From the Desk of WiseHacker

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

2011-03-04T06:00:00.005+11:00

If my past reviews are anything to go by, I am a complete sucker for adventure games. In recent times, there has been a resurgence of games in the genre, such as Another Code and the Ace Attorney series of games. More recently the Professor Layton series of DS adventure games.

Being fond of adventure games, I am more than happy to welcome this addition to my collection and I am just as happy to at last review it. Especially since today’s video game market is so clogged up with first person shooters it is starting to become hard to remember that there are other genres.

Overview

Upon the death of the wealthy Baron Reinhold, his will was opened and he offered his greatest treasure, the Golden Apple, to anyone who can find it in his estate. After numerous searches, none of the next of kin has succeeded and thus they call on the services of Professor Hershel Layton.

Accompanied by his young assistant Luke, Professor Layton heads to the village of Saint Mystere. It is not long before the professor and his assistant soon realise what there is a lot more to the village and just the Golden Apple.

Saint Mysteria is not without its own mysteries. There is the oddly shaped tower that dominates the skyline. Every time it lights up, someone gets abducted only to re-appear again the following morning as though nothing has happened. The one and only draw bridge being disabled upon the Professor’s arrival. And the mysterious figures that hang in the background as the Professor conducts his duties.

Game Play

Effectively, the whole game revolves around the player solving various puzzles. The puzzles are found but either examining object or talking to in game characters. Some puzzles are compulsory thus the player must complete them in order to progress the game.

There are even a few instances where the game will not progress until the player has solved a minimum number of puzzles. A tactic such as this can easily deter players from finishing the game but with all the puzzles in the game varying in difficult any player is bound to find enough simple puzzles to move on.

The puzzles themselves also vary in their nature. Some puzzles challenge mathematics, reasoning, logic and some even require players to visualise problems in three dimensions, like when given five paper patterns, select the one that results in the completed, folded box.

Even though some puzzles are only more difficult and/or complex versions of earlier puzzles, there is a lot of variety of puzzles between them thus this game avoids losing players by constant repetitions.

Story

The problem with the puzzles is how they are scored. Before attempting a puzzle, the player is informed of how many Picarats the puzzle is worth. Picarats are a form of in game currency that allows players to unlock additional content such as concept are and even a music player.

The problem is puzzles of high difficult do not always mean that they are awarded a large number of Picarats. There are times where a difficult puzzle is worth 10 Picarats while a dead easy one is worth 60. It most likely explanation for this is the difficulty of puzzles is not constant across human beings. Also, if the player gets the puzzle wrong and tries again, the amount of Picarats rewards is reduced.

In the event that the player cannot solve a puzzle, the player can unlock hints. Each puzzle has three hints associated with them and unlocking a hint sends another in game currency called hint coins. The coins themselves are found by examining environments as Layton and Luke walk around. While helpful, the hint system is easily broken in two ways. First, some hints are only understandable by the one who wrote them. Second, with the wise accessibility of the Internet it is easy to get the solution to any puzzle.

Finally, the usual adventure elements are there. There are cases where Layton and Luke need to complete fetch quests to progress the game. And there is also the typical item hunt where the player gets to find and assemble the parts for a surprise.

Genre wise, the story behind The Curious Village is a British Mystery – specifically the style used by Agatha Christy. As Professor Layton conducts his search for the Golden Apple, he and Luke observe all other residents of Saint Mystere and based on their actions the Professor presents the final solution to the case after gathering everyone in a room.

However, structure alone does not make a good story. The player has to relate and actually take a liking to the characters. And Professor Layton is practically surrounded by well-rounded characters. Each character is unique, has his or her own dialect and one gets a feel for them as the game progresses. Surprisingly even the NPCs whose sole purpose is to provide optional puzzles have had the same attention to detail as those key to the story.

The only problem I found is with the delivery, specifically its pacing. There are instances in game where the player has to sit through long sessions of dialogue. This is sometimes made worse when a puzzle is presented after a long session of dialogue and it turns out to be a difficult one with minimal Picarats in return. The story would have flowed better had it be given in more comfortable portions.

Graphics and Sound

Despite being a game from Japan, there is no anime style influence to the visuals. Like the story, the visuals have a strong European style and all the backgrounds feel like water colour paintings. Furthermore, the characters are well designed, colourful and are even backed with actual voice tracks.

In some cases, the game story is also told via animated cut scenes with an almost Ghibli-like quality to them. In more complex scenes, CGI has also been used but the style is still consistent with the rest of the environments and the characters.

In terms of sound, it can only be described in word: perfect. All characters have superb voices that fit perfectly with the design of their characters. Besides the voices the game is also backed by a superb soundtrack. Despite only having a few areas, each major area has its own soundtrack and there are various themes each one attached to a required scene. As with the graphics and the story, the music itself has a very European style to it.

Overall

Despite the odd puzzle that only its designer could understand and the inconsistency between puzzle difficulty and rewarded Picarats, the Curious Village is a well-rounded adventure game for the modern day. A murder mystery with a European style in visuals and soundtrack, this game is another welcome breath of fresh air for today’s gaming.

Tron 2.0

2011-02-18T06:00:00.010+11:00

Like Ghostbusters and Pink Floyd, Tron is something that every new generation eventually discovers. I myself am very fond of this movie and took the chance to see Tron: Legacy. In brief, Legacy is a good sound and light show but story wise it was as sound as Sark’s carrier after being derezzed.

It was tempting to get a hold of the game tie-in, Tron: Evolution, but my experience with Avatar was far from pleasant. Hence I am steering clear of it and any other movie tie-in.

So instead, I turn my attention to Tron 2.0. Released around the 20th anniversary mark, Tron 2.0 was the second FPS I ever played and finished – the first being the gem that is Half-Life. And despite its weaknesses, it is a very sound and enjoyable game.

Overview

Twenty years have passed since the event so Tron, and Encom, the place of work for the key characters finds itself the target of a takeover with the rather secretive fCon organisation. For the game’s protagonist, Jet Bradley, this is the least of his worries. Someone has kidnapped his father, Alan, and in the process of looking for him ends up being transported into the world of the computer.

To add to the problem, a vicious virus is spreading throughout the system corrupting everything in its path – causing civil programs to become hostile and attack Jet. And to add a final layer of tension, Jet is even accused of being the source of the said virus. Thus, as well as finding out what has become of Jet’s father, Jet is also fighting for life from three fronts.

Thankfully, Jet is not alone in his task. He has numerous allies from the maths expert Ma3a, the elite fighter Mercury and the (at times) philosophical Byte. All contribute to Jet’s progress at various stages in the game and equip with traits of their own.

Game Play

For the majority, Tron 2.0 is a first person shooter – though instead of a gun, the player starts out with a disk. As the player progresses, new weapons are discovered ranging from guns to balls that spread the same infection as the virus. While there are only three primitive types, players are able to extend their weaponry by finding subroutines which create additional attack modes for the three main primitives.

The other element that stands out is adventure/platforming. In some levels, the player approaches a door or obstacle that can only be overcome by finding a required item elsewhere – often a permission or subroutine. And of course to move through the area the player sometimes has to jump along various platforms to get over bottomless bits.

In terms of collecting items (a staple of the adventure genre), players mostly collect items from containers called archive bins which are scattered throughout the various levels. Through the expenditure of the player’s own energy various items from additional subroutines to emails and even permissions (keys) needed to advance past locked areas.

Tron 2.0 also has an RPG flavour to it. Throughout the game, players gain build points – either through completing objectives or by finding build notes – which slowly increment the player’s version number. At major milestones, the player is able to upgrade the character stats. The stats vary from how fast a player can conduct porting – a process where an unrecognised subroutine is identified and made useable – to reducing the amount of energy weapons consume when fired.

While a nice touch, the stats system feels more like it was added at the last minute. It only provides minor improvements over time and it is safe to say that if notifications were not given, the system itself would have been ignored throughout the whole game.

Of course, no Tron related game would be complete without a light cycle race and Tron 2.0 has numerous instances of these races at various points in the game. In general, the player is given control of a cycle that runs in a straight line and leaves a coloured ribbon in its wake. In these stages, the objective is to try and force opponents into the ribbon itself, box them in, or force them into a wall thus resulting in their ultimate demise.

Story

Genre wise, the story of Tron 2.0 is mix of action and mystery. Action wise, Jet has constantly fight for his (digital) life from three fronts – the fCon personnel who are taking over various Encom systems, a vicious virus that is turning infected programs hostile towards Jet and the Encom systems themselves which deem Jet the source of the virus.

Most of the mystery comes from Jet’s endeavours to learn what has become of his father and just what fCon’s motivations are. While a large portion of the story is conveyed as the player progresses through the game, most background elements are actually learned via the downloading of emails from the archive bins scattered about the game levels. As well as providing background, some emails also provide additional details about the characters, such as how Jet ended up working for Encom in the first place.

Character wise, the story of Tron 2.0 have effectively a whole new cast, each one well designed for its own environment – the stern demanding Kernel that over sees the whole system, the gentle ally that is Ma3a and the comic relief that is Byte.

While a good action story with a well-designed delivery there is still one core element missing – character development. In the case of Tron 2.0, the nature of the characters is effective static – they are still the same as they are at the start of the game.

Graphics and Sound

While the environments of Tron 2.0 are entirely made from basic geometric shapes, they are not without their own intricate details. Every environment is full of colour and each with a colour scheme that reflect the nature and current mood of the environment.

The Kernel’s base of operations is full of reds and oranges given a strong sense of seriousness and at times confrontational. Encom systems are given a pleasant, cool, calming blue scheme and finally corrupted regions are given a stickly, glaring green tone that really indicates a sickening feeling to the environment.

There is also significant variety of with the characters both inside the computer systems. Those who follow the Kernel are of a strong build and are effectively designed around the weapons they use. Some actually do not have a connected waist so they can better throw their disks.

Those who inhabit the Encom system are of an average build mostly follow the same character styles as the original Tron movie – mostly wearing tunics and may have head caps. However there are some variations – some characters have a punkish feel to them, sporting spiked hair, permanent visors and even binary-like patterns for tattoos.

Then there are the programs that have been corrupted by a virus – unlike all other characters there is no elegant, uniform styling to their circuitry – they are effectively hunched forward and look as though they are falling apart due to the corruption that has taken over them.

Finally, there are those that support the fCon organisation. In what can only be described as almost a Tron version of Tolkein’s Ring Wraiths, those for Encom are light on their feet and quick thus have a lean almost skeleton like build and are basically faceless with only masks and glowing eyes on their heads.

Lastly, as I have said with any Tron game being incomplete without light cycles, gird races in the game have two types of light cycle – the type that matches the version found in Tron and a new version made just for the game by Syd Mead.

My only complaint with the visuals is it sometimes becomes difficult to know where a floor ends and where a bottomless pit begins. While the visual keep with the theme of the Tron movie where all objects emit their own light source, everything else is mostly a dark, flat tone thus making it easy to mistake a new pit with another panel that makes up a floor.

Of course, good visuals should be accompanied by good soundtracks – a point made with my review of the tie-in game, Avatar, and subsequently dismantled with it.

Thankfully, the developers have put a lot of thought into the soundtrack of Tron 2.0. In terms of music, the game sports a varying soundtrack – there is a track for current situations such as battles and each environment has its own theme that plays when battles are over and the player is able to investigate. They vary from the strict military beat of the Kernel’s base of operations, to the soothing tone of Encom and friendly systems to the dirge like tone of corrupted systems.

Finally, there are the voices. It certainly helps that the developers have secured the voice talents of Bruce Boxleitner and Cindy Morgan – both of which appeared in the Tron movie.

My only complaint with the sound is the effects are very simplistic. Surprisingly, it is characters that have fallen to the viruses that stand out sound wise – walking in corrupted areas have a sticky grunching noise while all other areas have a clean, clear thump and when the infected programs throw their weapons they give an organic splat when they make contact whereas all other weapons from all other characters have the same clear hit.

Overall

In general, Tron 2.0 is game that stands very well on its own – it does not ride on the success of the movie nor does it embarrass it. An action packet platformer with puzzles, colourful characters, superb soundtrack and creative environments Tron 2.0 is a must for both fans of Tron or those who like a good first person shooter.

It has its weaknesses – narrow sound effects, hidden pits, an easily overlooked stats system and a story lacking character development – but they are minor when compared to the effort put into the visual, levels and even the characters. In short, this is a near decade old game that has somehow stood the test of time and continues to stand tall over current new releases.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations

2011-02-04T06:00:00.011+11:00

It has taken quite some time but at last I have finally turned my attention to Trials and Tribulations, the third game staring ace attorney Phoenix Wright. Again still using the same formula, this game still stands out as it ties up all the loose ends from Ace Attorney and Justice for All all the while providing colourful and unique characters with ever challenging puzzles.

Overview

Being the third game staring Phoenix, one can easily think that it is ‘just another day at the office’ for our spiky haired attorney. This could not be further from truth. Everything hinted at or left open in the first two games is brought into the open. As well as defending his clients, Phoenix also has to draw to a close past events.

Game Play

As I have said before, this third game still makes use of the same formula as the first two. Players still alternate between investigation (look for clues) and trial (defend and uncover the truth) modes, still use a point and click interface and still use a special item, the magatama, to further press characters for further clues to support the current case.

The only change is the difficult with the puzzles. For the most part, the puzzles are simplified thus the contradiction to a witness testimony is easily uncovered using an obvious piece of evidence. However, some are still outright annoying – especially where the contradiction is obvious but the player has disprove other contradictions before being able to use the obvious.

Despite this, the mechanic behind the game are still sound and they provide plenty of challenge without getting repetitious.

Story

Story wise, Trials and Tribulations has the largest and complex story of the three. Like the previous games, players proceed through a collection of episodes and all contribute to a larger story which is brought to a close in the final episode.

Unlike the previous games, Trials and Tribulations alternates between multiple characters. Beside Phoenix, the player also acts as Phoenix’s mentor, Mia Fey, and at one point plays as Miles Edgeworth as Phoenix recovers in a hospital. This can only be described as ironic comic relief. Miles is Phoenix’s opposite in the previous games – Phoenix defends clients while Miles tries to convict them.

Overall, the story is well rounded and deep, the characters are well detailed and there are moments when one simply has to sympathise with them as events unfold.

Graphics and Sound

Again, like the first two games, Trials and Tribulations is a port from a Japanese only release on the Gameboy Advance. As a result all graphics are 2D. Despite being a port, there has been plenty of attention to detail with all characters, new and old.

The sound is much the same as the preceding games – the effects are simple but the soundtrack is extensive. Every character presented in the game has his or her own theme, practically no two characters had the same theme.

Besides character themes, the game is also backed (as usual) with an extensive musical score. Each environment has its own theme. During times of peace and clam, the music is smooth and pleasant. During moments of action, the music is full of beat and brings forth a sense of urgency.

Overall

When I review each game, I try to evaluate individual and treat each game as standalone. When it comes to installments, it is not easy and the Ace Attorney series is no exception. The formula in terms of game mechanics has been pretty static with only a single addition in the second game. Despite this, each game has been a good experience and Trials and Tribulations proves that tried and true can still work.

Closure has been brought at last, all lose ends from all three games have been tied and everyone moves one. Colourful characters with their own nature, theme and style, an extensive soundtrack and mind challenging puzzles all blend together in what would have to be the best of the Ace Attorney series so far (including Apollo Justice).

The only problem is copies of this game are hard to come by. For those looking, the Japanese ‘best value/hits’ version has both a Japanese and English track.

Alive and Kicking

2011-01-21T06:00:00.001+11:00

For those who do read this blog, I am notorious for getting a few posts out then disappearing for months on end.

For those who still read this, I am still here and plan to get back to reviewing wherever possible.

To kick off, I am getting out my review of Trials and Tribulations and hope to turn my focus to the Professor Layton games.

Batman: Arkham Asylum

2010-06-11T06:00:00.003+10:00

Ever wanted to be the Dark Knight? Ever wanted to use more devices than Inspector Gadget to give criminals their just deserts? Do you just like wearing a cape for no apparent reason?

If you said ‘yes’ to the last question, then you need to check in to Arkham Asylum. If you said ‘yes’ to either of the first two then you are in for a treat. Batman: Arkham Asylum is a well designed game and guarantees its player hours of enjoyment.

Overview

To the surprise of everyone at Gotham, the Joker has given himself up and has allowed himself to be captured and brought to Arkham Asylum: Gotham’s home for the most criminally insaine. It turns out to be a trap and with help from the inside, Joker takes over the asylum and it is now up to Batman to save the day.

Armed with his trusty tool belt and enough devices to embarrass Inspector Gadget, Batman has to take on the Joker, his crew ranging from the eccentric Harley to the muscle headed Baine and even the numerous mental inmates of the Asylum.

Game Play

Genre wise, this game is a mix of action, adventure, puzzle solving and even stealth. This brings up some concern as Uncharted 2 also has a mix of genres but failed to keep neither a consistent nor justified ratio between them. Arkham Asylum, thankfully, does not fall down the same trap. The proportions are consistent, the game flows between them well and each element is well designed and thought out.

In terms of adventure, the player often presented with obstacles (often placed there by the Joker) and has to explore other regions of the asylum to find clues and/or answers on how to overcome them. Puzzle solving is often in the form of the odd device what Batman has to decrypt in order to open a door or activate a required device. To support puzzle solving and player movement, Batman is also equipped with an array of devices that range from placing explosives to grappling from far off ledges.

In addition to this, there is also an immersive stealth element to the game. More often than not, the player will find him- or her-self in a situation where there are more enemies than Batman can handle thus has to work toward putting the situation into his or her favour.

This would have to be the shining feature of the game. Even on normal difficulty, the enemies are intelligent and will often work in groups to give themselves an advantage. Thus, using the surroundings, the player has to find ways to take enemies out without drawing any attention.

As their numbers decline, it is reflected in the actions of the remaining enemies. They all start to become stressed and even start calling out to each other loudly. The player still has to exercise caution though as all enemies are often equipped with high powered weapons that can easily take out Batman in just a few hits. In some cases, enemies are even in the vicinity of hostages and will not hesitate to make them expendable if Batman is seen.

Finally, there is the element of action. If Batman cannot solve a situation with gadgets or stealth, he still has trusty melee combat. While only starting out with light punches and kicks, the player eventually unlocks a broad range of moves as the game progresses: such as the ability to throw enemies at each other. The combat itself is also very fluid and the transition between steal and combat is seamless.

In all, this game does the impossible: take a broad set of different genres and integrate them with no noticeable transition. Furthermore, despite stealth being the most standing genre, I did not find it at the expense of other genres. In through this mix there was balance, and I could not be happier with it.

Story

I will be honest though, I do not consider myself a fan of Batman. In all my life, I only really watched the odd episode of the animated series and nothing else. Thus, I have no other avenue than to analyse the story in a general sense. Despite my lack of Batman knowledge, I still found the story very solid.

Story progression is very much like the BioShock and System Shock games: all character dialog is in the present tense and all back story is learned by finding audio logs appropriately referred to a patient interviews.

I personally cannot find a single fault with this. The logs themselves only contain additional details that enhance character depth. It is still possible to play the game without listening to a single log yet still be given the complete story.

In the event that some history is required, Batman engages in conversation with his allies via radio. These situations only happen in quite transitions between wards of the asylum thus never restrict the flow of game play.

Graphics and Sound

When it comes to games with high definition graphics, it is very rare that they have the colour range to back it up. More often than not, when a game claims to have HD graphics, it almost always turns out to be at the cost of the colour palette. Thankfully, Arkham Asylum follows the trend set by Mirror’s Edge and Uncharted.

As well as being realistic, each character Batman encounters is just as colourful as their personality. From the Joker’s purple suit to Killer Croc’s green scales, this game deftly avoids the pitfall of using brown-scale graphics.

The attention to detail is best seen with how Batman has been rendered. From the flow of his cap to the stitching on his suit, there is almost a sense that such a suit could exist (if one could afford the $12 million price tag). Also, as Batman is subjected to intense battles, the damage is also reflected in his character model. The player is able to see parts of suit rip off and leave holes as the game progresses.

Besides the characters, the environments also take on a life of their own through their detail and sound. While outside, one can here the crash of waves near the shores of Arhkam and the crumble of bricks at Batman attempts to climb the various ledges. While inside, the environments are filled with the typical sound scheme found in any hospital. The buzz of lights, the echo of footsteps and the occasional call from the PA system. All working together to create an environment that actually could exist.

The best demonstrations are the scenes where one villain, Scarecrow, uses gas on Batman thus causing him to go into a world of his own and be haunted by his own deepest fears. Immediately, my worries about villains roaming the asylum were transferred to the environment itself: a twisted wreak of reality where everything was in turmoil and where Scarecrow was god.

Overall

In short, this game has been so well designed that even a person like me who knows close to nothing about Batman is still able to have an enjoyable experience. From the simple hand over at Arkham’s entrance to the climactic battle at the end, there is hardly anything I can find wrong with this game.

While the game makes good use of graphics and sound, its real testament is in its combination of different (and frankly, incompatible) genres into a single seamless game experience. Regardless of one being a part time gamer to a Batman expert, there is bound to be something of interest to anyone in this game.

Another Code: R - A Journey into Lost Memories

2010-05-28T06:00:00.001+10:00

In a previous review, I turned my attention to Another Code: Two Memories. A title for the Nintendo DS, Another Code is a well crafted game: an adventure game with an underlying mystery story and innovative use of the Nintendo DS hardware.

With my experience of Another Code behind me, I had high expectations of Another Code: R - A Journey into Lost Memories. But, as this review will show, the sequel lacks a lot of the quality and elements that made the first title successful in the first place. Do not get me wrong, I still like this second game. However, I cannot ignore the fact that Another Code: R falls well below the standard set by its predecessor.

Overview

Two years after the events of Blood Edward Island, Ashley is now sixteen and finds herself in a case of history repeating itself. While her father came back with her, he soon found work and has fallen back into his habit of being absent for months at a time.

So it comes as no surprise to Ashley when (you guessed it) a package from her father arrives with a new DS Lite-like device called a DAS arrives with a letter inviting Ashley to meet her father at a camping resort called Lake Juliet.

While originally intending to resolve the conflict between herself and her father, Ashley soon learns upon arrival that Lake Juliet has a secret. Shortly before her death, Ashley’s mother had gone to Lake Juliet.

Game Play

Like Another Code on the Nintendo DS, the player progresses the game by solving one puzzle after another. I have to be honest. I struggle to describe the game play of this game beyond this assessment, purely because there is not much game play to evaluate. Most of this game is basically reading one long text conversation after another.

Another problem is the creativity and challenge that made the puzzles worthwhile in Another Code is absent in this sequel. The puzzles feel like they were placed there as an afterthought and have not been given the design attention they needed. In general, this made the puzzles feel more like a frustration than a challenge. Especially when the puzzle where Ashley tests the acidity of water has been horrendously repeated throughout the game.

The only new element of the game is that Ashley now has yet another device called a TAS: an in game device that looks like a Wii Remote. Despite the addition of this new device, the only function of the TAS is to over ride electronic locks on doors that prevent Ashley from progressing. It makes clever use of the real world Wii Remote (the player has to try and look at the device on screen to work out the function and solve the current puzzle). But these cases are few and very far between so there is a lot of wasted potential.

On the whole, the majority of the game repeats the acid test puzzle and most of the diverse and creative puzzles are not found until near the end of the game. Even then, it is too little too late.

Story

If one looks at the cover of the game, one finds that the game has been described as an interactive mystery novel. Cing has taken care of the mystery novel part, but it is clear that the interactive element has been given little attention by comparison.

The story is well made, but suffers from the same repetition as the puzzles. As the player progresses, the various characters in the game constantly repeat the obvious. There are even cases where the characters talk in detail about something they just discussed five minutes ago.

The worst part is the constant breaking of the forth wall. Throughout the game, Ashley turns to the player and starts to express her inner thoughts and even talks about actions the player has just executed. First, this is needless repetition. And second, this prevents emersion from being sustained.

Still, the elements of a good story are there. The characters are given solid backgrounds, the player sees them develop over time and there is the odd moment where one really sympathises with the characters. In the end though, the story would have been better suited for a manga or perhaps an actual paperback novel. It simply was not designed from the start to be interactive thus does nothing to help the nature of the game.

Graphics and Sound

Graphics wise, Another Code: R can be described as being 2.5D (pronounced two and a half dimensional). While the graphics are three dimensional, Ashley’s movements are confined to a two dimensional plane. When she is in buildings however, she is basically fixed to a single point and the player is only able to rotate the view point.

Restrictions aside, I still like the graphics of this game. The characters are anime-styled and exist in a water colour-like environment. The environments are also lush and colourful (a rarity in this day and age as I constantly point).

As for sound, this is possibly the only other good trait this game has that comes from its predecessor. Each character in the game has his or her own unique theme and each environment has a theme depending on the current situation Ashley is in. In the same environment, the tone could be calm a cheerful yet will become tensioned if Ashley is in a worrying situation.

Overall

In all fairness, I still recommend this ‘game’ to fans of Another Code. But I have to be honest. First, one does not play this game: one reads it. All the potential for making a world full of adventure and mystery has been missed.

Instead of being creative with the Wii’s motion sensing capabilities, the focus has mostly been on the story. And even then, the story itself has been bloated with constant repetitions and excessive use of forth wall breaking.

The only element I deem well crafted in this game is the graphics and sound. The characters and environment are well stylised and the game very rich in its soundtrack. However, this is of little comfort. Sound and graphics are only two small elements to the whole when it comes to games. And sadly, this game is more riddled with design faults than it has accomplishments.

Another Code: Two Memories

2010-05-14T06:00:00.007+10:00

It has been quite some time since I have released a game review. While my last run was short lived, I was still pleased as I was still able to at least get three game reviews in a row out on time. As my last review went to the Web, I found out that game developer Cing had filed for bankruptcy (sources: Kotaku and Wikipedia).

To me, this is a rather sad moment. While I have only played two Cing games and I am working on a third, I still had a lot of fun. While I have other reviews in the pipeline, I am putting them on hold as I review the two Cing games I have finished.

First up is Another Code: Two Memories. This was the first game I ever got for my Nintendo DS. I was drawn to it because reviews and promotional material make it look like a modern version of Myst. This was exactly the case and without further ado, here is my review in my usual comprehensive manner.

Overview

In Another Code, the player is cast the role of Ashley. While most young girls are full of joy whenever their fourteenth birthday arrives, Ashley is full of emotional turmoil. Just a few days prior, a package arrived for her. Inside is a DS like device called a DAS and a letter from Ashley’s father. This is a shock to Ashley as she had believed that her father died along with her mother when Ashley was only three years old.

The game starts with Ashley on a boat with her aunt to the destination specified in the letter: Blood Edward Island. No sooner does Ashley arrive her aunt is kidnapped and Ashley sets out find her.

Shortly afterwards, Ashley finds a ghost named D, who has no memory of how he died thus cannot pass over and finally rest in peace. Together, Ashley and D search the environs of Blood Edward Island in an attempt learn what has happened on the Island and hopefully answers from Ashley’s father as to why he left her behind all those years ago.

Game Play

While it is obvious, I am reluctant to dub Another Code as a Myst clone. Then again, this task is quite difficult for any adventure game, considering the fact Myst practically took adventure gaming at the time and made itself (Myst) a textbook of the genre.

There are some similarities in Another Code to Myst: the player is in pre-rendered backgrounds and moving around changes the stills. When playing Myst the player finds puzzle hints at one location, and then solves a device/puzzle in another location to progress. While puzzle rich, the environments of Myst are almost devoid of characters.

Like Myst, the player only has Ashley and D and basically wonders about the game world finding and solving puzzles to progress the game and story. This is basically the formula behind the whole Myst series: moving about a detailed world solving one puzzle after another.

It is the design of the puzzles that quickly separate Another Code from Myst. Through the use of the touch screen, the player is able to manipulate objects and try to solve the presented puzzles. These interactions vary from simply putting torn paper together to brushing away dust or using charcoal to reveal clues to help progress the game.

There are even puzzles that require solving by tiling the upper screen of the DS and a few puzzles ever require the use of the DS microphone. My personal favourite is the use of an in-game camera to take pictures of my surroundings and then overlay them to find further clues to further progress.

Puzzles aside, Another Code also makes effective use of both DS screens. On the top screen, the player is presented with a pre-rendered image of the current environment at a fixed angle. The bottom screen provides the player with a real time 3D, top-down view of the current environment. It is also on the bottom screen the player is able to move Ashley about.

As Ashley moves, the still image on the top screen changes depending on where Ashley is positioned. While a still image, it helps add other angle to Ashley’s point of view and makes it easier to search the environment for clues.

In general, the game play of Another Code is simply moving about the game world from one puzzle to the next. Thanks to the challenge and variety of the puzzles, the player is still compelled to continue the game.

Story

If my past reviews are anything to go by (especially with my assessment of Avatar), I like a good story. It is the primary reason why I play some games: I like to play a part of an epic tale in a world that is long gone or in a world that can only exist in the imagination.

Story wise, Another Code is part adventure and part mystery. Adventure wise, Ashley is on Blood Edward Island, seeking answers about her father. Mystery wise, Ashley, along with D, slowly learn of the final events that took place on the Island and what became of D in his own final moments.

Overall, the story is well written, and there are touching and sad moments. All of which are supported by the detail of the games environment. I would love to detail more, but given the short length of the story, I refrain from doing so as to not spoil the game for readers of this blog.

Graphics and Sound

To most, it may seem harsh to judge a Nintendo DS game on its sound and graphics capabilities. It is understandable given that the hardware is quite low powered. However, I am of the opinion that if a game is made twice, once on a HD console and again on a retro, 8-bit console, the overall playability and enjoyment of the two games should be identical. Overall, hardware to me is just an enabler, not a solution to make a good game.

Despite the limitations of the Nintendo DS hardware, Another Code is still able to deliver. True, the level of detail on the 3D environment on the lower screen is low. However, the visuals are backed by a well chosen selection of sounds. With a minimal amount of imagination, one is able to add the extra resolution and the environment of Blood Edward Island soon comes to life.

Another Code also sports a magnificent soundtrack. Given that only a very few set of characters are encountered in this game, it was a wise move to give each character his or her own sound theme. As well as the characters, each environment also has its own theme that matches both the visual and atmospheric characteristics.

Overall

To tell a long story short, Another Code is a game that is guaranteed to give a tall order of enjoyment. A well written adventure/mystery story, coupled with intelligent use of the hardware controls, backed by well crafted and placed music all wrapped up in one single game. I admit, I would have liked the game to go a little longer, but that is just nit-picking. I bought this game years ago, and I still play it to this day. Personally, this is a must for anyone who owns a DS.

Still Alive

2010-05-02T18:02:00.002+10:00

I know, it sounds like a Portal reference. But I have no other way to describe this. Frankly, there term "I'm not dead" has been used that many times for blogs I think it's time for something new.

Anyhow, I have been busy but I am making time to resume my reviewing and hope to return to this blog again. Maybe this time, I will break my previous record of three reviews in a row.

Uncharted 2: Among Theives

2010-03-05T06:00:00.006+11:00

Around a month back, I celebrated the return to my blog with a review of the Playstation 3 launch exclusive, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Shortly after completing that game, I got my hands on a copy of its sequel, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. With the experience of Drake’s Fortune still in my head, I was expecting another enjoyable experience.

At the end though, I could only feel that Among Thieves was not as well done as the first game. While there have been some improvements, they were not where it really mattered. In fact some elements of the game (as I will detail as this review progresses) were worse than Drake’s Fortune.

Overview

It has been two years since the events of Drake’s Fortune, and once again Nathan “Nate” Drake, descendant of Sir Francis Drake and all round treasure hunter is up to his neck in trouble. This time, he is on the trail of 13th century explorer, Marco Polo.

According to the history books (which Nate has a habit of contradicting) Marco Polo set sail from the empire of Kublai Khan, he set out with 14 ships and only arrived in Persia 18 months later with 13 of the ships lost. As the game progresses, Nate finds out that Marco Polo found Shambhala and in it, a powerful secret that no villain could possibly ignore. As well as being accompanied by two familiar faces (Elena Fisher and Victor Sullivan) Nate is also accompanied by a new side kick, Chloe Fraser: an almost polar opposite to Elena.

Game Play

Gameplay wise, if you have played Drake’s Fortune, then technically you have played Among Thieves. The games play almost the same way. The player is constantly going from one gun fight to another, solving puzzles and doing a small sample of platforming between the said gunfights.

While I try to review games as their own, even if they are sequels, this new game has too many traits from its predecessor. One comment I made was that adversaries in gunfights were constantly ‘streamed’ and at times seemed like there was no end to them. That same problem is still present in Among Thieves but thankfully there is a way of stopping it. Before the start of a fight, it is now possible for the player to stealthily takeout the first wave of adversaries. If successful, all are take care of and the player does not have to endure the endless waves.

The platforming element is still very much the same as Drake’s Fortune. Nate still has all his same moves thus allowing him to run, vault and climb up ledges. One element that is missing now is the use of vines/robes. Personally, this is a welcome change as I found Nate’s swinging abilities below par in the previous game.

Finally, there is the puzzle solving. While attempts have been made to make them more elaborate, the improvements are only visual. The puzzles themselves are larger in scale, require the use colour matching, but overall they are no more challenging than those in Drake’s Fortune. Furthermore, Nate also carries a journal which is populated as the game progresses. While the contents of the journal are meant to be hints, the go too far and (frankly) give the outright solution to the puzzles.

Overall, the game play of Among Thieves is almost identical to Drake’s Fortune. On one had, this is wise as there are only slight changes in the control scheme between the games. However, it cannot be overlooked that the rest of the game is almost a wash-rince-and-repeat of the first game.

Story

When I reviewed Drake’s Fortune, I made the comment that the story of the game while minimal was complete. We had Nate and we saw his development as the game progresses. Despite him being a treasure hunter, one could clearly see his priorities were elsewhere: especially when Elena was concerned.

The story in Among Thieves was anything but complete. The best I can describe the story in this game was everyone was ‘just there’. The development that made the story in Drake’s Fortune complete was not there.

The most obvious problem with the story is the main antagonist, Zoran Lazarevic, was just there as not single element of his past was given. Even when the game is finished, why he did what he did is never explained.

In fact, it is not just the antagonist. This problem is apparent to Elena and Chole. So far, it is only implied that Nate had a falling out with Elena and (before her) Chloe, but the details are not there. Like the antagonist, they are also ‘just there’.

Overall, the story of Among Thieves is of the same grade as I saw with Mirror’s Edge and Avatar: The Game. It is mostly a string of events that self justify themselves and lack detail and much needed background.

Graphics and Sound

In Drake’s Fortune, I gave a lot of praise to the game for its visuals. Among the many points I made, I made the comment that the environments were believable and had a sense they could actually breathe. I also made the comment that the ruins and how I got the feeling that they could have actually existed and people once inhabited them.

Graphics wise, Among Thieves is yet another leap forward from Drake’s Fortune. While the environments are mostly ruined cities and ancient temples, they had both a sense of realism and the sheer size of the temples is breath taking.

For example, there is a stage of the game where Nate is going though the city of Paolo. The area is designed to be placed in the middle of a civil war and I believe it. Everything the air to the rubble on the ground is surprisingly realistic. This realism is further helped by subtle additions such as the overhead flags that flap realistically.

But where the improvements to the graphics really stands out is in the interactive cut scenes. For example, there are moments where Nate is being chased by a helicopter. At one point, Nate is in a hotel building and the player has to try and get out as the building collapses. As well as avoiding adversaries, Nate also has to avoid every other object in from tables to chairs as contact with them could result in failure. Overall, the graphics of Among Thieves is enough to give the people at CryTek a few ideas.

However, with high detailed graphics comes the need for equality in sound. This is also another area that Among Thieves improves upon. Basically, each location has its own tone of sound scheme and even one or two unique theme songs. I do not often say this, but the soundtrack alone is enough to warrant giving this game a try.

Overall

It is hard to give a clear judgement of Among Thieves. I will be frank, while there are some improvements, there are still weaknesses and the game takes too many elements from its predecessor. As a whole, if you have played Drake's Fortune, then technically you have played Among Thieves.

The game is to be praised for really pushing the limits of the Playstation 3 in both graphics and sound and for giving the player monumental action sequences. But it cannot be ignored that too little attention has been given to the puzzles, the platforming and the story itself is too minimalistic to be considered stand alone. Never the less, this game is still worth adding to one’s collection.

James Cameron's Avatar: The Game

2010-02-19T06:00:00.006+11:00

Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the past few months, you should know by now that James Cameron’s latest movie, Avatar, is setting the box office world on fire. It has recently become the highest grossing film in ticket sales and sports the highest level of visual effects and depth of environment ever seen. I myself have seen the movie in 3D and despite the movie’s flaws (the obvious one being the clichéd plot), I give the movie a very high recommendation.

I have also taken the time to play the game. If you are fan of the game, now is the time to stop reading this post as I am about to rip shreds off this game until there is nothing left by a spinal column and the original licence Ubisoft signed with Cameron!

Overview

Set two years before the events of the movie, the player is cast the role of a marine that has just arrived on Pandora. Pandora is home to a native race called the Na’vi: blue skinned, cat like humanoids that live in complete harmony with their home planet’s forest/eco-system. As the atmosphere is toxic to humans, remote controlled human-Na’vi hybrids called Avatars have been genetically engineered to carry out operations on the ground.

Early in the game, the player is able to make a one-time choice as to which side he/she supports. The player can side with the Na’vi and help them repel the human marines or the player can choose to side with the humans and try to defeat the Na’vi.

It should be pointed out that this review only assesses the Na’vi possibility of the game. If a game offers me choice, I use the same rationality as I would in the real world. Furthermore, I am of the opinion that regardless of what choices I make in game, the consequences of my actions in the game should all be well designed.

Game Play

In general, game play as a Na’vi is a mix of adventure and action. Naturally, as the Na’vi are ‘one with the forest’ the weapons are themed as such. Primarily, the player has a bow and is able to equip three other weapons such as spears, duel swords and even a cross bow. In addition to weapons, players are also able to equip special abilities which varying from healing the player to doing damage to surrounding adversaries to even cloaking the player. New weapons, skills and even armour are awarded by collecting experience points. Points are awarded for defeating enemies, completing objectives or solving adventure quests.

Overall though, combat in the game felt sticky at times. Research soon revealed to me that the game makes use of the Dunia engine, the same engine as that used for Far Cry 2. This certainly explains why enemies were constantly crawling out of the wood work and why they were still able to see me hiding in a concrete bunker yards away.

As the player moves through various regions/locations on Pandora, the player is also able to ride the local animal life. Unfortunately, the control system for the creatures was not though out and I personally found it more effective to go about on foot. There as was a case where flying an Ikran was so bad, I went to adjust the control scheme only to find it static and gave up in the end. Having seen the movie, this was the one creature I wanted to fly and was disappointed at the outcome.

A final element of combat is the ability to use the plant life of Pandora to help you. For a start, it is possible to collect samples from plants (and downed enemies) to fill what was called a recovery bag. When the player loses all health, it is possible to consume samples from the bag to restore ones health. Besides offering samples, it is possible to fire arrows at the plant life so that enemies are affected either with explosions or poisonous gasses. While the possibility is there, the practice is not. Despite Pandora being rich with plant life, the plants that can be used in combat are few and far between.

This sums up the action part of Na’vi game play. Being an adventure fan to the likes of Myst I found myself underwhelmed. In all, the adventure in the game can only be compared to the trade quests found in Zelda games. The most the player ever does in terms of adventure is to either completely map the current region, take out X number of enemies or devices, etc.

A final element in the game is the in-built conquest mini-game where the player is presented with a global map of Pandora and attempts to take back whole regions using turn based, real time strategy. As the player progresses via the main game, experience points are converted into currency so that extra units and base facilities can be purchased. Additionally, when an area is reclaimed, the player is given a reward for the mini-game (such as bonus units) or an enhancement to the main game character such as improved strength or defence.

Overall, while there are many game play elements, there is no integration between them. The end result is, frankly, a Jack of all trades, master of none. As stated earlier, the ineffective control scheme also made me want to avoid certain elements because they simply did not work. Finally, there is the question of the conquest mini-game. I do not see why strength, defence and other power up were not simply given as the player character levels up.

Story

One way to make a really good game is to present it with a really good story. In general, the player should see the development of the characters with each other, should relate to them and eventually understand the reasoning for each characters actions. As a rule of thumb, the player should be able to sympathise/relate to the protagonist.

Unfortunately, the story in incomplete and even leaves out the vitals as found in textbook stories. The story of the game does not even have an engaging plot. The protagonist (playable character) is just there as is the antagonist. Basically, the story of the game is just a string of events that self justify their existance.

Graphics and Sound

The crowning achievement of Avatar (the movie) is the creation of a completely digital environment that feels like it could actually exist. Pandora really is a place of intrigue, especially at night when all the plant and animal life give off a natural glow in the dark. Hence Pandora is just as beautiful at night as it is at day.

This attention to detail was well reflected in the game and is possibly the only good feature I can find thus far. Visually, the various locations are vibrant and the addition of Na’vi going about their daily takes adds an extra layer of realism. There is even a night time sequence in the game, again with matching detail as that found in the movie. My only complaint is that the night time segment is too short and it is (as far as I know) impossible to set off again. I only got to experience it for 15 minutes then it was day time again and it stayed that way for the rest of the game.

Finally, there is the sound. As much as I like the visual presentation of Pandora, visuals need sound to be taken seriously. And once again, this game fails to deliver. This is only around one or two sounds for each wildlife creature, two voices for the ground marines and basically stock standard environment sounds were used for the Pandora landscape.

Overall

While it is common knowledge that movie tie-in games shame the movies that represent, Avatar, as a whole, is worse in that it both shames and even tries to drag the movie down with it. Pandora had a lot to offer in terms of gaming and even offered the possibility of breaking the movie tie-in mould. Alas, this was not the case.

The game is crippled by having too many game play elements with no consistency between them. The controls are sloppy and there is no means of remapping them to suit the player. The sound is weak. Finally, the story is so minimal that it might as not be there.

I have heard that playing the game as a marine is significantly different but I am in no hurry to play this game again. Gaming is a form of interactive entertainment thus has to offer the player an engaging and enjoyable experience. Avatar does neither and if one has not seen the movie yet, I strongly recommend that one sees the movie before the game.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

2010-02-05T06:00:00.001+11:00

It has been almost a year since I last posted a review. Now that I have the time to do so, I am happy to be back and happy again to try my hand at game reviewing. The few people in the world who read this blog may have noticed that I tend to focus on adventure game and most of them have been on either the Nintendo DS or the Xbox 360.

At long last, this is going to change. This time, I am reviewing a game for the PlayStation 3. And I can think of no better way to start than by reviewing that widely praised gem, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.

A mix of multiple game genres, I view Uncharted as I do Mirror’s Edge: both break the high definition rule of the graphics being in either grey- or brown-scale. While I had enjoyed playing Uncharted, the game still has its weakness and as I always do in my past reviews, I am going to give credit where it is due and give constructive comments on the game and on how it can be improved.

Overview

Uncharted puts the player in the shoes of treasure hunter Nathan “Nate” Drake. According to the history books, British explorer, Sir Francis Drake, died and was buried at sea in 1596 and left behind no descendants. However, Nate is convinced that he is a descendant of Sir Drake and is intent on finding out what really happened after Sir Drake supposed final voyage.

With funding from a television reporter, Elena Fisher, Nate and his mentor, Victor Sullivan, locate Sir Drake’s coffin and find it empty besides a old journal. From there it is a cinematic action journey from remote jungle to an ancient Spanish ruin: all the while learning what has become of Sir Drake.

Gameplay

In a nutshell, Uncharted is mix of action, adventure and platforming. While there is the promise for variety in this game, most of the effort has been placed on the action element. Most of the time, the player will be engaged in fights ranging from gun slinging to close range melee.

Given that most of the game is action/combat, gameplay may soon become boring for some players. I personally found the battles repetitive and the fact there were only around three or four different character models used did not help the experience either.

In terms of adventure, the use of the term feels stretched at best. Puzzles are few, far between and often only involved finding a way to open a door to progress to the next area. The only other adventure element present was the underling mini-game where players could find ancient relics which unlocked in game bonuses: such as being able to have infinite ammo or making of videos.

Finally, there is the platforming aspect of the game. The best way to describe Uncharted’s platforming is to say they took the Tomb Raider concept and made it work. I have had a try of Tomb Raider in the past but one element that always ruined the experience for me was how picky Lara was with her ledges. In Uncharted, if Nate sees a ledge, he used it and tries to save his life.

Story

Coming from a Myst and J-RPG background, I like a good story. In the case of Uncharted, the best I can say is that the story is complete. The characters are rounded, there relations to other characters are clear and Nate as a character develops over time. He starts out determined to find out what happens to Sir Drake’s final voyage but when Elena comes into the equation, Nate is quick to try and find a way out for both him and her.

But, like my assessment of Myst, the completeness of the Uncharted’s story does not cover the fact that it is very thin and has been excessively stretched out by the numerous gun fights that happen throughout the game.

Graphics and Sound

As I have said at the start of this review, Uncharted breaks the (undesired) trend of high definition gaming having only grey- or brown-scale graphics. The graphics of Uncharted are vibrant and full of colour. Besides colour there is also a lot of detail to the environments.

When in forest areas, the environments are full of dynamic shadows, multiple light sources and animated foliage. The presence of nature could really be felt in these places and I could not help but feel that the environment itself was breathing.

The level of detail is clearly seen in the various ruins. All the stone and brick work in Uncharted actually give the impression that there were once people who lived there. It gave the environments themselves their own feel and I almost started to pity the decayed state of the ruins.

But where Uncharted stands out in terms of graphics is in its characters, specifically the amount of detail put to their faces. Each character has numerous express and all of them well detailed from their jaw line to their eye brows. This attention to realism is welcoming and it makes it a lot easier to relate to the characters.

Finally, the sound. Soundtrack wise, Uncharted is not that promising. There are a few tracks and they are similar enough to make it sound like the music is repeated. This deficiency I am willing to turn a blind eye to as it is the ambient sounds that won me over.

When out in the forests, one can clearly hear the rustle of leaves, the gurgle of streams and the crashing of waves on distant beaches. In ruins, the wind gives that empty howl that goes well with the fact that those who were there are no long gone.

Overall

I’ll be frank, Uncharted is not perfect, but it is a solid and safe game. While most high definition games come with the risk of being a wasted investment, Uncharted is a very sound purchase. The characters are relatable, the environments are vibrant and alive and the story is small yet complete. If anyone is thinking of getting a PlayStation 3, this is a game I highly recommend buying at the same time. In terms of improvements, all I can say is Uncharted could do with a richer story and that ratio of action, adventure and platforming be adjusted so that the game play is more varied.

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

2009-03-27T06:00:00.001+11:00

Even though it is the fourth game in the Ace Attorney series, Apollo Justice is the third game in the series that has been released here in Australia. Absence of predecessor aside, Apollo Justice follows the same formula as the previous games but has some very unique differences.

Apollo Justice is the first game in the Ace Attorney series to have been developed natively on the Nintendo DS. The three previous games in the series were originally GameBoy Advanced games released only in Japan and later getting enhanced DS ports which were released in multiple regions.

Overview

It is a new game in the series and we are introduced into a new protagonist. Replacing veteran Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright, is rookie attorney, Apollo Justice. Before the events of the game, Phoenix has his attorney badge taken away from him and not finds himself as Apollo's first client in a murder trial. As the game progresses, Apollo not only helps others escape jail but also learns of the characters around him.

Gameplay

I have to be honest. If one has played one Ace Attorney game, one has played them all. Over time, new features, characters and story elements are added but at its belly, Apollo Justice follows the same formula.

Like the previous games, Apollo Justice works in two modes: investigation and trial. Cases and the crime scenes are introduced in investigation mode, and players have the chance to uncover clues and learn about other characters. This gives players the chance to build their cases before the game goes into trial mode. During trials, the player has to use the clues and interactions with other characters to uncover lies in witness testimonies.

While boiler plate, Apollo Justice introduces two new features: one for each mode. Unlike previous Ace Attorney games, all clues the player finds can be examined in three dimensions. This can has significant implications. A humble watch can give a subtle hint the completely voids a witnesses' testimony. During trials, Apollo also has a bracelet that lets him carefully examine the body language of witnesses. For example, Apollo is able to see when a witness has a nervous twitch whenever he or she is lying. This ability comes in handy for instances when there is no direct evidence to discount a witness.

Graphics and Sound

Being designed for the DS first, there is a noticeable difference in the graphics. While still two dimensional, the colour depth has been enhanced, characters have more detail, and even character movements have improved animations.

While still containing sounds from all the previous games, the musical track is just as catching as ever. With the new graphics, an updated score is present. In the previous games, the music often added more impact to a situation and Apollo Justice is no exception. When a witness was presses and the truth came closer, the music became fast paced. This both adds to the atmosphere and gives a clear indication the player is on the right track.

Overview

While following toe-to-toe with the previous games, Apollo Justice is not completely boiler plate. Apollo Justice adds new features and makes use of the Nintendo DS hardware. In all, this is a game for both Ace Attorney veterans and new comers alike.

Wii Update supports SD Cards

2009-03-26T19:16:00.002+11:00

For a long time now, the SD slot in the Wii was used to show photos and to allow one to 'backup' his or her Virtual Console games and Channels. In keeping with Tradition, the Wii launched with very minimal hardware specifications. Not that it mattered, it still has better games that the XBox 360 and PS3 in my eye.

Anyhow, while one was able to backup Virtual Console games the SD card, one could not run the games off of it. Thus, if I moved a game to the SD card to free up the internal storage space, I had to move it back again if I wanted to play it.

At last, Nintendo have done something to make use of the SD slot. The new update for the Wii now allows owner to navigate the Virtual Console games and even Wii Channels stored on the SD card. Furthermore, one can even save Virtual Console games and Wii Channels from the Wii Store directly to the SD card.

Don't go thinking you can use it on a full internal memory though. While it says that one can play the games of the SD card, the truth is the game (or part of it) is temporarly copied to the internal storage before it is ran.

I found this out when I tried to play Ocarina of Time of my SD card. It wasn't until I removed some of the channels it finally started.

Requirements aside, this is a welcome addition to the Wii. Now if only Nintendo would work on a hard drive.....

OnLive: The Pros and Cons

2009-03-26T18:42:00.003+11:00

Imagine never having to pay for top of the line game hardware again. Imagine being able to play new games without the hassles of installation or driver configurations. This is the vision of OnLive, a new cloud computing based gaming service recently announce from the Game Developer’s Choice conference. Being interesting the cloud computing, I taking the time to offer my $0.02.

PC Gaming: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Years ago, I used to be a PC gamer. I liked the fact how I could play games in full resolution and enjoy the deeper worlds they offered. Unfortunately, PC gaming comes with a hefty price. Every six months, on finds him- or her-self paying through the nose for new hardware. And with new hardware comes the issue on whether the new hardware will work with your existing hardware. Finally, there is a strong chance of driver hell where an attempt to update the driver(s) for the new hardware destabilises the PC.

It is these issues that eventually made me abandon PC gaming and become a console gamer. I buy a game, I put it in the console and I play. I don’t need to reach for the Bible and pray that my PC is worth to the Gods of PC gaming, I just press START and I’m off.

OnLive: Gaming on Demand

It seems that OnLive is taking gaming simplicity one step further by running the game for remotely and then sending the result back. OnLive makes use of a new trend in computing called cloud computing, where a (for simplicity) very large super computers are accessible for a very low fee over the Internet.

The basic idea is OnLive runs games on their computing cloud, players send the actions via a thin client and the resulting audio and video output is sent back using a proprietary codec. For PCs and Macs client software is needed while players can opt for a wallet sized device with wireless controllers, USB, HDMI and Ethernet port.

The Pros

As the game is run in OnLive’s cloud, one no longer needs to worry about hardware and software purchase and configuration. Furthermore, one can either rent or pay for the full game. Sadly, this is where all the advantages stop.

The Cons

The obvious problem with OnLive is an Internet connection is needed. First, one is only able to play the game as long as the Internet connection is active. If the connection fails, the player is unable to continue until the connection is restored.

Also, as it is the audio and video streams that are being sent, it is possible to consume a significant portion of one’s allocation Internet play very quickly. Furthermore, while the codec is optimised, there is still some quality loss. In fact, to get 720p resolution games, one need a very fast broadband connection.

There is also an issue of Internet lag. While OnLive’s service plans to keep players within 1,000 miles of their servers, it is questionable if low latencies can be kept when there are many players using the same game or if someone else in the house hold starts a large download.

Finally, the payments are only for the right to play the games. Using OnLive, from what I have read, does not mean one actually owns a copy of the game. Interesting still is as the game is hosted on OnLive’s cloud, it is impossible to mod the game.

Overall

While it shows much promise, OnLive still has a ways to go. So far, it is surviving its beta tests but the issues of latency and transmission volumes are going to be large hurdles. I still welcome the idea, but it still needs a lot more work and even with the simplicity, it is still no substitute for locally ran games.

External Links

Prince of Persia

2009-03-20T06:00:00.000+11:00

Having never played a Prince of Persia game, I felt it was finally time I gave the games a try and find out what the hype was about. I can safely say I regret never playing the games and I now feel I denied myself a lot of fun. Personal reflection aside, time to examine the newest installment.

Overview

At the start of the game, the Prince is found fighting a sand storm calling out for his donkey. As soon as the sand storm clears, the Prince soon finds a female named Elika, who is being chased by some guards with spears.

Shortly after following Elika, the Prince soon finds himself helping her fight an achient God Ahriman: a evil good imprisons thousands of years ago that has been released and is bent on enshrouding the world in darkness.

To defeat the God, Arhiman, the Prince must aide Elika in travelling to four corrupted lands and restoring Fertile Grounds, which in turn remove the evil corrupting it and allowing Elika to gain now powers along the way.

Gameplay

The majority of the game play is acrobatic platforming. Taking control of the Prince, the player will spend most of his or her time having the Prince run, jump, run along walls and other physical surfaces in an almost Parkour style. The Prince also has a gauntlet that lets him cling to a wall and slowly descend no matter the height.

Even though there are four areas to travel to, the underlying designs of the levels are all the same. They all have the Fertile Grounds at their centre and the Prince has to navigate along the outer walls and eventually find the path that leads to the centre. Furthermore, the player is able to visit each of the four areas as he or she pleases.

To combat the similarity of all four levels, challenges introduced in a complete area appear are present when the player visits the remaining areas. While the transplant of challenges can make the areas more challenging, their impact is minimal at best.

As well as travelling with the Prince, Elika is a handy ally. Whenever the Prince mis-judges a jump or falls off a wall, Elika grabs hold of him and places the Prince back on the last solid ledge he was standing on.

This no-death feature immediately gives on the impression that the game has no challenge. This could not be further from the truth as there are instances in the game where the Prince has to travel a fair distance, almost half the length of an area, and if he falls off, he will be transported back to the ledge where he started.

The frustration only gets worse when the Prince is engaged in combat. Every once in a while, the Prince will either encounter an enemy or a boss and a fight sequence ensures.

Combat, in a word, is frustrating and jarring. During combat, the Prince stops running altogether and only paces back and forth depending on which direction the player indicates with the analogue stick. This change of pace tears the flow of the game and almost makes the game feel it has changed game play modes.

The main frustration of combat is the player has no target control. Once a battle starts, the Prince is automatically locked on his adversary. This prevents the player from quickly moving to a strategic location. Even though the player is able dodge and counter attacks, this is of little comfort.

During combat, Elika is able to help by saving the Prince by pulling him out of harm’s way if the enemy gets the better of him and is even able to perform acrobatic attacks of her own. Unfortunately, when Elika saves the Prince, the enemy gets an almost full health back and unless the Prince is dangerously close the enemy, Elika will not perform her acrobatic attacks.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics of Prince of Persia are very colourful, a change just as welcome as it was with Mirror’s Edge. In today’s gaming, high definition tends to mean that all graphics are, at best, grey- or brown-scale. Prince of Persia defies this rule by having colourful and almost anime-style visual.

This is not always the case though. When the Prince and Elika first visit a corrupted area, everything is in either blue- or green-scale. Added with enemies being black, traversing the levels can be difficult as obstacles are difficult to see even when viewing the game on the highest contrast and in a dark room.

Dark colouring aside, when a lead is restored to its full colour, it sometimes pays to sit back and drink in the scenery.

When it comes to sound, Prince of Persia puts it to very good use. While an area is corrupted, all sounds take on a greasy and or oily nature. The sounds in such areas feel as though they have been completely industrialised and nothing nature remains.

When an area is cleared of the corruption, all sounds are replaced with their organic counter parts. One can hear the water, the fresh breeze and even the ambient cry of birds.

Character Development

While the Prince has Elika as an ally, the development of the two feels as though it was placed there as an afterthought. Even though there are cut scenes where the Prince and Elika interact, any additional development between the two is only presented manually. To learn more, the player has to routinely stop moving and press one of the buttons to make the Prince and Elika interact.

While it does flesh out their development, the fundamental flaw with this approach is that players may complete the game without talking to Elika once. This can result in the player missing on vast amounts of the story, such as Elika’s background.

Overall

While Prince of Persia was off to a good start, the frustrating battles and manual character development tend to drag it down a bit. The two together tend to cause the flow of the game to stutter and clash with the fluid motion of the parkour style acrobatics.

Regardless, Prince of Persia is a nice change to gaming. Unlike other high definition games, this game is colourful, and instead of spending a majority blowing enemies to bits, the player is challenged mentally. After a long and frustrating battle, it was rewarding to look about and take in the atmosphere.

Mirror's Edge

2008-12-20T19:00:00.001+11:00

It seems the market is of the opinion that all we need are first person shooters. It's hard to get more than two feet without seeing one. Even if the genre is elsewhere, the FPS element somehow seeks in.

Mirror's Edge is a very welcome breath of fresh air. While in the first person, the game actually plays as a platformer. In essence, the game is a hybrid of Super Mario Bros. and Tomb Raider. This is rather saddening as while the concept is fresh, the underlying level design and the game as a whole let the concept down.

Overview

The game is set in a futuristic city where the government monitors all communication and movement of its citizens. The player plays as the main character, Faith, who is a runner, a form of courier. As all communication in the city is monitored, the only means of communication privacy is to hire a runner to transport sensitive documents or other items which are of the same size. Faith's sister, Kate, has been framed for the murder of a lawyer and politician and it is up to Faith to find clues as to why her sister has been framed.

Game Play

At its core, Mirror's Edge is an interactive form of parkour, the art of running and performing various acrobatic tasks in as few fluid movements as possible. This is very interesting and gives some interesting challenges to players. As well as looking at the screen, the player has to quickly take in the surroundings and judge for him- or her-self what to do next.

The game plays in the first person, thus adding to the emersion and makes the player feel as though he or she is the runner and not just someone holding a controller and pressing buttons. Also, to help ease new players, a feature in the game called ‘Runner Vision’ is used. Runner Vision causes some objects which can help the player progress be coloured red. If the player ever gets stuck, the idea is to look for red objects to help hint at what the player needs to do next.

There are also times when the player has to engage adversaries. Throughout the game various law and security forces will attempt to take out Faith. This can be problematic at times as Faith can only with stand a few light hits before dying and she some sometimes die faster as some adversaries carry shotguns and even machine guns. In keeping with the parkour concept, the player is able to run about and take out opponents using acrobatics or, if the level allows, sneak up and quietly disarm the opponent.

While Faith is able to engage opponents, the major flaw with the combat is Faith is only able to withstand two or three hits before being knocked out, forcing the player to restart transparent check points. There is no indication when one has been triggered, with adds to the frustration when the player finds him- or her-self back before a previously cumbersome puzzle that must now be solved again. Also, while Faith is able to use guns, she is unable to run even if she so much as holds a pistol. To make matters worse, the bigger the gun, the slow Faith moves.

While the combat feels weak, the issue is nowhere near as large as that of the level design. While promising in concept and possibilities, the game is heavily let down by its level design. While parkour is about moving quickly and fluidly through the environment, the design of the levels is lineal and offers little to no room for experimentation. While playing this game, I felt as though I had been penalised for not following the path chosen by the designers. While there is some room for deviance (like I could choose to run along an alternative wall or take and alternative nearby route to an obstacle) the breadth of this deviance is very minimal.

Even the Runner Vision feature soon turns out to be broken. While the intention of Runner Vision was to help give the player hints on what to do next, this feature doesn't always work as some objects will highlight but their actual function and role in completing the level is often ambiguous.

In the end, I feel that the level structure fails to make the best use of the parkour concept. Parkour would be more suited to designs such as that of Far Cry 2 or Fallout 3. Mirror’s Edge feels more suited towards mission based, free world game play. The player should have been given a mission and be free to use any building or roof top of the city to reach the goal.

Story

It has been advertised that Rhianna Pratchett, the duaghter of Terry Pratchett, helped to pen the story behind Mirror's Edge. I have heard of the Discworld books and given their popularity had high expectations of the story to the game. While playing this game, it felt as though Rhianna Pratchett was not used to the best of her abilities.

The overview of the story is Faith's sister has been framed and Faith runs about the roof tops looking for clues as to who framed her and why. This is the story to the game in a nut shell, and there is nothing more explained in the game.

The story itself lacks heavily in character development and the weakness of the story is made worse by parts of the story being separate to the game itself. Leading up to the release of the game, EA released some promotional videos, each presumably to detail a small part of the story. Firstly, I feel that if they were intended to describe the game, they should have been incorporated into the game itself. This is the same has having some chapters to a murder mystery novel kept separate from the book. Also, even with the videos there are only subtle hints and still nothing is seriously explained such as why Faith is against the city itself.

The biggest flaw of the story is the absence of motivation. It is unclear as to why the runners are so troublesome to the government. It is unclear as to why people would want to use them in the first place. It is even unclear as to why the government is even hiring runners to work for the government itself.

Graphics and Sound

The game itself makes use of the UT3 engine, thus it is safe to say the graphics are very detailed. The game environment is expansive, even though the player has no option to explore, and there is a good attention to detail even to the distant buildings. The only critics I have is the lack of reflections in the game. While there are plenty of windows in the game, the windows themselves are often polarised and only emit a low detailed reflection of the surroundings. While cosmetic, better reflections would have added more feel to the game.

Sound is very well made. The ambiance actually give the person a feeling of being in a real city when on closes his or her eyes. The player is able to hear the wind, the occasion commuter and the traffic. All the sounds in the game blend in and I feel they make the best of the environment.

Finally, the music. In as few words possible: perfect. The soundtrack added rich mood to the levels and really added to the impact whenever combat takes place. If anything, this game is worth getting if only to hear the soundtrack.

Summary

While plagued by faults, the game itself was still worth the time and effort it took to complete. The concept alone is very unique, especially for this season where it has been dominated by first person shooters. The environment is still atmospheric, and soundtrack is enjoyable. Graphics wise, Mirror's Edge is very different in that it's bright and colourful. This is another welcome change as mose high definition games are almost grey- or brown-scale in colour. I hope at some point us as players will be given the option to roam the city itself and not be constrained by the design of the levels.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All

2008-12-05T06:00:00.002+11:00

A year later (game wise) and our favourite Defense Attorney, Phoenix Wright, is back. As well as facing new cases, Phoenix meets new people and has a few new possibilities in proving the innocence of his client.

Gameplay

This second game plays like the previous game. Again there are two modes, investigation and trial. In investigation mode, players are able to look at the crime scene and various locations for clues to use a evidence in the court trials.

Additions to the game mechanics are subtle, at best. As well as looking for clues and, Phoenix now has a new ability called Psylock. The characters in the game are guarding secrets they do not want known and it is only through the Psylock can these secrets be extracted.

In a nut shell, the Psylock basically bring Phoenix's trial abilities into the investigation mode where a series of questions and evidence is presented to get to the truth.

Additionally, as well as evidence, the player is able to present character profiles as evidence. While this expands the possibilities of solving a tough case, the expansion is still weak and overall the game play of this new game is just the same as the previous one.

Graphics and Music

This game was also once the GameBoy Advanced and was only released in Japan. Since being ported to the Nintendo DS, the graphics are still the same. Or I would say, as I never played the game in its original form.

The original game made better use of the Nintendo DS hardware by having an additional mode where evidence could be rotated and examined in three dimensional space. Unfortunately, this game does not have such an addition and apparently only has the same set of cases as its original GameBoy Advanced version.

Story

The real additions to the game are the new cases the player gets to solve. Like the previous game, each case is independent yet linked in some manner. As well as new cases, the player is presented with additional characters to the base cast.

Aside from a new prosecutor, there is also the addition of Pearls, Maya Fei's cousin. Through Pearls' interactions, the player is told a little more about Maya's family and its origins. Furthermore, one of the cases takes place in Maya's home village, where the bulk of Maya's past is learned.

Maya's family set aside, another story running in the game is Phoenix's inner thoughts as a defence laywer. Through this game, Phoenix ideas are put to the test, the toughest being in the final case where has to decide if he honestly can defend his client when all of the evidence proves beyond a doubt he is guilty.

Overall

While the game is lacking in new additions, the new story and cast still make the game worth playing. This is more of a game for the hard core Ace Attorney fans as there is not much for casual players of the Ace Attorney games. The game is worth a try, just to learn more of the characters and personally I feel this game is more immersive than the last, especially in the final case where Phoenix has to decide if he really can defend his client.

At the end of the day though, if I had to rank them, I would have to say Justice for All falls behind the first Phoenix Wright.

I'm not gone

2008-12-01T06:00:00.000+11:00

I think the phrase, "I'm note dead", is tired here in the blog sphere.

To those who do read this blog, I'm still about and I'm hoping to get back to it.

I hope to continue my style of game reviewing and hope to improve over time through both my own lessons and any constructive comments from the blog.

After a long hiatus, a new review is on the way.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

2008-05-28T06:00:00.004+10:00

Ever wanted to be an Attorney? Ever wanted to defend the innocent? Do you love watching the bad guys sweat and break under the pressure?

If the answer is 'yes' to any of this, then you're in for a treat.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, is the first an the Ace Attorney series of Nintendo DS games where you play up and coming rookie Attorney, Phoenix Wright. The game itself is in essence a point and click adventure game only with less clues to find and more of the puzzles are oriented towards you using your own head.

Overview

The overall premise of the game is simple: you have to defend your client from a guilty verdict by finding clues that prove his or her innocence. The proof of innocence is made even harder by witnesses blatantly lying while in the witness stand and it is up to you to find evidence that unmasks their lies.

The Ace Attorney series of games actually started out as Japan only releases on the Nintendo Game Boy Advanced. In the case of the English versions of the games, they have been ported to the DS which has stronger graphics processing and larger EPROM storage. As well as being ported, an additional, DS exclusive chapter is added to the DS version. The additional chapter makes strong use of the DS's touch screen and 3D rendering capabilities.

In the original chapters, you could only look at still images of evidence where as the bonus chapter allows you to zoom in and even rotate evidence to find more clues. There is even a finger print feature that uses the screen to place powder and the microphone to blow it away.

The main feature of the game is you get to shout "OBJECTION" or "TAKE THAT" when you go to present evidence for find a contradiction in the testimony of a witness. This has been made possible either by touching the command on the touch screen or by shouting into the microphone.

However, as I haven't played the original series I cannot tell what the difference is. Thus the question on any audio and visual improvements is going to have to remain unanswered from me.

Game Play

While episodic, Phoenix Wright only has two game modes: investigation and trial. In investigation mode, you get to interview witnesses, see the crime scene and gather clues. It is in this mode that you get the chance to find physical evidence to help you prove that the witness is lying.

The other mode is trial mode, were the game plays out in the court room and you have to cross examine a series of witnesses. As well as the witnesses lying, proving your clients' innocence is made difficult by your in game opponent: the prosecution.

While you are there to defend your client, the prosecution is there to prove your client guilty. Some case, the prosecution will do anything to get a guilty verdict. Seriously, there is not stopping them.

Prosecutors set aside, you are able to find lies in the witness testimonies by presenting evidence whenever they say something they you believe is false. Failing that, the player has the option to 'press' the witness. This is where their current line of though is questioned harder to find any more contradictions. It is even possible to greatly discredit a witness just by pressing him or her.

Story

The basic formula for the story to the game is someone gets accused of a crime and it's up to you to run between the court room and the crime scene to find evidence to prove your client innocent.

While the game has one prologue (to teach the player how to play the game) and four stories, they are all both independent yet connected. At its most abstract, the player works through three seemingly independent cases but through out each case there are references to yet another unsolved case which finally is drawn to a close near the end of the game.

As the story progresses we learn more about the main protagonist, Phoenix, and though around him. Of interest to players is how Phoenix slowly reveals why he became an attorney in the first place, and why others have taken their own paths.

Graphics and Sound

Porting set aside, the graphics of Phoenix Wright are 2D all the way (except for the evidence and some scenes in the latter chapter). The characters are anime/manga styled and they are back set by almost water colour still scenery.

It is the sound and music to Phoenix Wright adds to the mood of the game. Each character and witness you meet has his or her own theme and the tone of the background music becomes more fast paced and high pitched as your draw near revelations or stress out your witness.

Overall

In short, Phoenix Wright is a game one can play in short bursts. Though that can be hard as the game has an appeal that keeps one playing long until the evening. There aren't many adventure games these days out there thus Phoenix Wright is easy to stand out thanks to the narrow pool of its genre.

That set aside, the game itself is fine piece of work. Deep thinking puzzles, strongly styled characters, atmospheric music. All of this in one little cartridge that doesn't require large time commitments.

Talks @ Game On

2008-05-26T10:50:00.007+10:00

I recently had the chance to attend a talk entitled Virtually Ethical on Game On at ACMI. For those not around here, Game On is a exhibition running here in Melbourne show casing the history of video gaming from the Magnavox Odyssey all the way to the current generation consoles. It will take a while for me to compile my notes so keep an eye on this space.

Another talks I hope to mention here is about the What Makes a Good Game talk. I unfortunately didn't get to attend as I wasn't aware a ticket was required that day. Thankfully, Jason Hill of The Age's Screen Play blogged the recording for those who didn't get in. Those interested can find it here.

Myst: A Retrospective View

2008-05-21T17:03:00.000+10:00

Myst, is not a game many people know about. And of those who know what it is, even fewer like the game. The reason for this is Myst is (as some have dubbed) a Interactive Slide Show. The game itself consists of hundreds, if not thousands of pre-rendered stills; each representing a point of view.

It needs to be pointed out that back when Myst came out (around 1995), this was the limit of most hardware. And hardware that was capable of 3D even had limits.

Never the less, I'm one of the few that likes this game and feel like giving it a little attention.

Overview

Myst is one of the first point and click adventure games and (if Wikipedia is to be believed) also encouraged the adoption of CD-ROMs in computers, the game itself needing two in an age where most games came on floppy disks.

Myst starts out in a 'push in' approach; where you are thrown right in with no explaination as to how you ended up there. You find yourself on a strange island called Myst where books are portals to other worlds like Myst.

Shortly after arriving on Myst, you learn of a tragedy that has befallen Myst and you also find two brothers trapped in such books. It is up to the player to solve puzzles both on Myst and on subsequent worlds (which are accessible via other books) inorder to unravel the mystery.

Design

Myst is a hub-based game; Myst Island acts as the main hub where you go to and from other worlds via books found after solving various puzzles. The puzzles themselves are a work of art. In Myst, puzzles are not restricted to visual or mathematical problems, that also incorporate sounds.

While innovative for it's time, it still had one major problem. While the game was full of puzzles, the story to the game was thin and spread out even thinner between puzzles. The two combine together to give plenty of frustration and will drive away many players.

Story

The story to Myst is told by finding journals, loose notes, and the odd holographic player. But the main elements of the story are told from two brother's; Sirrus and Ackenar who have been trapped inside the many books on Myst. As the game progresses they reveal more as to what happens to them.

The catch is one accuses the other wrong doing and it is up to the player to eventually tell who is telling the truth. The player has to carefully take into consideration what the two say and what they have found as they play the game.

Graphics and Sound

One of the features of Myst was the high level of detail and creativity of art in the still images that provided the game's visuals. In one world you find yourself in a wide ocean covered world where all living spaces are up in tall slender trees. In another you find yourself of a large rock spire with half a ship sticking out of it.

To complement the graphics, hand made sounds are used (they didn't use a sound effects CD, or so I know at the time of writing). While in organic areas, the world is full the sounds of running water, soft breezes and the groan of tree wood. One the more 'metalic' worlds, you sound make the same shift. Wind sounds, for example, more 'manufactured', as though it is no longer to follow natural forces.

Overall

While not the top sell we see now, Myst is still very much a cult classic. In spite the issues of the long runs of story threatening to make the story collapse, the game is still able to hold itself together. While there are many puzzles, they are also challenging thus making us more determined to get the better of them. But the key feature of Myst is the detail behind the visuals and sounds. Sometimes I like to close my eyes and imagine myself in one of those worlds.

Look out World, Here I Come!

2008-05-18T16:54:00.006+10:00

Hello everyone, welcome to my blog.

My name is WiseHacker and I have my interests in gaming, anime and too many other places to mention.

This blog will be home to any comments I have on the gaming and anime any reviews I find the time to make.

Have fun all, I will post again when I have some decent content to present.