DS Play Impressions (Before China)
October 2nd, 2008
Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword
Ninja Gaiden is a series made famous by its crushingly tough demands of dexterity and coordination. You need to be one step ahead of your enemy and in full control of the situation at all times. It’s interesting then to observe how this title has been adapted to the most accessible console on the market.
While the PSone-styled, 3D-models-on-pre-rendered-backdrop production is fantastic and covers up alot of hardware limitations, the game design is really where it’s at. Basically Tecmo have taken this teeth-crunchingly difficult franchise, suited only towards hardened players and added some breathing space to the play mechanics so that it can be enjoyed by a wider group of players while still respectable to its roots. All actions are performed with the stylus; you draw a line to slash, tap to throw a projectile etc. Because the physical actions match the moves that Ryu performs on screen, understanding how to play requires little time and once you’ve conquered a few of the initial battles it doesn’t take long to become fluent.
Furthermore, the more complicated constructs aren’t really complicated at all. To perform “magic” you touch an icon on the minimalistic interface and then trace the on screen Japanese character to perform. Additional spells can be selected from the same menu, just a quick tap away.
The camera angle is also fixed and scrolls automatically if you move to the next part of the area. This reduces the player’s dependence on camera control, keeping the emphasis on the action. The other mechanics such as combos, karma and upgrades are all naturally blended into the gameplay and the game eases you in nicely.
Dragon Sword is a short game (8hrs) and you’ll probably not want to play it more than once. There’s a whole bunch of additional content which will please fans of the series looking for an added challenge. I warn you though, you’ll be doing the same thing again and again (room, invisible door appears, beat baddies, next room, puzzle). While this is essentially the formula of the whole game, by the time you get to the end you only then begin to tire of the same repitive process. There’s always just enough spice to keep you interested and the games combat; a wishy-washy-mish-mash of stylus acrobatics feel well honed and just a great way to kill time. Another successful franchise, re-engineered for the DS hardware, worth your gold.
Guitar Hero On Tour
Even though I shared my thoughts on this iteration of the Guitar Hero franchise sometime ago, just recently (as in probably a month ago now!) I managed to get some closer hands on impressions of the game so I wanted to document how my feelings have changed since then.
First things first, no matter how you hold the hand grip, On Tour is still going to cramp your hand, wrist and/or fingers to the point of arthritic torture. There is no way around it – for this game to function you need a peripheral, and that peripheral needs to be of certain dimensions and make up. It isn’t then so much the fault of the peripheral but rather a lack of alternative ways to experience Guitar Hero on a handheld. So when push comes to shove, I recommend that you try the game first.
Peripheral aside, I honestly don’t think that the game itself could be improved to a substantial degree. I’ve heard a lot of negative criticism level towards the empty graphics and short track list but really, how much decent quality MP3 and bitmap graphics can you cram into a 128mb game card? Not much I’d say.
Everything else in the game is authentic to the franchise. The music is definitely teen friendly, which is another reason fans of the serious seem to lose their marbles over this title. Seriously, this game is marketed towards the a younger market, not yet ready for the insane note crunching of the bigger titles. In this regard On Tour is a winner and more than adequately cuts it as a portable rendition of the popular franchise. Fantastic marketing decision too and it shows from the sales.
Everything is Working in Perfect Harmony
June 3rd, 2008
I remember back a few years ago I read an article which talked about Hollywoodisation of the video games industry. The core idea was that as game development budgets rose across all platforms the quality of games would level out and more developers would take less risks in order to survive. This would in turn force developers to create more safe bets breeding a multitude of generic, samey games. Essentially this article forcasted the death for the video game industry.
At the time it definitely sounded realistic. I mean from where we sat we all knew that the cost of development would rise and that it would change the way that the industry operates. Looking at this theory now though it’s clear to see that no such thing exists. On second thoughts its not hard to argue that games are infact less like this now than before.
Balance and What Makes Balance
The idea of Hollywoodisation is very one dimensional, it had no choice but to be that way because back then we could have never predicted how games would evolve into what they are now. With the coming of the latest generation of games we have seen new outlets open up providing users with more selection rather than the idea of the one size fits all format that we have been walking for sometime. These many new evolutions have ensured that we are currently more balanced than ever in turn lowering the burden that Hollywoodisation has on our industry. Lets look at some of these avenues that have helped out industry evolve so much in such a short amount of time.
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Tags: casual gaming, ds, Hollywoodisation, mobile phone, playstation 2, wii
Back to Back: Proving Ground + Metroid Prime 3
August 12th, 2007
There have been a few news bytes on two games that I am much anticipating. First details and media have been released for the new Tony Hawk game for the DS, once again created by the excellent Vicarious Visions. Also we have started to see some of the pre-release hype for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
Tony Hawk Proving Ground
I am a loyal follower of the Tony Hawk franchise, like most people I began with THPS2 for the PSone and held a steady interest in the series until the slim upgrades almost made me lose sight of the franchise. That was until the DS iterations of the series came along and rekindled my interest. I personally believe that these games have been a real under appreciated breath of fresh air for the series.
So far we have seen American Sk8land and Downhill Jam. Both excellent titles developed by Vicarious Visions; the developers for the also great GBA titles. These games packed a plethora of features such as online play, touch screen customization and voice input. These features combined with a solid soundtrack and unique visuals really pushed the console to its technical limits.
With TH Proving Ground they are once again testing their development wisdom and bringing this game to new and unseen levels. Here are some of the major differences with this iteration:
-no more cel shading, VV are aiming for a more realistic title
-new skatepark editor, your frinds can play in your park
-tweaks to the voice chatting
-new skate lounge area
-FMV of real skaters busting tricks
-much more on scren action/structures than prvious games
This is definetly one DS game for the ‘core’ audience. So if you haven’t played any of the DS Tony Hawk titles then go back and pick up the previous two or just hold tight for the upcoming release of Proving Ground.
Metroid Prime 3 Coruption
The Metroid Prime series so far hasn’t recieved the marketing and hype that it truely deserves. I’m not alone on this, IGN recently posted up an editorial on the matter. It really is concerning as my anticipation levels on this game aren’t as high as they probably shold be.
Thankfully Nintendo has release two awesome trailers for the game. Hopefully this is the start of a chain reaction of advertising/hyping. In saying that, the games coming out in just 3 weeks. Aren’t they a little behind?
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