. These can range from more dialogue sections to bonus time during surgical parts. Getting these wrong however can give you a disadvantage.

Overall LifeSigns comes up a bit short in entertainment. It presents itself nicely and is set up well enough to warrant a play through. However, it is still hard to recommend it considering all the other hospital based point and click adventure games out there. The awkward pacing caused me to feel either incredibly bored or overwhelmed when it came to the surgeries. If you really enjoy text heavy games, you will definitely find some enjoyment here. It has great story telling and makes sure to explore each of the presented characters. LifeSigns ends up feeling like it is being weighed down with all the extra elements instead of sticking to what it should have: surgeries and medical operations.

Overall: 6/10

E309: Notable Mention Trailers Pt. 1

These are some other announced/shown trailers/clips from E3 that I think look cool but aren't at the top of my most wanted list.

Metroid: Other M
I really like the idea of not having Samus completely isolated for the majority of the game. I think being able to see more of her character unfold and her home world is the exact step this franchise needed.



The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Normally I am way into the latest Zelda game but I wasn't really that big a fan of Phantom Hourglass and I'm thinking this will be very similar. I will buy it for sure though.



Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers
This seems like it's going to be one of those FFCC games that Nintendo puts out and I completely look the other way on. At the same time it doesn't.



God of War 3 - (Demo Footage)
I liked the first few games, but still found them to be nothing amazing.

E309: Trailers I Liked Pt. 1

Here's a collection of trailers I liked or that got me excited from E3 this year. They are in no particular order.

Golden Sun DS
The main reason I am so excited for this is because the first two Golden Sun games were probably some of my favorite RPGs of all time, and my favorite GBA games. I put way too many hours into those two games, I plan to repeat that with this one.



The Last Guardian
Though I don't have a PS3, I found this trailer to be quite beautiful and I will for sure be picking up this game when I have the system.



Super Mario Galaxy 2
I still need to finish the first game but just the fact that Yoshi is in this one is awesome. It should be very fun.



New Super Mario Bros. Wii
I think this game has one of the worst names for a video game I've heard in a while but it looks really fun. The idea of 4 player co-op is great, though I can't see myself having 3 people over to play with at once. Also, the idea of no online play (thought I'd never use it) is odd to me.



I'll post another section of trailers later today.

Hands on: Nintendo DSi

The Nintendo DSi, launched November 1^st in Japan and April 5^th in North America, is the third version of Nintendo’s dual screen hand held console. However, unlike the first upgraded version – the DS Lite – this version comes with a good portion of useful and far more significant upgrades. The majority of the updates, whether hardware or software specific, are useful for the most part while a good portion end up seeming gimmicky and somewhat useless.

The most significant hardware update to the DSi is the reduction of the Game Boy Advance (GBA) game port. The previous two DS versions had a slot on the bottom of their machines that allowed a GBA game card to be inserted there so that the DS would become backwards compatible. This isn’t too much of a big deal when you look at the number of people who already own a DS. Players wanting the backwards compatibility most likely already own a GBA or one of the previous two DS machines. People picking up a DSi for the first time (not currently/previously owning a DS) probably aren’t interested in the older generation games. It shows that Nintendo was ready to establish that they have moved on and set their priorities on their newest hand held gaming platform.

Another great addition the DSi has in order to tower over its previous versions is a larger screen size. Not only are the screens both noticeably bigger, but they have once again been made brighter. This helps make the game play much more colorful and bold; leading to an overall better time with your video games.

The second biggest hardware addition to the DSi is the inclusion of two built in cameras. One is located on the top of the machine, pointed away from the viewer while the other is located inside on the hinge’s center. This allows you to be able to take a picture of your subject matter in front of you or take a shot of yourself while being able to see how your photo will turn out.

To use the camera, you can either press the L or R buttons (located on the “shoulder” region of the machine) or you can enter the Nintendo DSi Camera option from the main menu. This section allows you to choose whether you would like photos to be taken and saved to the machine’s built in memory, or onto an external SD card you may have. Choosing to save photos to an SD card, or transferring them onto it later, allows you to upload any pictures you have taken to your computer.

Once choosing your storage source, you can begin taking photos and then “editing” them. Your edit options can range from Distortion, Graffiti, Emoter, Merge and etc. For the most part these options seem quite childish and would in no means be used for any serious photographing. This shows how the DSi is now being aimed at an even larger age group and video game audience. Since adding goofy sunglasses to your friends face may give the average gamer a quick giggle, it may provide hours of fun for the more casual gamer looking to just mess around.

Though there are a few options that the camera section has that are quite interesting. Choices like Emoter: where the machine will change the emotion of your face and make it look almost natural, were quite a cool idea. Another, Merge, allows you to take a picture of two people’s faces and the machine will merge their images together to make a 50-50 comparison of the two. Though, once again, these would never be taken serious for anything other than a quick laugh, it shows that Nintendo did put some thought in to some of the options to give people and ensure a good time.

The more minor functions of the camera are using it to create a background like image for your main menu or even setting up a calendar in which you can view a slideshow of the photos taken that day. These were probably my favorite part of the camera since I could actually see using them and enjoyed being able to customize my DSi to the way I liked it.

The addition of a camera opens Nintendo up to yet another form of game play. With games like WarioWare: Snapped! that utilize the machine’s camera for a good portion of the game, we can see new ways to enjoy and play video games.

The next available option from the main menu was Nintendo DSi Sound. This is a section that allows you to record your voice, edit the track or play back your own music. When selecting Record and Edit a Sound, you are brought to a screen with 18 speech bubbles on it. Each one acts as a file to save a recorded track. Selecting one of the bubbles will bring up a panel where you can record a 10 second clip of your liking. Once you have created your track, you can then go in and customize the speed and pitch however you like. Out of the two editing options, this is the one I enjoyed most. Being able to slow down my voice and/or making it a higher pitch was quite intriguing.

Your other option is represented by four panels together and basically allows you to change the sound of your clip. Your options from there are Parakeet, Electric Fan, Low Harmony and Trumpet. Each of these have sub categories in them, for example: clicking the parakeet button twice will change it to Robot and thus change the sound of your clip to a robot’s voice. Like the majority of the Camera program’s options, these come across as nothing more than a quick 2 minute demo. I couldn’t see myself ever coming back to use these functions after I had tried them once or twice.

Instead of recording your own audio tracks, the DSi allows you to import music from an SD card. And though it promised me the ability to play around with pitch and speed of my songs, I was never able to get it to work. The machine asked for ACC formatted music and when I uploaded in the requested file format, it still came up as unreadable. It was a shame that I couldn’t get this function to work.

Overall this program came up a bit short in terms of enjoyment. I can’t see myself ever coming back to the Nintendo DSi Sound option. Like the Camera program, the majority of this didn’t catch my attention for longer than five minutes. Maybe if the SD card option had worked out my opinion would have changed a bit.

Probably the biggest addition to the system is the inclusion of a DSi Ware shop. This acts like the shop available to the Wii in which, if you have a wireless internet connection, you can go online and purchase games. The new DSi shop also has the option of purchasing not only games, but gadgets and other add-ons to your system. These can range calculators to an internet browser. When shopping you are presented with four options in terms of price points: free, 200, 500 and 800+. Like the Nintendo Wii, the currency is in a points like system called Nintendo Points.

This is probably the best part of the DSi as games are now being made for the system itself and come at a much cheaper price point. Of course, the games aren’t as lengthy as a retail game but if we are presented with some of the games coming out on WiiWare (the Nintendo Wii’s downloadable game service) then this will be a great program. It also opens up another stream of marketing when presented to independent game companies.

At the same time however, there are a lot of useless products to download from the DSi Shop. I don’t really need an Animal Crossing themed clock, especially when the DSi has a built in calendar and digital clock. As eager as I am to see what great products will be launched through the DSiWare service, it seems that you’ll need to keep an eye on what’s really worth your money, and what is just junk.

Like the previous DS versions, the DSi still comes with the options of PictoChat and DS Download Play. PictoChat is a chat room like program that allows any version of DS to chat if they are within a set proximity. Here you can type messages to one another or even draw pictures.

DS Download Play is a feature that allows users to engage in multiplayer sessions when only one person has the game. For example, you can play some multiplayer Mario Kart DS together, even if only one of you has purchased the actual game.

The majority of the updates on the Nintendo DSi aren’t anything game changing. If you are just looking for a machine to play the average DS branded game, any of the three versions will be fine and you most likely own one of the previous ones. If you’re a core gamer, you won’t find many of the software inclusions to be very significant. The majority of the in-game programs won’t keep your interest for very long. If you already own one of the original two DS versions, it would be hard to recommend this as a “for-sure-deal.”

That being said, if you’re on the market for a DS and don’t know what version to pick up – this is the one to get. With all the upgrades on the original format, it becomes a well structured machine. And though it may not be the best MP3 player or camera, with the larger, brighter screens it stands as the best to play your Nintendo DS games on. And with the addition of the new downloadable game service: DSiWare, more games are becoming available to play than ever on the machine. The Nintendo DSi is a great and well thought out machine; it just sets itself back by not bringing enough new and significant features to warrant a $200 price point.

When it comes to my verdict on whether you should rush out and purchase a DSi, or hang back, I remain a little on the fence. If you own a previous Nintendo DS handheld, I would recommend holding on to your money. But if you’re a new gamer out there and looking to pick up one of the Nintendo DS versions, your best bet would be the Nintendo DSi. Considering the small difference in price point between the DS Lite and the DSi, you’re definitely getting your money’s worth on the latter.

New Banner

The latest banner is taken from the concept art used for Level 5's latest RPG: Ninokuni. For a link to more concept art, you may go here.

Review: Rhythm Heaven - 8

Rhythm Heaven is a fun and exciting way to spend brief periods of time with your DS and still feel like you’ve completed something. It captures the sense of the more main-stream rhythm games but still sets itself up as a mini-game collection. With more than 50 songs ranging from very different types of music, you’re in for a great time. Though one may find themselves a little thrown off when faced against its sharp learning curve and immediate difficulty.

The basis of the game play comes down to playing along with the game’s music by three main tasks: tapping, holding and flicking. At first glance this would appear as a very simple and an almost too minimalist style of game play as it gets too close to the style of mini-game collections. And though Rhythm Heaven is mainly a collection of mini-games, it structures them in a way that makes almost every one of them unique and engaging.

This brings up the best part of Rhythm Heaven: the music. The music can range from country and jazz all the way to rock or techno. Every song you play will be very different than the last and they’re all upbeat and enjoyable. It will be quite hard to go through the entire game and not find a song you really like. This truly makes Rhythm Heaven a game for everyone.

While listening to the music, you job is to perform actions that play along to the song’s beat. However, Rhythm Heaven actually has quite a high level of difficulty to it that makes itself relevant right from the get go. It becomes quite a difficult game due to its demand for a high level of precision when timing your taps or flicks. This steep learning curve is also the game’s biggest down fall. Going into a game aimed more towards the “casual” gamer and finding it this hard immediately isn’t a good thing. Even veteran gamers may fine themselves failing a couple times on the very first level.

To add to the difficulty, the game doesn’t do a very good job of teaching you what you need to do for each individual task. There is a practice mode that plays before each game (which you can skip if you wish) and for the most part it gives you a good understanding of what needs to be done. Though, there are some cases where I found that even though they told me what motion to perform, I still couldn’t get it. The problem is, Rhythm Heaven will tell you what to hit, but they don’t narrow down enough of when exactly you need to hit it. The majority of the time you’ll be faced with “tap after you hear ‘Yeah!’” And in game, this will sometimes mean to tap on the beat of “Yeah!” or the beat just after – the game doesn’t tell you which. There was even a case where it told me to tap on a beat that registered one too soon. This didn’t help the game as I was struggling on some of the tasks already.

Though it may be hard to first get into, once you have the basics down, it gets very fun. You will be ranked on each game and getting almost a perfect will net you a superb score along with a medal. You use these medals to unlock more mini-games to play with and, just like the main game, these games will require a sense of rhythm to play as well. These games can range from an entirely new song to play along with, or a variation on one you've already come across.

There is also a ton of different games to choose from in the main menu. Rhythm Heaven sets itself up in columns and after you play four songs, the fifth is a combination of the previous ones called the Remix. This lets you revisit the tasks you had to do in a new, fused together song. It also adds different images playing on the screen than the original song had. This adds up to the Remix mini-games being a great idea.

Along with the chance to play more than the main section of the game, you will be constantly reminded that you should try and score a perfect rating on past songs. Any time you achieve a superb score, the game will notify you after a while that you are good enough to try for a perfect. Playing the song perfectly will unlock you the song to listen to in the game’s playback feature. Though, it also comes with a bit of a risk. You only get one chance to play the song while going for a perfect score. This means that a perfect score can only be gotten when the game has notified you of it. So if you got 100% the first time you played, you won’t unlock the song. It also means that if you mess up your one chance, you need to wait till the game notifies you again. This was a bit of a disappointment as I found myself really enjoying a few specific songs and though I played them enough to achieve a 100% rating, I wasn’t unlocking my favorite songs.

Overall, Rhythm Heaven is a great game that, with enough practice, everyone can get into. It features a huge selection of music and wide variety of games to play. And though the game may start off a bit on the difficult side, it makes up for it with being fun and humorous. And the level of enjoyment you will get out of it will overcomes the difficulty as you will be playing the songs many times. The songs are all catchy and easy to enjoy while the inclusion of fun animations playing along with the music makes for a great time. Rhythm Heaven is a game that shouldn't be missed by any fan of the rhythm and music genre and will provide hours of entertainment.

Overall: 8/10

Review: Pokemon Platinum - 9

Pokémon Platinum continues the long running series with an interesting story, hours of play time and a huge diversity of ways to play. The story is always changing and adds new elements and side quests to take on before finally reaching the end. This causes the length of the game to increase more and more. All new comers to the series will find themselves with a wonderful game; however, veterans may find it too similar to some of the past versions (especially Pokémon Diamond and Pearl).

The game starts you off in your home town as a soon to be trainer in the Sinnoh region of the Pokémon universe. You get to choose a gender and name and after a few events unfold, you get your first Pokémon. Pokémon are pet-like creatures that you will collect and use to battle other rivalling trainers. From there you are asked to travel the world searching for new Pokémon and taking on new challenges. As you continue your journey you will encounter new enemies, friendly allies and loads of ways to enjoy yourself in Sinnoh.

Your main task is to take on a total of 8 gym leaders in order to earn badges that will grant you access to the Elite Four – the final challenge of the game. In order to take on the gym leaders, you must first train your Pokémon so that they will become stronger along with catching new ones. Traveling through any uncultivated area, such as a forest, field or even a desert, will set up random encounters with wild Pokémon. From here you must try and either beat them to earn more experiences points or weaken them enough to throw a pokeball and catch them. As your team expands and becomes stronger, you will be able to take on the harder challenges with more ease and increase your amount of accessible options through the game.

Along with fighting your way through all the gyms and stray trainers who wish to take you on in the game. You also have several other choices of gameplay. The two more significant ones are Pokémon contests and the Underground area. Apart from these two, there is also a new online multiplayer mode exclusive to Pokémon Platinum.

Pokémon contests have you select one of your Pokémon to go through a talent show like game in order to win ribbons. In each contest you will have to dress up your Pokémon, which requires selecting specific accessories that relate to the theme specified. You will have to make your Pokémon dance, which translates to a very basic rhythm game. And last you’ll have to show off your Pokémon’s battling moves. This last stage is probably the most engaging since every move has a certain after-effect that will occur. These can range from altering the next rounds placements or even earning extra points. Pokémon contests can also be done through multiplayer against other people.

The Underground area is another fun way to spend time with your game or your friends. Once you receive the Explorer’s Kit in game, you can head into what is essentially an underground maze that can be accessed almost anywhere in the Sinnoh region. In here you can partake in treasure hunting mini-games along with building a secret base. Secret bases allow you to create a room and decorate it however you wish. When playing with friends, you will be able to see them in the underground maze as well and from there you can interact with their character. One of the fun things to do is to try and steal your friends ‘Flag’ from their secret base and bring it to your own – almost like a ‘capture the flag’ style of game. To increase the difficulty of this game, players can set traps on the ground that will activate when stepped on. These traps can vary from sending someone on a track all the way west until hitting a wall or even covering their DS screen with bubbles that they must pop with their stylus.

The online mode is called the Wi-Fi Plaza and it is a new addition to Pokémon Platinum that can only be accessed if you have a wireless internet connection. In here you can move around a room while other people playing online do so as well. However, your only option when trying to interact with them is asking pre-staged questions like “What’s popular?” This causes the tasks of “talking” to people to become quite dull and needless. You can also play a couple mini-games in here that involve using the stylus in certain ways. Playing these games well will upgrade your Tap Toy, an item you receive when first entering the room. The Tap Toy is an object shown on the bottom screen than when tapped will play a noise.

As these games do add a great deal of play time to your game, they also reveal Pokémon Platinum’s biggest downfall: it’s the same as the past Pokémon games. When comparing the game to either Pokémon Diamond or Pearl it essentially the exact same game. You do the same challenges and task and travel all the same routes on your journey to the end. This aspect is also very similar to every single Pokémon game in the main franchise. However, Pokémon Platinum does add a few new aspects to it that try and make it worth playing despite you owning Pokémon Diamond/Pearl or not. These additions are mainly some new trainers to face and a few new key characters to interact with throughout the game. The biggest addition is a plot change with the game’s main story arc in which you encounter the games three most legendary Pokémon. It may end up being an overlying change but it doesn’t come up enough and affect the rest of the game to be different enough. Though these aren’t necessarily bad additions, they are in no way worth playing through the game if you own either Pokémon Diamond or Pearl.

The graphics in Pokémon Platinum are great for the DS. It stays with the 2D side scrolling aspect but still looks great on the hand held. Though it does look identical to the landscapes and character models from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. However, there are several minor differences added to Pokémon Platinum. The majority of these additions are some of the Pokémon stances are now different and some of the characters now wear different clothing. Overall, the graphics haven’t changed much but they still look great.

The sound in Pokémon Platinum is that great a feature and like the graphics, it remains the same as the past couple Pokémon games on the DS. This is another one of Pokémon Platinum’s disappointments as there wasn’t really anything new to the way the game sounded. It even used some of the sounds that the Game Boy Pokémon games had. It would have been nice to hear some new music and sound effects when playing what could be your fifth or sixth Pokémon game.

Though Pokémon Platinum has some major flaws if you’ve been with the series since the beginning, it’s still an incredibly fun game that can be enjoyed by all. If you are a new comer to the franchise or never got around to picking up either Pokémon Diamond or Pearl, now is your time to get in on the action. With all the different gameplay modes and secrets to unlock, you will be playing for 100+ hours before you complete everything. And if you try and catch all the overall 580 Pokémon, that will add that much more replay value. Overall Pokémon Platinum does what we’ve come to expect from the series, a great handheld gaming experience, it’s just a shame that there wasn’t enough new features to recommend it to everyone.

When it comes to my verdict, I place it under both Pass It and Buy It. I only put it as Pass It for the people very familiar with either Pokémon Diamond or Pearl. They won’t feel the game has enough in it to play through the same story again. However, I place it in the Buy It category for anyone who may have passed on playing those two. It’s a great experience that is different enough from the other Pokémon games, just not the first two DS titles.

Overall: 9/10

The midst of Spring Break

So as my Spring Break has now begun and going by faster than I thought, I plan to get quite a bit done in it. This will be various comics I still need to read/finish, some books I need to start and finish and some games I wish to start and wrap up.

The games I wish to get done are Tales of Vesperia. This won't be happening though as I predict another 75 hours is required and I just don't have that time. Though I have gotten around 10 in since the beginning of the week and a whopping 25 points because of it.

I will also be playing a bunch of Gears of War 2 in the next couple days as the third title update is now out. I plan to get the three new achievements that I don't have to pay for. Hopefully I can rank up quickly.

I want to finish up Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon before I head to New York so that I don't have to be memorizing a ton of chapter info. I don't want to miss out on anything after all.

I also picked up Henry Hatsworth last week and still haven't started it. This will be used for the plane trip and any long car rides I encounter out east. I hear it's pretty great and am quite excited to start it.

Last in the games is Uno Rush which will be out tomorrow night. As I stated in my previous blog post, I will be staying up for it. With this, I really need some more microsoft points now.

A couple games I'm not sure if I'll grab are LIT and Bit.Trip:Beat off of WiiWare. If I can justify spending $20 on the points card, I'll get these two. However, I am not sure yet.

Comics-wise will be the latest Umbrella Academy and possibly the new Superman and Battle for the Cowl. The only definite is Umbrella Academy.

Last of all are the novels that I have been neglecting. I want to finish up the recent Artemis Fowl and I'd like to start and finish the last .Hack novel to come out since I've had that for a few weeks now.

Hopefully I'll have enough free time over the next two weeks and my vacation to get this all done. Probably not.

Update: Pokemon Platinum should be sent to me soon, hopefully I will get it before I leave and can then play it on my trip. Knowing my luck, it will arrive just in time for no one to be able to receive it.

Review: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon - 9

Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon is the first of the Fire Emblem series to make it to the Nintendo DS. Although it reached state side as the fifth in the series, it is actually a remade version of the very first game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Along with new levels, game play modes and updated graphics, Shadow Dragon does a great job of living true to what we have come to expect from series’ past.

You will begin Shadow Dragon by choosing one of two difficulties. Hard mode will set you against enemies that are as much as five times stronger than the lesser of the modes. The Normal difficulty setting will force you to have to play through the tutorial mode and is for new comers to the series. The good thing about the tutorial is how it is set up as a prologue to the game’s story. This does a good job of not making the game’s learning process too boring for veterans of the Fire Emblem series.

The prologue sets you in Marth’s, young and innocent prince, castle as it is being overrun by enemies. Marth is forced to leave while his sister stays to try and slow the enemy. Through his escape he is aided by the help of your first few allies. From here, the tutorial appears each time a new obstacle or skill appears. For example, it will teach you how to attack your enemies, use different weapons and items and how to interact with your surrounding area. As Marth makes his way to allied kingdoms for help, he encounters both new allies and new and more deadly enemies.

Shadow Dragon is set up as a tactical strategy game in which the game play only takes place while you are on the battlefield. During each of your conflicts, you will need to station your team around the area while you make your way toward the level’s boss. The levels are set up in a grid and each of your units can move a certain number of spaces in a horizontal and vertical fashion. Horse, Pegasus and Dragon mounted units can move much more father than free walking ones. On the other hand, characters wearing heavy armor will have reduced mobility compared to a light weight character. Each character can only move once a turn; then the enemy makes their progression towards you.

You begin combat when you move close enough to an enemy so they are within attacking range. Most weapons/characters need to be directly beside the enemy while archers and mages can attack from afar. This, along with your limited movements, causes you to have to think just where you should be placing your enemies so that they won’t be in the attack range of some approaching foes. A new improvement to Shadow Dragon is the ability to see the accumulated walking and attacking distance of all the enemies at once. Hitting the X button will cause a red section of the map to appear, any of your units in this area are open to an attack from the opponent. You need to find out when it’s okay to go in, and when you should be playing it safe.

Fire Emblem also does a good job of making sure the combat phases are both an important and enjoyable part of the game. The majority of the weapons are swords, axes and lances. Shadow Dragon teaches you that in a fight, an ax barer will have the advantage over a lance wielder, a lance wielder beats a sword barer and swords are good against axes. This, once again, causes you to make sure you are sending the right units to fight the right enemies. The last thing to make sure you keep in mind is the number of uses left for each of your weapons. For example, when you use your sword on too many enemies, it will break and you will have to find your way to an armory to buy a new one.

The combat in Shadow Dragon is probably the most important part as it can long lasting effect. Any time one of your team mates dies, you will lose them for the rest of the game. This is probably the feature that is most known about the Fire Emblem series. Unlike most Role Playing Games, when you lose a character you can always bring them back to life by the use of an item or certain points on the map. For example, in Final Fantasy you can bring dead allies back to life by using a Phoenix Down. In Shadow Dragon, a lost ally means it’s game over for them. This can cause quite an issue as you will miss out on story related scenes since they can no longer take place without the correct units. What makes this worse is because every unit is different and special in their own way; you could have grown attached to them. You may have spent the first three quarters of the game leveling up one specific guy to make him amazing and then lose that all in one minute. This also adds to the games replay value as perfectionists will want to restart the specific chapter so they can finish the game with everyone. It may add to this game’s difficulty but it makes you have to think two or three turns ahead. You have to be very strategic.

To help with this, Shadow Dragon adds the use of mid-chapter save points. Instead of always having to start at the beginning of the level, you can make a hard save somewhere within the chapter and begin again each time from that point. Though in order to activate these mid-level saves, you need a character to stand on a specific spot which can cause you to waste a turn with them.

When comparing the graphics of Shadow Dragon to the GBA versions of Fire Emblem, you won’t see too much of a difference. The maps and the characters look almost exactly the same. The only new addition is how the combat is now small cell shaded characters instead of flat two dimensional sprites. Though it still looks great and with the inclusion of nice hand drawn images to be shown during the between chapter cut scenes, it’s a great looking game for the DS. Shadow Dragon has also been cleaned up a bit when looking at how the game displays information. With the DS’s second screen, all the character information and stats are displayed on the top screen while the battlefield remains on the bottom. This is good because in order to play the game well, you will need to be checking enemy and ally stats quite often to know how to proceed.

The sound in Shadow Dragon is also a great asset to the game. When acquiring a new team mate, you will hear fast heroic music playing in the background. While the loss of an ally plays soft, slow paced music to drive home the depressing nature of the current event. The overall music adds to the game quite nicely as it matches the situation at hand. Hearing lively up beat music as you make your way through the battle fields and mow down the enemies makes you feel like quite a powerful army.

The downfall with Shadow Dragon is that it doesn’t bring many new or innovated features to the series. It has brought in the choice for some online modes and the idea of mid-chapter save points, but apart from this you are getting the exact same game play you’ve come to expect. In each game you need to keep the same things in mind and you need to know who is good against what. If you have played any of the other Fire Emblem games, you probably already have a good idea of all these and even which type of units you should put your time into when choosing who to level up. The levels and characters are of course different but with only a couple new classes to play around with, you’ll be playing the same game you played a few years back. This can be a downside to anyone getting tired of the game’s hardcore and tense nature, but if you haven’t put some time into this series in a while, Shadow Dragon is satisfy you quite nicely.

What hurts it even more is the online modes aren’t the best. Your main options are an online store and the multiplayer mode. The online store is a fine addition to the game since finding some powerful weapons mid game can be quite hard. The store updates itself everyday with new items, but at the same time, it loses items available to purchase. You need to check it quite often in hopes that the one item you are looking for is being offered. To make sure you aren’t taking advantage of the items for sale, you can only buy a select number of the more rare and powerful items.

The multiplayer mode is the most disappointing of all. Playing against your friends and seeing how well you can out smart other people online sounds like a great idea on paper, but it doesn’t pan out well in use. When playing against random people, you will almost always get matched up with someone either incredibly powerful or very weak. There is no system in place to match you up with people who are around the same level as your in game team. Finding an opponent with a powerhouse team or someone just starting out is no fun for either party. Though if you find someone of equal skill level, it then becomes quite fun.

Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon does what every game in the series has done: made you strategize more than almost any other game. If you are a gamer that plays games on a more casual level, this game isn’t for you. It’s designed to make you think and even second guess every move you make. You have to really know the game in order to be able to play it perfectly on it’s harder levels/difficulties. That begin said though, it does a great job of introducing you to the series. With the addition of the online store and mid-chapter save points, it’s one of the most accessible games in the series. With its visuals and fitting sound to accompany its wonderful story telling, it makes for great experience. And if you are a perfectionist when playing video games, this will lead to countless hours of replay value. Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon is a wonderful addition to the series and is welcomed nicely on the Nintendo DS.

Overall: 9/10

How to get an ONSQ

This is actually really funny and true in each way. Hopefully you guys will find it good. This is the how to get an Official Nintendo Seal of Quality made by SomethingAwful.

This is important

In case you don't check the news feed on the side:

Nintendo DSi Announced

Professor Layton 3 trailor!

The japanese trailer for Professor Layton 3 is now out. God it looks so good, time traveling and everything! Man we better get the second one over here soon.

What happens when you sip your Earl Grey tea indeed.

So after reading an article from Brad Shoemaker over at Giant Bomb about the latest game to be announced by EA Casual for the DS - Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure. Now before you think, no it isn't a Professor Layton rip off, I know the name can be misleading. It's actually a platformer mixed with a puzzle game.

On the top screen is the platformer in which you need to attack enemies and jump on them to destroy them. You play as Henry Hatsworth, an english man who wears a bowler hate, monicle, and a can that has a sword in it. I think I've said enough. By killing enemies they move to the bottom screen which are then turned into a colored block, this is where the puzzle game comes into play. As time goes on, the lower blocks move close to the top screen and once they reach it, they turn back into enemies for you to attack. So you must spend time looking at both screens and knowing when to press X to pause the game and take care of some puzzle action.

To finish off I'd like to quote a couple sentences by Brad Shoemaker from his article.

One of the special moves you can invoke with a full special meter is called Tea Time! When you hit that button, Henry sips tea in front of a frantically animating Union Jack background, and then turns into a giant steampowered robot that can flatten enemies and fly around the level. I mean, what happens when you sip on some Earl Grey?

I'm really looking forward to this game and since it's been around half a month to a month since I got way excited/into a DS game, I can't wait to hear more of this.

Blown Speakers 21/07/08

This week on Blown Speakers we wrap up the news of E3, discuss Shaun White's drug abuse and we find out that Sean hates movies, all that and more on this week's edition of Blown Speakers.

Also we are in the works of getting our podcast officially submitted to itunes so look for it soon in the itunes Store.

Download it to your itunes here

Or grab it in it's own window here.