03/10/2007 13:42:00
One title that certainly has been hidden off to the side among all the top tier games for the holidays. Is the recently released Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire. An all new creation exclusive to the Wii. Which certainly has "sleeper hit" written all over it. Many reviewers have compared it to some of the PS2's best hack & slash titles such as Devil May Cry, and God of War.
The game begins with a cinematic story which has some what decent voice acting for the image being portrayed. The story is being told by Valthorian the red dragon who came to create an age of peace among the warring human race. All the while his kin back home were secretly plotting against him and the entire human race for their own desires. The five other dragons managed to turn all the humans against Valthorian and then after many great wars. He eventually met its demise when the dark ones had finally turned his own final king and friend against him. They then captured his soul essence within a great blade. Which was destroyed during creation and a piece granted to each of the 5 human kings. The human king who was formerly Valthorians friend spell broke after the dark ones had gained power. So he took the handle (his piece of the blade) and fled far away and began a small secluded village. Fearing that one day the Dragon lords may come for their piece of the blade. To prevent him from using it to bring to the pieces together. He used all his power to conceal it within an alternate dimension. Which could only be accessed by a blood relative who heard the call of the Dragon. Many centuries passed and no one heard that call. Until one day one of his decendant named Dal awoke to his destiny.
The controls are pretty basic. To swing your sword you simply tilt/swing in that general direction. There are sensitivity settings allowing you to set how eccentrically you want controlling it to be. The nunchuck adds the analog for general 360* movement, C centers the camera behind you, and Z allows for jumping. The D-pad is one set of buttons you want to keep quite close. They are used to activate the special dragon powers. Like really cool dragon claws, tail,wings, and head. All of which allows for different attack options. The basic point of the controls is to make the title fun and simple for anyone within the core audience to enjoy. I personally believed they have delivered with this aspect of the game.
My only complaint was with the camera which in my opinion should automatically recenter behind your character without having to hit the center button.
During the game you basically just run around slashing at enemies and trying to destroy any and everything you can within the level. While minor RPG elements are thrown in or puzzle based action. Which require you to unlock certain items or to continue further on your adventure.
Each level has one or more dragon armor pieces, which when collected unlocks new armor "Clothes design" for Dal. Areas consist of a few levels. In one of which you'll usually meet one of the former Kings of the land which have been hauntingly possessed by the Dragons dark rule. Usually embodying a certain aspect of the red Dragon Valthorian. Who you'll have to defeat to earn back one of the pieces of the Dragon Blade. Which in turn unlock a new ability dubbed "Dragon Power" for you to use. Each area is broke up between boss battles. In which you'll have to face off with one of the dark dragon rulers. These battles are rather impressive from what I've seen and played. Its really hard to describe the intense action of being charged down by a huge water dragon (Jagira) to roll out the way and turn to just see him turn into a splatter of water on the wall. Sometimes the action with the levels has you on edge as well. Especially when you're being charged down by a horde of angry pig men. Its also rather satisfaying to excute a mass knock out of foes. While using the special dragon powers.
It would have been nice for the game to host voice acting. The story is really great and truely thought out and realized in this package. It would have made it so much better to have gotten to sit back and watch certain cut scenes without having to focus on reading. Though in all I'd much rather there be no voice acting then absolute horrible voice acting. So it might have been in the better interest of the title. The soundtrack is rather fitting for the entire theme of the title. Though it does sound a bit generic. But decent all the same. For others you could always just mute it and put on some music. Since you're not required to listen to anything.
Graphically the game is not up to par with the Wii's potential. This title could have easily been presented on any of last gens consoles. I doubt it would have been displayed as smooth or detailed as presented within this game. Yet it was certainly a possibility.
In all I've only two complaints mentioned above. Both of which do not warrant for the desire not to play. On the contrary that is exactly what you'll want to continue to do. Until the adventure is complete. With a great story, innovative controls, and simple play this title could earn quite a cult following and become the sleeper hit of the holidays. It also launched at a $39.99 price point. Which is at least $10 less than the usual price of a Wii game.
I'd highly recommend it to all fans of hack & slash titles. Also fans of fantasy in its purest form. All aspects compiled together create for quite a work. Which should be played by everyone. At least give it a rent, you might discover a hidden gem within this title. For those of you in the UK expect Dragon Blade to hit retail around Nov 2nd.
31/07/2007 08:43:00
Since running WoN I have heard about the
Paper Mario franchise a number of times. I must admit though that I
never quite understood the hype until know. This game is so good that
it must be played to be believed and I can't wait to get my hands on
the two other titles available within the franchise.
Paper Mario was first revealed to the
worlds video gaming press in 1997. At that time it was very early in
development and was labeled Super Mario RPG 2. The game was finally
finished and released within Japan in the year 2000. The US and Europe
had to wait a little bit longer for the game (2001 to be exact) but
once available I really don't think anyone would have complained about
the wait.
Storyline
Bowser has stolen the Star Rod, imprisoned
all of the Seven Star Spirits and top it all off, he has kidnapped
Princess Peach. Because of the Star Rod Bowser is more powerful than
ever and Mario must free all of the Seven Star Spirits if he is to have
any chance in stopping the evil one. Yes it is a typical Mario story
line during the adventure you will meet and interact with new
characters and read what can only be described as good original and
funny dialog.
Game play
Simply put, Paper Mario is a Nintendo
styled RPG. The system adapted here is extremely friendly. It does not
heavily rely on stats and allows the game and story to flow nicely. I
think even non RPG fans will have a terrific time with this title.
The first thing that grips you about Paper
Mario is its presentation. Even by todays standards, the style of this
game still holds up. I think part of the reason that I love the game so
much is because of its overall style in presentation. Mario in paper
style looks fantastic. Yes of course you do see some little graphical
glitches every now and again because remember this is a N64 title but
still, I would go to say that this could actually be art and good art
at that. It just goes to show that someone with a little imagination
and artistic capabilities can create something within the boundaries of
limitations and still make it look fantastic.
But another aspect of the title that
really stands out for me is the exploration element. The games setting
is the Mushroom Kingdom and Mario is required to explore the kingdom in
order to free the Star Spirits and save Princess Peach. And the great
thing about all this is that you do not travel alone. During the game
at various times you will be introduced to new companions that will
prove very useful in both battle and the completion of tasks. Also
during the game you will pick up various items like hammers to smash
blocks, you will learn new skills that will help you immensely in
battle and pick up items such as food and spells to increase both HP
and FP points.
This my friends is without doubt along
with OoT the best adventure game on Virtual Console. 1000 Wii points is
such a small price to pay for a game like this.
16/06/2007 21:46:00
When Nintendo started its non-game craze last year with Brain Age, I thought it'd be just a fad. I thought Nintendo was just trying out something new but would still focused its efforts on Mario, Samus, Link, Fox, and Captain Falco. After Brain Age's sales went through the roof, I had to accept it: Nintendo likes money and won't let this craze go by without exploiting it. A quirky title by Nintendo, called Big Brain Academy, came out on the DS a while later. What made it unique was its Wario Ware-like exercises that were over in a few seconds. It also measured your brain weight. It was a critical success. Now that the Wii is here and that its tagline is practically "Everyone can play!" Big Brain Academy is back to show casual games can hold their own on the Nintendo Wii.  You'll start out by meeting Dr. Lobe, a strange little fellow with glasses (Brain Weight: 1,970 g) that will ask you to enroll. Just choose your Mii, and that's it...you're a student at the Big Brain Academy. After that you're free to do whatever you want, may it be practice your skills on the Solo mode or play with your friends in the Group mode. However, Dr. Lobe asks wants you to take a test, and like the good students we all are, we take it. Composed of five different categories, the Brain Weight test will take you a while to complete if it's your first time. At the end of it, Dr. Lobe will show up and tell you your Brain Weight (I got 1092 g on my first try). 750 g the first time is average, anything larger than that will get you some love from Dr. Lobe.  The way the mini-games work is really simple. Be it illuminating the dark or memorizing a sequence, all you have to do is point and click. However, this doesn't mean it's easy. There's some games that will put your mind to work. Such is the case in the Pop ballons exercise. You'll need to pop the balloons from lowest to highest but when you're concentrating on speed, you'll make a lot of mistakes. It gets harder when the negative numbers start appearing and gets even harder when the ballons move around and spin. Needless to say, getting a platinum medal (400 g or more) on every exercise and every difficulty won't be an easy task. Something that Nintendo seems to have succeeded on, is the ease of use with the Wii Remote. Any non-gamer will quickly pick up on how to play and you'll have a blast playing with them. Of course, if you win, they'll usually say it's easier for you because you play Wii all the time.  Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree also saves your records and compares them against anyone else who has played your game. As I've found out with my brother, this is one of the most addictive aspects of Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree. Trying to beat your family/friends will have you playing for hours at a time just to try and beat that high score. Speed and accuracy counts a lot, so even getting beat by one second can make a huge difference in Brain Weight.  There's also the inclusion of a WiiConnect24 feature on Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree. This is the ability to share your records with your Wii Friends. No, it's not actual online play but it's still a nice touch. Oh, and don't worry about getting any Friend Codes. Big Brain Academy: Wii degree automatically imports your Wii system friends so you don't have to bother adding them again. Sadly, this might be only because no online play is involved and the records are actually sent and received through the Wii's Message Board, so don't celebrate the death of Friend Codes just yet. Graphically, the game is still as quirky as its DS counterpart. Colorful. Looks nice but being on the Wii should've stepped it up a bit even if it is just small things like lighting effects or little tidbits like that. The only step up over the DS version is that the school doesn't look all chunky like it did on the DS. To make it feel like this should be on Wii only, Nintendo added Wii Remote speaker functionality. This feature, called a remote Coach by Dr. Lobe, is supposed to encourage you to try harder. However, the words are sometimes impossible to understand due to the Wii remote's speaker quality. Aside from that, the Remote Coach only has about 10 lines which get old quickly. It'll end up annoying you soon and you'll be turning off the speaker's volume. Multiplayer has been added this time and it's a fine addition. There's three modes: Mind Sprint, which will have you and your friends race against each other or team up against your own records; Mental Marathon, and endless mode where you and a friend can play until one messes up; and the last one is Brain Quiz, where you'll pick a tile and then it'll turn around and tell you the mini-game and the difficulty. You'll get one point for every exercise completed and at the end, they'll be summed up. Whoever got the highest score wins.
14/06/2007 01:02:00
For a while now, we've been getting yearly Mario Party updates. The game that started as a fresh take on board games during the Nintendo 64 era quickly turned into a hit. Like every company, Nintendo and Hudson like money, so the sequels kept popping out like kids from a trailer park "socialite". After a while, though, the magic died and we were left with sequels most well-informed gamers didn't care about. What's so different about Mario Party 8? Why should anyone on Nintendo-Play care about another sequel? Well, just like most "revived" franchises on the Wii, the controls are the agent of change that we care about. There's the ability to have your own file separated from that of your
brother's or sister's. You'll link your profile to your Mii, too, so
you can easily identify which is yours if you find it difficult to
remember if you chose file #1, file #2, or file #3. The game's new setting is a carnival. In here, you'll quickly meet a man and his hat friend. They'll be your guide through the whole game, so you better get used to their little skits.  The main menu is just a screen with the different modes displayed. In my opinion, Hudson lost a great oportunity here. Just letting you explore the carnival with your Mii or your favorite Mario Party character would have felt so much better than the mode picking. Still, the menus are good enough, although there's some obviously questionable decisions in there. Let's get to the meat of the game. The party tent. In this tent, you can choose to either go on Battle Royal, which is your classic Mario Party four player game; Tag Battle, which is a regular game except you pair up with someone and at the end of the game your stars and coins are summed up to see which will be the Super Star Team; and finally, there's Duel Battle, which is a two player game. Personally, I still prefer the classic Battle Royal, but with friends, Tag Battle can be pretty good, too. The game plays as usual. Jump to hit the dice and see how many spaces you'll move. The main goal is getting stars and coins and after every turn a mini-game will put the four players against each other in a competition for coins. You can use power-ups, now called Candy to help you get to the stars faster and help steal coins or stars from your rivals. It's still the same game from Nintendo 64, but if you liked it then, you'll still love it now.  The boards have stopped using a top-down view. Now, each board has a different view point which may be confusing for veteran Mario Party players but you'll get used to this soon enough. The mini-games are where the game suffers. Some games work well, but for the most part, the developer insisted on using the Remote controller style, which doesn't quite work. In fact, some mini-games will be very hard to control because you're expected to twist your wrist to the right 180 degrees (the awkwardness will be twisting to the left for those of you who are lefties). It's like the game expects you to break your wrist for it. In these mini-games, I've found that using Wario Ware's "sketch artist" position works best, so if you see one of these awkward mini-games, quickly change positions and hold the Wii Remote like a pencil.
04/06/2007 02:53:00
In 2001, when the Nintendo 64 (see Nintendo 64 kid) was at the end of its life, Nintendo and Intelligent Systems released a game called Paper Mario. At first, it seemed like another RPG, but as soon as you opened the door of a building and saw the walls fall down and the building go up like in a pop-up book, you knew this wasn't gonna be your regular game. The series came out for the Nintendo GameCube and surprised gamers with
new "paper powers" such as turning Mario into an airplane. New peculiar
characters and dialogues were introduced, and thus the first truly
funny Nintendo game was made. With a lighthearted story, rememberable and familiar characters, and the newly named "paper" graphics, Paper Mario earned its place in Nintendo's "must make sequel" list. The story of Super Paper Mario begins in a strange way. You see the impossible: Princess Peach and Bowser are getting married. The scene goes on to explain that Peach doesn't want this to be done, but she is then hypnotized by a very organized-looking lady to say "I do." Suddenly, Luigi jumps out of the crowd of minions to try and fight for Peach. Of course, being Luigi, he gets defeated and the wedding takes place. Next thing you know, you're Mario and you're in a strange town with a black hole up in the sky. A familiar face, Merlon , greets you and explains that a prophecy called the Dark Prognosticus has been put into effect by the evil Count Bleck. If the prophecy is completed, all worlds and dimensions will be destroyed. It is your duty to save Princess Peach and, most importantly, save the worlds from utter destruction.  In case anyone does not know the controls, you hold the Wii Remote
sideways to emulate an NES controller. Move with the D-Pad, jump with
the 2 button, use pixls with 1, and Flip with A. As a Wii bonus, you
can pull of special tricks after beating an enemy by tilting and
shaking the Wii Remote while in the air. Nothing original but not bad
either. Throughout the game, you'll discover that some things have changed from the last two Super Paper Mario games. First of all, the battle system has been turned into a more action-oriented one. Now, all you need to do to defeat an enemy in jump/attack it. No need to go into a battle scene and then attack by turns. It's just like the original Super Mario Bros. You do gain experience after beating an enemy, though, so level grinders need not worry. Another change is that now you can play as four very familiar characters. Due to spoiler reasons, I won't say who they are but needless to say, they all have different strengths and weaknesses making it essential to change characters. In fact, you'll never be able to get through the game without exploiting each character's abilities. Instead of the usual sidekicks such as bob-ombs, koopas, and other Mario themed creatures, this time around you get to travel with creatures called Pixls. Each pixl has a different ability that will prove useful throughout the game. Be it battles or puzzles, pixls will be your best friends. Speaking of pixls, your best friend in the game is a pixl called Tippi who suffers from amnesia. She's one of the most easily loveable characters in the game and you'll want to know her story as you progress through the game.  Mario also gets a special ability called "Flipping." With this new ability he can change from a 2D view to a 3D one. Flipping is essential to the puzzle solving and it'll soon become a second nature when you're stuck. As many have noticed, the only bad thing about flipping is the barren landscapes (due to characters being paper-thin, it looks like they disappear). But you're not supposed to be flipping all the time, so that is really nothing you'll hate. The graphics are rich and vibrant. All sorts of colors will illuminate your screen as you play though the game. Also, taking a cue from the 8-bit era, there's certain levels and events that will purposedly look pixelated (not in an ugly way). As a side note, some levels of the original Super Mario Bros. are recreated in Super Paper Mario. The retro style is definitely a plus in this game.  Something you might have heard by now is how funny this game actually is. With references to the internet, the Wii, and some really special situations, you'll be laughing out loud a fair bit as you play. There's even a boss in the game that is a huge nerd and a huge laugh. If you identify with him, like I did, let me know in the comments. If there's anything that is to be disliked in Super Paper Mario, it's how easy battles are. Due to easy leveling up, you can basically kill all bosses with 4-6 hits. If you use your most powerful character (whose attack is two times stronger), battles will be over before you know it. These battles really present no challenge and merely serve as a distraction. It's a sad thing, too, seeing as how hard some of the battles in previous Paper marios were. Hopefully, this will be fixed in the sequel. Closing CommentsSimply put, Super Paper Mario is a definite must buy for the Nintendo Wii. Retro meets new in this fantastic action RPG adventure and the unique characters, storyline, dialogue, and extras will make you Super Paper Mario addict 'til the end. The only problem will be putting it down.
23/05/2007 23:19:00
After less than spectacular Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 showings of Sonic the Hedgehog, I was not expecting much from Sonic and the Secret Rings for Wii. Afterall, if the graphical powerhouses couldn't help the franchise, how could the Wii help it in any way? Still, I decided to get it because of my love for Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (GameCube), and after a few minutes of playing I realized I was so wrong. This Wii game does not only look great, but the Wiimote controls make it so intuitive that I cannot imagine playing another Sonic game that's not on the Wii.  Let's start with the story. In the game, Sonic picked up a copy of the book "The Arabian Nights". He loved it so much he spent all night reading it and fell asleep. Then, he's waken by a genie. This genie calls herself the genie of the rings and says something terrible is happening to the Arabian Nights World. Sarah, the genie thinks Sonic is some kind of god sent hedgehog that will stop the Erazor Djin from destroying the Arabian Nights. So they find the Erazor Djin and Sonic is cursed. When the curse's flame ends he'll die unless the Erazor Djin takes off the curse...but sure enough, he'll just do that if Sonic brings him the Seven Magic World Rings. That's a pretty good story starter for me, so Sonic gets some points. The graphics. When it was first shown, it was touted as many game journalists as the game that would show the Wii is capable of so much more than GameCube. Our friends at Sega did not disappoint us. There's times where the screen is filled with enemies but the framerate keeps smooth and there's no weird glitches. The game as a whole looks awesome and it shows in the places where it recreates water. It's so damn good. Now, if you wanna see perfect, take a look at the animated cutscenes (most of the story follows a story-through-stills format) near the end of the game. This is where you'll really see the hard work put into whatever engine Sonic and the Secret Rings uses.  As a way to fix the horrible homing attacks people complained about in the recent PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Sega implemented a lock-on system. Whenever you jump, a red mark will appear over your enemies, and you can choose to attach or not. This way you know if you're at least pointing at something....unlike other Sonic games where you suddenly homed into oblivion. The speed sensation also increases in Sonic and the Secret Rings. At times, it feels like you're going faster than a jet. These parts tend to have speed pads on the floor which help the speed, but if there's no speed pads, the speed sensation is still huge thanks to the amount of reference objects flashing by. In case that wasn't enough, Sonic also acquires the ability to Speed Break (similar to the one on Sonic Adventure 2 Battle) and Time Break, the former of speeds up everything making it go like it was on fast-forward and the latter of slows time down to help you dodge attacks or traps. If you were wondering about the controls, let's start by saying they're not perfect. Tilting is easily done and the smoothness can be upgraded with little add-ons you can get as your level increases. Rather, the problem is in walking back. Since Sonic is always running forward, it's hard to backtrack. This can be frustrating on missions where you have to avoid the rings or collect stuff. It's like the game doesn't really recognize your tilting for a long time but rather takes the start point and end point of your wiimote. Jumping can also fail you at times but you'll get used to it so my biggest complain is still the backwards walking.  The game is great length-wise. Took me about 15 hours to complete all the easy-to-get missions and I'm still missing many of them and most of the Special Book pages (which you get by getting high scores in a mission). My guess is this'd take you 30 hours to finish 100%. Also, there's a party game mode involving your favorite Sonic characters (including Shadow!). It's pretty much like Mario Party except the whole board is 3D and viewed from a shoulder level perspective. Some mini-games are fun, but for the most part they're either boring or they don't work. Seems like a last minute addition, so the less you know about it, the better. Closing Comments:Sonic and the Secret Rings is a fantastic return of the Sonic franchise. The series had lost its appeal after Sonic Adventure 2 Battle to most people, but with games like this on Wii there's new-found hope. I wouldn't fully recommend it, but if you've ever been into a Sonic game and/or can accept the fact that a game isn't perfect, this one will be right up your alley.
01/05/2007 03:40:00
We all know
what to do in an emergency. Call an ambulance and clear the area so the sick person
can breath. But what if we could actually do something else? All you need to do
is play Trauma Center: Second Opinion if you wanna be
helpful in an emergency. Sure, you won't be able to actually diagnose people's
diseases, but if you ever need to open up someone using a pen and operate on
a turbulent flight, you'll know how to.
So what's this game about? Basically, you take the role of Dr. Styles, a
nervous and unfocused newbie surgeon at Hope Hospital.
With the help of your assisting nurse, Angie, you'll soon become one of the
best surgeons in the world thanks to an ability called "The Healing
Touch." This ability is something you, Dr. Styles, was born with. In its
core, it is a state of concentration only Dr. Styles can reach in which time
slows down. This ability will come handy in extra-hard operations when you need
to get rid of tons of pesky viruses.
As you progress through the sometimes-slow-but-awesome story, you'll have to
fight several forms of a new virus threatening mankind. This virus, called
GUILT, is kind of your main "enemy" in the game and it'll be sure to
frustrate you so much that you'll actually spank yourself with a ball and
chain. Sadly, since I doubt any of you want the story spoiled, I'll leave all
the plot twists alone.
Graphically, the game's been substantially improved from the DS version. Models
have been made more lifelike, framerate is smoother (I hated the occassional
slow down on the DS), everything looks perfectly good. For story-telling, the
game uses anime style characters, though, and because of that, some people may
be turned away from the game.
On to the controls. As weird as this may sound, I like the Wii Version's
controls a lot more than the DS version's controls. Yes, you're not able to
actually touch something but pointing feels so much better than touching. Using
the nunchuk to quickly choose your tools is also a lot more time-efficient and
will save you lots of game overs as long as you can shove the stick in the
right direction. Fortunately, there's no moment in which the controller
restarts (like in Red Steel).
A few things are still missing from Trauma
Center: Second Opinion,
however. Things such as full voice acting should've been in the Wii version.
But nothing could be worst than the fact that it's just a remake. A sequel
would've been so much more appreciated, but it seems like Atlus didn't think
ahead when they launched the DS game and realized people may want a sequel.
There's still no DS sequel announced and there's still no new story.
As a way to make up for their lack of original story, the people from Atlus
added a side storyline in which you take the role of another Dr. with the
Healing Touch with a mysterious back story. She's also hot, guys.
Closing
Comments:
Here
we are. Should you buy it or should you not? Does it add something to the Wii
experience? Will it swallow your weekends? The answer to all of these questions
is yes. It's a worthy experience...even for those who owned and beat the
original one. If you know a doctor and ever wanted to show off the Wii, get
this. They'll love it, you'll love it, and I'll love you.
20/04/2007 23:53:00
Oh Dragon Ball. How I love you. First, you give me a happy childhood filled with hours of Goku, Gohan, and the rest of the Z Fighters and then you hand me the amazing Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout. When you ended, I thought I would die, but thank Kaio-Sama for your games, cause they kept me going. Especially now that I can actually make a kamehameha with my own movement.
Alright, enough thanking. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 is basically a remake of the original Budokai Tenkaichi...but man, what a remake.
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