Now, regarding those 12 months of 2007 posts I planned to do. Scratch them, I don't remember enough games that I bought. Instead, I'll finish off the year with a look at whats coming in 2008.
Battalion Wars 2: America already has this game, and Australia itself probably won't see it until 2nd quarter at least. However, Europe are apparently getting this game in January. This is a very interesting real time strategy meets action/adventure. You have armies that you can order to attack enemies, or defend bases, but you can also take over as any unit in your army, and act as them. For example, you can take command of a tank, and lead your troops into battle, while firing alongside them. The original on gamecube was very fun, if a little short. Now with online multiplayer, and more factions, this is a brand new game.
Super Smash Bros Brawl: I haven't shut up about this game for months. America gets this masterpiece in February, however Europe might not get it until 3rd quarter. Which would mean something like a 2008 Christmas for us. That would be extremely F***ing gay. I may import an American Wii for the game. Anyway, the sequel to the best selling game, Melee on gamecube, Brawl is a fast paced, fighting game, involving major Nintendo, Nintendo related, or third party characters fighting it out for supremacy. Wanto to see who would win if Link and Samus ever fought? Don't you want to know who is more powerful, Bowser, or Donkey Kong? It's these sort of questions that are answered with Melee, and now Brawl. Online play, co-op adventure mode, new characters (including Snake from Metal Gear Solid, and Sonic), more random online stuff, this is going to be one of the best Wii games ever, if not, one of the best games ever.
Trauma Center: New Blood: I got the first Wii game, second opinion, for Christmas. It's very fun. But that's not the point. Truama center is a game which lets you operate on people with diseases or wounds. Under the Knife (DS version) was the first, and it was then turned into a Wii-make in Second Opinion. Now New Blood comes along. It has a completely new storyline, and co-op operating. Using the Wii-mote and nunchuck to operate feels better than the stylus, and I'm looking forward to a European release (Second Opinion still hasn't hit Australian shores)
Mario Kart Wii: This was expected. It is apparently coming to America halfway through the year, packaged with the new Wii-wheel (a go-kart wheel, that the Wii-mote can be plugged into). Not much is known about the game yet, but it has motorbikes, and is looking pretty good. It will definitely be delayed though.
Apollo Justice: The first real DS Phoenix Wright game. The first three games were remakes of the Gameboy Advance games. However, all the games so far have been the greatest on the face of this earth. Epic storylines, fantastically created characters, magnificent gameplay. This game is the perfect DS game, and the sequel shall be even better. Already released in Japan, America will get this in February. I intend to import.
I'm sure more will pop up over the course of next year, but those are the best coming. I cannot wait for '08. Happy New Year everybody, I'll see you in 2008!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Friday, December 7, 2007
Super Mario Galaxy review
Well now. It's here. The game that threatened to knock Ocarina of Time off it's high horse as the best game ever made. Super Mario Galaxy, delayed like so many other games, has finally made it. We have it, we've played it, and I have found all 120 stars. Now I'm going to review it. Now, to start:
Name: Super Mario Galaxy
Platform: Wii
Players: 1-2
Developer: Nintendo
The story begins, as most Mario stories begin, with Bowser kidnapping princess Peach. This time around, his actions are much more sinister (you'll see by playing through). You'll start the game in the Toads village. When you start, take a run around for 20 minutes, looking at the beauty of the game. I know I've said this about every reviewed Wii game since Resident Evil 4, however, this time, I'm backed up by so many reviewers it's not funny. Galaxy looks equal to an Xbox 360 game. Anyway, graphics later. Because of Bowser and his baby self, Mario is blasted into space, and ends up being enlisted to find the power stars to run the spaceship of a mysterious women named Roselina. The more stars you get, you'll be able to fly your spaceship to rescue your "special someone". And that's how the latest Mario adventure sets off.
American boxart
The controls are very simple. You press A to jump, point the Wii-mote to collect starbits (resourceful collectible), press B to shoot starbits (Mario with a gun???!?! Not quite), control stick to move him around, Z to crouch. And that's the basics.No awkward combinations, Miyamoto and his gang made this one very easy to get into. You can also use the D pad to change camera angles in some ares, or go into a 3rd person view. In actuality, the camera function is the only real negative in the game. When swimming, the camera sometimes doesn't center exactly where you need it to be. However, this is usually very easy to work around.
Ok, now into the graphics. Look at Twilight Princess. The game looks good, but it's a gamecube port, right? Same with Resident Evil 4. Metroid Prime 3? Was the first step. Perhaps not a big step from Metroid Prime 2, but still, it was the finest example of graphics on Wii. Super Mario Galaxy is not a port of Sunshine. It's new, and it looks excellent. This proves those idiot 3rd parties that say" the Wii doesn't have good graphics, don't blame us" wrong. If Mario and his gang could come into the real world, I believe they would look like they do in the game. Have a look at this shot of Bowser and Mario,and just how amazing it looks:
Admit it. That's great
Some people may wonder about the "2 player" hovering at the start of the topic. Well, you can have a second person use a second Wii-mote, and they can grab starbits for you, and freeze enemies, which makes the game a bit easier, particularly with levels where you're racing and can't aim the Wii-mote forward.
The gameplay has not been sacrificed either. It plays the same that Super Mario 64 played years ago. The game has several different applications which add intuitiveness to the game. Being set in space, Nintendo have been able to introduce many different ideas; my favorite and my least favorite is gravity. Some levels will have you running on the ceiling, dodging goombas, until you reach an electric wall, where you have to jump down to another level and run right-side-up to get past. There are stars you use to launch yourself through space; grapple points which you grab onto in space and spiderman yourself across the galaxy in a bubble. And there's the traditional moving platforms, racing, and of course, Mario's outfits. Two that I will spoil for you are Bee Mario (he dons a bee suit, and can crawl on walls and hover), and invincible Mario (rainbow Mario seen so many times). The toads, goombas, koopas, Petey, Bowser Jr, Peach, Boo's, Kamey. Most of the old characters return, with some new space enemies.
Now, finally, longevity. You need to get sixty stars to get to the final boss (three guesses who), and there are then another sixty to get to finish it completely. And, without spoiling too much, there's more to do after that (a lot to do). This took me a week to get sixty stars, but I took my time looking at the beauty.
Now, overall. This is the greatest game in existence. Shut up Cloudy. OOT may be reviewed better, but this game brings so much to the gaming table. You can tell how much effort was put into this game, just how great it is. Also, a quick note. Mario talks a lot more in this game, but not enough to ruin the experience. I cannot give this anything other than a perfect score. And while I hope that Brawl is good, and I love Metroid, this is the game for Wii. Buy it, love it, play it again and again.
Graphics: Ideal. The same cutesy colors seen from Nintendo for years, and they've never looked better. 10/10
Length: The games not over once you collect all 120 stars. Which takes a while. And you'll play it again. 10/10
Gameplay: Shines through. Without a doubt excellent. Some very minor camera controls, but brilliant controls for the rest of the game 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Hmm... maybe a little biased. Still, this was supposed to be my least favorite of the big 3. Now there's only Brawl to go. Incidentally, it's been revealed that Brawl won't come to Europe before Q3 next year. Which sounds very bad for Australia. Which means a long time until the review for that....
Name: Super Mario Galaxy
Platform: Wii
Players: 1-2
Developer: Nintendo
The story begins, as most Mario stories begin, with Bowser kidnapping princess Peach. This time around, his actions are much more sinister (you'll see by playing through). You'll start the game in the Toads village. When you start, take a run around for 20 minutes, looking at the beauty of the game. I know I've said this about every reviewed Wii game since Resident Evil 4, however, this time, I'm backed up by so many reviewers it's not funny. Galaxy looks equal to an Xbox 360 game. Anyway, graphics later. Because of Bowser and his baby self, Mario is blasted into space, and ends up being enlisted to find the power stars to run the spaceship of a mysterious women named Roselina. The more stars you get, you'll be able to fly your spaceship to rescue your "special someone". And that's how the latest Mario adventure sets off.
American boxart
The controls are very simple. You press A to jump, point the Wii-mote to collect starbits (resourceful collectible), press B to shoot starbits (Mario with a gun???!?! Not quite), control stick to move him around, Z to crouch. And that's the basics.No awkward combinations, Miyamoto and his gang made this one very easy to get into. You can also use the D pad to change camera angles in some ares, or go into a 3rd person view. In actuality, the camera function is the only real negative in the game. When swimming, the camera sometimes doesn't center exactly where you need it to be. However, this is usually very easy to work around.
Ok, now into the graphics. Look at Twilight Princess. The game looks good, but it's a gamecube port, right? Same with Resident Evil 4. Metroid Prime 3? Was the first step. Perhaps not a big step from Metroid Prime 2, but still, it was the finest example of graphics on Wii. Super Mario Galaxy is not a port of Sunshine. It's new, and it looks excellent. This proves those idiot 3rd parties that say" the Wii doesn't have good graphics, don't blame us" wrong. If Mario and his gang could come into the real world, I believe they would look like they do in the game. Have a look at this shot of Bowser and Mario,and just how amazing it looks:
Admit it. That's great
Some people may wonder about the "2 player" hovering at the start of the topic. Well, you can have a second person use a second Wii-mote, and they can grab starbits for you, and freeze enemies, which makes the game a bit easier, particularly with levels where you're racing and can't aim the Wii-mote forward.
The gameplay has not been sacrificed either. It plays the same that Super Mario 64 played years ago. The game has several different applications which add intuitiveness to the game. Being set in space, Nintendo have been able to introduce many different ideas; my favorite and my least favorite is gravity. Some levels will have you running on the ceiling, dodging goombas, until you reach an electric wall, where you have to jump down to another level and run right-side-up to get past. There are stars you use to launch yourself through space; grapple points which you grab onto in space and spiderman yourself across the galaxy in a bubble. And there's the traditional moving platforms, racing, and of course, Mario's outfits. Two that I will spoil for you are Bee Mario (he dons a bee suit, and can crawl on walls and hover), and invincible Mario (rainbow Mario seen so many times). The toads, goombas, koopas, Petey, Bowser Jr, Peach, Boo's, Kamey. Most of the old characters return, with some new space enemies.
Now, finally, longevity. You need to get sixty stars to get to the final boss (three guesses who), and there are then another sixty to get to finish it completely. And, without spoiling too much, there's more to do after that (a lot to do). This took me a week to get sixty stars, but I took my time looking at the beauty.
Now, overall. This is the greatest game in existence. Shut up Cloudy. OOT may be reviewed better, but this game brings so much to the gaming table. You can tell how much effort was put into this game, just how great it is. Also, a quick note. Mario talks a lot more in this game, but not enough to ruin the experience. I cannot give this anything other than a perfect score. And while I hope that Brawl is good, and I love Metroid, this is the game for Wii. Buy it, love it, play it again and again.
Graphics: Ideal. The same cutesy colors seen from Nintendo for years, and they've never looked better. 10/10
Length: The games not over once you collect all 120 stars. Which takes a while. And you'll play it again. 10/10
Gameplay: Shines through. Without a doubt excellent. Some very minor camera controls, but brilliant controls for the rest of the game 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Hmm... maybe a little biased. Still, this was supposed to be my least favorite of the big 3. Now there's only Brawl to go. Incidentally, it's been revealed that Brawl won't come to Europe before Q3 next year. Which sounds very bad for Australia. Which means a long time until the review for that....
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
The 12 months of Gaming: Part 1
Welcome! I've been thinking recently, about all the games I've bought this year. I don't remember all of them, but I thought that it would be fun to do small reviews of them, and describe the highlights of each month. I'll do 3-4 months each part, partly because I don't want a massive post, and partly because I only remember the first three months tonight. Now, on with the games!
January: WarioWare: Smooth Moves
My cousin was having a LAN (one of many this year), and we both picked up this game day one. Driving down to the EB, opening in the game, and smelling that freshly opened packaging. The smell of victory. I was an expert at this game at the connection tour that went around before the Wii came out, and I was entertained with this game for a while.
February: Excite Truck
Being delayed for about 2 months does not make happy gamers. My cousin had played this before the Wii came out, and was desperate to play it again (he wanted this more then Brawl at one point). Once we got it, we were somewhat disappointed with the length, but it was nonetheless a fun game. Personally, I wanted more freedom to explore.
March: Command and Conquer 3
The LAN game that we all bought (seriously). We all picked up the special Kane Edition, hooked it up, worked brilliantly. Excellent gameplay, we're still playing this as one of our key RTS games. I don't play with my cousin a lot though (the jerk team kills at the end a lot due to a disagreement in an early game).
Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII
This also came in March. Was very fun; more so than I thought it would be. It kept me entertained, and filled that WWII void I'd had since finishing Call of Duty 3. And it proved to be more fun than Heatseeker (to be shown in a later post; November).
That's it for tonight. Have a merry Xmas (Xmas, not Christmas. If you say Christmas, you're using an archaic pronunciation. Like when you say "ask" instead of "ax".), and I'll be back soon with more fun games from 2007. And a review of Galaxy soon, I swear. I want to get all 120 stars first, I only need 17 more.
January: WarioWare: Smooth Moves
My cousin was having a LAN (one of many this year), and we both picked up this game day one. Driving down to the EB, opening in the game, and smelling that freshly opened packaging. The smell of victory. I was an expert at this game at the connection tour that went around before the Wii came out, and I was entertained with this game for a while.
February: Excite Truck
Being delayed for about 2 months does not make happy gamers. My cousin had played this before the Wii came out, and was desperate to play it again (he wanted this more then Brawl at one point). Once we got it, we were somewhat disappointed with the length, but it was nonetheless a fun game. Personally, I wanted more freedom to explore.
March: Command and Conquer 3
The LAN game that we all bought (seriously). We all picked up the special Kane Edition, hooked it up, worked brilliantly. Excellent gameplay, we're still playing this as one of our key RTS games. I don't play with my cousin a lot though (the jerk team kills at the end a lot due to a disagreement in an early game).
Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII
This also came in March. Was very fun; more so than I thought it would be. It kept me entertained, and filled that WWII void I'd had since finishing Call of Duty 3. And it proved to be more fun than Heatseeker (to be shown in a later post; November).
That's it for tonight. Have a merry Xmas (Xmas, not Christmas. If you say Christmas, you're using an archaic pronunciation. Like when you say "ask" instead of "ax".), and I'll be back soon with more fun games from 2007. And a review of Galaxy soon, I swear. I want to get all 120 stars first, I only need 17 more.
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