World 1-1

Punch-Out!! (Virtual Console) review

2009-05-18T11:30:00.000-07:00

About the Virtual Console reviews: I'm not rating these games necessarily by today's standards, otherwise my evaluation of graphics and lasting value might not do too well. But I'm also not reviewing these games by their original system's standards. Think of it as a combination of the two, and overall just if it's worth a download or not.

Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream (Virtual Console)

Developer: Nintendo IRD
Publisher: Nintendo
Date Released: VC: April 16, 2007 (USA)
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

The latest Punch-Out!! for the Wii releases today into North American stores. To celebrate this we have my review of Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream on the Virtual Console. The original NES Punch-Out!! frequents Top 10 NES lists and generally is the most popular and remembered of the games in the series. And for good reason: the gameplay's excellent, the puzzles are difficult, and the stereotypical humor is hilarious.

Punch-Out!! may be all about boxing, but it varies considerably from other regular boxing games. It'd be more suitable to call it a puzzle-action game than a boxing title. You play as Little Mac and are rooted in the middle of the rink. You have a decent amount of punches and dodges in your arsenal. Where the challenge and strategy comes in is with the various boxers of different speeds and skills. Learning exactly when to dodge and then deliver uppercuts and jabs becomes crucial when the boxers begin to only give you split second warnings. It'll take a lot of pattern memorization and multiple playthroughs of each stage.

Little Mac vs. Great Tiger

Additional elements to the Punch-Out!! formula are hearts and stars. You'll have a set number of hearts at the beginning of each round. You'll lose one each time you're punched and if you lose all of these your fighter becomes exhausted and unable to fight back. To gain back hearts, you will have to dodge a certain number of punches. Stars on the other hand are obtained by delivering blows to your opponents at certain times, usually when they're about to attack you. When you have a star you can unleash a devastating Star Punch on your foes for some big damage with the Start button (+ on a Wii remote held sideways).

The rest of the controls in Punch-Out!! are intuitive and mapped wonderfully. Left, right, and down on the d-pad are for dodges and blocks while B (1 on the Wii remote) and A (2) combined with pressing up on the directional pad make up your offense. It all controls great, and you'll be surprised with all that you can pull off with just a d-pad and two face buttons.

Punch-Out!! is all about Little Mac and his rise to overcome the odds and become the champ. He'll face foes like the weakling Glass Joe, the humongous King Hippo, and the insanely difficult Mr. Dream (Mike Tyson in the original version) along the way. The story's nothing to get excited over, but at least the character each have distinct personalities that's brought to life via animations and in between round verbal taunts. A drink (is it soda or alcohol?) swigging Russian named Soda Popinski? A Japanese fighter named Piston Honda that'll deliver a "TKO from Tokyo"? Yep, someone's bound to get offended.

In between rounds you'll get Doc Louis's advice and opponent's taunts

The game's definitely a NES game as the graphics show. Even with the two frame animations and basic colors, the game has a whole lot of style. Each of the characters has a wide range of expressions when getting punched, winding up for a punch, or delivering a KO inducing uppercut. The various animations when fighting and getting knocked out are done really well, even with the limited capabilities of the NES hardware. As far as audio goes, the various sound effects are fitting and add to the experience, but the Punch-Out!! theme is where it's all at. There's a reason the song's known to Nintendo fans and revered as a classic: it's good.

Overall Thoughts

Punch-Out!! is a fantastic game and really holds up in this day and age. The pattern memorization and timing mechanics are just as entertaining and brutal as the were 20 years ago. A definite download for Nintendo fans and is a great buy for those interested in the Wii version.

9/10

Poll #19 results

2009-05-17T21:32:00.000-07:00

The results for the nineteenth World 1-1 poll are as follows:

Are you excited for the Pokemon Gold/Silver remakes? (16 total votes)

I'm super excited for the games! - 43% (7 votes)
I'm interested in them - 13% (2 votes)
I'm indifferent - 6% (1 vote)
Meh... don't really want - 13% (2 votes)
What?! More Pokemon games? More remakes? Pass. - 25% (4 votes)

More than half of the voters were either excited for the Gold/Silver remakes or at least interested in them. I'm actually really looking forward to SoulSilver (the one I'm getting). Having skipped out on the fourth generation of Pokemon games (Diamond/Pearl/Platinum), I'd forgotten how much I loved the games. I picked back up Pokemon Sapphire for the GBA a few days ago and it's been pretty much all I've been playing (along with a few matches of NES Punch-Out!! to prepare for the Wii game and to hopefully get a review up tomorrow). The games usually start off a bit slow, but then it's on to none stop addictiveness.

Disappointing news stories going around various Nintendo news sites like GoNintendo are on the sales of certain games. Many hardcore titles on Nintendo platforms, such as MadWorld and GTA: Chinatown Wars haven't sold what people would consider successful. According to GoNintendo and NPD, Nintendo's latest first-party title Excitebots only sold a paltry 13,000 in April. The advertising, or lack there of, on Nintendo's part or people seeming to have enough of Wii racing with Mario Kart and Excite Truck could be sources of the problem. Nintendo's next big game, Punch-Out!! for the Wii launches tomorrow, May 18th, and one can wonder how good that one'll sell. Which is my next poll question, "How well do you think Punch-Out!! will sell on the Wii?"

Punch-Out!! (Wii) trailer

2009-05-11T16:22:00.000-07:00

My thoughts: This was one of the best Nintendo commercials I'd seen in a long time. I loved it. They really need to do more of these. It was cheesy, well-made, and hilarious altogether. "I'll sleep when I'm dead." Great stuff.

Poll #18 results

2009-05-10T20:00:00.000-07:00

Poll 18 has concluded. We're almost at the twentieth poll! The results of the latest World 1-1 poll are as follows:

Which Nintendo franchise would you love to appear on the Wii the most? (21 total votes)

Donkey Kong - 4% (1 vote)
Kirby - 23% (5 votes)
Pikmin - 19% (4 votes)
Starfox - 23% (5 votes)
Other - 28% (6 votes)

When your "Other" option is the most voted, you know you should've included more/different choices. As was the case here. A few days after putting up the poll I realized I'd forgotten some big name Nintendo franchises. Namely stuff like F-Zero and Pilotwings. On the other side of the scale was Donkey Kong with a single vote. I voted for Pikmin myself. I loved the "New Play Control" version of Pikmin and am looking forward to playing some Pikmin built from the ground up for the Wii.

Just recently remakes of the second generation of Pokemon games were announced, titled Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver. This gives Pokefreaks and retired veterans of the series (like me) something to be excited for. But are YOU excited for the game? That's why this weeks poll is: "Are you excited for the Pokemon Gold/Silver remakes?"

Red Steel 2 (Wii) trailer

2009-05-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to a new type of post on World 1-1: trailers. Whenever a new trailer of a hot looking game is released onto the web, and I like it, I'll be sure to post it here. So, without further ado, my first trailer is of Red Steel 2. Sure it's a little late and most have already seen it, but the trailer is just too badass not to post.

While I'm pretty sure that's not in game footage and the guy (who was getting a little too into it) wasn't actually controlling the on screen movements, it still was a really badass trailer. I love the art as well. It captures the whole western feel and looks very nice altogether.

Pokemon Gold/Silver remakes? Yes, please!

2009-05-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

Another short article. Was planning on doing this earlier but didn't have the time. Oh, and just thought I should mention, there's going to be a few changes around here at World 1-1, some minor, others major. Look out for those.

Pokemon Gold and Silver are no doubt my favorite of the core Pokemon RPG's. So when I heard the rumors of a G/S remake on the DS, I was all for it. Supposedly in Japan there's a popular TV show called Pokemon Sunday, and last Sunday's episode said there'd be big news in the next episode. Two confetti balls, one gold, the other silver, hung above the stage during the show pointing to a Gold and Silver remake announcement.

These supposedly "leaked" boxarts found at vgboxart.com may be closer to reality than you think

I really hope that's what this is. Gold and Silver were damn good games and my favorite Pokemon games. You have to give credit where credit's due, since Red and Blue were great games that started the franchise. But we got FireRed and LeafGreen, now it's time for a DS Gold/Silver remake. The classic duo were the perfect Pokemon sequel. They added tons of new features such as a day/night system, 100 new Pokemon, an actually interesting and dynamic story (at least for a Pokemon game), and a Pokeball growing scenario with strategic "seeds" and new creative Pokeball types.

The remakes would be a great idea in my eyes. Update the graphics, include features of Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, such as online play and touch screen support, change up minor things in the original, and add new areas to explore. LeafGreen/FireRed were good fun just playing through the original games with updated visuals and battle systems, but it was equally fun to explore the new Sevii islands with Pokemon from later games and a new side quest. Only time will tell if Gold and Silver really are being remade. But I really hope the games get remade, and I'm willing to bet they will sometime in the not too distant future.

EDIT: It seems the rumors are true: Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver were announced today. This is fantastic news, as I've explained in this post. My main wishes are that they beef up the Kanto portions of the game, as in the original G/S/C they were pretty half assed. And I also hope they add some new areas to explore (Orange Islands anyone?) This has now become one of my most anticipated games, even with the little we know.

Poll #17 results

2009-05-03T17:19:00.000-07:00

I'm really liking doing these weekly polls. I might not get as many votes as when I did it twice a month (usually about half), but it's nice to have a solid schedule of doing it every Sunday. The results of my 17th poll are below.

How many hours a week would you say you spend playing video games? (23 total votes)

Less than 5 hours - 26% (6 votes)
5 to 9 hours - 30% (7 votes)
10 to 19 hours - 34% (8 votes)
20 to 29 hours - 4% (2 votes)
30+ hours - 0% (0 votes)

The popular choice here was anywhere from 10 to 19 hours a week of playtime. Following that was , 5 to 9, with 30% of votes. It seems nobody voted for 30 hours or more. Guess most people don't have that much time. I voted for "10 to 19 hours." I play a decent amount of games, even staying up late a lot of the time. But I don't play a lot during the week, saving most of my playtime for weekends when I have a lot more free time.

As usual there is another poll up. The Wii's already seen a large number of Nintendo's franchises. We've had both a Super Mario game and a Legend of Zelda game. We've had Mario Kart, Wario (Land and -Ware), Super Smash Bros., the Excite franchise, Paper Mario, Metroid, and Fire Emblem all on Nintendo's latest console. Punch-Out!! coming this may marks another favorite franchise appearing on the Wii. But not all of Nintendo's hit series have had a Wii iteration. What about Starfox? Or Kirby? This week's poll question is, "Which Nintendo franchise would you love to appear on the Wii the most?"

Gaming Forecast - May 2009

2009-05-01T23:00:00.000-07:00

The first of May is here and with it comes another monthly dose of the Gaming Forecast feature.

Gaming Forecast May 2009

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Wii and DS, May 1st)
New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (Wii, May 4th)
Klonoa (Wii, May 5th)
Puzzle Kingdoms (DS, May 5th and Wii, May 12th)
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus (Wii, May 12th)
Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled (DS, May 12th)
C.O.R.E. (DS, May 12th)
Punch-Out!! (Wii, May 18th)
Boom Blox Bash Party (Wii, May 19th)
EA Sports Active (Wii, May 19th)
Rock Band Track Pack: Classic Rock (Wii, May 19th)
Steal Princess (DS, May 19th)
Personal Trainer: Walking (DS, May 25th)

The Wii had a pretty good month this month, with big games like Punch-Out!!, Klonoa, and the almost guaranteed to sell EA Sports Active. The DS was a bit light this month, though Nintendo's Personal Trainer: Walking could be a popular choice among the "expanded audience."

Of the games I want, there's my highly anticipated Punch-Out!! and the beautiful remake Klonoa, which are must buys for me. And later on down the road, maybe when my wallet's not hurting so much, I'll have to check out Boom Blox Bash Party (loved the original) and New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (never played the original).

What about you my dear reader? Are you going to relive some nolstagic Punch-Out!! fun? Or are you saving your money for a month with more worthwhile handheld games?

Six shooters + samurai swords = kickass

2009-04-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

Another short article. I think I may start posting a lot more of these with a larger feature or review here and there, rather than empty, post-less weeks.

Just today we got the first details of Red Steel 2. The original was a fairly huge game in terms of hype, as it took advantage both of the Wii's major innovations: IR pointer controls and motion controls. Unfortunately it failed to live up to these standards with clunky controls and overall unenjoyable gameplay. While it (mostly) bombed with critics, it went on to sell over a million copies. But now that the Wii's been out for over two years... enter Red Steel 2!

Katana-wielding cowboys and a cel-shaded art style? Count me in!

While we haven't gained much information about it from the two preview pictures of the next issue of Nintendo Power, there's been enough to have me fairly excited. For one, the pictures show a dude with a cowboy hat, a revolver, and a samurai sword. Wild-west meets oriental east is a combination not seen in a lot of things, whether it's movies, video games, or anything else. It's a very unique concept that is appealing much like ninjas vs. pirates.

The issue also reconfirms MotionPlus, which fits perfect with this game and its precision based sword combat. Also you may notice the cel-shaded art style seen on the cover; whether this is just concept art and not in game graphics is yet to be seen, but I hope these are the actual graphics, for it has the potential of looking very great stylistically!

All in all, I hope that the added benefits of Wii MotionPlus and not having to be rushed out for a launch title, Red Steel 2 can end up being a great game and everything its prequel should have been. But I also hope that Ubisoft doesn't hurry to get it out as one of the first Wii MotionPlus titles, dooming it like they did with the first. I'm remaining optimistic at this point, but only time will tell how the game really turns out.

So many games, so little money

2009-04-28T08:30:00.000-07:00

Extremely short article this time around. Don't worry though, I have several larger post ideas that hopefully can all be made into reality.

I've become to realize something over the past few days: there are a lot of great Wii games coming out. Maybe a couple aren't up the the caliber of "hardcore" as MadWorld and The House of the Dead: Overkill, but there are some quality games releasing in the coming months.

Socking King Hippo in the stomach, just one of many great experiences to be had this May!

I haven't even picked up the surprisingly awesome looking Excitebots: Trick Racing. Then there's Punch-Out!!, the Boom Blox sequel, and Klonoa coming out this May. That's not even mentioning New Play Control! versions of Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat (due out in May as well) and Pikmin 2 (no solid release date for North America, but it'll most likely be here sooner than later since Europe's already gotten it). Some of the listed Wii games may not be everyone's cup of tea, but there's no denying May is hope to quality releases. But even in the months following May we'll see the releases of huge titles like The Conduit and Wii Sports Resort, not to mention Little King's Story.

That's a total of nine games I'm really looking forward to. And that's nine reasons I'm very happy to be a Wii owner. But what I'm not happy about is having to spend money on all nine of these games! With this school year nearing it's end (it can't come soon enough!) I'll have to start looking for a summer job to pay for all these. Because I certainly don't want to miss out on some great Wii fun. How about you? Are you loving the support the Wii's getting? Is your wallet hurting as well?

Poll #16 results

2009-04-26T16:15:00.000-07:00

Be sure to check out the newly crafted World 1-1 Review Archive on the right sidebar to catch up on any World 1-1 reviews you may have missed. (I got/stole the idea from SuperPhillip Central and Everyview.)

Unfortunately, much like the previous poll, Poll #16 had few votes (at least compared to earlier World 1-1 polls). The results are as follows...

How do you like your sports games? (16 total votes)

Arcadey - 31% (5 votes)
Realistic - 12% (2 votes)
Like them both - 37% (6 votes)
I don't play sports games - 18% (3 votes)

Even with very few votes, the voting choices are all very close in the end results. The vote for liking both arcadey and realistic sports games won by one vote count over primarily arcadey. The option, "Realistic", came in last barely earning less votes than "I don't play sports games".

I voted for the first choice, as I prefer arcadey sports titles (like Punch-Out!!) over realistic sports sims. While I've played some sports games like Madden and MLB games at friend's houses, I never really enjoy them. But I do love games like the Mario Kart, they're just a lot more "fun" in my eyes as they strive for you to be entertained rather than be accurate represent the sports.

Poll #17 is up as well. Chances are a lot of you play quite a bit of video games; this is a video game blog after all. But just how much do you actually play? Some of us have work and school to have to deal with, while others have a lot more free time to play all the video games they want. My poll question this week is "How many hours a week would you say you spend playing video games?"

Bit.Trip Beat (WiiWare) review

2009-04-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

Bit.Trip Beat (WiiWare)

Developer: Gaijin Games
Publisher: Aksys Games
Date Released: March 16, 2009 (USA)
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Retro gaming has definitely become more prominent in the last few years, with remakes of classic games like Bionic Commando Rearmed and whole new games with a retro styles such as Mega Man 9 or Retro Game Challenge paying off for developers by appealing to the old school gamers with their nostalgic gameplay and/or visuals and audio. While Space Invaders has been remade in Space Invaders Extreme, it's a bit surprising the granddaddy of all gaming, Pong has yet to see a remake with such a caliber of flashy visuals and nostalgic fun. But the first game of the Bit.Trip series is here, titled Bit.Trip Beat and while not exactly a sequel or remake of Pong, you can sure tell it's been heavily influenced by the game.

Much like Space Invaders Extreme is a lot like the original game on drugs with it's flashy graphics and hectic shooting fun, Bit.Trip Beat is a lot like Pong knocked up with a whole lot of illegal substances doing some crazy things (gameplay-wise). But this doesn't describe the game well enough, seeing as there's actually a lot more to it than the basic game of Pong.

The basics of Bit.Trip Beat involve you controlling a paddle on the left of the screen, and instead of another player on the right, a constant stream of different colored and different choreographed pixels known as beats that you must repel back. All of this is done with some of the simplest controls in gaming. Holding the Wii remote on its side and tilting forward and back controls your paddled seamlessly. It might take a little while to adjust, but once you get a hang of it, you'll be deflecting beats easily. While this may turn some people off, without D-pad control and all, I can say that this way works brilliantly, mimics the old-school paddle, and in the end is much faster than digital input. No other buttons are used other than 2 for menu selection. Though in game all the buttons on the Wii remote respond with different chiptune bleeps and bloops that are purely for fun and in no way affect the main game.

Deflecting little bouncing/flying pixels may not seem hard, but after playing this game I'm sure you'll be thinking exactly the opposite. Where the game really ramps up in difficulty is in the different types of beats (Pong balls) that fly across the screen at you. At first just basic yellow blocks that fly towards you are all you have to deflect, which is relatively easy. But from then on more and more beats are thrown at you with increasingly difficult patterns and speeds that certainly doesn't add up to a cake walk. There's such a variety of beats that even when nearing the end of the game newer ones are still blasting towards your paddle; there's fast beats, hesitating beats, beats linked together, beats that bounce off the walls: the list goes on and on.

Other than normal (relatively speaking of course) beats that all you have to deflect, there's certain power-up beats that can grow, shrink, freeze, or duplicate your paddle. Some are good while others are bad so you have the option of skipping them by merely not hitting them, but as all other beats it will still count against you. Count against you how? In the game, while playing, you'll notice two meters, the Mega and Nether, located on the top and bottom respectively. Fill the Mega meter by continually hitting beats back and you'll be transported to Mega mode with flashier graphics, more dynamic music, and the chance to get even higher scores by racking up the combos (think of it somewhat like Star Power in Guitar Hero). Miss too many in this and your back to the normal mode. In this one, miss too many and you're sent to Nether mode which is black and white, totally devoid of music and rhythm (other than the single monotonous sound that comes out of the Wii remote speaker replacing the normal beeps and boops), and very reminiscent of the original 70's Pong game. As you might have guessed missing too many beats in Nether mode and its game over for you.

At the end of each stage you face off with a boss that are one of the more memorable experiences of each level. Each stage's end level boss is different from the last, and I don't want to ruin anything, but they're very much inspired by Pong and Pong-like titles such as Breakout. Also included in the overall package is 4-player co-op which is a lot of fun to play with a friend. It does get harder the more players you add, as paddles become increasingly smaller with each new player. However, it's not all well: the different paddles differentiate in color but aren't staggered position-wise, so there's a lot of confusing overlapping to be had that makes co-op a whole lot less fun than it should have been.

But deflecting beats and facing off against pixelated bosses is only half of Bit.Trip Beat, the other 50% is the presentation, namely the style of graphics and engaging music. The music and sounds of the game are quite the showpiece, as the game relies heavily on the musical rhythm. There's always a background beat that holds the game together in a musical sense. Each beat that you repel adds a sound to the ever growing soundtrack. It's a really impressive thing to see, hear and play. Along with the audio are the fantastically abstract backgrounds and very Atari 2600-esque pixel style. Everything from the in game objects to text that's barely legible with such big pixels screams mid- to late-70's gaming.

Probably the major complaint of Bit.Trip Beat would be the lack of lasting value. There's only three stages, each of which is about 12 to 15 minutes long. But don't let these number deceive you into thinking the game hardly lasts even an hour, it'll last you upwards of eight hours approximately to finish the game. The stages, mainly the second and third, are taxingly difficult and really stay true to the hardcore old-school by having you play them for hours and hours until mastering every beat pattern to complete them. I did find the stages to be a bit too long though, especially seeing how dying sends you back to the very beginning. All of this could've been solved by mid-way check points or even splitting the three stage in half into six smaller levels.

Another complaint I had with the game was how much went unexplained. The game does very little in teaching you anything. There's no tutorial mode, so you'll have to get a hang of it in the beginning of the first level. It also doesn't tell you that to keep a stage unlocked you have to get a high score in the previous one. I never had the problem, as you'll score somewhere in the high scores most of the time, but I'm sure it can get annoying to those who barely beat a level. Speaking of high scores, it's disappointing to see only local leaderboards. A game like this so centered around replaying stages to get higher combos and beat previous scores, it's unfortunate to not see online leaderboards.

Overall Thoughts

Gaijin Games really nailed the whole retro-revival style both graphically and with the impressive music that coincides with the gameplay perfectly. Bit.Trip Beat's a whole lot of fun and is a really unique WiiWare game that's perfectly priced at $6. One of the better WiiWare games to date and comes with my highest recommendation.

9/10

Poll #15 results

2009-04-19T21:12:00.000-07:00

First let me apologize for my absence from World 1-1 for the past two weeks and for the lateness of this post. Due to some things to deal with in the "real world" and a mild case of writer's block for your's truly, I just didn't have the enthusiasm to post. Let's hope all that's over and I can get back to my regular two, three, four, or more posts a week (OK, so not that regular) schedule.

First I'd like to announce bit of a change in the polls: now they're going to be weekly, rather than bimonthly. This gives me the chance to have a lot more polls and free up a day each week to post results. Speaking of which, there will be a "poll results" post and a new poll alway up on Saturday (except for this one), usually somewhere around 4:00 Pacific Time. And now to your regularly scheduled poll results...

Poll number fifteen has concluded with a fairly small total vote count (as probably due to lack of posting lately). Here's the results to said poll:

Do you read gaming magazines? (17 total votes)

Yes, I subscribe to one or more - 58% (10 votes)
Yes, I buy issues occasionally - 29% (5 votes)
No, I don't read them - 11% (2 votes)

Without a lot of votes it's not entirely accurate to say which choice was the most popular. But I think it's pretty safe to say the first, the subscription choice, is the most popular as it garnered almost 60% of the votes. Coming in second was 29% for buying issues occasionally. And finally, last (and least) was two votes from people who don't read gaming magazines at all.

I voted for the first choice as I subscribe to two magazines, Game Informer and Nintendo Power. As I've said before, I really am loving my subscription to Nintendo Power and each month I'm treated with great previews and lots of nice screens and reviews. As for GI, I really like the magazine too, albeit the sometimes lack of Nintendo content. It has a lot of great gaming articles to read and always scores on big exclusive cover stories.

Once again, there's a brand spankin' new poll up. Sports are one of the popular genres of video games. Whether it's realistic sports simulations like Madden and Tiger Woods or arcadey and hectic games like Punch-Out!! and the Mario sports games, sports titles cater to a large audience. But it's my question to you, "How do you like your sports games?" Arcadey? Or realistic?

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Gaming Forecast - April 2009 UPDATED

2009-04-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

The Gaming Forecast is back one again. The month of April has noticeably less games than previous months, but there's still some big releases to be found.

Gaming Forecast April 2009

~~Super Mario Galaxy 2: Yoshi's Universe (Wii, Apr. 1st)~~
Nintendo DSi (Apr. 5th)
Pop+ Solo (DS, Apr. 5th)
Rhythm Heaven (DS, Apr. 5th)
Samurai Shodown Anthology (Wii, Apr. 7th)
C.O.R.E. (DS, Apr. 14th)
Excitebots: Trick Racing (Wii, Apr. 20th)
Steal Princess (DS, Apr. 21st)
Puzzle Kingdoms (Wii and DS, Apr. 28th)

Note: Dates are subject to change.

By far the biggest release this week is Super Mario Galaxy 2: Yoshi's Universe. Releasing today, the sequel to 2007's biggest Wii game looks as great as the original and then some. Yoshi finally makes a return (being absent from SMG). The game looks really fantastic and even longer and better than the first. I really can't wait to pick up my copy.

*UPDATE* It seems someone was playing a cruel April Fool's joke on me (or was I the one playing it?). Sadly Super Mario Galaxy 2: Yoshi's Universe is only a figment of someone's imagination (or was it my imagination?). Though I really do hope we get a Galaxy sequel on the Wii; Galaxy was just too great to have to wait for another console.

Another huge release this April is the DSi's North American launch on the 5th. (It launches in Europe as well, only a couple of days earlier.) My game spending money has been spent in the last few months, but once I get some more I'll be sure to purchase both a DSi and a copy of Rhythm Heaven. I managed to play the demo of Rhythm Heaven on the Nintendo Channel and I found it was excellent. On the Wii side of things Excitebots looks great as well, and I'm going to look into that game as well.

While April doesn't have a large number of games like both February and March, it stands a pretty good fight with quality over quantity. What about you? ~~Besides Super Mario Galaxy 2 (I mean, that's a must buy for a Wii owner),~~ what are you interested in this month? Are you picking up a DSi?

Comments or questions? See any games I missed? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Poll #14 results

2009-03-31T17:40:00.000-07:00

Poll #14 has concluded and the results are in...

Which New Play Control! games have you gotten or are planning on getting? (40 total votes)

Chibi-Robo - 47% (19 votes)
Donkey Kong Jungle Beat - 20% (8 votes)
Mario Power Tennis - 12% (5 votes)
Metroid Prime - 57% (23 votes)
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes - 50% (20 votes)
Pikmin - 47% (19 votes)
Pikmin 2 - 65% (26 votes)

Note: Voters could vote for more than one, which explains why the percentages don't add up to 100.

As you can see from the above results, both of the Pikmin games and both of the Metroid Prime games are the most popular. Pikmin 2 is the most popular of them all, while the original Metroid Prime comes in second. On the opposite end of the spectrum are Jungle Beat and Mario Power Tennis, coming in second to last and last respectively. I'm willing to bet that the reason Mario Power Tennis is so low is because the game is already out and wasn't received well by critics. As for Donkey Kong Jungle Beat? I'm guessing people aren't up for the change from bongo controls to analog stick and buttons.

I voted much like the majority of voters, for both Pikmins and both Metroid Primes. I loved both Metroid Prime 3 and the New Play Control! version of Pikmin, so I'm really looking forward to both Pikmin 2 and the prequels to Corruption.

And last but not least, there's, once again, a new poll up. Other than word of mouth, gaming magazines used to be one of the top resources for game news/previews/reviews back before the days of the internet. But today, various websites and blogs provides a much faster way to get gaming news and reviews. Even so, there still are a good number of game magazines available today. My question this time around is, "Do you read gaming magazines?"

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

New Play Control! Pikmin (Wii) review

2009-03-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

New Play Control! Pikmin (Wii)

Developer: Nintendo EAD
Publisher: Nintendo
Date Released: March 9, 2009 (USA)
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Nintendo has decided to bring a number of their GameCube hits over to the Wii with the New Play Control! series. All the NPC! games have be reworked to play with Wii controls, whether it be IR for Metroid Prime and Pikmin or gestures for Mario Power Tennis. Nintendo's choice to do this made a lot of sense in a business view, seeing as a lot of these games haven't been played by a large portion of the Wii's audience, due to the Wii's success and the GameCube's unpopularity. Alongside Mario Power Tennis, Pikmin is the first New Play Control! game to be released in North America.

In Pikmin, you play as Captain Olimar, whose ship, the S.S. Dolphin, gets hit by an asteroid as he's flying along. He makes a crash landing in a nearby, unknown planet. Parts and pieces of the space ship scatter across the land. On the planet, Olimar finds there is a deadly gas in the atmosphere, oxygen, and the life support system will fail after 30 days. Thus he has 30 days to retrieve the 30 ship parts that were lost.

But he doesn't do this alone. On the strange planet he crash lands on, Olimar finds tiny creatures which he names Pikmin. These Pikmin join him in his quest to rebuild his ship and are cute little creatures that somewhat resemble ants with a flower on their head (or leaf or bud, depending on what stage of their life they're in). The Pikmin join Olimar and willingly obey his commands. In Pikmin, there are three different kinds of Pikmin: red, yellow, and blue. The red can walk through fire unharmed, so you'll often resort to them to both carry items through fiery places and attack enemies that shoot flames. The yellow Pikmin can both carry bombs and be thrown the farthest. And blue Pikmin can breathe under water, which means you'll turn to them to get underwater objectives and get to islands.

To get Olimar's 30 ship parts in the 30 day time limit, you'll have to resort your army of Pikmin. Olimar is virtually useless in attacking and moving things, thus he can command Pikmin to do what he cannot. Be it moving/destroying obstacles, harvesting pellets, or attacking enemies, the Pikmin's strength lie in numbers. Most obstacles and items require a certain number of Pikmin to move and those that don't will take a lot longer to do the less Pikmin assigned.

The game of Pikmin can basically be split up into two objectives: getting Olimar's ship parts and growing your army of Pikmin. The Dolphin's ship parts are either found guarded by walls, some light puzzle solving (using different Pikmin colors), and various enemies or with boss creatures that you must beat to obtain the ship part. While you'll want to get all of the Dolphin's pieces, you'll also need to raise and harvest Pikmin. Getting more Pikmin is done by bringing both pellets, which can be harvested from special flowers and dropped by enemies, and the bodies of creatures and bosses back to the Pikmin's homes, named (by Olimar) Onions.

One of the major complaints of the original GameCube game was the 30 day time limit. Since Olimar has to get all of the ship's parts in these 30 days, not doing this will result in Olimar's death and you losing the game. Each of these days takes around 15 minutes from sunrise to sundown, after which you'll have to board your ship (and the Pikmin, their Onion homes). This can add a certain amount of urgency to the game and makes the game feel rushed. With levels that are designed great and enemies to be fought scattering the landscape, it'd feel a lot nicer not to have the 30 day limit and the flexibility to explore. Even so, the limit will be liked by some since it's an overall challenge to beat. And while Nintendo didn't abolish this limit completely in the New Play Control version (like they did with Pikmin 2 for the GameCube), they did make it a bit easier. Now you can rewind to any day that you've played. So say you did really good up to about Day 6, but from then on you've been doing pretty bad, rarely getting ship parts and losing a lot of Pikmin, now you can start playing back up at Day 6 to try and do better. It's a nice touch that frees up a bit of the rush and urgency.

Nintendo redid the controls to fit the Wii's controller and make controlling Olimar and his army of Pikmin easier and more intuitive. It's extremely simple to command your Pikmin to attack enemies, harvest resources, separate into groups, and remain inactive with a few buttons and the Wii's IR. Pikmin on the GameCube was praised for finally "getting" real-time strategy controls on a console (albeit being a lot less complex than PC RTS's), but the Wii remote and nunchuk far outdo even those great controls.

New Play Control! Pikmin is a game with a decent challenge. The difficulty especially ramps up near the end for some hard but rewarding boss fights and puzzling. It's definitely nice to have both the improved controls and ability to restart from any previous day. The game has decent length that's definitely shortened a bit by the 30 day time limit, but overall it was a good 10 to 12 hour game. Increasing the replay value, there's also a very fun Challenge Mode to be played, which has you seeing how many Pikmin you can grow in a single day. It's pretty fun and will have you coming back for more with high scores and different levels to play.

Other than the 16:9 widescreen mode for folks with those TV's (see: not me), Nintendo didn't do much to improve the already solid GameCube graphics. Even with this, Pikmin's visuals can unfortunately stand up to a majority of the games available for the Wii. It just goes to show how Nintendo EAD was pushing the hardware at the time and how few developers today put that much effort into Wii games. There are detailed environments and crisp colors for the various creatures and items. Even so, there are some muddy textures, which are particularly visible when viewed up close. The soundtrack is soothing and very enjoyable. Mixing with this are the cute Pikmin sounds that never get old.

Overall Thoughts

Pikmin is a very fun and rewarding game, and with the new Wii remote controls, it feels all the better to control. Anyone who has never played this game should really do so, and with the New Play Control $30 price tag, the game is significantly cheaper than most Wii games. Overall, if you're itching to play Pikmin with motion controls or you've never played Pikmin at all, give this one a try. But otherwise, you may want to hold out for the longer and better Pikmin 2.

8/10

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Mario Kart Wii's online

2009-03-28T08:30:00.000-07:00

I've recently beat four games, Deadly Creatures, House of the Dead: Overkill, MadWorld, and New Play Control! Pikmin (in that order actually). They were really great games, and I had a lot of fun with each. But now that I beat every new Wii game that I have, what was I going to play? A few nights ago, I was faced with this dilhema. Should I go back and beat my unbeaten games like Okami and Zack & Wiki? Nah, didn't really want to. Should I use Wii Fit, since I've barely used it since I got it? Nah, too lazy for that too. So I decided to pop in the ol' Mario Kart Wii and play some online.

And after playing around that night and last night, I came to remember how fun Mario Kart Wii's online is. It's by far the best online multiplayer in the Wii game. It's super fast (even with my crappy internet). I love how it's structured, with 5000 points, winning gains to points, losing does the opposite. And I much prefer the continual racing with new people joining and quitting versus the four race cup style of Mario Kart DS's online.

Some may bash Mario Kart (especially the Wii version) for it cheapness and the blue shell hate is almost a universal feeling, but I still love the random racing that isn't totally devoid of skill (not at all actually). My only problem playing last night and the night before would be the somewhat frequent disconnections; though that was most certainly because of my internet and not the game (damn you crappy small town internet provider!) Sure, it would've been nice for Nintendo to have some form of communicating and interacting with friends, but I really do love Mario Kart Wii's online mode. And there's not a doubt in my mind that a year from now I can't pop in the disc, boot up the online multiplayer, and have a just as much of a blast as I did last night.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Impressions of Iwata's GDC '09 Keynote

2009-03-25T16:50:00.000-07:00

Iwata’s keynote at GDC today made many a Nintendo fan happy. When it was announced a while ago that Satoru Iwata, President and CEO of Nintendo, would be speaking at GDC 2009, it was interesting but not hype worthy due to this being a “Game Developers Conference” rather than something along the lines of E3 where the big announcements are expected. But then a couple of days ago, we got word of Iwata’s keynote being rather “big,” which in turn began the hype train. I too boarded this train of hyperbole, but I expected it to be derailed once the actual keynote came around. But it sure wasn’t. Iwata’s keynote didn’t disappoint, so here’s my impressions of it... Enjoy!

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

Speaking of trains, probably the biggest game news announced was a new Legend of Zelda. This came as a complete surprise to me. For one, if any big name Nintendo franchise game was to be announced, I wouldn't have expected it to be a Zelda game. An announcement of Kirby or Pikmin 3 would’ve made more sense to me. And secondly, I would’ve expected Nintendo’s next Zelda game to be a console one, seeing as they’re last was a portable version.

Nevertheless, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks was announced. It’s a sequel to 2007's The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, in which Link now travels around on a locomotive. Strange as it sounds, it looks very cool. The train parts look to be a lot like traveling around on you ship in Phantom Hourglass, there’s even a cannon to shoot enemies with. After seeing the trailer, I can say the game looks very awesome and like a worthy sequel to LoZ: PH, as it retains the cool bosses, inventive stylus puzzles, and beautiful cel-shaded graphics.

Wii System Menu 4.0

Another unexpected announcement was today’s Wii System Update. It’s available now so go and download it. The storage issues have finally been fixed; you can now download and play WiiWare, Virtual Console games, and Wii channels directly from an SD card. I downloaded it, tried it out, and left very satisfied. The system update adds a SD card icon to the Wii menu. Playing games directly from the SD card was very nice. There’s always going to be a brief load time before playing, but after that everything works great. The load time is super fast though. Testing it out, I found smaller games, like NES titles, to only take a second or two, while bigger WiiWare games like World of Goo, took around fifteen seconds. It’s great to finally be able to have all my WiiWare and VC games accessible.

Final Fantasy news

There was a surprisingly large amount of Final Fantasy news from the keynote as well. A sequel to the WiiWare launch titled, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King was announced, titled My Life as a Dark Lord. I never played the original My Life as a King, but I heard it was great. I may have to check it out sooner or later. (Plus, now I don’t have to worry about deleting and redownloading WiiWare/VC games! Thanks Nintendo!)

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years was also confirmed to be due out sometime this year. The After Years is a sequel to Final Fantasy IV, but what if you haven’t played Final Fantasy IV? Well, Square Enix has you covered. From the keynote we also learn we’ll be getting six Final Fantasy games over VC. The only two we know about are the original Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy IV. Overall, some great news for Final Fantasy and RPG fans alike.

DSiWare/Virtual Console announcements

Both Moving Memo Pad and the WarioWare DSi game were reconfirmed for North America. Moving Memo Pad is going to have YouTube-like uploading server, and WarioWare is to be titled WarioWare Snapped! Both games look great, and I can’t wait for them to come stateside.

On the Virtual Console side of things, there was a big announcement too. Virtual Console Arcade will now be available, offering games from the arcades like Mappy, Space Harrier, Ishtar, Space Invaders and more. Much like the Wii System Menu 4.0, Virtual Console Arcade games are available to download today. So if you’re a fan of any classic arcade games, be sure to check out the Wii Shop Channel.

That just about rounds it up. The keynote, the Wii Menu 4.0 and the next Zelda game in particular, left me very happy.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Nintendo Power

2009-03-24T13:47:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been reading through my latest issue of Nintendo Power. Now that I think of it, I've really been enjoying my current subscription to NP. The editors have done a fantastic job with the magazines as of late, with both excellent featured preview articles and some well-written reviews to boot.

Back in the GameCube/GBA era, I found Nintendo Power to not be my thing. I don't know, the magazine wasn't really as interesting as some of the other gaming magazines at that time (my best friend's EGM was read just about every month). And a year or so ago when I heard the magazine was now being headed by the publisher Future US rather than Nintendo, I pretty much wrote off NP as something to read. But after picking up a few issues from a grocery store several monthes ago and subscribing soon after, I can say that notion has changed.

I've found each issue of the magazine that I get to be as enjoyable or even more than the last. Just looking at the current issue, we've got a Pokemon Platinum preview and interview, a first look at ExciteBots, a Rhythm Heaven hands-on, an interview with WayForward about the beautiful game A Boy and His Blob, and a well-written review of MadWorld. Not trying to advertise, but those are some pretty amazing articles (at least for me) to be all in one issue.

So what I'm trying to get at here, is even if you doubt Nintendo Power, give it a chance. Pick up an issue if you're a Nintendo fan and see if you don't like it. I did and certainly don't regret it.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

MadWorld (Wii) review

2009-03-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

MadWorld (Wii)

Developer: Platinum Games
Publisher: Sega
Date Released: March 10, 2009 (USA)
ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

The newly formed Platinum Games is filled with a lot of the people behind Clover Studios. Clover Studios, though now disbanded, was known for very "artsy" games, being behind Okami and the Viewtiful Joe series, which both incorporated style and substance to craft winning formulas. Platinum Games first title is here, MadWorld, and with it comes a very noticeable, black, white (and a whole lot of red) art style. But does it live up the the precedent of Clover Studios' past "artsy" games? Quite frankly, yes, and what results is a very enjoyable beat 'em up with some strikingly pretty graphics.

At first glance, the most noticeable thing about MadWorld is the beautiful, black and white art style. The game's locales, objects, and people are all colored with the contrasting colors of black and white, no gray whatsoever. Red also is a prominent color due to the over the top violence. Adding red to the otherwise monochromatic environments greatly improves the visuals. Besides black, white, and red, the only other color to be seen is yellow, which make up the various comic book-like onomatopoeias such as "VROOM!" (when starting up your chainsaw) or "THUD!" (when landing a jump). This adds a very comic book feel to the entire game. All in all, the art style masks the Wii's limited graphical capabilities well and ends up being a beautiful game that runs very smoothly.

What really surprised me was just how good the story in MadWorld was. For the longest time, very little was said about the game's story other than, "Jack is competing in a game show called Death Watch where you have to kill to survive." But once I played through MadWorld, I found there to be a deep and enjoyable story. It may be a little far-fetched in some areas, but I still found it good fun. Basically, terrorists have taken over Varrigan City, cutting off all communication and transportation in and out of the island, completely isolating the city from the rest of the world. The city has become home to a horrific game show titled Death Watch, where the competitors must kill to win. Jack enters the game show during the third day and quickly begins climbing the ranks, attracting a lot of attention from both sponsors and viewers. The deeper you go into the game, the more you'll find that not everything is as it seems; there are government conspiracies, and not all of the characters' motives are clear, including Jack's. On a side note, there's a lot of well done voice acting too, which is even more of a surprise seeing how this game was made in Japan.

MadWorld is, at its heart, a beat 'em up. It's over the top, comical, and just flat out entertaining. What do you expect from a game with a guy who has a chainsaw on his arm? There are many different ways to kill enemies due to the variety in weapons, melee attacks, and environmental hazards. You're encouraged to try new things, and comboing attacks and kills together is important in gaining points. Sure, chainsawing a guy in half is easy, but it doesn't do you much good points-wise. Stabbing a sign through a guy's head, shoving him face first into a barrel, and then picking him up and slamming him into a wall of spikes a few times will earn you a lot more points.

The funnest part about the game is just how varied the combat is. You have your basic chainsaw and punches, then you've got all the weapons and objects each stage offers. Next there's all the brutal attacks and finishers you can produce with these. And then there's the different "Murders" which require certain environmental objects unique to each level, such as slamming a guy face first into a toilet or throwing a goon into a tank full off piranhas. Many beat 'em ups and other games that rely solely on combat suffer from repetition, but MadWorld succeeds in banishing this generalization by letting you have hundreds of options of killing enemies. There's also a good amount of variety in stages and enemies. You'll fight regular thugs and punks in the city levels, werewolves and zombies in the haunted levels, aliens (which explode into bluish-green blood rather than the normal red) and robots in the Area-51 inspired levels, and ninjas and samurai in the oriental levels. It's all great fun.

MadWorld also controls very nicely. A and B are used for most attacks, while gestures and waggle (replacing the button mashing of games like God of War) are saved for the more cinematic moves and finishers. Jack's chainsaw attacks work wonderfully with the game, recognizing horizontal and vertical swipes with ease. Similar is the rest of the motion controls in MadWorld; they all work great and don't feel forced. The only complaint I had was with the camera and the lock-on system. To lock onto enemies you have to hold the C button for a couple of seconds until the game locks you on, then you can let go. It's too much of a hassle to bother with in early parts of levels since you'll be killing enemies left and right, though you'll definitely want to use it when facing bosses. It would've been much nicer for you to lock on while pressing C and take it off once you let go of the button. The camera also is a bit funky in the game. The only control you have of it is pressing C and it pops back to viewing directly behind you. It would've been nice to have some manner of analog control over it, but you'll be able to make due with it most of the time.

Each stage is structured similarly. The boss at the end is only unlocked after you earn achieve a certain amount of points. But along the way, points will unlock various things such as weapons, health items, Bloodbath Challenge minigames, environmental kills, and minibosses that offer a challenging break from the usual enemy fodder. It's fun and vital to use these point-unlocked things to your advantage, since they'll usually help you garner more points faster. The Bloodbath Challenges definitely are a highlight of the game. There are eleven in all; all brutally hilarious and all very fun. In one such Challenge, titled Man Darts, you'll hit enemies with spiked bat towards a dart board, with real darts points factoring into each hit. As I mentioned before, doing good in these boosts your score and gets you to the end level boss quicker. And how about them bosses? They're some of the best fun in the game (and trust me there's a lot of that in MadWorld). The best part about the fantastic boss battles are the finishers, which definitely are the greatest kills of the game.

The audio in MadWorld really blew me away. I was pleasantly surprised by just how good the music was in MadWord. I generally don’t like rap and hip-hop, but I loved MadWorld’s soundtrack. But the high point of the sound department has to be the brilliant commentary done by Greg Proops (Whose Line Is It Anyway?) and John DiMaggio (Bender from Futurama). It's immature, very well done, and plain hilarious. I'm pretty sure the game earned several of its ESRB details solely from DiMaggio and Proops and their very enjoyable commentating. Once you factor in the sound effects and in-game voice work along with the commentary and soundtrack, it can become too much. Thankfully you can turn up and down the different aspects of the audio. So in one level if you just want to hear the excellent music, you can. Or in another if you want to hear the hilarious banter of the commentators with nothing else distracting you, you can.

Besides the regular stages, you'll have motorcycle ones and boss-centric levels (where you'll do nothing but face the boss). Both of which are very fun, but I found the regular levels to be the most enjoyable. Another gripe I had with the game was that it wasn't particularly long. Granted it was a hell of a ride, but MadWorld clocks in around five to six hours. There is some incentive to go back into Hard mode, for new weapons are unlocked to play with, and the A.I. is brutally smart and a lot more challenging than their Normal counterparts. There is a multiplayer that is fairly enjoyable, though it only has you competing with another player in the Bloodbath Challenges. This is fun and all, but I can't deny how great the game could've been if it let you tackle the stages and bosses with (or even against) a pal. Unfortunately, there's still not too much to make you want to replay stages. All there really is to do is beat your own score. With a game so centered around getting points, it's sad to see no online leaderboards.

Overall Thoughts

Playing MadWorld, I had some of the most fun on my Wii I'd had in a long time. My only gripes with the monochromatic beat 'em up would have to be that it's not the longest of games and the camera has some positioning issues. Despite these very minor gripes, MadWorld is a blast with it's over the top, comical fun and pretty black, white, and red visuals.

9/10

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

The House of the Dead: Overkill (Wii) review

2009-03-19T08:17:00.000-07:00

Here's the long overdue review. And the scores are back! Mostly due to Everyview's Zac's request, and me feeling there was something missing. Enjoy! -Kyle

The House of the Dead: Overkill (Wii)

Developer: Headstrong Games
Publisher: Sega
Date Released: February 10, 2009 (USA)
ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

On-rails shooters have had a good run on the Wii with Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Ghost Squad, and The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return. And this on-rails shooting fun doesn’t look to stop anytime soon with both Dead Space: Extraction and Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles announced to be coming to Nintendo’s current console. HotD: 2 & 3 Return was (as you could probably guess) a port of both the second and third House of the Dead games. It sold pretty well and saw mostly favorable reviews. Though it was really just Sega testing the water, but now with an original game titled House of the Dead: Overkill, they’ve jumped all the way in with a cannonball and a slash.

House of the Dead: Overkill does a few things noticeably different from the previous arcade games. The most noticeable is the 70’s grindhouse style. The story is pays homage to the cheesy, zombie filled pulp horror films of the 1970’s. All of this is complete with cheesy dialogue, over the top violence, a hilariously clichéd and awesome plot, and a very unique graphical style.

The story is both well written and hilarious. As just about everything in the game, it seems the Headstrong gang watched just about every zombie flick they could get their hands on to craft the wonderful plot that Overkill presents. You follow the journey of the mysterious Agent G and profanity spewing Detective Isaac Washington on their way to take down the evil mastermind behind the mutant invasion, Papa Caesar. The story takes them to a variety of locales from a swamp with redneck mutants to a carnival with mutant clowns and carnies.

With the excellent story comes some great characters and hilarious chemistry between Agent G and Detective Washington. There are some funny jokes than turn into “inside jokes” with their frequency of use, particularly ones involving the G in Agent G’s name and elevators. Along the way the two meet up with a stripper named Varla Guns and she adds to the great dialogue even more. All of this is voice acted intentionally cheesy and it’s really enjoyable. My only gripe is Washington’s over the top swearing. It’s funny and some people will feel it fits the game and the grindhouse feel perfectly, but I found it to be a little bit too much at times.

As far as the gameplay goes, Overkill clings to some traditional mechanics, while bringing some fresh ideas to the table as well. First and foremost, the controls work great. The IR makes getting head shots and shooting tiny objects all the easier. It’s standard shooter controls for the Wii remote: B to shoot, to reload press A or flick the cursor off the screen light gun style, and the + button for grenades. It’s all very simple, intuitive, and a breeze to play with.

Each level in the game has you killings hordes of zombies, collecting items like health and grenades, and fighting bosses at the end of each. There’s a lot of fun zombie killing with heads bursting into unrealistic explosions of blood and gore and a powerup that instigates Slow Mo-Fo Mode for some excellent slow motion thrills. In between levels you can use money you’ve earned to upgrade and buy new weapons. The end level bosses were usually the biggest disappointment of each level for me. Generally, they’d be easy and predictable. There were only one or two that were memorable and fun. One of the worst had only one attack that he did over and over. With all the great level design Headstrong put into Overkill, it would’ve been nice of them to make some bosses of that same caliber of excellence.

House of the Dead: Overkill really succeeds in all the innovations it brings too. One being the Danger Cam, which lets you shift the screen a bit both directions so as to prepare for what’s coming and set up for kills, rather than having the screen locked in a position like most on-rails games. The other unique design that Overkill uses is a combo system that makes you fire with accuracy on your mind rather than pulling the trigger every time something moves. As the combo progresses higher and higher so will the bonus points that comes with each kill until you reach the awesome Goregasm that rewards you with 1000 extra points every kill and ensures you a spot high on the high score board if you can maintain it.

Speaking of scores, House of the Dead: Overkill handles retries very well too. In the arcades a continue screen that required credits was perfect for making the machines money and making players strive to not get a game over. But when these kinds of games are ported over to consoles the challenge is diminished, as it’s just a button press and you’re off onto the same level again. In Overkill it cuts your score in half, generally taking a lot of points, and returning that urgency and desire not to lose.

On-rails shooters aren’t known for their length, but House of the Dead puts up a fair fight. The story mode will clock you in around three to four hours, then you’ve got Director’s Cut, which has more zombies, extended levels, and an upped difficulty to play through. There’s also a coop mode that works wonderfully, three multiplayer-focused minigames that provide a short burst of fun, and Dual Wield mode, which is unlocked after completing both the Director’s Cut and the original Story Mode. You’ll want to play through levels again and again to beat high scores, get any little things you missed, and just play the addictive game some more. Unfortunately there aren’t any online leaderboards to speak of, so the only high scores you’ll be beating are your own. Headstrong really missed the boat on that one, seeing as it would fit perfectly with a score driven game like this one.

And finally we come to the visual and audio presentation of the game. In a word, it’s exceptional. The entire game has a visual look of a grindhouse, B-movie flick. Filters and lines indicating scratches and dirt marks are present through the entire game and make the game’s visuals really unique. The overall graphics are also really great and some of the Wii’s best, though the game suffers from some severe frame-rate problems. While I consider myself a versatile gamer and a gamer at that, I’m not quite like the journalists and game developers, meaning I can’t tell whether a game runs at 60 or 30 frames per second. And I generally can’t tell when a game stutters or not. But even I could see just how much slowdown there was in Overkill. Just about time a zombie was shot a something new appeared there was slowdown. But in the end it doesn’t take too much away from the experience and you’ll actually forgive it, seeing just how great the rest of the game is. On the audio side, there are some wonderful 70’s style songs and overall is a stellar soundtrack to compliment the gameplay and graphics.

Overall Thoughts

With it’s combo meter, Slow Mo-Fo pickups, and all the zombie blasting fun you could ask for, Overkill is a treat and an addictive one at that. Despite the slight issues of lackluster bosses and some prevalent visual slowdown, House of the Dead: Overkill is an entertaining on-rails shooter with a great grindhouse style and an enjoyable, well-written story (that is both intentionally cheesy and intentionally fantastic).

9/10

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Poll #13 results

2009-03-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

Thirteenth poll is finished. The results for this one are as follows:

Which Nintendo console was your first? (51 votes)

NES - 47% (24 votes)
SNES - 11% (6 votes)
Nintendo 64 - 23% (12 votes)
Nintendo GameCube - 5% (3 votes)
Wii - 11% (6 votes)
I've never owned a Nintendo console - 0% (0 votes)

Not surprisingly, most voters started out their Nintendo console playing on the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Up next was the N64 with 23% of the votes. And coming in at a solid third was a tie between the Super NES and the Wii.

And as usual, there's a new poll up as well. Just last Monday, Nintendo released the first two games in their GameCube Wii-make series, New Play Control!, Pikmin and Mario Power Tennis. In Japan, a number more have already been released such as Metroid Prime and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. My question to you is, "Which New Play Control! games have you gotten or are planning on getting?" (out of the announced ones of course).

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Deadly Creatures (Wii) review

2009-03-11T08:36:00.000-07:00

Deadly Creatures (Wii)

Developer: Rainbow Studios
Publisher: THQ
Date Released: February 9, 2009 (USA)
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Insects, arachnids, and the creepy crawlies are things games have rarely touched upon. There's been Bug's Life-esque, cartoony kids games, and spiders and snakes have been enemies and end level bosses, but never before has gaming seen something as unique as Deadly Creatures. The Wii is definitely home to some unique games whether it be because of innovative ideas or the rethinking of certain genres and mechanics. Deadly Creatures is here, and it's another of these games that's very different from the rest.

The game is split into ten levels. Each level alternates between the two playable characters, the scorpion and the tarantula. This results in five scorpion stages and five spider stages. Each level will have multiple goals, most being get to a certain point or explore a certain location. Every time you complete a goal, the next one will pop up. This turns out to make the game progression very linear. And that adds onto the already super linear environments that you traverse. This being said, most of the levels are still a blast to play as you'll crawl along walls and upside down on ceilings. Just don't expect a lot of branching paths throughout these stages.

Deadly Creatures definitely isn't a super lengthy tale. A normal play through will last anywhere from six to eight hours (maybe ten at tops). There's three difficulties, but not a lot of incentive to go back and replay parts of the game. There are collectible grubs and crickets, though they do nothing much except satisfy that completionist's urge to get every last thing. Though some artwork galleries and excellent interviews with Hopper and Thornton are in the extras menu and definitely should be checked out.

The story in Deadly Creatures revolves around two human characters, Wade and George Struggs, both brilliantly voiced by Billy Bob Thornton and Dennis Hopper respectively. The storyline is one of betrayal, and a buried chest of Civil War gold. It's interesting and plays out well, though it is fairly minimal, and it would've been nice to see more. As far as the scorpion and tarantula go, there's very little story if any. But what is cool is how the story of Struggs and Wade is viewed. Since you play as the scorpion and the tarantula, you'll view the story from a lower, different perspective and it's a very unique take on storytelling. It should also be noted that interaction between the two groups (creepy crawlies and humans) is pretty limited. It would've been great for more of this too, since there are a few human-bug interactions, and they're all really great and show a lot of potential for even greater things.

Deadly Creatures is an action-adventure game that clings to traditional mechanics of combat and a bit of exploration but throws in some completely new design choices. Most of the game you'll go through levels with a few puzzles and obstacles along the way, but most of your time is spent in combat. You'll continually unlock new moves and combos until the end. This results in what could be some pretty diverse fighting if it weren't for several moves of each creature being a lot more powerful than the rest, and in the end you'll tend to lean on said moves which makes the game feel a lot more repetitive than it should be.

The game's controls mix button presses with gestures for good effect. Most of it works well, you'll tend to button mash a bit and use motion controls occasionally for stronger blows. I did have some problems with the motion controls though. The game did well in recognizing the difference between horizontal and vertical gestures, it just didn't do it in a timely manner. It would usually take a second or two for the motion to register. Which is a shame as all of the other controls work great.

You take control of both a scorpion and a tarantula within the game. Both creatures have their differences. The scorpion is more of a tank and a fighter. It's not nearly as fast as the spider and doesn't have the agility to dodge and jump out the way like the tarantula does. The scorpion levels tend to have a lot more combat than the others. The greatest part of being a scorpion is the cinematic quick time events of finishing off enemies. They're brutal, in no way realistic, and very awesome. Seeing a scorpion shove it's stinger into a rat's skull or flip over an insect and stab it though it's appendix are some of the best memories you'll come away from this game having.

Contrary to the scorpion, the tarantula is much more of a stealthy character. He's a lot more agile as he can jump, dodge, and attack from afar. Overall I found the spider to be much more enjoyable to play due to it being a lot more versatile. The tarantula has melee combat moves like the scorpion, but the more effective moves include shooting webs and the ability to pounce on unsuspecting enemies from a distance. I found these levels to be a lot more fun. Plus early into the game you gain the ability to shoot webs and pull yourself long distances (like Spider-Man) that make those levels even more fun.

Throughout the game you'll constantly be fighting enemies. The enemy lineup is fairly varied and you'll fight all different sorts of insects, arachnids, lizards, and rats. All have different fighting styles with some being able to fly or charge. They're all a great deal of fun to fight, but the real fun comes in with the boss fights. These encounters are fantastically done, specifically the last two (though I won't ruin anything) which occur in Chapters 9 and 10 (the last tarantula and scorpion levels respectively). It's just a shame that they didn't make more of these encounters, as you'll only fight four or so bosses throughout the game. Making a boss at the end of each chapter would've been great. That said, you'll still have a lot of fun fighting rattle snakes and giant lizards throughout the boss battle encounters.

The best thing Deadly Creatures has going for it is the great atmosphere. This is due to some great level design and artwork, an exceptional audio side, and some great graphics. The soundtrack and audio in Deadly Creatures definitely deserves some praise. There's not much music so to speak, more of an ambiance that really fits the levels. Complimenting that are some realistic sound effects from the bugs and mammals alike. I found nothing to complain about on the sound side of things, it's perfect and does a great job of immersing you in the game.

The game also sports fairly good visuals. And being zoomed in at a bug's level, it does hold up with textures. All of the different bugs are animated perfectly and move much like the real things. The lifelike crawl of the tarantula is sure to send arachnophobics running in fright. The greatest part of the game though is being at such a tiny level. Crawling on walls and ceilings is great and fighting on them is even better. You'll be exchanging blows with an insect only to have it lose footing and fall sideways to what is actually the ground breaking the illusion of gravity. It's also great to see everything from bike tire to a doll house at a scorpion's view. You'll find yourself crawling inside a large structure only to get out of it, look around, and see that it was actually a worn out, holy shoe.

While on the presentation side of things, the game certainly is nice, there are some bugs and parts that feel unpolished that bring down the game a bit. Frequent load times pop up in the middle of levels and the game can stutter in the framerate area from time to time. I even had a couple of load times happen in the middle of fighting enemies that really breaks up the action and are annoying. Another issue I had was with all the different surfaces. Sure, it was great to crawl upon all different sides and angles, but sometimes enemies wouldn't fare so well and get stuck in the environments. Though the biggest complaint I have with the game is the clunky camera. It works decent most of the time, but occasionally it'll freak out disorienting you while trying to center on something. It also had the tendency to catch on walls and stay there while you get farther and farther away until at last it jumps back to you. The game definitely could use some polish, and it does feel like a couple more weeks or even a month of ironing out the bugs (the technical kind) would've done this game well.

Overall Thoughts

As I said earlier, Deadly Creatures has it's bugs and unpolished areas, but as you climb upside down and along walls, pounce on unsuspecting enemies as the spider, and pull off brutal finishers with the scorpion, most of this nitpicking is forgotten. The game's great atmosphere is reason alone to experience this unique game. Despite it not being the longest of games, I'd recommend a buy to anyone who can stand the game and it's arachnaphobia inducing graphics.

7/10

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

N+ (DS) review

2009-03-03T08:04:00.000-08:00

N+ (DS)

Also for: PSP, Xbox 360 via XBLA
Developer: SilverBirch Studios
Publisher: Atari
Date Released: August 26, 2008 (USA)
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

N started as a flash game many years ago that soon gained a cult following. It was a great platformer that used a bare, minimalist visual style and a deep physics engine to its advantage. A console version, available for download as an Xbox Live Arcade game, was released early 2008 titled N+ and was positively received by reviewers and critics alike. Later into the year, portable versions of N+ were released. Now, I've put many hours into the hundreds of levels and beaten the game entirely. Does the DS version live up the the great legacy of N, or does it fall short to its untimely death?

The premise of N+ is simple. You are a ninja. You must get to the door at the end of each level by running, jumping, and dodging enemies and obstacles. You must not die or have time run out. Collect gold along the way to boost your time limit. It's that simple. And it's exactly this that made both N and N+ for the Xbox so appealing. Like many games, it's simple but very addictive. The game definitely hearken back to the simple sidescrolling platforms of days past. Not having a unnecessary story that stretches out for long parts of the game or tons of gimmicks to make it "fresh" really work to N+'s advantage.

N+'s main single-player mode is split into a number of episodes, each containing five levels. The total number of episodes is around 45, which results in more than 200 levels on the cartridge. Each level has one overall goal, get to the door at the end. It's what happens between that makes each vary from the last. Some rooms are filled with enemies to dodge. Others are completely void of bad guys that really test your reflexes with tough, bomb-dodging platforming. While others consist of hitting certain switches that open doors to other switches that add an almost puzzle aspects to some portions of the game. In the hundreds of levels, variety is present and very much welcome.

Other than the basic single-player modes, there's multiplayer, both cooperative and competitive, and level creation options. It's the level creator that is really interesting. It may not be of LittleBigPlanet caliber, but I still had some great fun making great levels, (including a slightly challenging "World 1-1" stage). All the options are there, and it's entirely possible to make every level already in the game. With those kinds of tools, you can make some truly great levels. And while it may have all the tools and options to make any kind of level you want, it's entirely accessible and I grasped the concept a mere five minutes after starting up the mode. Though it would've been nice to have some sort of level editor tutorial mode. Even better there's a great online sharing community to share and download custom made stages.

The game will last you a reasonable time. There are hundreds of levels to tackle and other modes like the level creator and multiplayer. Plus some of the later levels are astonishingly difficult that'll have you playing a single stage over and over for even a half an hour at a time. You'll get a lot of bang for your buck with N+ as it's definitely not a short-lived game.

N+'s gameplay is still very much like the beloved N. The ninja controls precisely, making quick, reflex-heavy platforming possible. The great physics engine is intact as well. Though if you have played the original N, you'll notice your ninja controls a bit heavier and your jumps don't have the distance they used to (though they are still pretty big). It's still a blast to play N+ as the platforming is really good. It's precise, quick, and responsive.

The whole catch in N+ is there's no lives, no health meter, and you have infinite retries on levels. It may seem easy with all these restrictions gone, but really it's anything but. One hit from anything, an enemy, bombs, or falling too far will result in your death. It's this that makes the game so difficult. Some of the later levels are almost brutal in just how much they test your reflexes. But the rewarding feeling that comes from completion of these punishing stages is second to none.

In N, you had a full view of the entire room. You saw every obstacle, every enemy, and could plan a safe route to the doorway at the end. What the DS does is even better in my opinion. The top screen shows a view of the entire room, much like the original just fitted onto a small screen. While the bottom screen shows a zoomed in version of your ninja. This results in some skillful use of both. Using the up close screen to make your jumps precise and dodge enemies by mere pixel-distances, all the while using the top screen as guide in progressing the level as a whole. It's a great take on N that really couldn't be done on anything but the DS.

N+'s presentation is much like the original: basic. Menus are bland and the graphics use a very minimal approach. Though it may be simple and not pushing the hardware, it's still very nice to look at. You also have the options of switching between the new updated graphics with more detailed sprites and animations (appropriately titled Plus Mode) and the old, primitive graphics of the original N (deemed Pure Mode). While the graphics may be simple but bearable, the music is horrid. There are some flat-out bad tunes in there. I'd recommend just turning off the music, which is thankfully an option since the sound effects are great. The effects of beeping robots and the clinking of obtaining gold are very pleasant on the ears.

Overall Thoughts

N+ is the perfect portable game. You can pick it up and play it for five minutes alone, beating one episode, and then put it down. Or you can play hours on end trying to beat every last stage. It may not be anything particularly new, but it succeeds with some great platforming fun. Bare presentation complaints aside, N+ is a great DS game and a fantastic platformer.

8/10

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Classic Controller PRO

2009-03-02T08:54:00.000-08:00

Nintendo recently unveiled it's latest hardware creation, the Classic Controller PRO, which currently is only going to see a release in Japan. But I'm guessing we'll see a confirmation of whether or not it's coming to North America and Europe sooner or later. As you can see from above, the most prominent change is the two grips for both hands, similar to most controllers nowadays. Another variation from the original is the ZL and ZR button now behind L and R instead of to the right and left of them respectively. It should also be noted that the cord connecting to the Wii remote now comes from the top rather than the bottom.

Personally I dislike the new design. Not that I like the classic controller that much anyways. It was nice to play SNES games, but I didn't really like the design for anything else. I don't like how both analog sticks are near the bottom rather than the superior (at least in my eyes) design of the GameCube and Xbox 360 with the left analog stick directly across from the face buttons. As for the new design, making it more like the Dualshock, which is one of the most uncomfortable designs in my opinion is not a good thing. Plus, they didn't care to implement any other features, most prominent making it wireless and adding rumble. Both would be great and make it worth the increased price tag.

My dream Classic Controller would be one that was wireless (maybe just having to attach some little thing to the Wii remote), had rumble, and could be used in GameCube games (I mean, all the buttons are there, just rearranged a bit). So overall, I definitely don't think the Classic Controller PRO is a step in the right direction. Making it more like the Dualshock, not implementing rumble, and not making it wireless: I'd say that's more a step in the wrong direction.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Gaming Forcast - March 2009

2009-03-01T08:17:00.000-08:00

Another month, another Gaming Forecast article. The month of March once again is home to many releases of both Wii and DS games.

Gaming Forecast March 2009

Major League Baseball 2K9 (Wii, Mar. 3rd)
Sonic & The Black Knight (Wii, Mar. 3rd)
We Ski and Snowboard (Wii, Mar. 3rd)
Major League Baseball 2K9 Fantasy All-Stars (DS, Mar. 3rd)
Peggle: Dual Shot (DS, Mar. 3rd)
New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis (Wii, Mar. 9th)
New Play Control! Pikmin (Wii, Mar. 9th)
MadWorld (Wii, Mar. 10th)
MySims Party (Wii and DS, Mar. 10th)
Avalon Code (DS, Mar. 10th)
Marble Saga: Kororinpa (Wii, Mar. 17th)
Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Wii, Mar. 17th)
Rune Factory: Frontier (Wii, Mar. 17th)
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS, Mar. 17th)
Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure (DS, Mar. 17th)
Suikoden Tierkreis (DS, Mar. 17th)
TrackMania DS (DS, Mar. 17th)
Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume (DS, Mar. 17th)
Pokemon Platinum (DS, Mar. 22nd)
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (Wii and DS, Mar. 24th)
Guitar Hero: Metallica (Wii, Mar. 29th)

Whew... That was a lot of games. They may not all turn out extraordinary, but I'm certain there's quality to be found in my listed releases.

The biggest one this month for me is MadWorld. I am very stoked it and cannot wait to get my hands on a copy of this brutal, over the top game. Another Wii game that interests me is the New Play Control! version of Pikmin. I never got to play the original, but have heard great things about it, so I'll definitely be laying down some money for that. As far as other Wii games go, I won't be buying any other. Though both Sonic's latest game and Marble Saga: Kororinpa look interesting, but I doubt I'll pick them up seeing as my wallet's hurting as it is.

As I said last month, I don't own a DS, but if I did I'd have to spend even more of my money. This being because Peggle, GTA: Chinatown Wars, and Henry Hatsworth all look very good.

March was another great month for both Nintendo platforms with many quality releases. What will you be picking up? Or is there nothing that interests you?

Comments or questions? See any games I missed? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Poll #12 results

2009-02-28T16:05:00.000-08:00

My twelfth poll is over and done. The results are as follows:

On a scale of 1 to 5, what do you think of World 1-1? (22 votes)

5 - Awesome blog, great work. - 18% (4 votes)
4 - Pretty good blog, nice work. - 59% (13 votes)
3 - Average blog, nothing special. - 13% (3 votes)
2 - Bad blog, needs work. - 0% (0 votes)
1 - Horrible blog. - 9% (2 votes)

It's nice to know most people like my blog. 4 out of 5 was the most popular choice. While only 9% of people voted unfavorably. And a shout out to those voters: constructive criticism is more than welcome. Why'd you vote that way? I'd love to know.

And now for the next poll. No doubt you've all owned a Nintendo system, most likely more than one. This is a Nintendo blog, so I'm expecting a lot of readers to have Nintendo consoles and handhelds. But where did it all start for you? Maybe it was back in the NES or SNES days? Or maybe you're a more recent Nintendo fan, with the Nintendo 64, GameCube, or even Wii being your first Nintendo console. That's why the latest poll's up, and the question is, "Which Nintendo console was your first?"

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Nintendo's latest press release

2009-02-27T08:32:00.000-08:00

Being the sneaky ninjas they are, Nintendo did a press release early yesterday morning. There were several new game announcements and some clarification of dates. The standout items (in my mind at least) are announcements of Excitebots: Trick Racing and a WiiWare game titled Night Game, and a release date for Punch-Out!!

First up is Excitebots. This one's really interesting. And since very little was announced other than the title and a small tidbit following that, it becomes even more intriguing. Does the "bot" part have something to do with modifying and customizing vehicles, or is it more of a Transformers vehicle/robot hybrid. I don't know if it's been confirmed, but I'm guessing this is the top secret game that was rumored to be worked on by the developers of ExciteTruck for the Wii. Since this is one of those games that Nintendo announces a few months before it's release date (which is April 20th to be exact), I'm sure we'll be getting a lot more info in the coming weeks.

Down the press release were some WiiWare games. The first two I recognize and am excited for: Eduardo the Samurai Toaster and BIT.TRIP BEAT. But then I scroll down a bit more and read, "Night Game, developed and published by Nicalis: Exclusively for WiiWare..." and I think, "What the"? Reading on I become more and more interested. From how it's been described in the PR, Night Game is a really unique game with it's physics and combination of action and puzzling. The premise is guiding glowing spheres through various locales. From the description of how it is a really unique and pushes the boundaries of design, I'm feeling another game perfect for WiiWare. With it's unique, experimental take on games, I can see this being something like World of Goo or even LostWinds to a lesser extent.

While those were the two big announcements, there were also several release dates confirmed. The biggest being Punch-Out!! for the Wii, which'll be shipping out to retailers on May 18th. This is good to hear, and I'll definitely be checking this one out. Another new release date we got was for New Play Control Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (or NPCDKJB for short). It's already seen a release in Japan, and us in North America will finally be getting it on May 4th, which is a little less than two months after the NA releases of NPC Pikmin and NPC Mario Tennis. Another of the big announcements was Starfy finally seeing a release stateside, which is a pretty big deal for a lot of Nintendo fans. The release date on that one is the 8th of June.

There wasn't much else except games we already knew about and release dates that have already been announced. Though it does seem the list was incomplete. Some may have wondered where Wii Sports Resort was, as there were many games with June release dates, but no mention of the Wii Sports sequel. But I think this may just be due to this not being a complete list, I mean, there's not even mention of Sonic and the Black Knight, nor MadWorld. Whatever the case may be, Nintendo's latest PR brought some big news for Nintendo fans. And I'm especially excited to see what Excitebot and Night Game turn out to be.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Poll #11: "In the Legend of Zelda games, what do you name your character?" results

2009-02-15T19:07:00.000-08:00

The results for Poll #11 are as follows:

In the Legend of Zelda games, what do you name your character? (37 total votes)

Link - 48% (18 votes)
My name - 24% (9 votes)
Other/random name - 24% (9 votes)
I don't know - 2% (1 vote)

Most people choose "Link" as they're character's name in LoZ games, as is evident from said choice getting almost 50% of the votes. Following that, it was a tie between people choosing their own name and a different, random name. And bringing up the rear is a single person who doesn't know. Why the person doesn't know is something we'll never know.

I almost always put in my own name at the save slot creation screen, though occasionally I'll choose Link. I can see why more people choose Link, since it goes with the overall story a bit more, and it's supposed to be his actual name.

And finally, we come to the newest poll. I'm pretty sure I've got a few regular readers as is evident from comments and the several people that follow my blog, and I know I get new readers every once and a while from links via other blogs and GoNintendo. And since I've come this far and have been blogging for this long, I have to wonder, what do you think of my blog? Love it? Hate it? I really want to know, which is why I've put up the latest poll, "On a scale of 1 to 5, what do you think of World 1-1?" And if you're not that fond of my blog, please let your voice be heard. Any constructive criticism is more than welcome.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Happy Valentine's Day from World 1-1

2009-02-14T08:50:00.000-08:00

(Full comic at 2P START!)

Happy Valentine's Day to all those lovers out there. Hope the temporary banner is liked. -Kyle

Several quick game impressions

2009-02-12T08:58:00.000-08:00

Wow. Haven't posted for eleven days. It's been a combination of being sick and not having the enthusiasm that has kept me from posting in the last week and a half. I'll try to post a bit more frequent (that shouldn't be too hard). And seeing as there's been a few new games coming up that I'm interested in, I may also have some reviews sooner or later. -Kyle

I've been playing a number of games (most of them not incredibly recent) and I've decided to compile my two cents of each game into a single post. Enjoy!

Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii)
Boy am I loving City Folk. Many gamers complain it's more of the same, which may be true, but I on the other hand have never played an Animal Crossing before this one and am addicted. I boot it up (just about) every day and play for an hour or so. I'm loving it.

Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii)
I never got around to playing this launch title. I heard it was average at best and steered clear of it. But borrowing it from someone has given me the chance to explore what is an entertaining 3D Sonic game despite it's flaws. When you get going at top speed you'll really see the game shine. There's a lot of clunky mechanics that hold this one back from greatness, but it's still an entertaining ride.

LIT (WiiWare)
I bought this two days ago. It's a fun little WiiWare title. It's not without its flaws, specifically polish. Nevertheless it's a unique and entertaining environment based puzzle game that involves making paths of light by turning on lamps and breaking windows.

N+ (DS)
N+ may seem like a simple platformer, and what it really is a simple platformer that's a load of fun. The basic platforming mechanics of running, jumping, and getting to the goal are present and a lots of fun. I'm so close to beating this one, though the last episodes are increasingly difficult and pretty brutal.

Upcoming purchases
I'm definitely getting House of the Dead: Overkill, MadWorld, and New Play Control Pikmin soon, as I'm very stoked for those. I'm also going to get Deadly Creatures sometime, but not right now as I'll have my money spent for a little while. I also haven't decided on Tenchu yet, it looks to be a fun game but I just don't have the money and play time for it. I'll probably hold out until the summer where I can catch up on my backlog of games.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Gaming Forecast - Febrary 2009

2009-02-01T08:43:00.000-08:00

Welcome to an all new, monthly feature on World 1-1: the Gaming Forecast. Here I'll post about the Wii and DS games in the coming month that you should possibly be looking out for. No shovelware here though, I'll just be posting games that are at least halfway decent. So with out further ado, enjoy this February edition. -Kyle

Wii has quite a few games out this month, especially compared to January. As for the Nintendo DS, there's plenty of games to look out for there as well.

Gaming Forecast February 2009

Rygar: The Battle of Argus (Wii, Feb. 3rd)
Tenchu: Shadow Assassins (Wii, Feb. 3rd)
Deadly Creatures (Wii, Feb. 9th)
The House of the Dead: Overkill (Wii, Feb. 10th)
OneChanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers (Wii, Feb. 10th)
Legacy of Ys: Books I & II (DS, Feb. 10th)
Retro Game Challenge (DS, Feb. 10th)
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS, Feb. 16th)
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (DS, Feb. 17th)
Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop (Wii, Feb. 24th)
Blue Dragon Plus (DS, Feb. 24th)
C.O.R.E. (DS, Feb. 24th)
Puzzle Quest: Galactrix (DS, Feb. 24th)

The only one I'm definitely getting is House of the Dead. Though Deadly Creatures and Tenchu are very tempting, and I may have to give in and buy them. Since I don't own a DS (that'll change once April comes around and the DSi's launched), I can't say I'm buying any of those. But if I did own Nintendo's little portable, I'd definitely be all over Retro Game Challenge and Puzzle Quest: Galactrix. And even possibly Fire Emblem.

February looks to be a pretty good month for both Nintendo systems. And I'm sure you'll find something to play in those thirteen games I listed.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Poll #10: "So far, which year was the Wii's best?" results

2009-01-31T19:56:00.000-08:00

The results for Poll Número Diez are in:

So far, which year was the Wii's best? (25 total votes)

2006 - 4% (1 vote)
2007 - 88% (22 votes)
2008 - 8% (2 votes)

As was expected 2007 was the winner for the Year of the Wii polling award. Little surprises there, as it had the best games and releases of Nintendo's greatest, including both the fantastic Metroid Prime 3 and the outstanding Super Mario Galaxy. Following 2007 (which earned 22 votes) was 2008 with 2 votes, and finally 2006 with a single vote.

For me it would go 2007 > 2008 > 2006. That's not to say 2006's lineup wasn't good, seeing as we got Twilight Princess and Wii Sports, it just wasn't that long and didn't have as many games as 2007 and 2008 (especially since it was only a month and half long for the Wii).

My eleventh poll's finally up and running. The question this time seems a bit random, it's just something I'm interested in: "In the Legend of Zelda games, what do you name your character?" So please get votin', people.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Pros and cons of the Guitar Heroes and Rock Bands

2009-01-30T08:35:00.000-08:00

In 2005, the original Guitar Hero was released. And with it came a new wave of games to the video game industry. While music rhythm games had been present in Japan with Konami's Guitar Freaks for quite some time, it wasn't until Harmonix brought out Guitar Hero that the states final got what is now the cultural phenomenon of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. In 2008 we saw a plethora of both big and small music titles, both handheld and console. Both good and bad. The music genre is a rapidly expanding one. But what are the advantages and disadvantages of these music games, Guitar Hero and Rock Band particularly?

Pros:

First off, above all else in my mind, Guitar Hero and Rock Band have great music. Especially the recent version of Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2, with both disc and downloadable songs, there's a lot of fantastic tracks on there. There's great classic rock, metal, more recent alternative, and punk. There's bound to be some songs on the games that you like. And even if you're not particularly fond of rock music, the games are already beginning to expand, starting with country music DLC in Rock Band.

Another great thing about Rock Band and Guitar Hero is the gameplay. While it may seem strange at first and almost hypnotizing, playing the games turn out to be a rewarding and engaging experience. At least for me, the music playing combined with hitting consecutive notes is pure bliss and (almost) feels like you're really playing the music. That is until you realize you're holding a plastic guitar (or drums) and zoning out to a TV. Nevertheless, Guitar Hero/Rock Band's gameplay is some pure, unadulterated fun.

And finally Rock Band and particularly the most recent Guitar Hero, World Tour, are excellent multiplayer experiences. Going along with my previous point, getting a group of people to rock out with plastic guitars and drums is some of the best multiplayer fun you can get. When you really feel like you're all in this together, you'll know Rock Band and Guitar Hero and working their multiplayer magic.

Cons:

Now for the ugly stuff. Let's start off with an obvious one: the cost. Sure all video games cost money, why should that be a horrible difference with Rock Band and Guitar Hero? Well for one, they cost a considerable amount more than your standard $50/$60 dollar game purchase. For example the recent iterations of Guitar Hero and Rock Band sell for an MSRP of $189.99. That's a huge investment. But nevertheless it can be justified with the content in the games. But then there's also the tendency to get ripped off with the more spin-offy versions that cost more for songs that could've been cheaper if they'd just been available as DLC.

The next big bullet point under disadvantages is the space. When the original Guitar Hero came out, the guitar peripheral took up a considerably larger space than the normal game controllers. Nowadays you'd most likely have one (maybe two) guitars, a drum set, and a microphone. And that doesn't even count any of those other third-party guitars or peripherals from other games you bought the full band packs of. Or maybe you even supported Konami by buying that huge, clunky Rock Revolution drum set. In short, prepare to have a large amount of space taken up by music game peripherals.

My last con doesn't really have to do with physical disadvantages; it's more of an in-game complaint. Particularly innovation. While every iteration of Rock Band and Guitar Hero provides some stellar gameplay, none of them does that much to innovate the genre. Sure Rock Band may have changed the one instrument approach of Guitar Hero and made it full band, but that's not particularly original. I mean, that's been done in the arcades for quite some time; Harmoix just perfected it and bought it onto consoles. And that's really all Harmonix and Neversoft have been doing: perfecting the formula. My money is on the next Guitar Hero polishing the studio mode, making the career modes a little more flexible, and maybe taking a few tips out of Harmonix's book in more multiplayer friendly gameplay. I'm pretty sure we're not going to see a whole lot of innovation. Which is why I feel it's the unique and crazy games like Elite Beat Agents and (dare I say it) Wii Music that are moving the music genre forward into new territory by changing up the formula.

Wrap-up:

I really do love me some Guitar Hero: World Tour every now and then. The great music and the rewarding multiplayer really make all its flaws seem unimportant. But if Rock Band and Guitar Hero continue to not particularly do that much other than polish and add new songs, you may have to count me out when it comes to the "big" music games in the future.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Downloadable content

2009-01-23T08:27:00.000-08:00

There are several new "big things" in the game industry this generation. There's motion controls, full online multiplayer experiences, and DLC. Downloadable content offers game developers ways to extend gamer's playtimes and keep them (and their wallets) coming back for more. But is DLC necessarily a good thing?

In my opinion, it depends on how it's used. Take Harmonix's Rock Band, I think they're doing a great job. Rock Band has so many songs available for download, satisfying almost anyone's rock music needs. Every downloadable song combined would cost you more than the game itself. Plus Harmonix has done a great job in being able to use songs in both Rock Band and Rock Band 2 and seamless integration from and to both. It's moves like Harmonix's that show the true possibilities of downloadable content and how convenient it really is.

But then there's other publishers and developers that misuse DLC. I don't want to play through most of the game only to realize I have to play some money to buy the final chapters once they're available for download. I don't want to buy difficulties and other modes that should have already been in the game. And I definitely don't want to have to spend money on stupid hats and clothes for in game characters and avatars. What about in game currency and gold? Fine, just don't make me pay my real, hard earned money for stupid things like shirts and hairstyles.

So while some developers and publishers (like previously mentioned Harmonix) do downloadable content very well, the industry still has a long ways to go. DLC should be something gamers go to once the main game's over to keep them coming back. It shouldn't be crucial for entertainment and completely necessary to enjoy the most of your game.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Winter

2009-01-21T08:02:00.000-08:00

Quick article. Just wanted to give my two cents on Winter. -Kyle

As you probably know we recently got info on IGN's "dark game" known as Winter. (If you don't know, check out IGN's interview here and footage of the game here.) Basically Winter's a survival horror game developed by n-Space (the developers behind games like Geist for the GameCube and the Call of Duty games for the DS). Development has halted due to lack of interest publishers. The devs said that their game was met with praise yet publishers left uninterested because of two key factors: that it was a new IP and that it was a survival horror game on what they deemed the "kids" console, the Wii.

IGN finally showed off the game through a trailer and an interview, and I really love what I see. The game looks to be a really entertaining and really creepy survival horror game. From the footage that was released, just about everything in the environment you can interact with. In some of the levels you'll be just trying to survive by staying warm which can lead to starting fires, turning on vehicles, and climbing in dead animals carcases for warmth (ala Han Solo, The Empire Strikes Back). The footage also showed some pretty impressive graphics for the Wii. And the demo they made up took them six weeks. Think of what they could do in a regular development cycle of around two years?

Unfortunately development has currently halted. But I'm hoping Winter goes along the same route as the Conduit, that is, it gets a lot of interest online, alerting publishers, and eventually gets published. As far as publishers go, I can see SEGA picking this one up. As they did for the Conduit and how they're supporting the Wii with similar, core games like MadWorld and House of the Dead: Overkill. It would also be an excellent title for Nintendo to publish, seeing as they're hardcore releases have been relatively thin in North America as of late. (Where's Fatal Frame 4? Or Disaster: Day of Crisis? Come on NOA.)

I really hope this game gets published. The Wii needs more games like this. At least some people are doing what they can. GoNintendo's Kevin Cassidy and IGN's Nintendo team, along with several other sites are going to do all they can in trying to get this game a publisher and get it released. It's nice to see IGN's Nintendo team interested, seeing as what they've done with other third-party Wii games, particularly Zack & Wiki and the Conduit. Plus you can sign a petition that currently has over 600 signatures here. Online petitions may not always be the most effective things, but it could help. I really hope we can get Winter published. It’s efforts like these that need to be rewarded.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

WiiWare games in 2009

2009-01-16T08:51:00.000-08:00

If you missed my first article, about retail Wii games in 2009, check it out here; this one's about WiiWare. -Kyle

2009, in my mind, is going to be one of the better years for Wii, at least from what we know so far. But what about WiiWare? 2008 was an awesome year for WiiWare. We saw some of the best Wii games of the year launched on Nintendo's downloadable service, such as World of Goo, Mega Man 9, and LostWinds. We may not know too many WiiWare games being released in 2009. But the ones we do look to continue the quality.

Please note: release dates are for North America only. If you're from somewhere other than North America, such as Europe or Australia, check Google, Wikipedia, and/or IGN to be sure.

Cave Story
Developer: Studio Pixel
Release date: Early 2009

The original Cave Story for PC, that's free and still available here, earned a reputation as the best freeware game of all time. And now it's being brought over to WiiWare. With it come both technical and in-game additions. Tech junkies will be pleased to know the game is now has 480p and widescreen options. Plus both the graphic and sound departments have received a major overhaul. But if you're a fan of the original and this worries you you can always change back to retro graphics and classic music. Also, recently announced was new content via downloads. One of the best free downloadable games of all times may soon be joining the ranks of best WiiWare games.

Swords & Soldiers
Developer: Ronimo Games
Release date: Q1 2009

Second up on this feature is Swords & Soldiers. S&S is a 2D, sidescrolling real-time strategy game. In it you play as one of three factions, the Aztecs, the Vikings, and a third faction we don't know about yet. The art style is awesome and (partially quoting some article I can't remember) is a combination of the looks of XBLA's Castle Crashers and PSN's Fat Princess. The game will feature both local and online multiplayer, as well as single player campaigns for each of the factions. It looks like a lot of fun and is one of my most anticipated games.

Eduardo the Samurai Toaster
Developer: Semnat Studios
Release date: Q1 2009

Eduardo the Samurai Toaster. Yes, that's this game's name. Awesome, right? Eduardo was only recently announced, but it's already a looker. It's a run'n'gun game in the same vein as greats like Gunstar Heroes, Contra, and Metal Slug (which are favorites of the game developers). It sports co-op for up to four player and an awesome graphical style. Many games of this list have graphics that lean towards style rather than raw processing power. But Eduardo the Samurai Toaster may top them all with it's amazing and diverse style. Stages and levels will be made up of different kinds of art such as charcoal, pen and ink, and acrylic paint. Definitely one of the neater looking games on the horizon.

LIT
Developer: WayForward Technologies
Release date: TBA 2009

LIT is a game with a really unique premise: you can't wander into the darkness or evil creatures will get you. So to avoid darkness you'll have to follow paths that the light uncovers. This opens up tons of puzzles involving turning on lights to make paths, throwing rocks through windows to shine moonlight in, and using obtained items like flashlights and lanterns. While graphically the game looks to be really lacking, the puzzles look ingenious and awesome, so I can't wait for it.

Animales de la Muerte
Developer: High Voltage Software
Release date: TBA 2009

I'm almost hesitant to list this on here. The reason being we've heard so little of this game for a while. There was even talk of HVS putting out as a retail due to Nintendo's limited file size cap. But as for the game, it looks great. Supposedly all the animals in a Mexican zoo have gotten some kind of virus and are now rabid, zombie animals. So the zoo manager tasks you to put all his precious animals out of their misery. To do this you'll equip yourself with machine guns and take 'em down. The goal of each level is to survive for as long as possible. And after seeing the trailer with Mexican hat dance music playing while cartoony, zombie animals are uzied down, only two words will be on your mind (well at least they were on mine): hilarious and awesome.

Other WiiWare games

There's not a lot of WiiWare games that we know of that I didn't list. But three of them, Evasive Space, Last Flight, and Eternity's Child, look interesting though I'm not so sure of them yet. Also with not a lot of first-party support in 2008, we can only hope Nintendo has something up their sleeve for '09, preferably a revisit of a classic franchise. Perhaps a Mega Man 9-esque Link to the Past sequel with 16-bit graphics and all? Make it happen Nintendo! Or how about the long overdue New Super Mario Bros. 2 being released as a download. Pure awesome that would be. And finally we do know that Frontier is planning a LostWinds sequel. The first was excellent, albeit a bit short, so I'm definitely holding out for a LostWinds 2.

What about you? Any WiiWare games you looking forward to? Or would you rather stick to retail?

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Poll #9: "Which system had the strongest year in 2008?" results

2009-01-15T16:20:00.000-08:00

Poll number 9 is done. Here's the data:

Which system had the strongest year in 2008? (41 total votes)

Xbox 360 - 31% (13 votes)
Playstation 3 - 12% (5 votes)
Wii - 41% (17 votes)
Nintendo DS - 12% (5 votes)
PSP - 2% (1 votes)

It was a close competition between the 360 and the Wii, but Nintendo's little white box got a few more votes and earned the title of winner. Behind the Wii and 360 was a tie between the PS3 and DS. Followed then by the PSP with a measly single vote.

I was torn between the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. I felt the Wii's year was lacking, and even though I don't own a PS3 or 360 there were a lot of titles, particularly LittleBigPlanet, Dead Space, and Mirror's Edge, that really interest me. I also thought the Nintendo DS had a fairly good year. Much better than the Wii and PSP.

And as usual the latest poll is up and running. The poll is "So far, which year was the Wii's best?"

EDIT: For some reason either a problem with Blogger, my crappy computer, or my crappy internet is hindering my ability to put up the latest poll. At first it just wouldn't display at all and now I can't even go back and create a new poll. I'll try again tomorrow (or later tonight).

EDIT 2: Thank god it's finally up and running. I don't know if it was just my computer or if it was screwing up for everyone, but thankfully it's fixed. Now get votin'!

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Wii games in 2009

2009-01-13T08:33:00.000-08:00

100th post! Awesome! Here's to 100 more! Well, that's over, onto the article... I've been planning on doing this article since the beginning of the year, but just haven't gotten around to doing it until now. -Kyle

2008 was an average year for the Nintendo hardcore. The first party efforts weren't all that great, at least in the states. Even with WiiWare and third-parties supplying quality, the great games of 2008 weren't all that many. But coming into 2009, there's quite a few awesome looking retail Wii games on the horizon. Below, I've detailed eight of these such games (retail only for now) that I'm really stoked for. This is a long one, so grab some popcorn, a drink of some sort, and enjoy!

EDIT: Don't believe me about 2009 being a great year for Wii? Check out this NeoGAF thread, specifically the second and third posts. Yeah, that's a lot games. Even if some of them aren't necessarily coming to North America or coming in 2009, that's still a damn lot of games, and that's only the ones we know of. (Thanks to SuperPhillip for the heads up.)

Please note: release dates are for North America only and found on IGN.com. If you're from somewhere other than North America, such as Europe or Australia, check Google, Wikipedia, and/or IGN to be sure.

House of the Dead: Overkill
Publisher: SEGA
Release date: February 10, 2009

Of my eight games on this list, House of the Dead: Overkill is supposed to be released the soonest. It's definitely a game to look forward to for House of the Dead fans and light-gun fans. The overall game looks really awesome and the "Grindhouse"-inspired visuals and presentation look great.

MadWorld
Publisher: SEGA
Release date: March 10, 2009

By far the bloodiest, most intense, and possibly most controversial (among the media) game on this list, MadWorld is sure to be insane. Just looking through screens and videos, you see how strange yet awesome the game is going to be. The story is that of a man named Jack trapped in a lethal game show. The visuals are Sin Cityish, and the huge array of death moves looks both impressive and entertaining.

Little King's Story
Publisher: Xseed Games/Marvelous Interactive
Release date: May 2009

Xseed's Little King's Story is looking very Pikmin-esque. But that's definitely not a bad thing. I'm actually more excited for it than any Pikmin game we'll get this year. Why? Because New Play Control Pikmin 1 and 2 are remakes despite looking awesome, and we don't have an official confirmation of Pikmin 3 and what it'll look like. In Little King's Story, you control a young king, who all the villagers follow without question. With this command comes the ability to build building, raise armies, and take over other kingdoms.

The Conduit
Publisher: SEGA
Release date: Q2 2009

SEGA's putting a lot of support on the Wii in 2009 as is evident with House of the Dead, MadWorld, and finally The Conduit. Possibly the biggest hyped game for the Wii, The Conduit's been praised for it's excellent, intuitive control scheme and its impressive visuals. But as for the main game and its gameplay, I'm not totally convinced, as it looks like run of the mill FPS fare. But I hope the All-Seeing Eye puzzling elements and online multiplayer will make it a bit fresher.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade
Publisher: Xseed Games/Marvelous Entertainment
Release date: TBA 2009

Muramasa: The Demon Blade is one of my most anticipated games lately. From it's awesome gameplay to it's gorgeous art style, this one's sure to be a winner. The levels are made of up 2D sidescrolling, hack and slash gameplay with RPG leveling-up elements. The Japanese, hand drawn graphics are both beautiful with Japanese mythology in mind. There's two characters to play as, each having their own story, which really extends the lasting value.

Punch-Out!!
Publisher: Nintendo
Release date: TBA 2009

Very little news has come about Nintendo's latest Punch-Out!! game for the Wii. Nonetheless, the game looks very awesome from Nintendo's trailer at their Fall Media Summit. This time around it retains a cartoony, almost cel-shaded style of visuals that I really like. And it also seems to keep its offensive humor as is evident from the trailer.

Sin & Punishment 2
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: TBA 2009

Much like Punch-Out!!, we have very little news regarding Sin & Punishment 2 other than what was said at the Nintendo Fall Media Summit. Until it was recently released on the North American Virtual Console, the original was a Japan only N64 game with a cult following and very positive critical reception. The sequel's sure to be a hit over here in the states with classic gameplay mixed with updated, Wii remote aiming controls.

Wii Sports Resort
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: TBA 2009

I'm actually more excited for what's packaged with Wii Sports Resort than I am for the game itself. The sequel to Wii Sports is bundled with Wii MotionPlus, a peripheral with exciting possibilities. With this, true 1:1 control is possible on the Wii. Plus just as Wii Sports showed off the finer points of Wii remote controls with its five sports, Wii Sports Resort will show off the possibilities of Wii MotionPlus with nine activities including frisbee-throwing, jet skiing, and sword dueling.

Other Wii games

Other than these eight games that I'm super-excited for, there's several games that really interest me, but I'm not totally convinced yet. Two of these such games are Deadly Creatures and Monster Hunter 3. I had also almost completely written of Klonoa for the Wii until Wiifolder.com's Josh did an excellent video tour of it, and now I'm really intrigued for this platforming title. And finally, I'm really looking forward to the New Play Control series, especially the Pikmin and Metroid Prime remakes, but I didn't feel it was fair to include it in the main list, seeing as they're ports and a lot of readers have already played them.

That concludes my "Wii games of 2009" feature. What are your most anticipated games? Look out sometime later this week for my "WiiWare games of 2009" article.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Rest in peace 1UP and EGM

2009-01-08T08:25:00.000-08:00

As you probably know, 1UP.com was recently bought by UGO. And with this merge comes tons of layoffs, including many loved writers like Shane Bettenhausen, Greg Ford, and James “Milkman” Mielke. Also due to this merge, 1UP's magazine, Electronic Gaming Monthly, all the loved 1UP podcasts, and the 1UP Show are gone.

So I'd like to take this post and wish the 1up and EGM teams good luck and thanks for all you guys have done. Though I didn't particularly follow your site and blogs as many (more hardcore) fans did, I did read quite a few of your previews and reviews. And every time I really loved what you guys wrote and how much passion you have for the industry.

As for EGM, despite it having a huge fan base, I didn't particularly love it. It was good and all but I didn't turn to it first for print news. Even so, the magazine was really well done and was one of my first game magazines to read. Excellent job guys.

And finally, I'd like to voice my deepest sorrow for all of you who lost your jobs. Working for 1UP and EGM would be a dream job for me and was probably one of your favorite jobs. At least working for 1up will be good on your resumes, and I hope you all can find jobs doing something with video games or something else you love.

And as for UGO, who bought 1UP and canceled EGM and their podcasts, I'm in two mindsets: one, fuck you UGO for destroying 1UP! and two, thanks for saving the website from this shitty economy. But alas I'm more in the former category since by firing all the loved staff and taking away EGM and the podcasts, all UGO has now is a lifeless body that is a website without the soul and life that was the staff.

And one last time. R.I.P. 1UP and EGM. You will be sorely missed, even by your not-so-devoted followers like me. If you're wanting to read more about this, check out GoNintendo, they have had tons of updates concerning how and why this happened and many people's opinions from both 1UP and UGO. And definitely check out Milkman's blog post: The Last Day of EGM, The Secret Lost Final Issue of EGM for a really heartwarming and sad (an oxymoron perhaps?) look on the final days of 1UP's staff and the final, 20th anniversary issue of EGM, which will only be available digitally.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

The problem with review scores

2009-01-07T08:36:00.000-08:00

If there's one thing I've really noticed in the last year after posting reviews and reading tons of reviews, there's definitely a problem with review scores. Several problems actually.

First of all, one of the main problems is that there's not a standard for scoring a game. Let's say Website A and Website B both score out of 10 (just to make it a bit simpler). Yet Website A's average score is somewhere around a 7.0 or a 7.5. On the other hand if a game got a 5.0 from Website B it'd be considered average. Since different sites use different review scales, it becomes hard to tell if they like the game, hate it, or think it's mediocre without reading the review. And once you get different point scales such as out of 5 or 100, it makes reviews almost incomparable, since the more leeway you're allowed to score (such as .5's versus .1's) the more opinion's will seem to differ. Lately I don't even pay attention to Metacritic for this very reason. The fact that websites and magazines use different review scales makes the exact number Metacritic assigns inaccurate and meaningless.

My second problem is more of a pet peeve than a real ordeal. Assigning a sole number to sum up a review makes that review meaningless to a lot of people. These said people will just scroll to the bottom, read the score, and leave the review. Which is definitely not the point. I really wish these people could just sit through a reading of a review. The writer put a lot of their time, effort, and play time into the idea of writing it. The most you can do is read the review. Even if you don't have time or can't concentrate, can't you at least read the final couple of paragraph? You know, the ones that summarize the entire review so you don't have to read it? Those ones.

Also the number assigned makes people think, "Oh, they scored Game A a 9.4 but Game B a 9.3. Game A is must be better." It's hard enough coming up with a review score; it's not like reviewers look through every single review they've written and compare the game to those. Which brings me to my next point, on big sites like IGN and 1up.com (R.I.P.) different reviewers review different games. So that all adds up to different opinions of different genres of different games. Which can then deem the score meaningless. Overall this means the score is very unimportant in my eyes. What is important is the written review.

So what am I getting at with these ramblings? I've used this post to do two things: #1. Voice my opinion on why I feel review scores are flawed. And #2. Announce that I'll be ditching scores in my reviews from now on. 2009 is a new era for World 1-1 reviews! I started thinking about this when I first ditched all the scores besides the overall. Then I decided, even the overall score could be interpreted in so many different ways that I'm better off just writing the review. Don't worry, if you're still tempted to scroll to the bottom, at least read the "Overall Thoughts" paragraph. It'll take you somewhere from ten to thirty seconds and it's a much better alternative to scores (at least in my humble opinion). And it's this paragraph that'll matter to people the most anyway, since it's there I voice my final opinion and whether or not you should buy, rent, or skip the game.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Current Obsessions - Aught-Nine Edition

2009-01-02T08:39:00.000-08:00

Episode 5: Aught-Nine Edition

I changed the name of my "What I'm Playing" articles (previously "Games I've Been Playing Lately") to a new (and hopefully final) name: "Current Obsessions." I've named it so because I'll also list a few non-gaming things I've been obsessed near the end. So, without further ado, my first "Current Obsessions" of the new year.

Gaming

Animal Crossing: City Folk
Platform: Wii
This one might be on this list for a while. I'm addicted. While many critics say it's not unique enough and feels like too much of the same, I'm loving it, since I never played either of the previous versions. I live in Cooltown as little Animal Crossing Kyle. Lately I've been two things above all: fishing and searching for fossils. I really enjoy filling the in-game museum with all sorts of collectibles. I also enjoy building the occasional snowman and just talking to the animals throughout the town. I can totally see where people are coming from when they talk about their addiction to the original Animal Crossing and Wild World, I'm in love with City Folk and will probably be playing it for months if not years to come.

Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Platform: Wii
As part of my plan to complete all my unfinished Wii games, Lego Star Wars was the first on the list. I'm really close to finishing, as I'm in Episode VI and have three stages left. I really enjoyed the game, despite some of the flaws like iffy platforming. I especially loved all the Star Wars characters and scenes "Legofied." I'm thinking about getting Lego Indiana Jones and Lego Batman, since I enjoyed this one as much as I did.

N+
Platform: Nintendo DS
N+ is a surprisingly entertaining Nintendo DS game. I really enjoyed the flash game, but I doubted how it'd play on the DS's tinier screens. But the move from PC to DS was a very successful one. The top screens shows the entire level, while the bottom screen displays a more zoomed in view so that you can make more precise jumps and landings. N+ is platforming at it's best and simplest. The goal of each level is to unlock the door, so to do this you'll run, jump, and dodge enemies and obstacles. It's awesome. Despite not being like LittleBigPlanet in depth or scale, the level editor has also been very fun, and I've made a number of awesome levels with it.

Non-gaming

As of late I've been watching a bunch of DVD's; mostly the ones my family and I received for Christmas. In the last few nights, I've watched Iron Man and Wall-E, both excellent. And tonight I think I'm going to watch The Dark Knight (one of my favorite films of all time).

I haven't been doing much else than videogames and movies in my spare time. What about you guys? What things, gaming and non-gaming, have you been obsessed with lately?

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

What Nintendo should do in 2009

2009-01-01T08:10:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! It's 2009! Whoo! Time for a fresh start into the new year. As I've stated before, Nintendo made some strange decisions in 2008. I hope in '09 that's not the case, and they decide to do some things a little better. So below I've listed things I think Nintendo should do this year.

Release an equal ratio of casual/core games
I have no problem with Nintendo's Blue Ocean Strategy that includes games like Endless Ocean and Wii Fit. But as long as they release an equal amount of "hardcore" titles. In 2008, this wasn't the case, with Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Wario Land: Shake It! the only core titles (and maybe Mario Kart Wii, but it was a dumbed down version gameplay-wise). But in '09 I'm thinking they'll keep the ratio about equal, since we already know of core titles like Punch-Out!!, Sin & Punishment 2, and the inevitable Pikmin 3.

Put some first-party love onto WiiWare
In 2008 we got quite a few great WiiWare games. But we got very few Nintendo published ones. We saw the small yet awesome Art Style titles, Dr. Mario, and Pokemon Ranch. I hope Nintendo puts a lot more games onto WiiWare this year, especially visits to old franchises such as Excite Bike, Kid Icarus, and Ice Climbers that'd be perfect at $10 as downloads. And why the hell haven't we gotten a 2D Mario platformer for WiiWare yet? It'd be the perfect fit, it'd sell truckloads (metaphorically), and it'd please quite a few hungry Nintendo fans. Make it happen Nintendo.

Up the quality of the Virtual Console
This one I really don't get. We got a several quality games on the Virtual Console last year, such as the long awaited Super Mario RPG, Mega Man, Mega Man 2, Mega Man 3, and Secret of Mana. But the crap far outnumbered the quality this year. Which is something I don't get. Why release games that nobody likes if you want to make money? This doesn't make sense to me. I hope Nintendo starts releasing the good games, because I know there still are a lot of unreleased ones. Maybe Super Smash Bros, Earthbound, and Majora's Mask to start?

Put on at least a decent E3 show
This one I'm pretty sure of. 2008's Nintendo E3 event was by far one of the worst. So I'm willing to bet they'll have learned from their mistakes and will put on at least a decent showing this year. Hopefully with some more hardcore showing of games. Perhaps Pikmin 3 and some other first party title.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Poll #8: "Which operating system are you using?" results

2008-12-31T16:33:00.000-08:00

My eighth and final poll of the year has concluded and the results are in:

Which operating system are you using? (49 total votes)

Windows XP - 38% (19 votes)
Windows Vista - 36% (18 votes)
Mac OS X - 12% (6 votes)
Linux - 6% (3 votes)
Other - 6% (3 votes)

Windows XP and Windows Vista were neck and neck for most of the polling session. But XP pulled ahead near the end. Apple's operating system came in third with six votes, 12% of the overall. The options, Linux and Other tied for fourth with three votes each.

I was surprised there weren't more votes from Mac users. I voted for Windows XP because that's what I've been using for the longest time. And it's still working excellent. But I'm actually thinking about getting a Mac because they're really cool and super sexy. But first I've got to get the money.

After two non-game related polls, we're back to video games, and the latest poll is "Which system had the strongest year in 2008?"

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

My gaming New Year's resolutions

2008-12-31T15:04:00.000-08:00

It's New Year's Eve. And you know what that means, the start of a new year. It also means people will be making resolutions. People will resolve to go on diets, quit smoking, get out of debt, or just spend more time with families. Those are all great. But this is a gaming blog, not a lifestyle blog, so today I've compiled a list of my "gaming New Year's resolutions."

Finish unfinished games
This is probably the biggest one. I have quite a few games that I've bought but haven't beaten. It really peeves me when I have games that are unfinished, but I keep buying more. So in 2009 it's my goal to complete all of my unfinished Wii games, which are Boom Blox, Zack & Wiki, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Lego Star Wars, SSX Blur, Blast Works, and Okami. I know, that's a lot of games, but most of them I'm close to completing, so it shouldn't be too hard.

Don't go on a single reviewer's opinion
I don't do this a lot. But occasionally I'll base my purchase of a game off one review. That usually isn't the wisest since people have different opinions. Which can lead to some regrettable purchases.

Spend my money wisely
This one relates to the previous one. Sometimes I've been like, "Oh the game's getting high 7's and low 8's," and then I'll go and buy it. But perhaps the genre or game series isn't really for me. One example is Blast Works: Build Trade Destroy. I bought it because it was getting favorable reviews from a lot of sites and magazines. But in those reviews the reviewers stated it might not be a good purchase if you don't want to spend the time creating all the levels. Once I'd bought it, I found this to be the case and haven't played much of it since (the custom level modes are a bit too complicated for me, and I'm not creative enough for them).

There you have, three gaming New Year's resolutions I'm making. What about you? Are you making any game related resolutions?

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Wii: Best games of 2008

2008-12-27T08:39:00.000-08:00

The Nintendo Wii had an interesting year in terms of games. Nintendo's first-party lineup was pretty lacking, but WiiWare and third parties definitely helped supply quality. The way this article is going to work is that I'll be going through the biggest games of 2008 chronologically, starting with No More Heroes in January and ending with the last big game of the year. I'll be leaving out two games, Runner-up Game of the Year and Game of the Year to be listed at the very end.

All in all, these games aren't ones I'm recommending you borrow or rent. These eleven games are what I think you should go out and purchase, no doubt about it. Since the economy isn't doing too great, some people may not have the resources to do this. That's what the last two games are for. These couple of titles are the two best games of the year and what I recommend over all else. And with a combined price of $65, it shouldn't put you back too much. So without further ado, the first game of my "Wii: Best games of 2008" feature is the ultra-violent and super-stylized...

No More Heroes
Wii
Ubisoft
January 22, 2008
My Score: 8/10

No More Heroes for the Wii is probably the most mature and badass title on this list. The game is chock full of style and personality. HUDs and menus are made up of pixels and in game graphics are cel-shaded. Killing an enemy results in an almost comical explosion of blood that's in no way realistic. The combat is equally awesome as it's a mixture of button mashing, motion controls, and combos. You play as Travis Touchdown, a typical otaku, who gets a laser sword over an internet auction and sets off to become the number one assassin by killing the top ten assassins. The boss battles are very memorable and will challenge you like none other.

Excerpt from review: "No More Heroes is pretty long game with a whole lot of personality and graphical style. The high points of the game, the awesome boss battles and entertaining combat, more than make up for the game's low points, most notably the lack of graphical polish and poor open world. I'd recommend a buy to almost anyone who loves action, are "allowed" to play M-rated games, and wants a solid twelve to fifteen hour experience." Full review here.

Okami
Wii
Capcom
April 15, 2008

My score: TBD

There have been a number of ports onto the Wii. Generally, they're not all that great. But Capcom breaks the mold by porting over the PS2 game Okami, developed by the now disbanded Clover Studios (who were behind other games such as Vietiful Joe). In short, there's only one way to describe Capcom's Okami: a work of art. The entire game's visuals are vibrant and stunning Japanese watercolor. Graphical impressions aside, what you have in Okami is Capcom's very own Legend of Zelda game. The influences are obvious as you'll traverse huge worlds, explore dangerous dungeons, and solve ingenious puzzles. The biggest innovation is the Celestial Brush, now controlled via the Wii remote IR rather than the PS2's analog stick. Many different moves come with it. Some offensive, like drawing slashes through enemies or creating bombs, while others are more for interacting with the environment, such as creating lily pads to cross deep rivers and blooming trees that were otherwise dead. It's a beautiful game and a huge one at that.

Excerpt from review: Review is coming. Haven't played enough of the game. I will edit this post once my official review is up. -Kyle

Mario Kart Wii
Wii
Nintendo
April 27, 2008
My Score: 8/10

The Mario Kart series is a staple for any Nintendo console. This time around the Wii's unique motion controls make the game even more fun with the plastic Wii Wheel. You'll race all of your favorite Nintendo characters, from Mario and Bowser to Koopa and Birdo, around awesomely fun and unique tracks with crazy items like turtle shells and bananas at your disposal. The online's some of the best on the Wii (because of the connectivity speed, it's lag-free play, and it's addicting nature). Plus the game's accessible to pretty much all ages. Control picky people needn't worry either; a plethora of control options await, including GameCube controller support.

Excerpt from review: "Mario Kart Wii is a great game. And it'll last you a while, especially in the online areas. But it's not for everyone. If you didn't like the other Mario Karts or like more realistic, less random racing like F-Zero, then this isn't for you. But I liked it and what it brought to the Mario Kart table, such as bikes, tricks, Miis, and a great online." Full review here.

Boom Blox
Wii
Electronic Arts
May 6, 2008
My score: 9/10

At a first glance, Boom Blox looks like a kids game. And I don't blame you. But after sinking many hours of gameplay into it like I did, I think you'll say differently. Sure the game's great for kids, at least the early levels. But on the Hard and Master levels, the game really challenges you. But what differs the game from so many others are the excellent controls and great use of the Wii remote. The level of force you put into your throw is accurately represented in the game. The game's great in both the single and multiplayer options. Plus it comes with an awesome and deep "Create" mode that utilizes the remote's IR well.

Excerpt from review: "Boom Blox is a great game. The great single- and multiplayer puzzles are the high points of the game and more than makes up for the average visuals and music. Plus, it's going to last you a long time. Maybe not just trying to beat every puzzles, but also trying to get gold, that's going to take a while." Full review here.

LostWinds
WiiWare
Frontier
May 12, 2008
My score: 9/10

Nintendo WiiWare service launched May 12, 2008. At launch there were six titles, including Defend Your Castle, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, and LostWinds. It may have been a launch title, but LostWinds kicked off Nintendo's new service with a bang. The title showed what downloadable games are: smaller, innovative titles that can be priced lower. All in all the game's around four or so hours. So it's not all that long. But the gameplay's is unlike anything seen on the Wii. Your cursor controls the wind as you move a little boy Teku along. Draw lines to summon gusts of wind. With the controls come some innovative puzzles such as blowing fire into a barrier or carrying water to a plant. LostWinds' presentation is also really great. Even if it was a launch title, LostWinds is still one of the best WiiWare games in my opinion.

Excerpt from review: "I think LostWinds is the best you can get from Nintendo's WiiWare service. It's entertaining and keep you hooked until the credits. It's short, but the graphics and audio really keep the game moving." Full review here.

Wario Land: Shake It!
Wii
Nintendo
September 22, 2008
My score: 8/10

Most of the time, visuals are what you experience first with a game. And Wario Land: Shake It!'s are fluid and look like an excellent hand drawn cartoon. Aside from the beautiful style, the gameplay is much like the great 2D platformers of old. The controls are precise, what humor there is is "laugh-out-loudable," and the level design is top notch. The shaking (as the sub-title implies) is a bit annoying, but other uses for the motion controls, such as balancing or aiming by tilting is great.

Excerpt from review: "While Wario Land: Shake It! doesn't do much for the genre and its core game isn't all that long, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't have some fun with the game. The motion controls are used nicely, albeit the shaking in some parts. The hidden depth of game, and the flat out amazing visual style make this one heck of a game and definitely worth your purchase." Full review here.

Mega Man 9
WiiWare
Capcom
September 22, 2008
My score: 9/10

After years filled with countless Mega Man spin-offs (most of them sub-par), Capcom has opted to go back to Mega Man's roots with Mega Man 9. With it's 8-bit graphics, 8-bit music (which, by the way, is excellent), and 8-bit difficulty, fans of the original NES titles are sure to be pleased by this one. In some areas, the game may feel unforgiving, but it's just goes to show how lax your reflexes have come in this day and age. The game plays almost identical to the original Mega Man and Mega Man 2 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It's your job to take down Dr. Wily's eight robots in any order you like. But there's strategy in the order you choose, each Robot Master is vulnerable to another one's weapon, which you obtain after beating said boss.

Excerpt from review: "A truly challenging game. It's fun and goes back to those golden days of gaming. But expect to throw the controller down more than once." Full review here.

de Blob
Wii
THQ
September 22, 2008
My score: TBD

The Wii is home to some really unique titles. Boom Blox, Wii Sports, and Zack & Wiki are a few of the innovative titles on the Wii. These kinds of games are both a whole lot of fun and a refreshing take on their genres and video games as a whole. de Blob is another of these games. It a new kind of platforming game. The premise is that the city has been drained of color by a the sinister I.N.K.T. corporation. It's your job to color the city. You join up with a band of colorful, painting revolutionaries and the rest is history. The presentation is one of the many high points of the game, as the graphics are some of the more impressive on the Wii. The upbeat music is awesome and changes with every color you obtain. It's one of the few third-party games on Wii that really pushes the system.

Excerpt from review: Once again the review is coming and I'll edit this feature once I've written my full review. -Kyle

Art Style: ORBIENT
WiiWare
Nintendo
September 29, 2008
My score: 8/10

There have been three Art Style games, ORBIENT, CUBELLO, and ROTOHEX, released on Nintendo's WiiWare service. Two were remakes of GBA bit Generations, while the other was a completely new game . Art Style: ORBIENT was the only one I downloaded, therefore it's the only one on this list. But I've read that it's the best of the three, so if there's anywhere to start, it's this one. ORBIENT's a remake of the Japan-only GBA game Orbital. The premise is simple but gets tough later on. You control a little planetoid with the power of controlling the gravity and anti-gravity. You orbit stars trying to absorb certain ones until you meet a certain goal. It's a very addictive and super unique little title.

Excerpt from review: "Art Style: ORBIENT is a simple title that uses it's core concept, gravity, and really expands on it. It's a unique little game overall. The graphics may not break any records, but the strangely enjoyable music and lasting value will make this a definite must to most. Plus with the $6.00 price tag, I'd recommend ORBIENT to almost anyone." Full review here.

Runner-up Wii 2008 Game of the Year

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Wii
Nintendo
March 9, 2008
My score: TBD

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the most hyped game for the Wii and possibly this generation of consoles. It's the ultimate Nintendo fan-service game. And if you're a fan of Nintendo and you have yet to pick up this game, you're either short on money or have your priorities way out of whack. The game is one of the best multiplayer games I've played in a long time. While the online may be seriously lacking and the single player portions average, Brawl more than makes up for these complaints with super entertaining local multiplayer. It's so hectic, so random (yet strategic), and so damn fun that you'll almost never tire of the party aspects. Plus, it's got layers and layers of fan-service with collectibles such as trophies, stickers, and music and unlockables such as stages, characters, and assistants called Assist Trophies. With all the content SSBB has, it'll last you hundreds of hours.

Excerpt from review: My third game on this list still in need of a review. Don't worry, this'll be the one I put out first. Until then, let me just say this: the game rocks. Buy it. -Kyle

Wii 2008 Game of the Year

World of Goo
WiiWare
2D Boy
October 13, 2008
My Score: 10/10

Even with the monumental game that is Super Smash Bros. Brawl, I felt one other game topped the rest of the Wii's 2008 lineup. That game is World of Goo. It may not have an epic, 30+ hours main game. It may not have awesome 32-player online. Yet World of Goo is one of the most fun, innovative, and memorable experiences of 2008. The game is ridden with charm and style. Every level is unique, and the game as a whole is very entertaining. Each level generally has you picking up and attaching goo balls together to build your way up to a pipe. There's so much variation in level design, objectives, and the types of goo balls that no two levels feel the same. If you must download one WiiWare game this year, make it World of Goo. If you must play only one Wii game this year, make it World of Goo. It's that good.

Excerpt from review: "World of Goo is one of the best games I've played this year and a great WiiWare title overall. With enough content and fun to be priced as a full retail (or slightly lower), World of Goo is a must-have. It tops downloadable favorites of mine in both style and presentation. Though it has very minor flaws, the $15 game is well worth the Wii Points." Full review here.

Other notable games:
These are the games I either didn't get to play, or I didn't feel quite good enough for the main part of this article, but you might want to give a try if you're a fan of the series or genre. (I grouped similar games together to save space.)

Animal Crossing: City Folk
Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour
Wii Fit and Wii Music
The other two Art Style games: CUBELLO and ROTOHEX
Bully: Scholarship Edition
Toki Tori
Dr. Mario Online Rx and Tetris Party
Blast Works
Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People Episodes 1-5

And thus concludes my "Wii: Best games of 2008" article. I hope everyone's having a good holiday, and I hope everyone (who celebrates it) had a Merry Christmas!

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Wii: 2008 year in review

2008-12-26T08:18:00.000-08:00

2008 was definitely a strange year for the Wii. We saw events that made longtime Nintendo fans doubt their relationship with the Big N. We saw the launch of Nintendo's downloadable game service WiiWare. And we saw a lack of first party games towards the end of the year that ultimately resulted in mixed feelings from the "core" gaming crowd. Today I'll be looking back on the past year (as if it hasn't already been done by hundreds of other blogs and game sites) and stating my thoughts on 2008 as a whole. I'll break this into four sections: games, news, events, and the future of the Wii. Enjoy!

Games of 2008
Nintendo published a measly 8 titles (in the US) in 2008. The Big N kicked off '08 with the casual, soothing game that is Endless Ocean in January. Next up, in March was Super Smash Bros. Brawl. One of the biggest games (on the hype-meter) for a Nintendo system in a long time. The game's also one of the Wii's greatest with super-balanced and fun gameplay. April saw Mario Kart Wii released with it's awesome online and hectic races. While May of 2008 was home to the release of a landmark title for Nintendo: Wii Fit. With it's innovative gameplay and how it fits specifically into Nintendo's Blue Ocean Strategy, this one's still selling millions into the holidays.

In the rest of the year we got the other half of Nintendo's '08 lineup. This half: not so great. While Wario Land: Shake It! was a pretty awesome, retroish game, Mario Super Sluggers, Wii Music, and Animal Crossing: City Folk were all received generally less favorably, with complaints such as not enough gameplay (Wii Music) and way too similar to the GameCube and DS versions (Animal Crossing). All in all, I feel Nintendo's 2008 games were lacking. Super Smash Bros. Brawl was of course the biggest, but it was really scheduled for 2007! Nintendo really needs to step it up in 2009.

As for third-parties, we got a decent amount of quality titles to do what Nintendon't. Despite the continual tsunami of Petz titles, Imagine games, and minigame fests, many third-parties are starting to get the Wii. 2008 saw some of the best third-party games to hit Nintendo's shiny white box since it's launch. We saw releases of Boom Blox, No More Heroes, Blast Works, a Guitar Hero and Rock that can rival the other systems', ports of the PS2 hits Okami and Bully, and de Blob: all great games.

The Virtual Console service has been a huge success for Nintendo. It lets older gamers relish in nostalgia and new gamers experience some of the classics. But it wasn't until 2008 that Wii owners could download original titles via the WiiWare service Nintendo launched in May. Some became instant classics like World of Goo and Mega Man 9. Despite huge titles like these, WiiWare was home to some other great releases, such as a LostWinds, Tetris, Dr. Mario, and intriguing new series from Nintendo called Art Style. But much like the Wii's retail library, for every World of Goo and LostWinds, we get a dozen Frat Party: Beer Pongs and SPOGS Racings. Despite these blemishes, WiiWare had a fairly good first year in my opinion.

News of 2008
Probably the biggest news throughout the year was how Nintendo now full swing in their "expanded audience" ideas with titles like Wii Fit and Wii Music to prove it. While these ideas are great and are really what'll keep the industry alive in the end, more "core" gamers like myself couldn't help but feel left out.

As for sales, the Wii is breaking records and taking names. It sold 800,000 units on Thanksgiving weekend alone (in the states only!), that's almost as many as the 360 sold that entire month. The Wii seems like an unstoppable juggernaut when it comes to selling hardware, as it's two years after the Wii's release, and it's still unlikely you'll walk into a store a see a Wii.

One of the bigger things to happen on the Wii this year was the launch of WiiWare. With it came original, smaller titles that were filled to the brim with quality. After a fairly good launch, a drought of any good WiiWare games struck the system, but once fall and winter came around, we started seeing some of the better games emerging like World of Goo and the Strong Bad series.

Two new peripherals were announced this year; one which was released. They were the WiiSpeak microphone and Wii MotionPlus device. WiiSpeak came out right along side Animal Crossing: City Folk and finally allowed voice chat in Wii games (unfortunately AC:CF is the only to support it at the moment). Wii MotionPlus was leaked shortly before E3 2008 and was showcased at 2008's Electronic Entertainment Expo. It allows "true 1:1" controls and is going to be packaged with WiiSports Resort. A definite game to keep your eyes on.

And finally, Club Nintendo was released a few weeks ago. Users found the overall experience to be buggy and slow. But if you ever did log on, you'd find a place to register all your Wii, DS, and WiiWare games, earn coins for filling out surveys, and purchase Nintendo fan-service items with those coins. The biggest and best thing available currently is a Game and Watch collection for the DS going for 800 coins. Currently, the site's down for maintenance, which is good, seeing as my experiences with it have been ridden with login errors and massive slowdown.

Events of 2008
The first of the three major 2008 events was Nintendo's Spring Media Summit. It was here we first learned about WiiWare. Mario Super Sluggers was also announced to be developed by Namco. Those were the only two big announcements at the show, but many first- and third-party games were showcased which resulted in a plethora of previews and impressions from major game outlets like IGN.

Ahh, E3 2008, such memories I have of you. And let me tell you: they're (mostly) not good. Here was when many brokenhearted fans claimed, "Nintendo's given up on the hardcore!!" Nintendo seemed to give the hardcore, longtime Nintendo fans the cold shoulder by showing off only their casual lineup including games like Animal Crossing: City Folk and Wii Sports Resort. No news of a new Pikmin or Zelda came from the press conference. (But at least later into the show Miyamoto confirmed the Mario and Zelda teams are working and that Pikmin 3 is in the works.) Oh, and that not-so-surprise-showing-of-Miyamoto-with-a-kickass-game... didn't happen. He showed off Wii Music in one of the most ridiculous presentations I've ever seen. E3 was deader than a doornail this year, and Nintendo's showing made many want it to die out all together. But fret not, as E3 2009 will supposedly be restored back to it's former glory. Let's just hope Nintendo can put on a quality show that time around.

And finally, we have Nintendo's Fall Media Summit. This is more of an apology to the hardcore for E3 than anything else. While the main attraction was no doubt the latest Nintendo DS model, the DSi, the Wii saw some great news come out of the event as well. We got announcements for two big, first-party games, Punch-Out!! Wii and Sin & Punshiment 2. From the show also came confirmation of the rumored "storage solution." Iwata announced you'd now be able to save Wii Shop items directly to the SD card. The show also saw announcements of minor games like an Endless Ocean sequel, Trace Memory 2, and Cosmic Walker (think Endless Ocean in space, and it looks awesome!). It may have been an apology to the "core" Nintendo fan, but the show was still one of Nintendo's high points of the year.

The future: 2009 and beyond
While the Wii's 2008 year may not have been all that great, the future is definitely shaping up. We already know of quite a few games that are going to make '09 all the better. To name a few... we'll be getting MadWorld, the Conduit, House of the Dead: Overkill, Punch-Out!!, Sin & Punishment 2, Muramasu: the Demon Blade, Wii Sports Restort, Cosmic Walker, LIT (WiiWare), and Cave Story (WiiWare). Plus we already know of sequels for third-party Wii hits Boom Blox and No More Heroes. Thanks for reading, and here's to an awesome 2009.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Merry Christmas from World 1-1

2008-12-25T17:05:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to everyone out there (who celebrates it) and to all of you who don't, hope you're having a great day off and an awesome holiday season! -Kyle

Poll #7: "Which web browser are you using?" results

2008-12-15T20:57:00.000-08:00

My seventh poll's over and here's the results:

Which web browser are you using? (57 total votes)

Internet Explorer - 5% (3 votes)
Firefox - 66% (38 votes)
Safari - 8% (5 votes)
Opera - 8% (5 votes)
Google Chrome - 1% (1 vote)
Wii web browser - 8% (5 votes)
DS web browser - 0% (0 votes)
Other - 0% (0 votes)

Firefox got by with an easy win, accumulating two-thirds of the votes. But it's not without good reason; Firefox is my favorite web browser as it's fast, looks nice, and includes all the features I need for web browsing. I'll stop now since this is turning into something of an advertisment. Apple's Safari browser, the Opera browser, and the Wii Internet Channel (running on Opera) all tied for second with 5 votes each (8% overall).

And of course, the latest poll is up. Poll #8 is a lot like it's predecessor, except this time, the question is "Which operating system are you using?"

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

No More Heroes (Wii) review

2008-12-10T08:16:00.000-08:00

Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture
Publisher: Ubisoft
Date Released: January 22, 2008 (USA)
ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Suda51, director and writer of No More Heroes, has been behind quite a few crazy games, most notably killer7 for the GameCube. More recently he helped bring Fatal Frame IV out to the Wii in Japan. No More Heroes is quite possibly his craziest game yet. But does crazy equal quality?

In No More Heroes, you're an lucha libre-loving, otaku punk named Travis Touchdown. He lives, near broke, in a small hotel room in a fictional, Californian city named Santa Destroy with his cat Jeane. He meets a pretty girl, named Sylvia Christe, in a bar one night. She offers him the job of an assassin for the United Assassin's Association, or the UAA. He's tasked of killing the top eleven assassin and become number one. The story's actually very good, the characters very insane and awesome, and there's a good enough number of twists (mostly near the climax) that you'll want to stick with it to the end.

Another thing that needs to be noted is the assortment of amazing characters that Suda51 created in the game. From the bosses and villains to the store clerks and gym masters, there are some awesome characters to be found. There's psychopaths like Travis himself and less crazy yet still weird people like Destroyman, a postman who dresses up like a superhero to duke it out with you. If you're looking for a wonderfully zany cast of characters, No More Heroes will certainly satisfy.

The gameplay is broken up into two different sections: boss battles and open world. The former is where the game shines. You enter the bosses level at some checkpoint throughout Santa Destroy, from there you have to dispatch room after room of goons until you reach the highly memorable and difficult boss battle. You'll usually be fighting upwards of eight to ten enemies per room. It's a pretty standard, linear fare. You kill all the enemies in room. Door opens to next room. Repeat until at boss. But it's still really entertaining. Plus there's variations in certain levels, such as having to run over enemies on your bike or use the remote Wii Sports-style as a bat and hit a ball through a line of enemies.

It can get a bit repetitive and feel like a chore. But once your reach the boss battle at the end of each, you realize it's definitely worth it. The boss battles are definitely the highlight of the game. Each one will challenge both your skill and your determination. Plus every one is drastically different from the last. If there's one thing that No More Heroes does the best, it's the boss battles.

While the boss battles are entertaining and memorable, what about the other part of the game: the open world between each battle? Is it as good? Not exactly. Santa Destroy isn't really that great of a city. There's very little to do without stepping onto icons to start up missions. Nothing like GTA or anything. Outside of missions, all there really is to do is ride your bike around. The controls of your bike take some time to learn, but it entertains a bit. That being said, there's nothing to do on your bike either, except just ride around. Any pedestrians or cars are practically moving props. Cars will actually stop if you stand in front of them and just wait for you to move. No honking, no yelling, no lifelikeness at all. And the most fun you can have with pedestrians is run them over, which gets old quick, since you can't talk to or interact with them in any other way.

Since there's not much to do in the open world, it's pretty much a hub. But instead of being a good hub world (like Super Mario Galaxy's), it's way to open. With far distances between each place you need to go, it does feel lacking. But in the world there are several shops (such as a clothes store, a video store for learning new moves, and a gym for working out), your motel room (where you can save, change clothes, watch videos, or play with your cat) and two places to earn money.

The first is where you'll gain part time jobs, which are unlocked after beating bosses. These include working at a gas station, picking up trash, rescuing kittens, killing scorpions, and mowing lawns. Do good in these and you'll unlock assassination missions. These missions can be accessed through the second mentioned building, the UAA assignment building. The missions that you can take range from killing the head of a pizza joint to killing as many goons as you can in a set time. Besides these missions you get from the UAA, driving around on your bike you may notice several other assassination missions you can undertake while away from the head offices of the UAA.

But even if the part-time jobs and assassination missions are entertaining, they are lacking to. Mainly they're lacking a retry option. Say that either you failed a mission, or you want to redo a mission because it earned you some big money... Once back in the open world, he mission icon is gone, so you can't restart a mission. So you have to hop on your bike and head back to open up another mission, and it's a major annoyance.

In an action game like No More Heroes, where a big portion of your time is spent fighting hordes of enemies, room after room, the combat either makes or breaks the game. In NMH's case, the combat is super entertaining and super stylized. It's some of the best fun I've had in a while. Basic combat is a mix of your laser sword moves, which can be upgraded later in the game, and lucha libre wrestling techniques, which you learn more of as you progress.

Mostly though, you'll attack with your beam sword (think lightsaber ripoff). Attacking with it is mapped to the A button. No Zelda-sword-swinging-gestures in this one. Generally, you'll button mash the A button until the enemies life is down to almost zero, then the screen turns gray and action stops. A pixalated arrow appears, prompting you to gesture in a certain way finishing the enemy off. The position of the Wii remote, whether it's pointing up or down when you're mashing the A button, determines whether the attack is high or low. Some enemies and bosses guard especially to on position, so you'll have to change it up to get the best results.

But the combat options don't end there. If you hold the A button, your laser sword starts the glow and shake; when you release the button a powerful attack is unleashed. Again, whether it's a high or low attack determines the outcome. But wait! The combat doesn't stop there! If you happen to lock blades with another sword-, crowbar-, or baseball bat-wielding enemy, a Wii remote appears on screen and circling it are a bunch of giant pixels. This prompts you to move the Wii remote in circles as fast as you can. If you win the blade lock, you'll get a chance at a finishing move right then and there. Using the laser sword too often results in the loss of battery. When this happens you'll have to press 1 and waggle the Wii remote back and forth as fast as possible to recharge it. This adds even more depth to the combat as you'll have to charge it in strategic places. Every time you kill an enemy, three slot machine icons appear. If they match up you get a super-powerful ability called a Dark Side move, which will devastate the battlefield with huge attacks and slow-mo finishers.

Another part of the combat is the wrestling moves. Pulling these of are a lot like finishers with the laser sword. To activate them you have to stun an enemy with a kick or punch with the B button, which doesn't always work, especially when the enemy guards against high or low attacks. When an enemy's stunned, little stars will circle their head. This is the time to press B again and start up a wrestling moves. Two pixelated arrows prompt you to move the remote and Nunchuk in certain directions. These do a sizable amount of damage and are especially useful when fighting bosses. No More Heroes combat is a whole lot of fun and is something every gamer needs to experience.

Just like the combat and story are out of this world and awesome, so is the game's style. NMH is filled to the brim with style and personality. The game's cel-shaded and in your face. For crying out loud, to save, you have to find a toilet so Travis can take a dump! That's how wacky this game is. The game has a huge retro feel, with tons of things like menus and the HUD make up of over sized pixel blocks. Whenever you pull a Dark Side move, instead of a countdown time or load bar, a pixelated tiger walking towards a finish flag shows how much time you have left with that move. It's crazy things like that that make the game's visuals so memorable. Even if the game's style is enjoyable, the graphics are lacking in some areas. Especially in the open world where frequent pop-up and lack of textures are noticeable. That being said, I still really enjoyed the game's style.

The game has a ton of pop culture references, especially from media like Star Wars, with a famous quote (yes that quote) and the lightsaber-esque sword. As for music, what there is original and very enjoyable. I said "what there is" because there's not a whole lot of variety in the game's soundtrack, which is disappointing.

As for lasting value, the game will probably last you upwards of fifteen hours. There's not a whole lot to do once you've completed the main game. You can collect T-shirts and Lovikov balls which can be exchanged with a drunk Russian for new abilities, but that's about it. The game starts off with two difficulties, Sweet and Mild, Mild being the harder of the two. But once you beat the game on either difficulty, you unlock the Bitter setting, which is pretty dang challenging.

Overall Thoughts

No More Heroes is pretty long game with a whole lot of personality and graphical style. The high points of the game, the awesome boss battles and entertaining combat, more than make up for the game's low points, most notably the lack of graphical polish and poor open world. I'd recommend a buy to almost anyone who loves action, are "allowed" to play M-rated games, and wants a solid twelve to fifteen hour experience.

8/10

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip (Wii) impressions

2008-12-09T08:17:00.000-08:00

Decided to not do a review on the game, since I don't have Wii Balance Board, nor did I play more than three to four hours of the game. I rented it from a local movie/game store. It was pretty expensive, so I only got if for a night. This'll be pretty much like a review, except no scores or anything. -Kyle

Also For: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, PSP, Playstation 2
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Date Released: November 16, 2008 (USA)
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10+)

Shaun White Snowboarding has come to a plethora of systems (pretty much every one on the market right now). But on the Wii, we're getting something a bit different from 360 and PS3. With the subtitle "Road Trip" comes a whole new graphical style and in game structure. Is it the better game? I can't tell you that, since I haven't played the other versions. But is it good? I can tell you that in my impressions below.

The storyline of the game is nicely voice acted and includes some pretty good cutscenes. You and your crew are following Shaun White around the world to different mountains to snowboard the heck out of them. At the beginning you only have access to two characters. But after each mountain you'll gain another. You don't meet up with Shaun until completing the last mountain, but with him and his superior skills you can take down any other rock you left unturned.

The basic flow of the game is in mission-like levels. Each level has a primary and secondary objective. The primary ones are required completed to advances, as they earn you event tickets. While the secondary ones are harder and earn you other extras. There are four general types of goals: Score x number of points, make it down the mountain in x number of minutes, a combination of the previous two, or collect x number of crowns/pieces of trash. The collecting ones are rather tedious, as you'd rather be just snowboarding. Besides that and the annoying half-pipe levels, the objectives are generally a lot of fun.

At the start of the game you only have access to one mountain in Alaska, but you'll unlock others such as Europe, Park City, and Japan. On each mountain are half a dozen or so objectives. You go through them in a pretty linear progression. At the start of each location, only one mission is open. Beat that and you'll get an event ticket. Each mission is unlocked with a certain amount of tickets and the final run of the mountain, where you gain another member to your expanding crew, is unlocked when you have accumulated five tickets.

Since I don't own Wii Fit, I didn't get to try out the Balance Board controls, which critics say is essential for the game. Nonetheless, I found the remote-only controls to work very well. You control the basic movements of your selected snowboarder by tilting the Wii remote. A is to crouch, in which you gain speed, but lack precise turning. The B button is to slow down and carve, especially useful in the collecting levels. Flicking the controller up causes your character to jump. When in the air (from jumps or drops) gesturing with the remote in different directions does the tricks. To make more variety in your tricks, pressing either A, B, or the two combined allows you to pull off different tricks. I found the controls to work surprisingly well.

The multiplayer included is pretty nice. You have co-op and competitive. To unlock courses though, you'll have to play through co-op. It's split-screen only, so the lack of only co-op is disappointing. But who was expecting that? It's a Wii game... sigh.

The game does go pretty easy on you. You'll be surprised at just how magnetized your board is to rails. On which it's pretty rare to fall off. And sure, you have to time your tricks to not mess them up, but it's not as difficult as some other snowboarding games such as SSX. Overall, it's a pretty dang easy game , albeit an entertaining one.

Ubisoft decided to ditch the realistic graphics of it's hi-def brethren and go with a cartoony, colorful art style. And their choice was for the better. Wii games that have tried to be realistic have failed in this day and age, so style trumps realism (as is evident with No More Heroes, Wario Land, and Mega Man 9). The style is really nice and the cutscenes that come with it are equally pleasing. The music's average, with some nice upbeat tunes here and there. Plus, there's some nice voice work in Road Trip. What I really found nice was the change from the norm. Instead of you just choosing a snowboarder and shredding it up, you choose a snowboarder and a camera man/woman. What results from this is some nice graphical touches such as the PAUSE and REC words at the beginning of each run and break-ups in the camera feeds after big jumps.

I rented the game for only a day from a local movie store and am glad of it. The game's short, and I ripped through the main game in three to four hours. There may have been a bit more for me to complete, with all the secondary objectives and runs I missed, though all in all it's a short-lived experience. Though the multiplayer is a fun distraction too.

Overall Thoughts

I found the overall game to be fun and the style enjoyable. Though it may have been a bit short and went pretty easy on you, I'd still recommend at least a rent to anyone reading, especially if you have a Balance Board, since I heard that's supposed to be even better.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Scribblenauts

2008-12-08T08:42:00.000-08:00

Scribblenauts is a game recently announced on IGN developed by the guys at 5th Cell, who are responsible for the innovative Drawn to Life and Lock's Quest. IGN got the first videos and an exclusive interview with one of the developers (found here). The game looks really awesome. So today, I decided I'd write up my two cents on the game.

First of all, let me explain the overall concept. You're Maxwell and the goal of each level is to get to the Starite (think of it like the Stars in the 3D Super Marios). Instead of platforming, shooting, or brawling your way to the finish of each level, it's up to your imagination to get each Starite. The innovation in the game is that anything you write appears.

In the first trailer (found at the previous link) it shows the Starite up on a tree. Then it shows all the different ways to get it down. First, the player writes ladder, and a ladder appears. The ladder's placed against the tree and Maxwell climbs it and gets the Starite. Then it shows Maxwell creating a football and throwing it to knock down the Starite. And finally it shows the player write "beaver" and a beaver appears and then sets off to cut down the tree, once again completing the objective.

The concept has a huge amount of potential. The developers specifically said that they're working to make any noun you can think of (inappropriate nouns excluded of course) available in the game. Things even interact with each other like they would in real life. Wood will burn, animals will eat other animals, etc.

Scribblenauts is supposed to have hundred's of levels. And even if you beat the game, think of how much replay value there is! Just going back and trying to solve each puzzle in a different way than before presents a challenge. Plus the game sounds like an awesome sandbox game. Just boot it up and get to experimenting anything you want. In the interview with IGN, Jeremiah Slaczka (one of the game designers) said that pretty much anything will go. He said if you wrote the word "tsunami", a huge tidal wave would actually sweep across the screen, probably killing your character. So think what would happen when writing other natural disaster like hurricanes or tornadoes. Or see how different animals interact with each other. The lasting power in this one seems incredibly strong.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle

2008-12-07T08:56:00.000-08:00

I changed the banner temporarly for the holidays (using my mediocre Photoshop skills). Check out the Santa hat on Super Mario Galaxy Mario and Rudolph's nose on Baby Mario. :D -Kyle

I loved the original No More Heroes. I loved the awesome style, crazy characters, and oh-so-fun combat. When I heard Suda51 had started to work on a sequel: No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle, of course I was excited. Even so, the first game had it's fair share of problems. NMH:DS is scheduled for a 2010 release, giving it plenty of time to iron out the flaws of the first. Read on to find how I think the sequel should be.

Better open world/More confined hub world
One of the major disappointments of the original No More Heroes was the lacking open world. It was basically a hub for missions. There wasn't really anything to do other than ride your bike to the next objective. The people and cars were pretty lifeless. Nothing like a GTA or Saint's Row.

So in the second, I hope Suda and his team work to make the open world a lot better. The other option would be to confine it a bit more too. Make it more of an overworld map that you use the IR pointer to select buildings/missions. Both ideas would work, but since Suda himself said they were working to make the open world a lot better, it'll probably the former.

Limited MotionPlus
When I heard that Suda hadn't even looked into Wii MotionPlus, but he would, I hoped for the better. What better? That if he used it, it'd be sparingly.

The original had very awesome fighting. Generally, you'd swing your beam katana (aka lightsaber) with the A button. The general position of the Wii remote would determine if the attack was high or low. Once you got the enemy down to it's final bit of health, the screen would go gray, everything would go super slow-mo, and an giant pixelated arrow would appear on the screen, prompting you to swing the remote in the indicated direction, finishing the foe off. It was highly stylized and highly badass.

So what I'm getting at here is I really don't want the second game to use Wii MotionPlus to mimic a real sword. Sure it'd be cool if you had new finishers with forward and backward directions, but no Red Steel-like movements, please!

Polish, polish, polish (with extra polish)
The original had a very awesome cel-shaded style. It may have looked cool, but the game wasn't very polished. The game was ridden with graphical flaws. For example, driving in the open world you'd notice horrible draw distances, with palm trees appears only twenty or so feet away from you (in the game). Since the game's not due until 2010, I'm pretty confident Suda51 and his team will bring out the game with it's presentation very polished.

Don't know what game(s) I'm talking about? Check out No More Heroes (the original for only twenty bucks at Amazon) or the trailer of the sequel.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

My Christmas list

2008-12-04T08:09:00.000-08:00

Dear Santa, this Christmas, I want... oh crap... I'm too old for that. Okay, never mind, today's post will be about what I want for Christmas from relatives and parents. Hopefully I get most of it!

Games
The only two games I'm asking for are de Blob and Animal Crossing: City Folk, both for Wii. As for de Blob, I really should buy this myself, since it's an awesome third-party game. I usually do this with these types of games (i.e. Boom Blox, No More Heroes, Blast Works) to support developers, but since Christmas is coming up, I said, heck with it I'll ask for it as a gift. Animal Crossing on the other hand doesn't appeal to me as much for me to spend my hard earned cash on. So I won't be getting that unless it's as a gift.

Movies/DVD's
The three DVD's I want this year are the stellar Iron Man, The Dark Knight, and Wall-E. I loved all three of those and a DVD edition (2-disc collector's edition special features and all) would be great. Another thing I'd love to get but since it's has somewhat of a hefty price tag, I don't know if I'll be receiving it this year is the complete Batman: The Animated Series on DVD. I heard the show was awesome but never really saw much of it when it was on. A few months ago I saw a couple of episodes and really liked it. Since it's won Emmys and all, I figure it's gotta be pretty good. (Check it out here, yeah, it looks awesome!)

Other
Other than that I usually tell people to get me gift cards, particularly those VISA ones and Apple iTunes ones (for my tunes).

There you have... oh heck with it...

Dear Santa, this year I've been very, very good and want de Blob, Animal Crossing: City Folk, Iron Man, Wall-E, The Dark Knight, Batman: The Animated Series on DVD, and peace on earth.
Sincerely, Kyle

Santa's reaction: "Ho ho ho, what a greedy boy we have here. I draw the line at the Wall-E DVD, no peace on earth for you little boy."

Aww man... So anyways, what's on your Christmas list?

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Gaming magazines: A thing of the past?

2008-12-02T08:35:00.000-08:00

In this day and age, the internet dominates every form of media. Need music? Most likely you'll download it online from somewhere like iTunes. Need airplanes tickets? Chances are it's easiest through the World Wide Web. What I'm getting at here is the internet is the pinnacle of convenience. It'll offer a plethora of sites for even the strangest Google search. Sites such as Wikipedia, YouTube, and Google have made the internet miles ahead of plain useless; they make it almost a necessity.

Going along with this is the game industry. When it all started out, the only way to get your latest Nintendo and Sega news were either by word of mouth or a magazine such as Nintendo Power. Nowadays the number one source for game news, previews, and reviews is the internet. Why? Because it can be updated literally 24/7. This easily bests the monthly format of magazines. But does that necessarily mean magazines should be forgotten and left behind as relics of the 80's and 90's eras of video games? My answer: no.

Today gaming magazines may not be at the prime they once were due to the internet, but there's still quite a few gaming magazines to choose from. Some off the top of my head are Game Informer, Nintendo Power, Electronic Gaming Monthly, GamePro, Official Xbox Magazine, and Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. Most of these are doing pretty dang well. Sure Nintendo Power's not as great as it was back in the day, due to the internet and the fact it's no long owned by Nintendo. But the magazine still offers exclusive interviews and game coverage. Not to mention the norm for game websites and magazines: previews and reviews.

Some may say the game magazine industry will die of sometime in the not to distant future. You know what I say? BS. First off, some of the big gaming magazines (particularly Game Informer and Nintendo Power) get all kinds of exclusive first looks at games. Generally, I've found GI gets Xbox 360 and PS3 exclusives, with the occasional PC feature, and Nintendo Power gets the big Nintendo system ones. Sure some sites like IGN get occasional exclusives, but not nearly in the numbers that print magazines do. While most of the tidbits in the news sections are old to anyone who follows the internet, the previews and reviews usually are as well-written and informative as those found on the web. Another smaller reason is that some magazines (particularly OXM) feature a demo disc with each issue, something free websites could never do. And one final point: game magazines are portable. So they're a lot easier accessed when on trips or to pass the time when away from the keyboard.

Sure, online gaming sources do plenty of things better. They can provide videos and keep you more up to date daily. Plus they can offer the view of both big, paid industry gamers (for a lack of better terminology) and smaller gamers who just game for fun. The average Joe's opinion can be expressed a lot easier through blogs and reader reviews than print magazines allow.

But with magazines, you really can't beat that feeling of getting a new issue in the mail. Then in the next week or so you'll find yourself reading it everywhere... on the toilet, curled up on the couch, or before bed. The large amount of reviews and articles all at once is a refreshing break from the constant trickle of editorials and reviews that gaming sites supply. So sure websites and blogs may be the quickest and easiest ways to obtain gaming info. But are they the best? Some would argue, yes. Others, no. I feel they both have their places, and print magazines are definitely not a thing of the past.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Amazon.com deals

2008-12-01T08:30:00.000-08:00

Not anything huge like I was planning, just a small little post. -Kyle

My Thanksgiving vacation was very nice. I got to spend some quality time with grandparents and other family over in the Midwest. The Thanksgiving lunch and dinner we had were excellent. While I was there I knew I would be missing GoNintendo and IGN updates, which I read daily. Plus I'd be missing all those posts from great blogs like SuperPhillip Central, Everyview, and I've Never Liked Your Spinach Puffs.

So I knew that when I got home, I'd have a lot of reading to do, and that didn't sound bad to me! But little did I know I had missed some of the best Amazon.com deals that I'd seen in a while. Some were Black Friday, others just random or Gold Box deals (whatever that means). While I was away I missed Sonic Unleashed, Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, and Okami deals! Two of those I borrowed, loved, but haven't really gotten around to purchasing (Rez 4 and Okami). The other few I was holding out since they didn't look all that great but with a price tag like they had, I'd definitely lay down some money for them.

Long story short, I'm ticked that I missed some good deals on on some games I'd really like to have picked up. Guess I'll just have to pay the regular price and support the developers (dang!) or just put it on my Christmas list. Probably the latter.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Poll #6 "Generally, what is your opinion on game delays?" results

2008-11-30T14:25:00.000-08:00

I'm back, after my week long Thanksgiving vacation! I hope everyone else's Thanksgiving was as good and as filling as mine. I actually got back last night, but was too dead tired from traveling to post anything... Sorry! Look for my next post tomorrow. -Kyle

My sixth poll has finished, the results are as follows:

Generally, what is your opinion on game delays? (24 total votes)

Great, more development time to make the game better. - 50% (12 votes)
Horrible, I need the game now! - 12% (3 votes)
Meh, I'll get the game whenever it comes out. - 38% (9 votes)

It seems from the results, people don't mind delays as they generally mean more time to up the game's quality. The second most votes was by those who didn't really care about delays, they're just going to buy it whenever the hell it comes out. And finally, there's that small portion of voters who generally hate delays.

I voted the first option as I feel more time will help the game. Though there was one exception to this, Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I was angry both times the game was delayed (more the first though). I wanted that game right then! But the wait was worth it... I guess.

And as always, my next poll is up. This time it's not really video game related, I'm just curious. The question is "Which web browser are you using?" And by that I mean right now, not generally, but at this exact moment viewing this exact page.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

What I'm Playing - Pre-Thanksgiving Edition

2008-11-21T09:19:00.000-08:00

Episode 4: Pre-Thanksgiving Edition

Another month, another article about what I'm playing. I've changed the name of the articles from "Games I've Been Playing Lately" to "What I'm Playing". Though if anyone can think of a catchier name, give me a holler (via comment section or email).

Once again it's seems I'm struck with the four games that have been consuming my time (a curse or more likely a blessing?) This month, it's a lot more varied than last edition. This time around I've been playing a NES game, SNES game, Wii game, and Nintendo DS game.

Okami

System: Wii
If there was one game to show the world why games are art, it'd be Okami. The Japanese art style is so very and beautiful. And the epic, Zelda style adventure that comes with it is just as stellar. As of writing, I'm not very far, but far enough to tell it's a damn good game.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

System: Nintendo DS
This was my second time starting a save on Phantom Hourglass. I made it roughly halfway through it the first time, then my brother let a friend borrow it, who erased my save (since there's only two save slots, which kinda sucks). I started a new game a week or so ago and have been playing the hell out of it whenever I have free time. I love both the art style and unique controls, though it is a bit easier than most Zelda games. Once I'm finished writing this, I'm going to plop down on either my bed or couch and finish the game. I'm on the last run of the Temple of the Ocean King and about to face Bellum!

EDIT: OK, that was a bit disappointing (the fight with Bellum). I'm currently on stage two of the three levels of the fight. I'm on the one where you face off against him on the ship, which is hard, but so far the fight hasn't been all that epic...

EDIT 2: Finished the game... w00t! The final, final boss fight is pretty fun, but not nearly as awesome as some of the various temple boss fights, at least in my opinion. It was an awesome game and had a good ending.

Super Metroid

System: SNES (via Virtual Console via Wii)
I've had a surplus of Virtual Console games that I download, play for a little while, and then move on. I've decided to go back and beat all of my VC games. The first I picked was Super Metroid. There's a definite reason this is considered one of the greatest of all time: it's good. I've never fully completed it, but I pretty far into the game.

Super Mario Bros. 3

System: NES (via Virtual Console via Wii)
Another of my VC games I'm playing. This, alongside Galaxy, are my favorite of the Super Mario series (of which I love every single one). I'm currently on World 3 of the game, so I've still got a ways to go.

There you have it, the four games I've been playing lately.

Maybe you've noticed the rapid stream of editorials and articles I've been posting; this is because I'm going to be gone from Saturday, the 22nd, until the next Saturday, the 29th. I'll be visiting grandparents across the country for Thanksgiving. If I can get on a computer somehow there, I'll post something, but if not, have a great Turkey Day! -Kyle

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People

2008-11-20T10:20:00.000-08:00

The Chapman brothers' cartoon Homestar Runner are hilarious and very well done. I'm a big fan of the cartoons. Because of this, I thought the Strong Bad games on WiiWare would be great. Turns out I'm wrong. No, they're not bad games, very well done games actually. Just they aren't for me.

I downloaded the first a few weeks ago and played through it... barely. I just never really got the puzzles, as most of them were way to abstract for me. Maybe it's just point and click adventures aren't for me? Except I loved Zack & Wiki, which I decided is a different style of point and click (one I find way more enjoyable). I managed to make it through the entire first episode. But I had to use GameFAQs more than once, which pretty much defeates the purpose of the games. So later, I bought Episode 2, vowing not to use an FAQ or guide. But soon into the game I get stuck and haven't played it since. I guess they're just not for me. Even if I'm an avid Homestarruner.com fan.

My final impressions of the game are this. While the gameplay didn't appeal to me, the polish and humor were great. Every character was voice acted by the Chapman brother which definitely makes it feel a lot more like the cartoons. The game is a definite buy for point and click adventure enthusiasts or fans of the show (as long as they somewhat like pointing and clicking, which I did not).

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

The Wii: Two years come and gone

2008-11-19T08:30:00.000-08:00

Today marks the two year anniversary of the ground breaking console from Nintendo: the Wii. It was two years ago on November 19, 2006 when gamers first got their hands on the revolutionary little box, put in the Wii Sports disc (and soon after Twilight Princess) and experienced the marvel that is the Wii. Simply put, it did a lot of new things for the industry particularly with its motion controls and IR pointer. Todays article will be looking back on the highs and lows of the Wiis two years of awesomeness!

Software

Primarily a game system is supposed to have a good catalog of games. And a Nintendo system is supposed to have a great catalog of first party franchises. Nintendo didn't fail this description for sure. Don't believe me, lets see... The Legend of Zelda? Check. Super Mario? Check. Paper Mario? Check. Super Smash Bros? Check. Metroid Prime? Check. Mario Kart? Check. Wario Land/WarioWare? Check and check. Animal Crossing? Check. In the first two years people! That's pretty damn good. And that's not even mentioning some of the new IPs like Endless Ocean or the Wii Sports/Play/Fit/Music series.

As for the third parties on Wii, there's some quality here too. In the two years of Wii, we've had several different strategies for third parties: ports, minigame collections, and games that make use of the system made by developers who get what the Wiis about. The ones your looking for (if you haven't already guessed) usually fall in the latter category (though there's been several good ports, Okami and Bully, and several good minigame collections, such as Rayman Raving Rabbids). The Wii is home to some of the uniquest titles this generations, particularly No More Heroes and Boom Blox.

To round up software, here's a list of the top 10 games I feel every owner of the Wii should have:

Super Mario Galaxy
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition
Boom Blox
Super Paper Mario
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure
No More Heroes
Mario Kart Wii

Online

The Wii's online is definitely lacking. Whether it's lag (Super Smash Bros. Brawl) or annoying restrictions such as friend codes and limited chatting Nintendo has a lot of work to do in this area. Out of Playstation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, Nintendo's clearly behind. Though Mario Kart Wii's online should be mentioned as it's the best Wii online game to date (at least in my opinion). The unique ranking system and the fact that it gets around friend codes (somewhat) are some solid concepts that Nintendo definitely needs to build on in later online games. Not to mention pretty much every race loads and run quickly and lag free.

Downloadable Archive

Nintendo's Virtual Console is a prime reason to buy the Wii. Whether the reason is that you missed out on some of the greatest games or want some nostalgic playtime, the VC is sure to satisfy. Though lately Nintendo's been releasing some games with questionable quality, you'll be sure to find some greats in there.

The WiiWare service was launched on May 12th, 2008 in North America. It's seen a equal amount of shovelware and gems. Instead of having to sift through the forty or so titles already released, here's a top 5 list of WiiWare games that are must haves:

World of Goo
Mega Man 9
LostWinds
Toki Tori
Dr. Mario Online Rx

Hardware/Controllers

The Wii's a tough little system and we've seen no major hardware failures (and definitely nothing like Microsoft's Red Ring of Death scenario) thank god. Though there have been quite a few controller improvements, mostly to make it safer and less likely for moronic fools to break their TV. In the last two years we've seen different remote straps and a Wii "condom" that protects the controller if it drops.

The main controllers you need are the Wii Remote and Nunchuk which have seen virtually no changes in the previous two years. There's been a lot of peripherals that generally are a waste of money. Thankfully Nintendo is leading the pack in quality. Plus they're doing it the smart way by packaging them with games. Though I think Nintendo's pretty much done as many fans and Nintendo representatives feels there's been enough peripherals... as do I. The notable peripherals are the Wii Wheel (a shell for the remote that works pretty damn well) and the Wii Fit board (an ingenious device that calculates weight and position that can be used in games like Shaun White Snowboarding).

One thing Nintendo definitely needs improvement in is storage solutions. They announced a crappy alternative recently that doesn't really help. And with lots of quality on both WiiWare and the Virtual Console, we need all the space we can get!

Sales

Selling the console is something that Nintendo needs no help in. 24 months after the system's launch, the console is still hard to find! If recent NPD numbers are to be believed the Wii out sold the PS3, 360, and PSP combined this October!

Nintendo's Blue Ocean Strategy

Though it's angered many a Nintendo fan, Nintendo's casual approach nowadays is definitely working. Even if they're a radical change from the norm, a number of the innovative, casual titles this generation do possess the charm and fun that gaming's all about. Wii owners may feel abandoned this holiday season with only Wii Music and Animal Crossing: City Folk, but I don't believe the "OMG Nintendo's abandoning the hardcore!!1!" rants. Especially with their 2009 plans, detailed below.

The Future of Wii

The Future of the Wii is looking pretty nice. In 2009, we'll see a lot of AAA third- and first-party titles. At Nintendo's Fall Media Summit, they announced some big games such as Punch-Out!! for the Wii and a Sin & Punishment sequal. Plus we have Play on the Wii titles and a slew of hardcore titles, such as the Conduit, MadWorld, and House of the Dead: Overkill. And those are only the ones we know about! Yep, the future of the Wii is definitely shaping up, even after the shaky, first two years.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

"Play on the Wii" titles

2008-11-17T09:30:00.000-08:00

The Play on the Wii titles (known as Wii de Asobu in Japan) are an interesting concept that I really like. Since I never had the privilege of owning a GameCube, I missed out on some of the great titles it offered. This is what Nintendo had in mind as some gamers (especially those new to the industry) might not have played a lot of the hits from the Gamecube.

There are several things that really interest me. First off, if news/rumors from GoNintendo are to be believed, we'll see them released with a $30 price tag. Which is nice, seeing as they're not new games. Well, that's not exactly true. Another thing that has me interested is the addition of more levels and Wii specific controls, making the game feel new and fresh. For example, Pikmin, will be coming to this selection and with it IR for controlling the Pikmin, which is nice and shows the potential of the inevitable Pikmin 3. The only title that's been confirmed with new content so far is Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, but I can expect some of the others will have new levels too.

I don't really get why people complain about them, particularly the people who've already played them. It's not like Nintendo is forcing you to buy them. And for those of you who say Nintendo should spend their time and resources on bigger projects like Pikmin 3 and Punch-Out!!, I really don't think Nintendo's using very much of the development teams to make these. I mean even with the new controls and content, they're basically ports from the GameCube.

The games that have been confirmed so far are Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Pikmin, Chibi-Robo!, Pikmin 2, Mario Power Tennis, Metroid Prime, and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. The control options for all are pretty obvious, and have potential. Take Metroid Prime, now imagine Metroid Prime 3's awesome controls built in. For Mario Tennis? A Wii Sports style of control. There's still a few other titles I feel Nintendo should add to the list, and probably will sometime. The two I can think of off the top of my head are Super Mario Sunshine and The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. Super Mario Sunshine wouldn't use the Wii's controls a whole lot, but the game would still be a nice addition. And for Wind Waker, I could see Twilight Princess controls, which worked great.

As I've said in previous posts, 2009 is going to be a great year for the Wii, both first- and third party. Plus we also have the Play on the Wii titles to look forward to too! (At least I hope they'll get released sometime in '09)

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Platformers

2008-11-16T09:30:00.000-08:00

Back in the days of the SNES and particularly the NES, platforming games were very common, but today FPS's, sports, and music games dominate the industry. In the recent year or so, the genre of platformers has been a lot better. We've gotten stellar titles like Super Mario Galaxy and LittleBigPlanet, and quality, smaller titles like de Blob and Wario Land: Shake It! , but nothing like what went on in the 8- and 16-bit eras.

Even so, platforming games are still my favorite types of games. Why? I have many answers to that question...

I love how platformers flow. I love the genius level design that top-notch developers think of. I'll always have a place in my game-loving hearts for all those different types of games that require you to solve puzzles (like the Legend of Zelda series), but I love how there's not a lot of puzzles in platforming games. You usually know or have a general idea of your goal and the challenge is to get there. For example in most sidescrolling games, you know you have to get to the end, which is generally the left, so you've gotta fight and jump your way there. I like this a lot better than figuring out complex puzzles, though those are great too, just not as great.

Also, since platformers are one of the oldest genres out there (besides Pong and Shmups), there's been so much work and experience done that most games today are pretty damn good. Since they've been around that long mistakes have been made and the industry learns. Todays newest genres, like music/rhythm games, don't have those years to look back on. Though I may be a "young'un" when it comes to video games, as I didn't start my love/hobby with them until somewhat recently, I've been playing a lot of the classics as of late, and newer ones too, and I can see the polish that's come with many years in the industry.

Another reason is that I like the simple control schemes of platformers. Generally speaking, platformers usually have analog/D-pad control, a jump button, and maybe one or two more buttons, such as an attack command. You don't need five button combos or the need to memorize multiple face and trigger buttons. Take Super Mario Bros. for example, one of the highest regarded games ever. All the control you had over little Mario was mapped to two buttons (run and jump) and the D-pad. That didn't hurt it one bit. Many game enthusiasts consider it the best video game ever.

All in all, I don't really like to judge a game just by what it plays like. I'll enjoy any rhythm, action, shooting, or party game you have. But when it comes down to pure fun, platformers are where it's at for me.

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Poll #5 "What Wii games are you looking forward to in 2009?" results

2008-11-15T16:16:00.000-08:00

Poll #5's results are in...

What Wii games are you looking forward to in 2009? (43 total votes)

Wii Sports Resort - 46% (20 votes)
Punch-Out!! - 53% (23 votes)
Sin & Punishment 2 - 53% (23 votes)
MadWorld - 41% (18 votes)
The Conduit - 60% (26 votes)
Cursed Mountain - 18% (8 votes)
House of the Dead: Overkill - 32% (14 votes)
Gamecube Wii-makes - 41% (18 votes)
Other(s) - 25% (11 votes)
None of them - 6% (3 votes)
I don't own a Wii - 2% (1 vote)

Note: Voters could vote for more than one, which explains why the percentages don't add up to 100.

The Conduit was the winner this time around, but there were a lot of close titles too, something unseen in my previous polls. Tying for second were Punch-Out!! and Sin & Punishment 2, both with 53% of the votes and. In third was the sequal to Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort with 46% of the votes.

I voted for pretty much every game except MadWorld and Cursed Mountain. Those two games look cool, but I haven't seen any videos or screens that totally convince me yet. If big titles like I mentioned, particularly the two Nintendo "hardcore" games (Punch-Out!! and S&P2) and The Conduit, are anything to go off of, 2009's going to rock for the Wii!

And last but not least, the latest poll is now up. This time around, the question is: "Generally, what is your opinion on game delays?"

Tetris Party (WiiWare) review

2008-11-12T14:59:00.000-08:00

Developer: Hudson Soft
Publisher: Tetris Online
Date Released: October 20, 2008 (USA)
Players: 1-4
Genre: Puzzle
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Alongside Pac-Man and the original Super Mario Bros., Tetris is one of those games that if you've ever played a video games, you've likely played it. It started its fame on the original, monochromatic Game Boy. And since then the Russian puzzler has been on pretty much every PC, handheld, console, cell-phone, and other electronic device to date. It's the most famous of puzzle games and the simplest to learn: try to make lines with various shapes. Tetris Party is finally available on WiiWare. Is another Tetris game worth the money? Or are you better sticking with the excellent Game Boy and Nintendo DS versions?

If you buy the game solely for the core Tetris experience. You won't be disappointed. Marathon mode is intact. It's the basic Tetris mode where you clear away lines by matching up seven different shapes, called Tetrominoes, into complete lines. The goal of Marathon mode is to clear 150 lines, thus ending your game and recording your record. But if you turn on Endless, you'll keep playing, regardless of how many lines clear, until you lose. Every 10 lines, the speed increases, making the game more difficult every minute.

Making the game easier is the ghost of each Tetrominoes, a outline that shows exactly where the piece would go directly below it. This can be turned off, for the Tetris purists out there. Holding pieces is another gimmick that cannot be turned off. I found it quite useful, and used it whenever I couldn't find a good place for a piece. But if you're a Tetris purist this can unfortunately not be turned off. If all other modes disappoint you, this one's is a definite winner and my most played.

Along with Marathon mode come three other single-player modes: Field Climber, Shadow, and Stage Racer. The first, Field Climber, was my favorite and an ingenius variation on Tetris. Instead of clearing lines, it's your goal to build a staircase for a little man to climb. This little man can only climb a single block at a time and must collect all the flags in the level before making it to the top of the stage. Normal Tetris rules apply, so if you make a complete line or build over the top boundary, expect some nasty results.

As for Shadow, this mode is another fun variation on Tetris. The goal of each level is to fill in the shaded gray area to form some sort of picture (be it an apple, hamburger, or smiley face). Again, normal Tetris rules apply here, so if you accidentally make a complete line, you could screw up your picture. You can hold up to 10 pieces in this mode, and going out of the lines results in a lesser percentile at the end of each level.

The final mode is Stage Racer. In Stage Racer you control a single Tetris piece down a tunnel. You have to watch out for blocks that stick out to trap your piece. And when you get caught in certain situations you'll have to rotate the piece the right way to get out. Later levels get pretty difficult, but out of the three newest modes, this was the most lacking in my opinion.

Also included in Tetris Party is Beginners Tetris. A simplified version of Tetris with bigger blocks and a smaller playing field. While definitely for little kids, it can provide some challenge by cranking up the speed. And please note that since I don't have a Balance Board, I didn't get to try out any of the Balance Board modes and options.

As far as local multiplayer goes, there's a lot to do here. All single player modes, Marathon (dubbed VS Tetris here), Stage Racer, Shadow, and Field Climber can be done in Multiplayer. Plus there's several new modes titled Hot Lines, Duel Spaces, and Co-op Tetris. Hot Lines has you clearing certain lines on the grid before opponents. While Duel Spaces has you trying to enclose more space than opponents. The third mode, Co-op Tetris, is just that: cooperative Tetris. This one's really fun as you have to work together to get the best effect. All the modes are pretty addictive in multiplayer and will have you hooked for hours to come. There's a reason the game is called Tetris Party.

While local multiplayer is awesome. That can't exactly be said for the online multiplayer. Here you can play with either one or five other player(s) in a regular VS Tetris match. That's determined by whether you opt to have items or not. No items? 2-player online. Items? 6-player online. The mode is still fun and records your wins/losses in the same way as Mario Kart Wii and Dr. Mario Online Rx, with 5000 points that either increases or decreases by how much you lose or win by. While it's fun and all, so much more could have been done here.

Tetris Party's graphics are minimalist. The backgrounds are cool and the gameplay is colorful enough for a puzzler, but the menus are pretty boring. With only primary and secondary colors and little tabs for each option, the menus won't impress much. The music is good as always. And that addicting Music A is still in there!

There's supposedly 18 different modes throughout the game, and they'll all keep you entertained for a while. While a lot of Tetris games include modes that are unnecessary and boring. Almost all of Tetris Party's modes (except Beginners Tetris, but that's more of a tutorial than anything), are fun and lengthy, at least for a puzzle game.

Overall Thoughts

Whether you've come looking for the basic Tetris Marathon mode, local multiplayer, or new Tetris modes, you'll be satisfied. While the graphics may be simplistic and the online lacking, Tetris Party's local play is excellent. This WiiWare title is a must-buy for Tetris fans, puzzle fans, or someone looking for some good Tetris fun, single- or multiplayer, online or off.

Gameplay: 9/10 All the normal Tetris options are here, along with some other great single- and multiplayer modes.

Graphics: 6.5/10 The menus are simple and bland, while the backgrounds and gameplay is a bit better and more visually appealing.

Sound: 8.5/10 Some addicting tunes complimented by nice rotate, drop, and cleared line sound effects.

Lasting Value: 8.5/10 All the modes and extras boil down to quite a bit of long lasting fun.

8/10

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Holiday 2008 on Wii

2008-11-11T22:36:00.000-08:00

There are some great games coming out this holiday, Left 4 Dead, Gears of War 2, Resistance 2, Resident Evil 5, Dead Space, Mirror's Edge and Prince of Persia to name a few. Unfortunately most of the big titles aren't on the Wii. Though 2009's gonna rock for the Wii with titles such as MadWorld and The Conduit, 2008 seems to be lacking stellar AAA games for our shiny white box from Nintendo. Nonetheless there's still a few Wii games to look out for this holiday season. Behold! My Holiday 2008 on Wii guide... Enjoy!

Guitar Hero: World Tour

Activision opted for the full band treatment this time around. The latest installment of Guitar Hero includes guitar, bass, vocals, and drums. To compete with the mega-hit Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero: World Tour includes a music creator studio. Convinced by various YouTube videos, I'd have to say people are making some pretty sweet tunes with this mode. Other than all the included bell and whistles, Guitar Hero: World Tour includes 86 songs, all master recordings (a first for any Guitar Hero).

Call of Duty: World at War

The 360 and PS3 versions pf Call of Duty: World at War may be more impressive, but if Wii's your only console, this version will suffice. Infinity Ward is taking a break this time around after their critically acclaimed Call of Duty 4. This time around it's Treyarch at the helm and it's back to the overused setting of World War II. Though this time, World at War is bringing some changes. Most notable are the coop modes and a more mature, darker setting.

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

The latest Tales games returns to the Tales of Symponia world. The original was one of the best received and will this one live up to it's aclaim? According to recent reviews from GameTrailers and IGN, not quite. But if you're a Tales fan, this one's sure to entertain.

Animal Crossing: City Folk

The newest Animal Crossing for the Wii, includes new features like WiiSpeak functionality and a whole new area, the city, to explore. Even with these, it does look like a combination of the earlier GameCube and Nintendo DS titles. Nonetheless you can be sure it'll sell a million, especially to the hardcore AC fans.

Sonic Unleashed

I know saying this might jinx the game, but I think Sonic Unleashed is going to be a decent console Sonic game, something unheard of these days. The parts that do turn me away are the brawling, werewolf (ehem... were-hog) parts. But the daytime levels look pretty damn fun. Sonic and platforming fans alike should watch out for this one.

Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars

To get the full story, you'll have to check out the DS version that precedes this one. The Mushroom Men games are a fun looking new IP. They're about a supernatural event that brings to life mushrooms and other fungi across the planet. They wage wars between the edible and the poisonous. The Wii version is particular is about a mushroom named Pax and his struggles though the mushroom society, while the Nintendo DS game is more about the wars between the edible and poisonous mushrooms.

Honorable Mentions:
Wii Music
Castlevania Judgment
Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party
Rock Band 2
Shaun White Snowboarding
Skate It

What'd you think of the article? Was great? Did it sucked? Email me at kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Top 9 - Super Smash Bros. Brawl stages

2008-11-09T17:23:00.000-08:00

Why Top 9? Because I feel Top 5, Top 10, and even Top 100 lists are way to overused. What better way to break that trend than to compile a list of 9 things? I'll be posted a Top 9 article every month on the ninth day of that month. Today's topic is Super Smash Bros. Brawl stages.

There's two reasons Super Smash Bros. Brawl is considered one of the best games on Wii: the gameplay's super addictive and there's so much to do. I recently picked Brawl back up and am playing the hell out of it again. Today I've compiled a list of my favorite stages in the game. Back when some friends of mine owned Melee, the only stages we'd ever play at were the Star Fox ship and the Zelda castle. This time around there were a good number of stages that I love.

9. Pictochat
A fun little stage based on the DS's chatting software. Random little drawings appear and have an effect on the battlefield. Sometimes it's flames that'll burn you, other times it's a giant house to battle on. Not the coolest, but like the real thing, it has it's charm

8. Custom stages
Though this isn't neccesarily one stage, the stage creator can make some really cool stages. Even if it's limited, there's enough tools to create some really awesome levels of your own.

7. Norfair (Metroid)
The lava stage of Norfair comes from the Metroid series. Lava closes in from all sides as you try to take shelter and get to the highest ground. A great level in my opinion.

6. Yoshi's Island
The Yoshi's Island stage itself is a pretty basic stage with a solid ground and one platform above it, but what earned the #6 spot on my list is the art style. It retains those lovable pastel graphics from the original game.

5. Bridge of Elden (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)
Besides the classic Zelda tunes, what makes this level so great is how the bridge keeps getting destroyed and then built back together (like in Twilight Princess, though it only happens once).

4. Smashville (Animal Crossing)
Like Yoshi's Island, this level is also pretty basic, but with K.K. Slider music, a background that changes depending what time of day it is, and Animal Crossing characters throughout the foreground, Smashville is one level you can't miss.

3. Delfino Plaza (Super Mario Sunshine)
The sunny level of Delfino Plaza represents the game of Super Mario Sunshine by flying and landing in different parts of the game. Whether it's the beach or on top of buildings, this stage is sure to entertain.

2. Port Town Aero Drive (F-Zero)
This level is pretty intense. You zoom through an F-Zero track stopping at random locations. While battling it out, you also gotta watch out for the cars that fly by.

1. WarioWare, Inc.
And the #1 spot goes to... the WarioWare stage! This zany stage will have you compete in little microgames just like the real WarioWare games. Only they're more based around Super Smash techniques such as jumping and side stepping. If you win, you'll gain certain items like invincibility and Super Mushrooms. It's by far my favorite stage.

There you have it, my nine favorite Super Smash Bros. Brawl stage. What are your personal picks? Think some of mine are lame? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

GoNintendo live-stream charity event

2008-11-04T11:50:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd put this up to get the word out. The crew over at the awesome site of GoNintendo are doing a live-stream charity event, and it's an awesome idea. They'll be playing classic games like Super Mario Bros. and Punch-Out!! and the money goes to Child's Play organization. It's at 8 AM Eastern Time on November 22nd. That's 5 o'clock for me (Pacific Time) so looks like I'll be setting my alarm that Saturday! The rest of the details are in the press release below... hope to see you there!

GoNintendo.com and Ustream.tv are working together to create a live-stream charity event, with all proceeds being given to the Child’s Play organization. This event will take place on November 22nd, at 8 A.M. EST. The event will last 8 hours.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) – Nov 03, 2008 – Hampton, New Jersey – Ustream.TV has teamed up with GoNintendo.com to put together the ‘Best of NES’ live-stream charity event, an 8-hour live-stream with all charity proceeds being donated to the Child’s Play organization. Coming out of New Jersey, the GoNintendo.com podcast crew (and others) will be sitting down to play through some of the best games that the NES library has to offer. This old-school event will be taking place on November 22nd, and will kick-off at 8 A.M. EST. The live-stream video, as well as the methods for donation will all be available on GoNintendo.com.

“We’re thrilled to partner with GoNintendo to help raise funds for children’s hospitals across the U.S.,” said John Ham, CEO and Founder of Ustream. “Our reliable live video streaming platform will allow thousands of people across the world to participate in this unique event.”

“It’s our hope that we can bring some old-school fun to gamers around the world, all while viewers help to donate to a very important cause,” said Kevin Cassidy, Editor-in-Chief of GoNintendo.com. It’s an honor to work with Ustream.TV on this event, and together, we should be able to provide the best event coverage possible.”

Expect to see some of your favorite classic Nintendo Entertainment System games, such as entries from the Castlevania series, Punch-Out!!, Super Mario Bros., and so much more. The GoNintendo.com team will be playing through these games, talking to viewers live, interacting with viewers in the GoNintendo.com Chat Room, and they might even give away a prize or two! All of this fun will be captured in a picture-in-picture format, and backed by the quality service that Ustream.TV provides.

GoNintendo.com will be donating $300 to the Child’s Play organization, and the goal is to reach $1,000 total by the end of the 8-hour event. Once again, visit GoNintendo.com on November 22nd at 8 A.M. EST to check out the event. Donation buttons, as well as live donation coverage will be displayed alongside the video feed. GoNintendo.com and Ustream.TV are hoping that you’ll open your wallets, and donate to the Child’s Play organization. It’s a wonderful foundation, fighting for a much-needed cause.

Once again, please make sure to visit GoNintendo.com to stay up-to-date on this upcoming event.

If you would like to learn more about the Child’s Play organization, visit the link below.

http://www.childsplaycharity.org/

Wario Land: Shake It (Wii) review

2008-11-02T23:46:00.000-08:00

Developer: Good Feel
Publisher: Nintendo
Date Released: September 22, 2008 (USA)
Players: 1
Genre: Platform
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

2D platformers have become a rare thing today. They're usually limited to either downloadable services like XBLA and WiiWare (Braid, Mega Man 9, etc.) or handheld systems like the DS (New Super Mario Bros., etc.). Wario Land: Shake It! breaks that mold by appearing both on a home console, the Wii, and in retail form. Some people may be turned off by a $50 2D platformer in this day and age. Read on to find out if Wario's latest outing is worth it.

The story of Wario Land: Shake It! is very short, spanning about two 5-minute cutscenes, one at the beginning of the game, the other at the end. It's very Mario-like with it's simplistic nature and simply being there to have a reason for Wario to get to the end of each level. In the game, there's this distant land (located in a globe) named Yuretopia. It's been invated by a pirate known as the Shake King. He imprisioned the Queen of Yuretopia, Merelda, and her loyal subjects, the Merfles. He also took the legendary Bottomless Coin Sack, a bag that, when shaken, will spit out endless amounts of coins. Captain Syrup and a Merfle come to Wario and urge him to free the land from the Shake King. Uniterested, Wario is about to shoo them away when he hears of the Botttomless Coin Sack and his greed takes over.

Yuretopia is split into levels, just like almost every other 2D platforming game. The goal of each level is to get to the end, rescue the Merfle, then make it back to the beginning under a time limit. You control Wario with the Wii remote held sideways. As you'd expect the D-pad moves him, 2 is to jump, and 1 is to make a dash, which can break certain items and defeat certain enemies. The game controls wonderfully and the different moves of Wario are tight and responsive.

As the "Shake It!" subtitle implies, a few motion controls are thrown in, here and there, but they're most aren't overdone. I say "most" as the basic motion, shaking, is a bit overused. Basically whenever you obtain a bag or get a hold of a stunned enemy, you waggle (I know, it's a horrible word) the remote to gain massive amounts of coins or items. Though it's kind of cool, for the most part, the shaking is a bit overdone. The other uses of the motion controls are much more subtle and enjoyable in my opinion. You use the accelerometer in the Wii's remote to tilt and control submarines, carts balancing on a single wheel, and the direction of fire for cannons. To expand on the cannon shooting, imagine this. Yoshi's Island's aiming, just instead of a cursor moving up and down, the cursor is controlled by how much or how little you tilt the Wii remote. It's an awesome concept that works very well in the game.

The game is broken into five continents, each holding four regular levels, several hidden stages, and a boss battle. The regular stages are pretty easy, and I'll be surprised if you have any trouble with those. The hidden stages are unlocked by finding special maps through out the regular stages. These are definitely a bit more challenging, plus you have to find the map to unloack them first. The bosses really range in difficulty. The first two are so easy, it'd probably take most people two, if not less, trues to defeat them. But from there, the difficulty really ramps up a considerable amount. Both the fifth boss and the final boss are pretty damn difficult.

That being said, other than the last several boss battles, Wario Land: Shake It! is an easy game. You'll fly through most levels without meeting a Game Over screen. And the ones you do will probably be because of some mission (like collecting all the coins in the stage, which I'll get to later) and you run out of time instead of you running out of lives. This is one of the game's main faults, as you'll cruise through most of the main game easily.

One of the high points of the game is replay value. Most gamers will rip through the game in five to eight hours easily. But in no way does the game end there. There is so much bonus content to do in each level. Other than completing each level and unlocking every hidden level, there are three hidden treasures to find in each level. These will test your skills as a gamer, as they're usually hidden in some way or another. Other than that, there's also missions which are somewhat like Xbox Live Achievements. Each level comes with three to six missions that make you do certain things within each level. Every level will come with simple tasks like get back to portal within 2 minutes or collect 30,000 coins. But then there's others like jump on three enemies in a row, don't lose a life throughout the stage, or detonate all the bombs throughout the stage. In Wario Land: Shake It!, it's a long and hard road to get that 100% completion.

Another of the bad aspects of the game is originality. Besides the few motion controlled segments of the game, the Shake It! doesn't really do much to innovate the age old genre. But is that a bad thing? Not necessarily. Why fix what isn't broken? Despite that fact it would've been nice to see some new things in the 2D platforming, the game's still a blast to play. Plus, it has a visual style that's really unique and definitely differs it from platformers found on the Virtual Console.

Wario Land: Shake It!'s graphics are beautiful. They're all gorgeously hand-drawn. Everything, from the characters and enemies to environments and cutscenes look exactly like classic hand-drawn cartoons (the ones before computers and Macromedia Flash). Production I.G. really outdid themselves with this one. On the music side of things, the soundtrack is pretty nice and you'll never tire from Wario's grunts and exclamations.

Overall Thoughts

While Wario Land: Shake It! doesn't do much for the genre and its core game isn't all that long, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't have some fun with the game. The motion controls are used nicely, albeit the shaking in some parts. The hidden depth of game, and the flat out amazing visual style make this one heck of a game and definitely worth your purchase.

Gameplay: 8/10 True 2D platforming. It may not innovate much, but the motion controls are used nice (most of the time) and the level design is top-notch.

Graphics: 9/10 Gorgeous, hand drawn animation is to be found here. Everything from the characters to the environments are beautifully stylized.

Sound: 8/10 The Wario sounds are amusing and the music is actually pretty nice.

Lasting Value: 9/10 A long game? The main game? Not so much. But where the depth really is, is in all the hidden treasures, levels, and missions through out the game.

8/10

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Poll #4 "What quality do you look for in games the most?" results

2008-10-31T14:57:00.000-07:00

My fourth poll's over and done. Here's the results...

What quality do you look for in games the most? (32 total votes)

Impressive/polished graphics - 3% (1 vote)
Great music/soundtrack - 9% (3 votes)
Compelling gameplay - 84% (27 votes)
How long it'll last you - 3% (1 vote)

Once again, there was a clear winner, a cut above the rest. This time it was "Compelling gameplay", actually the least surprising so far. Most people prefer a fun game over a graphically powerful game. Despite the several votes for graphics, music, and replay value, gameplay is the number one thing most gamers look for.

The fifth poll is up currently. This time the topic is: "What Wii games are you looking forward to in 2009?" And don't forget, you can vote for more than one!

Nintendo Jack-o'-lanterns

2008-10-30T20:45:00.000-07:00

Halloween time has come again. It's time for parties, scary movies, tricker-treating for the younger crown and TP'ing/egging houses for the older kids. It's a night for crazy costumes and spooky (yet cheesy) haunted houses. And most of all it's pumpkin carving time. I'm amazed every year by the sheer amount of great pumpkins I see across the web. Tonight, I've compiled a list of 13 Nintendo-themed Jack-o'-lanterns. Enjoy!

Please note I did not make any of these. I found these in various gaming sites and blogs across the internet.

13. Super Mushroom (Super Mario series)

12. ? Block (Super Mario series)

11. Wii logo

10. Triforce/Master Sword (The Legend of Zelda series)

9. Amaterasu (Okami)

8. Pikachu (Pokemon series)

7. Shy Guy (Super Mario series)

6. 8-bit Mega Man (Mega Man 1-6 and 9)

5. "Finish Him" (Mortal Combat series)

4. Link (The Legend of Zelda series)

3. Mario (Super Mario series)

2. Wario (Super Mario/Wario series)

1. Wii remote in hand

That's it for tonight. Hope you guys have a great Halloween, whatever it is you're doing.

If you have any Nintendo themed pumpkins you'd like to show me, email me at kylehogg@gmail.com or post a comment below...

World of Goo (WiiWare) review

2008-10-26T23:15:00.000-07:00

Developer: 2D Boy
Publisher: N/A (Independent)
Date Released: October 13, 2008 (USA)
Players: 1-2
Genre: Puzzle
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

World of Goo is one of those games that's great for services like WiiWare, XBLA, and PSN. It was made by a two man team (later three, but mainly two people worked on it). It's a simple, compelling concept that can be priced lower than retail games for the sake of download. But is it all that great? I'll break it to you know, the answer is "YES!", but read on to find out exactly why...

Each level has you picking up various balls of goo, connecting them to each other, and constructing large structures. You must build these towers/bridges/etc. towards a pipe located somewhere in the level. The goal is to have a certain amount of goo left over to beat the level. It's a really cool idea that started as a simple physics simulation titled Tower of Goo (which is actually featured as a level somewhere in the game).

Besides the basic concept, there are quite a few things to mix of the gameplay so that each level feels fresh and new. Other than the basic, dark-gray goo that is used to build solid structures, there are a variety of goo types to use. For example there's the green goo which can be reused by detaching it whenever you need more. There are also goo that can stick to things, that can't be destroyed, that inflates into balloons, and that can be lit on fire (usually to ignite something).

Each level will have obstacles in the way and not to mention gravity. The physics in the game are pretty good and you'll find that you need to balance out towers and build supports on bridges to be successful. It may be frustrating at times, nothing really beats the thrill of your tower started to tip, only to have you even out the goo and save it. Other than gravity a variety of spikes, fire, and rotating gears will ensure the road to the finish is challenging.

You'll be amazed at how much fun the game is. And for good reason, each level will delight, amaze, and challenge you. Plus almost nothing is done twice, and if it is, there's still so much fun to be had. The level design is top-notch. You'll be building a simple tower up the the pipe way up at the top, hoping to god your tower doesn't tip in one level and in the next you'll be building a bridge over to the other side, attaching balloons along the way. Some of the stages are super-wacky and have you almost think abstract. The gameplay in World of Goo is some of the best fun I've had in a while.

The difficulty is pretty nice in the game. It's starts out fairly easy and with each level it gets a bit more challenging. The last three levels of the last world are super hard and I still haven't beaten them myself.

I can barely find anything wrong with World of Goo, it's just a great game. But there are several things I do need to mention. First off when playing with separate goo types, it's hard to pick a certain one. The only way to have done this easier would be to assign different goo balls to different buttons but it'd make the game more cluttered and complicated. Also with the green goos, which could be taken off of existing structures and reused, I found that sometimes when trying to pick an unused goo ball, I'd of pull one already solid and the structure would crumble. And finally, though it's more a matter of what isn't there than what is, where's the level editor? The PC version gets it, why not us WiiWare people? The game would be perfect for one and 2D Boy really missed that one.

The story of World of Goo really needs to be mentioned. It's wacky and creative. I won't ruin anything for you, but expect some little twists and turns involving the "goo balls" and their quest to find a greater meaning of their life. The signs that litter different levels from "the Sign Painter" are both humorous and philosophical, plus they expand the story a bit too.

World of Goo is a fairly long game; I clocked around seven to ten hours in the game. A notable feature is the ability to skip levels and come back to them later. A feature I used on occasion. The game is broken into four worlds and an epilogue. Each world has around ten or so levels in it (and four levels in the epilogue). In each level there is also a higher goal titled OCD that will bring back the hardcore fans. These require something like 40 goo balls or to complete the level in 10 moves.

Other than the basic game, there is a metagame called World of Goo Corporation. All the extra goo you collect goes here. With that goo you try to build the biggest tower. It's somewhat like a game that's also a leaderboard. Once you get high enough, clouds will appear. In them are stats of other players with towers similar in height to yours. The clouds tell you what country the people are from and how many goo balls they used to build their tower. It's a cool little distraction within the overall game.

World of Goo's style is exceptional. The crisp, colorful graphics are great. The almost Dr. Seuss style works very well with the game. The music is also notable. It's funky in some levels and serene and beautiful in the next. Definitely don't put your TV on Mute while playing this WiiWare game.

EDIT: As a reader mentioned to me, the style is more Tim Burton that Dr. Seuss, though there'sa bit of Seuss's style in there too. Thought I'd make that clear.

Overall Thoughts

World of Goo is one of the best games I've played this year and a great WiiWare title overall. With enough content and fun to be priced as a full retail (or slightly lower), World of Goo is a must-have. It tops downloadable favorites of mine in both style and presentation. Though it has very minor flaws, the $15 game is well worth the Wii Points.

10/10

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below... Still can't decide whether or not to purchase it... (though as I've said, the answer is yes) check out 2D Boy's PC demo here.

Art Style: ORBIENT (WiiWare) review

2008-10-23T23:19:00.000-07:00

Developer: skip Ltd.
Publisher: Nintendo
Date Released: September 29, 2008 (USA)
Players: 1
Genre: Puzzle
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

A little history lesson before we start. The bit Generations titles were released for the GBA in Japan to compliment the Touch! Generations titles on the Nitendo DS. The titles were meant to feel retro despite all being new game concepts. One such titles was Orbital, which has now been put on Nintendo's WiiWare service for download. Should it have stayed a portable, Japanese only game? Or is it worth the few bucks it's priced at?

The entire concept of ORBIENT is that you're this little tiny star. Your goal is to absorb other stars that are the same size as you to get bigger. You control a while star. Stars that can be absorbed by yours are blue. Once you absorb a blue star you become bigger, making previous blue stars now gray, and bigger (previously red) stars now blue and obtainable. The goal of each level is to grow your star big enough to get the goal star in your orbit. How do you do this? Let me explain. Probably the coolest aspect of Art Style: ORBIENT is gravity. Each star has it's own gravitational pull. Logically, the bigger stars have more gravitational pull. And if you enter the orbit of a larger, red star, after a short time, you'll begin orbiting it. Once you become big enough, you can be pull other, smaller stars into your orbit to become satellites. It's a really simple concept that is used ingeniously.

The controls of ORBIENT are about as simple as it gets. A is to activate gravity, pulling you towards stars. On the other hand, B is to use anti-gravity, pushing you away from the stars. No D-pad or analog stick involved. It may sound like too little, but you'll be surprised at how much control you do have over your little star. But later in the game it does get tricky. If you don't use just the right amount of gravity and anti-gravity, you'll find your self hopelessly flying towards a giant, red star taking away some of that precious life.

But it's not all fun and games. You start out with five lives. They can be taken away one at a time by colliding with larger stars. You get more lives by completing stages and obtaining satellites. Other than the basic big, red star, there are certain obstacles in the game that'll make it difficult to get that goal star. One of them, and probably the most impressive, is the black hole. These dangers have their own gravitational pull, pulling your star towards it all the time. But they also have their own anti-gravity to use too. But if you do happen to get sucked into the black hole, it's game over for you, as it takes away all your lives. Asteroids are the other hazard, and they're a bit harder to get around. Sometimes they're orbiting stars, other times they're locked in place. Asteroids have no gravity, so you'll have to use the pull of other stars to get around them.

The game is a really, really basic concept. I mean how deep can you get with only two buttons. But there really is a lot of fun to be had with this game. The game gets really difficult in the later levels. I threw my controller down more than once while playing. But another great thing to do, is just play the first few levels or so. Orbiting planets, growing in size, and gaining satellites of your own can be a very relaxing experience. That being said, don't expect to beat this game easily. It's a tough one.

There are only very minor things I saw wrong with Art Style: ORBIENT. The first of which is that I felt the game was a bit too simple and could have introduced a few new mechanics or hazards along the way. The other problem I had with the game was the ramping up of difficulty. The first five or so levels are pretty easy and you'll fly by them. But then the game gets very hard, very fast. I would've liked a little bit more easing up into those later stages, but oh well. The game sports some fine gameplay nonetheless.

As for the presentation side of things, ORBIENT is basic here too. The graphics are nothing to gawk over, but the calming look and strange, outer space backgrounds go with the game well. Music is pretty much nonexistent. What is there though actually amazes me. The sounds change over time. When you collect satellites, a little tune starts to play. When you've collected enough satellites, another, different tune plays. And when fall into the orbit of a large, red star some more musics plays. It's great and melds with the gameplay perfectly.

As for longevity, the game will last you a while, especially with the increasingly difficult levels. There are 50 levels in all, spanning over 6 galaxies. Each level can take anywhere form ten to fifteen minutes, without dying. But you'll probably spend a lot more time on those levels...

Overall Thoughts

Art Style: ORBIENT is a simple title that uses it's core concept, gravity, and really expands on it. It's a unique little game overall. The graphics may not break any records, but the strangely enjoyable music and lasting value will make this a definite must to most. Plus with the $6.00 price tag, I'd recommend ORBIENT to almost anyone.

Gameplay: 8.5/10 Using only two buttons, you must navigate your star through a level. It's super simple but super entertaining.

Graphics: 7/10 The plain visuals won't be eye candy. But at least they don't hurt your eyes. Plus, the backgrounds are nicely made.

Sound: 8/10 There isn't much to the music. But once you get going, you'll notice subtle changes when you do certain things. It's really neat and you need to experience it to know exactly what I'm talking about.

Lasting Value: 8.5/10 50 levels, spanning 6 galaxies. Difficulties range from super easy to incredible tough.

8/10

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Mega Man 9 (WiiWare) review

2008-10-20T08:20:00.000-07:00

The long awaited... Mega Man 9 review!

Also For: Xbox 360 via XBLA, Playstation 3 via PSN,
Developer: Inti Creates
Publisher: Capcom
Date Released: WiiWare: September 22, 2008 (USA); PSN: September 25, 2008 (USA); XBLA: October 1, 2008 (USA)
Players: 1
Genre: Action/Platform
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Capcom's Mega Man franchise is one of the biggest in gaming history. With way more titles than you can count with with both your fingers and toes, you can be sure some of them are really good. As can you be certain that there are some bad ones too. Capcom has pushed out so many spin-offs and card battling games, Mega Man's name has become somewhat of a joke. Sure there's a good game here and there. Capcom's bent to change that view of the Blue Bomber. With 8-bit graphics, chiptune music, and extreme, retro difficulty, Mega Man 9 is definitely dedicated to the fans. But is it really that great by today's standards?

Mega Man 9 starts out with a colorful cut scene to explain the storyline. It actually features a bit more robust storyline than most of the original Mega Man games. Instead of the basic, "You've got to fight all eight of Dr. Wily's robots and then defeat him." It goes a little something like this: Dr. Wily surrenders, never to do evil again. But then suddenly, robots around the globe freak out and turn bad. Dr. Wily frames this on Dr. Light. So you, as Mega Man, must rid the world of another eight robots to clear Dr. Light's name. Simple, but works. There are several other cut scenes through out the game, making it a bid more story-centric (for a Mega Man titles that is).

How does it play? Exactly like you remember. It's your task to defeat every Robot Master. To do this you must survive through their stage and best them in a fight. You can tackle any Robot Master in any order. But the real strategy is to find a certain boss order to defeat them in, as each of their weapons will take down another boss with ease. After the eight Robot Masters, you go to Dr. Wily's castle to take him down there in four or so different levels.

True to the NES Mega Mans, Mega Man 9 is hard. You will die. A lot. Guaranteed. Each level has two check points, halfway through the stage and before the Robot Master at the end. Around ever turn are spikes, lava, enemies, and projectiles waiting to ambush you and take away that precious life of yours. But also true to the original Mega Mans is the trial and error strategy of progressions. It's very unlikely that you'll make it anywhere in the game without dying. To become a real master of it, you need to know exactly where every enemy spawns and where every hazard lay. To do this you're going to have died quite a bit.

This may seem like a chore to some. And the extreme difficulty may turn off others, the game is some of the best fun I've had in a while. Plus, being so challenging, the game's also very rewarding.

There are three main things Mega Man 9 does different from previous games. The first is the store, allowing you to buy E-Tanks and lives to easy up the game a bit. Plus you can buy other cool items like a book of hairstyles that will take Mega Man's helmet off and allow you to play the game like that. Not necessary but very cool. Another new addition is Time Trials, in which you speed run through various levels, competing for the high score. There are online leaderboards too.

The other major addition is downloadable content. As of writing, two downloads are available. One lets you play as Proto Man instead of Mega Man. He has a shield, can charge shots, and can slide. His games a bit more difficult, as you can't go to the store to purchase E-Tanks and such. The other download was a mode called Endless Stage. This is a really cool mode. It's basically a hundred or so little levels each connected by doors at the beginning and end. It's totally random as to which you'll encounter and it counts how far you make it until dying. This too has leaderboards. Of the DLC available now, both are worth the measly Wii Points they'll charge you.

The levels of Mega Man 9 are top-notch and you can tell a lot of time and effort was put into them. Every one is unique. From Splash Women's underwater lair to Tornado Man's aerial, platform jumping goodness, the stages are pretty well thought of. As usual, there are eight robot bosses and eight new, weapons to obtain. I really had mixed thoughts about the guns. Some of them were really cool and I used a lot. These include the Black Hole Bomb, which created mini black holes to suck in surround enemies, and the Plug Ball which would follow along floors and wall until it hit an enemy. But while those were pretty cool and useful, some of the others, (namely the Magma Bazooka, which would shoot three blasts at once) are unimaginative and not very necessary. Plus, the Jewel Satellite failed to impress me, seeing it's almost exactly like the Leaf Shield in Mega Man 2. Nonetheless, the stages, bosses, and weapons of Mega Man 9 are pretty damn awesome.

There's been somewhat of a controversy over the graphics of Mega Man 9. Their exactly like an 8-bit Mega Man and I thinks that's great. There are even options in the menu to turn on Legacy Mode, which will make it feel even more retro by adding slowdown and sprite flicker. By today's standards, the game's visuals are either extremely good or extremely bad. They're good in a stylistic way. Games like Wind Waker or Wario Land: Shake It succeed in the graphics department with beautiful cel-shaded or hand drawn art. But the game "fails" in power aspects. Nothing about the game is pushing the system and if you're looking for the next Crysis in terms of visuals, don't look here. But I feel the game really succeeds in what it wanted and that was making it look and feel like an 8-bit title. As for the music, I love the chiptune music. The stages include some very memorable tracks. The Mega Man games have been know for their awesome tunes, and Mega Man 9 doesn't break this trend.

As far as how long this game lasts you, it depends. If you fly through each level, the game will probably last an hour or so. But the extreme difficulty almost guarantees at least a five hours, if not more, of gameplay. Plus there are all the extra modes and DLC to play through too.

Overall Thoughts

Gameplay: 9.5/10 A truly challenging game. It's fun and goes back to those golden days of gaming. But expect to throw the controller down more than once.

Graphics: 5/10 You could argue that the graphics are stylistic and succeed in that aspect. But you could also argue that they're plain bad graphics. So I'll settle somewhere in between those two extremes.

Sound: 8.5/10 Some great, 8-bit music.

Lasting Value: 8/10 Not too long of a game, but with all the bells and whistles, it'll last you some time.

9/10

Comments or questions? Drop an email to kylehogg@gmail.com or leave a comment below...

Is World of Goo really better (or equal) to Super Mario Galaxy?

2008-10-19T15:59:00.000-07:00

Recently on Metacritic, World of Goo received an average score of 98, making it the highest rated Wii game. Currently, it's at 97, making it equally rated with Super Mario Galaxy, and above AAA titles like Twilight Princess and Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition. So is World of Goo really the best Wii game? Is it really equal to Super Mario Galaxy? Short answer, no. For the long answer, read on...

First off, I'm believe Super Mario Galaxy is the best game on Wii. And I seriously doubt we'll see something like that again (at least in this generation). World of Goo is an excellent game, but it has its minor flaws. Super Mario Galaxy has its flaws too. But overall, Super Mario Galaxy is just so much more of an amazing experience. It's a lot longer and the gameplay is just much more fun in my opinion. I wouldn't even go and say that World of Goo is better than Twilight Princess, Resident Evil 4, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, or Metroid Prime 3. Those games are all must haves if you own a Wii. But I would say that World of Goo is the best WiiWare game available for download, topping great, smaller titles like Mega Man 9 and LostWinds. And to anyone reading this, you need to go and buy World of Goo. It'll set you back $15, but be glad it's not $50, because it's worth that much.

But there's another big reason, that Metacritic is wrong with saying it's topping all those great games: it only has six reviews. Metacritic is a good site to go by, as long as it has a lot of reviews, otherwise it'll usually lean to one extreme or the other. Don't believe me? Compare Super Mario Galaxy's Metacritic page to World of Goo's. SMG has 73 reviews, while WoG only has 6 reviews averaged. Once World of Goo has around 20 or so more, it would be safe to say the average is accurate.

But hey, why does it really matter in the end? Both games are excellent and worthy of your purchase (that is, if you have a Wii. If you don't, just go back to playing Steroid-abusing Space Marines: The Game or whatever you play on those other systems... just kidding). What do you think about my analysis? Have anything else to add? Leave me a comment below...

Games I've Been Playing Lately - October '08 Edition

2008-10-15T21:33:00.000-07:00

It's weird. Every time I decide to do one of these articles I always have exactly four games I'm playing. If I would've wrote two days ago, I would've broken that trend, as I purchased my fourth game today.

Lately I've been playing a lot of WiiWare. 75% of the titles on this list are download from Nintendo's WiiWare service. The fourth game is a retail, Wii game. So lately I've been all about Wii, no retro games on the Virtual Console, and no Nintendo DS games.

Art Style: Orbient

System: Wii (via WiiWare)
I really dig this new, "Art Style" series. The concepts are simple, a load of fun, and only put you back $6 (but put you forward in so much quality, genuine fun!). Based an a Japan GBA game, Oribital, the Art Style: Orbient is actually pretty simple, but pretty damn hard too. You control a little planet, orbiting and absorbing stars until you can catch the goal star in your orbit. All this with only the A and B buttons. I've been playing this game alongside Mega Man 9 and I seriously don't know which I've gotten more pissed at. Neither in a bad way, just in a extreme kicking my butt way.

Mega Man 9

System: Wii (via WiiWare)

Mega Man 9 most definitely is the "true" sequel to Mega Man 1 & 2. Virtually everything is present from those games in hear, although menus have been updated and polished a bit more (as polished as an 8-bit game can get, of course). Of the two NES Mega Mans (1 and 2) I've played, I've never beaten either one of them. In both of them I've beat the six or eight Robot Masters and then preceded to Dr. Wily's castle where I got my butt kicked. Same thing goes for 9, as currently I'm on the second Dr. Wily stage, and damn it's hard. But the new DLC also gives me something else to mess around on in the game (Proto Man mode and Endless Stage, both which are excellent).

Wario Land: Shake It!

System: Wii
September sure was the month for platformers on the Wii. Wario Land, Mega Man, and de Blob were all released, satisfying that platforming fans. (Too bad I still need to pick up de Blob.) As for Wario Land, it's a lot of fun and I absolutely love the art style. The game's not to long, but I got stuck on a certain boss a couple of days ago and haven't had some free time to tackle that level again. But this weekend I'll finish the main game for sure.

World of Goo

System: Wii (via WiiWare)
Critics are calling World of Goo the best game on WiiWare. Period. And I'm not going to disagree with them. Even though I'm only on the first chapter (well through it, mind you that), I can already tell this game is a gem. The strategy and physics you have to abide by in so intense and plain fun.

That wraps up another episode of "Games I've Been Playing Lately" (dang, I need a catchier title...) What about you? What games have sucked you in as of late?

World 1-1

Punch-Out!! (Virtual Console) review

Poll #19 results

Punch-Out!! (Wii) trailer

Poll #18 results

Red Steel 2 (Wii) trailer

Pokemon Gold/Silver remakes? Yes, please!

Poll #17 results

Gaming Forecast - May 2009

Six shooters + samurai swords = kickass

So many games, so little money

Poll #16 results

Bit.Trip Beat (WiiWare) review

Poll #15 results

Gaming Forecast - April 2009 *UPDATED*

Poll #14 results

New Play Control! Pikmin (Wii) review

Mario Kart Wii's online

Impressions of Iwata's GDC '09 Keynote

Nintendo Power

MadWorld (Wii) review

The House of the Dead: Overkill (Wii) review

Poll #13 results

Deadly Creatures (Wii) review

N+ (DS) review

Classic Controller PRO

Gaming Forcast - March 2009

Poll #12 results

Nintendo's latest press release

Poll #11: "In the Legend of Zelda games, what do you name your character?" results

Happy Valentine's Day from World 1-1

Several quick game impressions

Gaming Forecast - Febrary 2009

Poll #10: "So far, which year was the Wii's best?" results

Pros and cons of the Guitar Heroes and Rock Bands

Downloadable content

Winter

WiiWare games in 2009

Poll #9: "Which system had the strongest year in 2008?" results

Wii games in 2009

Rest in peace 1UP and EGM

The problem with review scores

Current Obsessions - Aught-Nine Edition

What Nintendo should do in 2009

Poll #8: "Which operating system are you using?" results

My gaming New Year's resolutions

Wii: Best games of 2008

Wii: 2008 year in review

Merry Christmas from World 1-1

Poll #7: "Which web browser are you using?" results

No More Heroes (Wii) review

Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip (Wii) impressions

Scribblenauts

No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle

My Christmas list

Gaming magazines: A thing of the past?

Amazon.com deals

Poll #6 "Generally, what is your opinion on game delays?" results

What I'm Playing - Pre-Thanksgiving Edition

Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People

The Wii: Two years come and gone

"Play on the Wii" titles

Platformers

Poll #5 "What Wii games are you looking forward to in 2009?" results

Tetris Party (WiiWare) review

Holiday 2008 on Wii

Top 9 - Super Smash Bros. Brawl stages

GoNintendo live-stream charity event

Wario Land: Shake It (Wii) review

Poll #4 "What quality do you look for in games the most?" results

Nintendo Jack-o'-lanterns

World of Goo (WiiWare) review

Art Style: ORBIENT (WiiWare) review

Mega Man 9 (WiiWare) review

Is World of Goo really better (or equal) to Super Mario Galaxy?

Games I've Been Playing Lately - October '08 Edition

Gaming Forecast - April 2009 UPDATED