Shadow of the Colossus

Shadow of the Colossus
Adventure - Playstation 2
Memory Card - 10 saves
1 player

SotC is the followup effort from Team Ico. While it still retains the puzzle-platforming elements (jumping, grabbing, climbing, moving along ledges, etc.) of ICO, SotC forges its own path by concentrating on one thing: Boss fest.

Shadow of the Colossus does away with regular enemies and dungeons and gets right to the point. There are sixteen bosses in the game scattered throughout the game world. The locales and surroundings really convey a sense of isolation, which adds to the mysterious atmosphere. And the map is huge! You could get lost easily and be wandering around for hours. But the game provides a form of guidance... raise your sword in the sunlight and a light will point in the general direction of the next colossus to fight. While that may seem like it's too easy, it's actually just the right amount of guidance, because it shines a straight path to the boss. But because of how the world is laid out, it's not always so straightforward to actually find a colossus.

Once you encounter a boss, fights are not very difficult. But they are challenging. The best part about SotC is that the bosses all require a bit of thinking. Each of them have certain weakpoints. The key to the game is figuring out where those weakpoints are, and how to get to them. They are colossi after all, so they are anywhere between 10 to 50x your size! You'll have to use your brain, whatever items are available to you, your landscape, and the bosses themselves to take them down. In case you get stuck, the game will also drop a clue or two. They're generally helpful enough to get you to think in the right direction, but they're vague enough so as not to give away the solution. I usually don't like hand-holding in games, but this one does it at just the right level. I really enjoy these types of logic-based fights, as it makes every fight unique.

There are also some platforming elements that are similar in style to Ico and Prince of Persia. In the beginning, these elements are pretty minor. But towards the end, you'll really have to master the controls. The situations will force you to do so. All in all it's a game that's all meat, and no filler.

SotC isn't perfect though. The framerate is choppy, as if the PS2 just couldn't handle it. And like many 3D games, the camera can be a nuisance. But while these flaws exist, they hardly made the game unplayable. The game would be the same whether it had a stuttering framerate or ran at a smooth 60 fps. And the camera can be manipulated with the analog stick.

While there may be a couple of technical concerns, Shadow of the Colossus shines everywhere else. I haven't come across any other game like it. There have been puzzle platformers before, but this is the first puzzle boss rush. The way the designers spread the bosses out on a huge living and breathing world completes the package. Although sixteen bosses doesn't sound like a large number, the game is plenty long with the travel time & thinking time. Everything is about exploration - exploring the world to find the next colossus, and exploring the colossus to find its weakpoints. It's a cool concept, and an even cooler game. This is a modern classic.

Phoenix Wright Justice for All

Phoenix Wright Justice for All / Gyakuten Saiban 2
Adventure - Nintendo DS
Battery Backup - 1 save, 1 quicksave
1 player

One of the things I love about this series is the continuity of story. GS2 is a direct follow-up to the first game. Events that occured in the original will be referenced here. Characters from the past will return here as well. Every action has a consequence for this game, and games to come. In case you missed it, Gyakuten Saiban is a visual novel where you play the role of a defense attourney. You'll have to do investigations to gather evidence, and then find contradictions in court to win your case. It's a refreshing idea, and Capcom has executed it well. Once GBA games, they have been rereleased for the DS with touch-screen functionality for easier interface. Once again, GS2 DS has both Japanese and English options. Justice for All only has English.

There's not a whole lot to say about GS2. If you've played the first, you know what to expect. Slight differences exist, though. The first game had an exclusive DS-only case. This one does not. Instead, it has four total cases. But the cases are fairly long and still make this a 15-20 hour game. Also, whereas the original generally had 3 days of court proceedings, GS2 keeps them to 2. This might seem like you're getting less, but that's not the case. There are some additions that change up the style of play.

The major addition is "psych-locks". You'll receive an item that allows you to get a sense of a person's heart. If someone is harboring a secret, you're able to see that they have locked their heart away from you. The only way to break the locks are to present them evidence that you already kinda know what they're hiding from you. Then they'll confess with you the truth. What this means is that while the court sessions are shortened, investigation sequences are elongated. You'll also be penalized if you present wrong evidence in unlocking the psych-locks, however if you successfully unlock them all, you can remove penalties. This creates a feeling of tension both inside and outside of the courtroom. I welcome the change, as it makes this second outing feel slightly different from the first.

Another addition to the game is the ability to use people as "evidence". You'll have your normal list of evidence items, but there's also profiles of each character you come in contact with. So that way, you can ask people you meet about other characters. I also enjoyed this addition because it helps to flesh out the characters more. Sometimes the details are important for the case, and other times it's just background information. Either way, it helps the game to feel less rigid.

Overall, I liked the game, but for different reasons than the first. In honesty, I thought the cases themselves were less interesting/more bizarre. Maybe I thought they were less interesting -because- they were more bizarre. It just removes a layer of realism so it's harder to take seriously. Nevertheless, the additions in gameplay were interesting, and I can't wait to see what else they do. Justice for All/GS2 also furthered the running continuity of its world and I can already see that things are set in motion for future titles. GS3 DS couldn't come sooner.

Anubis Zone of the Enders Special Edition

Anubis Zone of Enders Special Edition
Action - PS2
Memory Card - 5 save slots
1-2 player

I've never played the first ZOE. But maybe that's a good thing, because no one really talked about it aside from the MGS2 demo bundled with it. That all changed with ZOE2. I'm not sure what Kojima changed in the sequel, but people began to take notice. I had the chance to finally play through Anubis ZOE Special Edition. Anubis ZOE is the Japanese name of the title (US: ZOE the 2nd Runner), and the Special Edition refers to the bonus content, extra difficulty levels, extra missions, versus mode, etc that was added to the budget rerelease. This is one cool game! But being a cool game and being a good game are totally different things.

Anubis has some of the slickest visuals I've seen in a game. The CG mecha cut scenes are action-packed and meticulously directed. The actual game visuals are no less impressive, with explosions, laser showers and enemies surrounding you. The craziest weapon in the game forms in real-time around your mecha as you charge it for 20 or so seconds. Everything oozes style.

The actual game ain't too shabby either. It's advertised as high speed mecha action, and that's exactly what it is. You have full freedom to fly in any direction - left analog to position, R2 to dash/fly, and ascend/descend buttons. The controls are fluid and very intuitive. There is a lock-on cursor that directs your attacks to specific enemies, so that your camera is directed toward where the enemies are. This is extremely helpful because fast moving enemies will fly all over the place and you need to be able to locate them quickly if you're taking them down. You're also able to grab objects in the environment - sometimes even enemies - and use them as shields or weapons! It's all very cool. Boss battles play out in clever fashion. Most of them require deciphering patterns and figuring out weaknesses. This is just the way I love my boss fights.

With all these things going for it, what went wrong?

It all comes down to the core of the gameplay. It really isn't particularly interesting. Maybe it's because I haven't played too many 3D action games, but I can't help comparing ZOE2 to Ninja Gaiden Black. I get a similar vibe from both of them. Problem is, ZOE2 is vastly inferior. The action in Anubis is limited mostly to a single attack button. There is a sub-weapon button too, but those aren't usually used in conjunction with your main attack. For ranged combat, your choices are a homing laser or a energy shot. For melee combat, you have a sword that's good for a combo consisting of button mashing the attack button 4x. The gameplay is too simple for its own good. In fact, there's not a whole lot to do in the game aside from button-mash the attack & dash buttons all the way through.

Some other irritations come with the camera. Because of the lock-on system, your camera is always centered on an enemy. It's helpful when you're actively unleashing an offensive attack to kill an enemy. But there were instances where I wished to have my free camera back so I could avoid flying into traps. There are some parts of game where you could get killed by the environment. But if your camera is locked in on an enemy, you're not able to fly correctly. That is, your controller motions only navigate your mech with respect to your enemy. Not with respect to your physical coordinates, so while taking down an enemy, you could end up being crushed by enclosing walls and not see it coming. Another annoyance is when you first start playing the game, there are cut scenes every 10 seconds. I like cut scenes and all but come on! Let me play the game! These little issues aren't game-breakers. Just annoyances.

Still, Anubis Zone of Enders is a well-executed game overall. My main concern is the gameplay isn't all that great. With the lack of depth in the action, there isn't much to do but push the same two buttons over and over again. The bosses are definitely the highlight of the game. I thoroughly enjoyed those battles, and am curious to see how things change on higher difficulties. But even fun boss fights and nice visuals can't save Anubis from being a (well-executed) mediocre experience.

Zero Shisei no Koe/Fatal Frame 3

Zero: Shisei no Koe
Survival Horror - PS2
Memory Card - 5 save slots
1 player

Here comes the finale to Tecmo's Zero/Fatal Frame series. As a finale, Shisei no Koe brings together both story & gameplay elements from the first two games, while trying to maintain its own identity. To that end, the 3rd entry pulls it off pretty well. But it's in this new identity that the game completely trips over itself.

Rei is the new protagonist for this outing. The story begins with an auto accident that leaves Rei alive, but her fiance, Yuu, dead. As she tries to return to a life of normalcy, on one photographer assignment she sees Yuu and takes a picture. Sure enough, when the photo is developed, he is in it. What's going on here? And why does she find herself in a freaky mansion when she sleeps? Soon her assistant, Miku (heroine of the first game) begins to dream of the same world. When Kei, a friend of Yuu and coincidentally a relative of the twins in the second game, gets involved, then he's dragged into it too. As you can already see, everything seems a little too far-fetched and contrived.

The overall game structure is quite different from the first two games. Since the manor takes place in dreams, you have to sleep in order to visit the nightmare realm. Each day, you'll be in Rei's apartment triggering events so that it'll become evening. Occasionally some of the dream oddities will seep into reality, so even her apartment is not necessarily a safe haven. Sleeping enters you into the dream world, and usually at the start of a new chapter. Finish its objectives, and you'll wake up in reality the next day - sometimes very abruptly. It's very cyclical.

It's the cyclical nature that makes Zero 3 feel like a chore. Whenever you're in Rei's apartment, you make the exact same paths to every location to make sure you haven't missed a new item that has sprung up or a trigger point. It's completely repetitive, and you have to do it every day and night. The feeling isn't much different even when you're in the dream manor. You'll come to see that little thought was given to item locations because 95% of the items are in the same location every night. The game becomes too predictable for its own good.

Related to the respawning items is Shisei no Koe's general lack of difficulty. I've found most of the enemies to be easier than ghosts in the previous two games. But what makes it worse is that you start each dream with 3 medicine bottles, with chance of collecting 7 more each night. So there's no penalty for using medicines since you always get them. If you should happen to run out, you could even leave the dream and come back to have it reset to 3 without having to redo all the events over again. This is the finale! Why are they suddenly being so lenient? There are a couple of ghosts that will give you trouble, but they are almost too hard (cheap?) for their own good.

Then the latter quarter of the game, they have this stupid gimmick where you have to collect these "Purifying Light" candles to keep the main ghost away. The designers probably thought it would create tension, but in a game like this where you may have to figure out your next destination, it creates irritation instead. Why should I be penalized for exploring the mansion the game gives me? Luckily there are enough purifying light items scattered throughout, that you probably won't ever be stuck without it for too long. But if they're readily available, then why have it as a system in the first place? The whole thing just reeks of a last-minute addition.

Despite my barrage of criticism, it's a Zero game so it's still doing something right. The scares are still present, although it's a little less psychological. And the combat is still fun - the best aspects from the previous games made it. I found Crimson Butterfly to be too slow in its battles, so I'm very grateful to see that they made it as fast-paced as the first game, with the technical aspects from the second. You still need to wait for openings, and chain fatal frame opportunities accurately, but without those annoying 5 second reload times. The powerful film is much more sparse this time, so that improvement is much needed.

I found myself liking Zero Shisei no Koe less because it's a good game, and more because it's a Zero game. Throughout the entire time, I did not feel all that connected to it. The combination of lazy repetitive design & jarring transitions from dream world to real world kept me from being immersed in the dream manor. The story did not tie up some of the bigger questions (although, I do know there is an alternate ending at higher difficulty). The framerate stuttered so badly at times, that the action slowed to a crawl. It also lacked variety in enemies. Get 70% through, and you've seen all the ghosts you're going to fight. It just seemed like the game was poorly planned and rushed to market without a clear focus. It's also unfortunate that it wasn't ported to the XBox, because 5.1 audio makes a game like this so much more atmospheric. But if it's of any consolation, they packed a lot of extras (costumes, photo & video galleries, mission mode, etc) into this one.

There was just nothing special about Zero 3 - the first two games one-upped it on pretty much everything. The only exception would be the last boss. Now that was an intense challenge! It's just a shame that the rest of the game couldn't match up.

Rhythm Tengoku

Rhythm Tengoku
Rhythm - Gameboy Advance
Battery Backup - 1 save
1 player

From the makers of Wario Ware, Inc. comes another quirky compilation. This time it's a collection of rhythm games. Perhaps due to the success of the Brain Training games, Rhythm Tengoku emulates that kind of structure. The game starts out with a preliminary assessment of your rhythm ability. From there, you'll be playing a variety of rhythm minigames. Depending on how well you do, your rhythm ability rating will go up or down.

The minigames themselves are all totally random and quite ... unorthodox. One minigame has these two characters bouncing on a trampoline. Press the buttons according to the rhythm and the trampoliners will turn into foxes. Then back into humans. Then foxes. Yeah. I don't get it either. My favorite minigame is a set of four girls dancing to Ondo music. As the singer sings the lyrics, you just have to clap whenever the word "Pan" is sung. It's very cute and can be quite funny too. Whenever you mess up, the other girls glare at you. Some of the cooler stages are what's called "Remix" stages. Remix stages basically take the last 6 stages and "remix" them into a single minigame. It's pretty awesome in tying all the stages together to test what you've learned.

The way the overall game works is that you play a minigame. If you fail, then you can't move on. Once you pass it, you'll unlock the next minigame. If you do especially well, you'll be awarded a medal for that minigame. Medals help unlock extras in the game, such as bonus stages or options. And finally, as you progress, sometimes a previous minigame will be highlighted with a Perfect Challenge. If you then pass that minigame without any mistakes, you'll earn a Perfect rating on it. One neat extra is the chance to jam with a band as a drum player. You're not graded on your performance, so there's no challenge in it. But it's just a free-form session of just being able to mess around and create your own beats to the songs. It's a great inclusion just for the ability to let loose and be free.

Rhythm Tengoku isn't particularly lengthy, although it does have a plentiful amount of minigames. But there's a lot of replay value in first passing all the stages, then medaling all the stages, and finally getting a perfect on all the stages. I haven't quite accomplished getting 100% perfect, but I'm working on it. The minigames can be pretty challenging, and the timing is far less forgiving than most rhythm games I've played. But that's also what makes Rhythm Tengoku fun. Practice makes perfect.

The Gameboy Advance is pretty much on its last legs. But with games like Rhythm Tengoku, it's going out with a huge bang. This is definitely a treat for rhythm lovers everywhere.

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan
Rhythm - Nintendo DS
Battery Backup - 1 save
1-2 players

Funny thing. Ouendan may be more well known in the West than it is in Japan. In Japan, sales were absolutely dismal, among the worst selling DS games in its library. Yet, on certain internet English gaming boards, Ouendan has gotten a lot of buzz. Its supporters claim it's the best game on the DS. Apparently the buzz must have been something, because Japanese developer INiS is creating an English version from the ground-up just so that it can come out in the West.

The concept is simple. Use your stylus to touch circles on the screen on-beat, follow the paths of those circles, and make spinning motions as fast as you can as directed. It's very similar to most rhythm games where the key is to follow the beat. A score of 300 is given for exact timing. Being slightly off results in a score of 100. A bigger deviation achieves a score of 50. Anything outside of that is a miss. But Ouendan makes this rhythm game its own by utilizing the DS' features. Not only do you have to be on-beat, but you must tap the exact position of the circles on the touch screen. This adds a dimension of accurate positioning on top of accurate timing. Ouendan also features really nice "choreography" in its positioning of its tap circles. It will feel like you're dancing using the stylus. It's in this connection that makes Ouendan stand out in its genre. There's no other game like it.

Presentation is also top-notch, with a total wacky-jappy feel to it. The whole basis of the game stems from a "cheering squad" of men. Each stage has its own story told manga-style. The story usually presents a difficulty, and then in a cry of desperation, they'll call out for this cheering squad. So your rhythmic and choreographed actions will help the male cheerleaders cheer on the scenario character. Playing two players (requires two carts) gives you the option of cooperative play or competitive. Cooperative play just splits the notes between both users. Either way, you'll get an entirely new set of stories specific to multiplayer. It's a neat bonus. As far as the songs, most are famous jRock songs, but there's a little pop and hip hop thrown in there too. Technically the songs are covers, but they tried to find singers that emulate the original material and it works pretty well.

All of this adds up to a package that is unforgettable and irresistable. With several difficulty options and a rank given to you based on overall score, you'll have a blast playing your way through all the stages again and again for improvement. You're not really give anything extra for it, but the game is so fun that you'll want to replay it anyway. Ouendan isn't my favorite DS game - that title still belongs to Daigassou Band Brothers, but it's a definitely a must-buy. It's one of the few games that could only be done on the DS. It's truly a unique experience.

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney / Gyakuten Saiban Yomigaeru Gyakuten
Adventure - Nintendo DS
Battery Backup - 1 save, 1 quicksave
1 player

Capcom's Gyakuten Saiban is a series that started out on the GBA and has an enormous following. It's an adventure game in lawyer's clothing. Your role is a defense attourney and not only will you be conducting investigations outside of the courtroom, but you'll have to poke holes into witness testimony in the courtroom to win cases. This DS outing is a port of the first game, with the inclusion of a 5th case specific to the DS. A fourth GyakuSai game will be released soon for the DS as well. An interesting thing to note is that the Japanese version of the DS game comes with an English option, so importers actually get both languages.

But is the game any good? I'd say it depends on whether you could enjoy a text adventure game. You can't get around that structure. Sometimes you'll have the option to examine a crime scene using a point and click interface. Sometimes you'll need to figure out what to show people in order to get them to help you. But by and large, you'll be reading tons of text with little interactivity. If you can get past that, Phoenix Wright is quite an interesting game.

What I like most about it is that there's a logical component. In the courtroom, you are presented with testimonies from witnesses and using only what they say, you have to find ways to disprove their version of events. You'll have to know every piece of evidence you have inside-out and point out contradictions. Many are not immediately obvious, but the clues are there. You just have to pay attention to detail. It's in this logical aspect that differentiates Phoenix Wright from other games of the genre.

What's also great about the game is its continuity of story and depth of characterization. There are 5 total cases here and while they could easily be 5 unconnected court cases in the life of an attourney, Phoenix Wright takes great care in its characters. Characters are affected by outcomes of previous court cases. There are consequences to each case that shape who the main characters become. The characters are not simply static roles, but rather people with their own motivations, their own goals, their own beliefs, and all of these things change as time progresses. Care was also taken in its English translation, which is much appreciated. It's obvious from the references that they did not literally translate the dialog from the Japanese version. All of the important bits, yes, but all the names are changed, and many of the jokes were also changed to read more fluidly. The dialog made me laugh on many an occasion.

The entire time I was playing it, I couldn't put the game down. It's not perfect - the second case was kinda hokey, the game structure is really strict as to when you present evidence to advance the story, there are typos and spelling errors throughout the fifth case, etc - but Phoenix Wright stands out for its use of logic, its great translation, and its realistic portrayal of characters. At about 35 hrs length, it's pretty meaty for an adventure game. I can't wait to see what's next. With that, I couldn't be happier that a port of GyakuSai 2 was recently announced for the English DS audience.

Riviera ~ The Promised Land

Riviera ~ The Promised Land
RPG - Gameboy Advance
Battery Backup - 3 saves, 1 quicksave
1 player

While developer Sting has experience with RPG-like games, they have never made a traditional jRPG - until Riviera. But for a jRPG, Riviera is as non-traditional as they come. Whether that's a good or bad thing is up for debate. Opinions for Riviera span the spectrum. Some find it incredibly dull and limiting. Others enjoy the streamlined structure and the strategic battles. They will all agree on one thing though. The game is slow. I found it to be all of those things. A mish-mash of different ideas, Riviera tries but succeeds in part.

Let's talk streamlining. Riviera feels almost SRPG-like in structure because of the lack of free movement. In both towns and dungeons, you move one room at a time. In each "room", you can look at the surroundings, interact with objects, talk to people or move to the next room via menus or controller inputs. You do not physically move your character around with the D-pad like other traditional jRPGs. It's more comparable to old games like Deja Vu/Uninvited/Shadowgate. But unlike those games, whenever you investigate objects, it will cost you Trigger Points (TP). If you don't have any TP, you can't open the treasure chests you find or discover any special items. TP is acquired through high scoring battles or clearing a previous chapter with a high score. This adds a cap to what you're able to investigate so you have to weigh your options. But, if you do well in your fights, you'll never really be short of TP. You'll also encounter various QTEs. Chests will have traps on them or you'll need to jump over large gaps or whatever the situation, so you'll be challenged to enter button combinations in a short time interval or to time button-presses to navigate these parts. This just adds some variety to these segments.

The battles also keep with the theme of choosing wisely. Every weapon has a limited number of uses, and you can only carry 15 different items at any given time. This makes those treasure chests you find all the more valuable. But it's not as bad as it sounds. Chests are pretty frequent and enemies will also drop weapons. It's just that the 15-item carrying capacity forces you to balance out your arsenal. What's neat is that although every character can pretty much use every weapon/item, the actual attacks and effects are character-specific. Weapon attacks can be multi-hit, can have elemental properties, can target specific enemies, or can allow you to do an OverDrive attack. Overdrive attacks function much like the special attack meter in Street Fighter. Whenever you hit an enemy, or they hit you, your overdrive meter rises from level 0-3. Overdrive attacks generally dish out more damage and can be fight-winners. They can also vary on how much of the Overdrive meter is required for usage. Since only 3 party members and 4 weapons/items can be selected per battle, this causes you to weigh out what you think is needed for each fight. Luckily, it's not a blind guess because you are given information on the strengths/weaknesses of each enemy during party and item selection. So there's a bit of pre-battle strategy to consider. But it doesn't stop there.

The actual battles themselves are also very strategic. While you're monitoring your own OverDrive bar, your opponent has a Rage bar. It functions very similarly to yours, but there are some differences. The Rage bar is raised whenever you hit the enemy. But the Rage bar drops between turns. Whenever the rage bar is below the Rage level, your opponents will do normal attacks. When it is above the Rage level, they will do special attacks. And if it hits the Max level, they will do their ultimate attacks. A Max attack will drain the Rage bar back to its lowest point. Killing an enemy will raise the rage bar's lowest point, so it may not be possible to drop the Rage bar to zero. In effect, fights become balancing acts where you may opt to heal your fully-healed character in order to waste your turn. Why? Because you want to drop the enemy's Rage bar. Attacking would only piss off the enemies more and bring them closer to unleashing a huge barrage of attacks against you. Or maybe the best strategy would be to attack the enemy with everything you've got and hope they die before they do their Max move. There are many possibilities. It's a unique fighting system, and it's fun too.

Each battle has a place in the story. There are no random battles. I really like that each battle felt like its own challenge, and strayed from the monotony of most RPGs. Leveling up your characters is based on weapon usage. As mentioned earlier, some weapons allow their user to do OverDrive specials. But to obtain these specials in the first place, you must use that weapon with each specific character an X amount of times. When you fulfill that requirement, you not only gain the OverDrive special, but the character also levels up. So using different items is encouraged by this system. To help you with this process, you can enter a Practice battle anytime. The beauty of practice battles is that using weapons/items does not decrease their quantity. So everytime you come across a new weapon or item, you can use practice battles to acquire those OverDrive attacks and level up your characters without fear of wasting resources. It's a neat system, because it protects against level grinding. Your characters can only level up to a specific point determined by the items you collect.

All of this adds up to a very interesting game. You can see that Riviera is based around the concept of limitation. You always make some decisions in the game at the expense of other options. You can't keep all the items you come across. You can't examine every nook and cranny. On the other hand, it does challenge you to make decisions that would benefit your playing style. And in that sense, it works quite well. There is a loss of freedom compared to other games, but the game is built around that. I still would prefer the traditional exploration of jRPGs rather than room-navigation, but it works for what it is. The fights sometimes do get to be cumbersome because of the slow pace, but it's in the strategy that I enjoy Riviera the most. The OverDrive and Rage gauges turn a fairly normal RPG system into an insane see-saw balancing act that you need to make work for you. I haven't even begun to mention the incredible portrait and cutscene art, the interesting puzzles that you actually have to scribble on paper to figure out, the convenience of being able to quicksave even during a battle, or the character-specific endings, but this 20-ish hour adventure has a lot going for it. Riviera probably isn't for everyone, but I cannot wait to see what else Sting has up its sleeve.

Klonoa Empire of Dreams

Klonoa Empire of Dreams
Puzzle Platformer - Gameboy Advance
Battery Backup - 3 saves
1 player

Platform games have been around for a long time. In fact, it might even be said that platformers are the basis of the modern gaming movement. Super Mario Bros. set the world afire and things haven't been the same since. Platform games are thus called for the primary game mechanic of jumping on "platforms". Sometimes they're stationary. Other times, they move. Most of the time, they're not even platforms but simply ground. Regardless, there's an element of position & timing involved in jumping toward the next required "platform". In a world of me toos and property cash-ins, Namco retains the same basic platforming elements, but forges a new path with Klonoa.

Not to be confused with "Door to Phantomile", the first of the Klonoa games, "Empire of Dreams" is an entirely new game for the GBA. While Door to Phantomile was probably more of a traditional platformer, Empire has a larger emphasis on puzzles. The stages are designed so that more often than not, logic is required to complete. Sure there's the usual elements of enemies and much jumping. But it doesn't end there. You will have to use all the elements around you to reach items, unlock doors, and open passages. There are box puzzles, wind tunnels, enemies that detonate, and switches to utilize. Some of the puzzles are pretty straight forward. Others require taking a step back to analyze what you're given, looking at what you need to accomplish, and then planning your solution accordingly. It's all very clever design and gets progressively more complex as the game goes on.

But that's not to say that the rest of the game is a cakewalk. In fact, there are some sections of the game that require a lot of skill and reflexes to navigate through. For instance, each world has forced scrolling stages mixed in with the stages that are more puzzle-oriented. I played one such stage about 50 times to get a perfect run. Admittedly, most of these sections are completely optional and do not affect being able to finish the game. Nevertheless, I was really impressed by the challenge offered for those who prefer skill-based gameplay. For those of you who accept the challenge of trying to find everything, there's a few extra stages that will really test your platforming and puzzle abilities. Again, it's completely optional, but a nice reward for the patient.

Namco has succeeded in its interpretation of the modern platformer. By infusing it with puzzles to solve, Klonoa Empire of Dreams is quite an intellectual game. It's as if Namco realized that most platform games these days aren't very engaging and sought to change up the formula. With well-designed levels that will test both your dexterity and mental capacity, this has easily become one of best platform games I've played.

Astro Boy Omega Factor

Tetsuwan Atom: Atom Heart no Himitsu / Astro Boy Omega Factor
Action - Gameboy Advance
Battery Backup - 3 saves
1 player

When it comes to Astro Boy GBA, the critics are unanimous about its praise. Developed by Treasure, it's hard to imagine they'd drop the ball. Most companies try to sell on the license itself. Astro Boy oozes with personality in that department. Not satisfied to simply use the title character, Treasure sought to incorporate characters from all of Osamu Tezuka's works. Maybe they were trying to do a tribute to the late Tezuka. Or maybe they got their chance to do a megacrossover. Whatever the case, they show that even when they're dealing with licensed material, they can make a good game.

This one's all action. You'll punch, kick, dash and laserbeam your way through the entire game. Along the way, you'll meet characters that will allow you to upgrade your stats. Not all of these characters are easily accessible, so a little exploration is required. On top of this, for each attack you land, your special meter will charge. Once it's full, you're able to perform one of three special attacks. You can store up to 3, 10 or 99 specials depending on what difficulty you play. Much of the game is played like a beat 'em up. You'll be able to combo-punch enemies, and kick them into others, even shoot their falling bodies with a laser beam if you'd like. Simple but effective. Other parts of the game play out like a space shooter. You'll be flying around a forced horizontal scrolling screen, shooting enemies, and dodging like mad. It's in this mix of game styles that keeps Astro Boy fresh. Both styles are very well done, and I especially had fun with the shooter bosses.

But in the end, I'm really ho-hum about it.

I've played and finished the game. I've played most of the game on Hard difficulty. And although the game is entertaining, it's not exactly thrilling. I have no doubt in my mind that Astro Boy is well-made. The problem is it's just that. It seems like it strives for little other than being a decent Tezuka tribute. The actual game is nothing special. It's fun, but for beat 'em ups, Treasure has done better. For shooters, they've done better as well. It lacks the creativity and cleverness that Treasure is usually known for. It just seems like they simply wanted to make it playable instead of phenomenal. It's in that, where I find Astro Boy to be a big let down. All in all, I don't think it's a bad game at all. I simply find it... unnecessary.

* Note: I played the Japanese version of the game that only has "Easy" and "Hard" difficulties. I understand the US version is improved not only in adding a "Normal" difficulty, but adds some enemies as well. If the US version is THAT much better, I'd like to play it someday. But I doubt it would change my overall opinion.

Ninja Five-0

Ninja Five-0
Action - Gameboy Advance
Battery Backup - 1 save
1 player

Also known as Ninja Cop in Europe, although this Hudson-developed Konami-published game was made in Japan, it was never released there and is available only in the West. Strange how that works. But it does work, because Ninja Five-0 is without a doubt one of the crown jewels of the GBA library.

As the name suggests, you control a ninja that's also a cop. That means that in addition to killing bad guys, you'll also be rescuing hostages. Some missions have people you must save before you can clear them. Luckily, that doesn't slow down the pace at all. Armed with a sword and upgradeable shurikens, you'll make quick work of the enemy. But the coolest part of the game is the grappling hook. A mix of Bionic Commando and Umihara Kawase, your grappling hook can grab any wall. You can pull yourself up toward the wall with it, extend it to drop you down further, or swing on it 360 degrees to reach higher ground. Mastering the grappling hook is an absolute necessity, and transforms a standard action game into an awesome one.

The difficulty is also well balanced. It is a challenging game, but not to the point where it's frustrating. A stage might take several tries before you clear it, but that's exactly what I love about it. You'll learn to see the patterns. You'll learn to use the layout of the stage to assist you. It's pure old school feel, and I'm loving it.

But perhaps it's in that old school feel, that I wonder if Ninja Five-0 could be more. Don't get me wrong. It's a very well made game and is a blast to play through. Yet, it doesn't pioneer any new territory and that's where I feel it falls short. The grappling hook is certainly fun and contributes a lot to game design. But it's something we have seen before. What's worse is that level design follows a cookie cutter formula that reminds me of DOOM: kill enemy, get the yellow key, backtrack, open yellow door, break box, get the the red key, backtrack, go through red door, stage clear. It got a bit repetitive and predictable. It's also not very long, with only about 15 or so stages.

Still, despite its shortcomings (which probably sound worse than they actually are), Ninja Five-0 is an excellent game. It's got tons of polish all around, and it's pretty fun to play. For pure 2d action games, it doesn't get much better than this. There's still one thing that confuses me though. Why was this never released in Japan?

Breath of Fire V Dragon Quarter

Breath of Fire V Dragon Quarter
Role Playing Game - Playstation 2
Memory Card - 1 save, 1 quicksave
1 player

Once in a long while, you come across a game that is so far ahead of the pack that you can't help gush with praise. It aims so high and succeeds so well that you wonder why other games are content on pushing status quo. Breath of Fire V Dragon Quarter is such a game. It is phenomenal, intelligent, challenging, innovative, cleverly designed, and engaging from its FMV intro to Onitsuka Chihiro's "Castle imitation" credits. There aren't enough superlatives to describe it.

Although this is a RPG, I say that loosely. Dragon Quarter takes a completely different direction than the previous 4 Breath of Fire games. It is actually difficult to classify. Most of its structure hails from dungeon crawler design. Just like dungeon crawlers, you'll be challenged to push further and further into the game with few opportunities to save your progress. The emphasis is on survival, and your rewards for doing so is better equipment. Yet, it retains traditional jRPG cues like an overarching story, "towns", and character development. Fights are inspired by SRPGs. It's an ecclectic mix of everything, but is more than the sum of its parts.

The flow of the game is relatively linear. Your end goal is 1000 meters(?) away from the starting point. Getting there requires exploring a series of passageways and areas. All enemies are visible, so you can choose to fight them or avoid them. There will be treasure chests and item boxes along the way to help you in your quest. Some of these can only be opened by special keys obtained by killing all the enemies in an enclosed area. The cool thing is that you can throw things at enemies before encountering them. This is called PETS. If you toss a bomb at them and it hits, they'll be damaged prior to the battle. If you throw meat, you can lure them to you, or away from you. You also can attack them prior to a battle to initiate a battle. This will give your attacking character an extra turn. These are neat systems to keep the game engaging before and within fights.

When you're in a battle, the intensity is turned up even more. Like SRPGs, positioning plays a crucial role. You have to be aware of weapon range, areas of effect, walking distances and things like that. But what's cool is that there is an Action Point system where you can do as much as you want within your turn as long as your Action Points allow. It is reminiscent of Sakura Taisen 3's ARMS system, which was also released around the same time. There are 3 tiers of weapon attacks, each with varying AP values and each mapped to different buttons. You can chain them into a string of attacks. It not only looks cool, but combos get higher attack bonuses too. In addition, any AP remaining from a previous turn is added to your next turn so a valid strategy could be to pass on this turn so that you can do much more on your next. One of the neatest things is how Nina, your spellcaster, can cast magical traps. By placing them on the ground, you can use them to block off routes between the enemy and you. If the enemy wants to get to you, they will have to trigger the trap thus causing them major damage. You also have attacks that could push or pull enemies into traps you place too. Because of all these factors, Dragon Quarter is actually a leap above most strategy games, and a lot more fun too.

In Breath of Fire tradition, one of the cool things that your main character Ryu can do is transform into a dragon. It allows you to do heavily beefed up attacks. But if you could constantly do that, the game would be far too easy. So the designers capped its usage. Specifically, there is a meter called the D-gauge. Everytime you use your dragon powers, your D-gauge goes up. After every turn in dragon form, your gauge goes up. And even when you're in human form, it goes up. When it hits 100, your game is over. Completely finished. You lose. But it's not as bad as it sounds. When you're in human form, the gauge goes up extremely slowly, probably 1% every half an hour. So there's no way you can die from that. But over-reliance on the dragon form during battles can get you killed.

While the survival structure is initially overwhelming, there are game systems that help to alleviate that. The first is PETS, because it allows you to damage & effect enemies prior to a battle, so that the actual battle will be easier. Next is the SOL (Scenario Overlay) system. In essence, the SOL allows you to restart the game from a previous point (ie your save, or start of game). The difference being that SOL allows you to keep your equipment, money, skills, and "party experience" since you last saved. So if you die in a fight that was too hard for you to handle, you could always just SOL instead of a normal restart to make the game easier. It also resets your D-gauge to the last save. The game encourages SOL because certain story sequences occur only when you do it. Using SOL and the dragon powers are not required though. I finished the game pretty much without using either, so you can tailor the game systems to your style of strategy. And although some might not like that there are too few saving opportunities - a common complaint - you can quicksave anywhere (except battles) if you need to take a break.

When you play through the game the first time, there are certain areas that are locked out. But if you decide to replay it, those areas become accessible, depending on your previous game's score, and allow you to face new enemies as well as gain additional abilities and items. It's a nice bonus to an already outstanding game.

Breath of Fire V came out of nowhere. The four games before it are the very definition of generic RPG. But Dragon Quarter strove to not only surpass them, but the genre as a whole. Kudos to Capcom. This is without a doubt, the RPG of its generation.

Vagrant Story

Vagrant Story
Role Playing Adventure - Playstation
Memory Card - 10 slots (2 required)
1 player

I had been avoiding Vagrant Story for quite some time now. I read a little bit about it, and it didn't seem like my cup of tea. But having played Matsuno's other game Tactics Ogre Let Us Cling Together, I was impressed by its brilliance and wanted to try his other titles. I'm always up for a game that does things differently. Vagrant Story is definitely that.

The problem is... I was right about the game. I had been avoiding VS because I heard that pre-battle preparation was key. To me. preparation didn't equate to strategy. I want my strategy in the battles, not before them. Vagrant Story has a crazy complex affinity system where your weapons and armor are strong against specific types of weapons (Piercing, Edge, Blunt), specific types of classes (Dragons, Humans, Evil, etc), and specific types of realms (earth, fire, holy, etc). When you fight against Human enemies, you grow stronger against Humans. When enemies of the Earth realm attack you, your armor's defense against Earth grows. This replaces the traditional level up system. Your weapons and armor grow with usage. Every enemy you come across will have specific weaknesses. Maybe an Undead enemy is weak against Edged weapons and the Fire realm. Then the best weapon to use against him is one that is strong in Fire, Edge, and strong against Undead. Chances are, you won't have a weapon that meets all three criteria. In fact, it's very likely that for most battles, you may only meet one or two. You are only allowed 8 weapons in your inventory, so you're constantly compromising. Having the wrong combination against an enemy means you will deal close to zero damage. But if you have the best combination, bosses can go down in a few hits. Most of the time, you will be in the middle.

I am unsure of the intended purpose of this 3-fold affinity system. It seems like it's complex just to be complex. Because of the limited inventory slots, there is no possible way you can prepare for all scenarios. So you just have to make trade offs here and there and hope it's good enough for an enemy. I don't think the system added anything to the game, and in some ways just made it more tedious. If you don't have a weapon that works against a boss, you may actually have to start from square one and go off and build it up. Speaking of unnecessary complexities, Vagrant Story also allows the player to fuse weapons and armor together to make new items. While it's nice to be able to create your own items, the problem is that in execution, you're playing the guess and check game. Line up two items, look at their stats individually, and compare to the stats of the newly created item... if it's not a good match, then cancel... and line up the next pair. Repeat until you've gone through every possible combination. Again... I don't think this added to the game, and like the affinity system, made playing a little more tedious.

Luckily, I was also wrong about Vagrant Story. While battle preparation isn't my favorite type of mechanic, VS also allows for plenty of strategy within the battles. Battles take place in real-time, but action stops whenever you pull up the command menu. You can see Matsuno's experience with TO/FFT because terrain plays a role. You can position yourself so that walls or even other enemies are between you and an incoming threat. Enemies can end up hitting their own men if you position yourself right, and cause an internal brawl. It's very cool to be able to use your surroundings for you. Height also plays a role. The battles are also incredibly engaging because there is a timing system. In a single turn, you can chain multiple attacks together if you time it right. You can theoretically do it infinitely until an enemy dies, but the timing is very precise and there's a few tenths of a second in which you can chain. The same applies for defense. If an enemy attacks you, you can set up different defensive arts that have different effects: heal 50% of the damage, reflect 40% of the damage back to the enemy, or many others. For both chaining and defensive arts, an exclamation point appears briefly at the exact moment when you need to press a button. The drawback is that the more chains and defensive arts you use, the higher your RISK meter goes. RISK lowers your accuracy and raises the damage you sustain from attacks. It's a very cool concept and makes the game that much more thoughful and fun. There were several boss battles where I utilized defensive arts as my primary strategy. There were others where giving myself attack bonuses for an all-out offensive was my best plan. There's so much variety offered in the fight scenarios that I was never bored.

In addition to fighting, Vagrant Story plays very much like a 3D platformer. You explore areas, jump over giant chasms, cling to ledges, hop on blocks, and all that. The control is very good too, which makes the platforming integral and not a half-hearted inclusion. One of the more unique things about Vagrant Story is the nature of its puzzles. Unlike most RPGs where it's go one place, pull a switch here, go to another, pull a switch there, Vagrant Story has single-room puzzles. Usually you'll need to get to higher ground to access a doorway, but there's no immediate way to get there. Scattered on the ground are a variety of blocks that you can arrange and stack toward your goal. There are a bunch of these puzzles scattered throughout the game. Some are pretty straightforward. Others require quite a bit of brainwork to figure out. It's absolutely refreshing to see this in a RPG, and it was one of the most enjoyable aspects.

Vagrant Story is quite an interesting game. There isn't quite anything else like it out there. Between the platforming, block puzzles, and intense battles, I couldn't put it down. Nevertheless, the complexity of some of the systems felt too much like experimentation than thought-out game design. For the equipment affinities, sure I coped with the limitations. But I am not convinced that the system was a good idea to start with. The same can be said about the equipment fusion. Nevertheless despite its weaknesses, I have already started to play it again. That speaks volumes about the quality of what's contained within.

Tales of Phantasia

Tales of Phantasia
RPG - Playstation
Backup memory - 10 save slots
1 Player

Love-hate. That's the feeling I get from ToP. As the first entry to Namco's popular Tales series, I can definitely see how it sets itself apart from other RPG series. Yet, that doesn't make this title impervious to complaint. For every step of progress, there's a wall holding it back too.

I was immediately drawn into the game by its dark story. Maybe I don't play enough RPGs, but I can't remember any that began as tragic as ToP. Somehow, it pulled me in. As an anime-ish story, there are definitely a bunch of light hearted moments too. But the tone of the game remains grim throughout. Nevertheless, sometimes I felt like the situations were forced to keep that grim tone. What was initially refreshing became excessive.

I felt the same with the battle system. At the time of its release on the Super Famicom, ToP was cutting edge. The fights happen in real time on a 2D plane, where you have almost full control over one character, and can direct AI or manually use items/cast spells for your party members. I say "almost full control" because things still happen in "turns". They're extremely quick so it's -almost- like playing a hack 'n slash, but there are some slight delays that remind you it's an RPG. The unfortunate drawback is, this is a party-based game and you need to be able to manage your other party members while you're actively controlling your leader. Luckily, most of your party members will be magic users so it's easy to have them cast whatever you want via a menu. What's nice is they even allow you to queue up the next spell for the following turn too. Since it plays out in real time, characters need time to attack & cast spells. If they get hit within that animation, their turn is cancelled. So there's an urgency of hitting your enemies as fast and as much as you can so that their attacks/spells are cancelled, while not allowing them to be close enough to cancel your attacks/spells.

While all of this was fascinating at first, it quickly becomes a chore as you're thrown random battle after random battle after random battle. True to old school RPG form, you'll be facing random encounters as you walk around the overworld and dungeons. The nice thing is ToP does have a few enemies you see on screen. But random encounters are unfortunately the norm. Battles become extremely repetitive. Most require little other than mashing the attack button with your team leader, Cless. Even the boss strategies are easily reduced to: "Hit them over and over so they don't have a chance to attack." The later battles are ridiculously brutal to the point where if you let them get off a single attack, they will have you in a trap until your entire party dies. It's extremely frustrating to be juggled over and over with no hope of getting out. And that's the kind of game ToP ends up being: Juggle or be juggled. Neither of which are that interesting to me.

One area where Phantasia shined is in exploration. Most of the dungeons are layed out well, with some interesting puzzles that require some logic to it. There are a couple that I couldn't figure out without a FAQ, but they're generally clever. There are also a lot of secrets and optional quests you can do, including a multi-floor dungeon with some of the hardest enemies in the game. They are far more difficult than the enemies you face in the last dungeon, so seasoned RPGers should have a blast.

I come out of Tales of Phantasia with mixed feelings. I can see how during its time of release, it was a bold step to change how combat was done. I can also appreciate how Namco put a lot of effort into refining standard elements of the genre. But ToP retains too much of the old jRPG conventions for me to truly enjoy. My feelings toward the game shifted from amused to annoyed to satisfied to bored to frustrated. In the end, I'm somewhat glad I saw it through, but I'd definitely never want to touch it again. The amusement wears off quickly.

Metroid Fusion

Metroid Fusion
Action - Gameboy Advance
Backup memory - 3 save slots
1 Player

I've heard the complaints of Metroid Fusion before going into it: Too linear, too short. But my favorite Metroid game is actually Metroid II, which is also linear and short. So I'm not bothered by it. In fact, it may have been those "complaints" that attracted me to Fusion in the first place. As the first Metroid game in a long while, Fusion has a lot to live up to.

Let it be said: Metroid Fusion is not a bad game. But as far as Metroids go, it's at the bottom.

It has a lot of the external qualities of Metroids: maze-like environments, lots of hidden items that encourage experimentation and exploration, classic weapons and abilities, energy tanks, missile tanks, endings that depend on speed-runs, etc. Everything feels very familiar, and the map is layed out quite cleverly.

But some of the additions to the engine do a lot more harm than good. For starters, the hand-holding is awful. There are a lot of "Navigation Stations" spread throughout. When you encounter one, the computer terminal gives you your next immediate goal. The problem is, not only do they give you the map of the entire area, they also limit your routes so that you can only go through with your objective. Both things kill the exploration that was so integral to previous Metroid games. Metroid II also limited your progress in a way, but it wasn't as blatant. In fact, Metroid Fusion not only limits where you can go, but it also closes off routes that you came from. So if you missed an item in the past, there's a chance that you may never again be able to back to acquire it. It's pretty frustrating because you never know how much freedom you'll be given. The fact that they give you a full layout map also makes the game incredibly easy and takes the thrill out of it. It doesn't always show the secret routes, but it already spoils most of the game by telling you where things are. Another irritation is the lack of skippable dialog. It just bogs down a game that is all about running, jumping, and shooting the crap out of enemies.

That being said, it's not all bad. I like how the game automaps and displays a piece of it in the upper right hand corner so you are always aware of your current positioning. It just makes the experience more user-friendly. I also enjoy the challenge of the enemies and bosses. It seems like even with a lot of Energy Tanks, boss battles are always intense and downright difficult. I've had to continue multiple times, and even then, most of the time I barely defeat them with a fragment of my lifebar.

I finished the game with just under six hours on the clock, with a 55% item completion rating. I took my time trying to find all the secrets I could, so I'm surprised I missed so much. Speed runs are supposed to take closer to 2 hrs, so the replay value depends on how much you're willing to invest on finishing it faster and faster. If the lack of length scares you, then you probably should avoid all Metroid games.

Ultimately, Metroid Fusion was an enjoyable romp, but there are definitely changes to the game that hinder it from being much, much better.

Ever17 -out of infinity-

Ever17 -out of infinity-
Visual Novel - PC
Hard Drive - 40 save slots
1 Player

I've heard a lot about this game from a friend who absolutely adores it. I'm usually really big on gameplay, and the last visual novel I played (Kanon) turned me off to the genre. But Hirameki International translated the PC version for the English market, kept Japanese language intact, and was on sale so I took a chance.

I'll be honest. When I finished it, I wasn't impressed. It wasn't particularly special. The characters didn't stand out. The story moved at a snail's pace. It was... well, boring. But since it's one of those games that you only get a piece of the puzzle each playthrough, I resolved to understand why my friend loved it so much. So I played. And replayed. And replayed. And replayed. I became obsessed. I actually began writing down questions that came up - things that didn't make sense, things that were unexplained. I was shocked at the revelations and puzzled at new riddles. But after clearing the final ending, I was pretty amazed at how many loose ends were tied up.

E17 is quite subtle. It's a mystery, except you don't even know what the mystery is. In fact, you don't even know it's a mystery in the first place, at least until you've played it several times. You don't know why the characters are in the situation they're in. Only how they react. Slowly, as you play through each of the endings, only then will you be able to formulate the right questions. And finally when you clear the last scenario, they become answered.

While I don't really consider it much of a "game", I have a huge amount of respect for the way the story and pieces thereof, unfolded. I've never encountered anything like it, and aside from the first playthrough, I was glued to the game. Highly recommended with a caveat... the game can only be fully appreciated when all endings are cleared. So if you're not willing to invest the time to play it to death, you won't really "get" it at all. But if you're willing to put in the time, I'm sure you'll be thoroughly captivated like I was from start to end.

Unfortunately, the English version is not without its pitfalls. Some of the lines are adapted into very colloquial English expressions. While not a literal translation, they give the intended meaning of the Japanese lines, so care was taken there. However, you'll also encounter some broken English that detracts from the rest of the game. It's like they had multiple people doing the translation with various levels of English fluency. And even more than that, are some serious quality control issues. There are typos, incorrect spacings, and even undecipherable words that make me wonder if the script was proofread at all. Generally though, these errors, while annoying, are not game breaking and you can pretty much figure out what they're trying to say. However, there was one subtlety in the game that was completely lost in the conversion from Japanese to English which affects one of the revelations. Aside from that though, the poor English is little more than an annoyance, and not enough to detract from the overall storytelling experience.

Me loving a visual novel. Who would have thought?

Drill Dozer

Drill Dozer
Action - Gameboy Advance
Backup memory - 3 save slots
1 Player

Also known as Screw Breaker in Japan, this is Game Freak's return to form. It's the first non-Pokemon game they've made in the past 6 years! And if this is what they can do when they're not tied up, I'm all for it killing Pokemon entirely.

Drill Dozer is completely awesome in every way. I knew it looked interesting the moment I saw it, but that didn't prepare me for the incredible ride that was ahead. Screw Breaker is very simple. You can jump. And you can drill. But what's completely unexpected is the many different ways you can use your drill so that every new stage is fresh with challenges.

The unique thing about the drill is that the strength is variable. You start every stage with the weakest setting - first gear. Along the way you'll find upgrades to acquire 2nd & 3rd gear. Whenever you drill, a meter will go up and then down. When the meter drops to zero, your drilling stops. But if you have upgrades, you can shift up to the next gear which elongates your drilling time and makes it more powerful. You have to manually shift gears much like you would in a car: Wait til the meter goes near the max ("redline") and then shift. It's a very cool system and makes drilling that much more engaging.

Another neat property of the drill is that the L trigger drills counterclockwise and R, clockwise. For most of the game, it doesn't matter which way you drill. But there are some obstacles that require specific drill-rotation. So you'll have to do some quick thinking at times to distinguish when to use what.

Bosses are designed so that you need to figure out patterns. You'll get hints as to how to defeat many of the earlier ones, but at the later stages, you'll have to figure out weakpoints yourself. The fights are very clever, very reminiscent of Treasure's better efforts.

All of this adds up to a game that's a joy to play. There's plenty of challenges to be had in the course of Drill Dozer. For those gamers who might find the obstacles a little difficult, you can always continue at the last screen with full-heal for a small price. So it's very accessible for gamers of all skill levels. For expert gamers, I'm happy to say that once you finish the game, new areas open up with tricky spots that require skillful mastery of the controls to access. The normal game isn't really "easy" either, especially if you don't use the continue feature.

The amazing thing about Drill Dozer is that it's so simple... yet GameFreak manages to make every stage seem fresh and totally different from the last. You would think that a game that only involves jumping and drilling would get old fast. But just when you think you've seen it all, Drill Dozer introduces a new way of using your drill that you'll have to adapt to. The game is very well designed.

Without a doubt, Drill Dozer is the best game on the GBA. It's simplicity and brilliance all in one. The joy of gaming is back!

Densetsu no Starfi 1 & 2

Densetsu no Starfi / Densetsu no Starfi 2
Marine Action - Gameboy Advance
Backup memory - 2 save slots (DnS) / 3 save slots (DnS2)
1 Player

What it is: 50% platformer, 50% underwater swimming action game, Starfi has a handy spinning attack to destroy enemies and blocks. In addition to completing stages, there are subquests along the way that make it play more like an adventure game than most action games, so there's a bit of dialog to it. But that's also what kinda separates Starfi from other games. You're in this world with lots of characters under the sea and each of them have their own stories, mostly told via flashback sequences. It brings out a bit of personality to the backdrop you're in. In addition to basic elements, there are minigames and sections where characters allow you to ride them as "vehicles" for variety.

What works:
* The plentiful spheres you collect in the game are for something tangible. In Starfi, the more you collect, the more characters show up on this eye-catch picture. In Starfi 2, the spheres act as currency to purchase tons of extras.
* The plentiful dialog brings out the personality of the characters and brings a better connection to the areas you traverse.
* Levels are designed for replay in that many of the levels have places that are inaccessible the first time you play them. As you gain powers and finish the game, you can revisit old areas and find new treasures and even entirely new levels.

What doesn't:
* The game itself is absolutely dull because...
* It's too simplistic. There are very few moves in the game and it doesn't take much of a gamer to figure out all there is to the game after 10 minutes of play.
* It's too easy. There is never any tension in the game because everything contributes to you refilling your life. When you collect 5 spheres, you gain 20% of your life back. When you hit a save point, you automatically full-heal. Even bosses do not pose a threat.

Bottom Line:
While the games offer a lot, it's hard to appreciate because the core gameplay is so boring. Yes there are a variety of minigames with adjustable difficulty levels. Yes there are tons of unlockables including brand new stages and many things to collect for the obsessive-compulsive type. But at no point do the games ever become exciting. Personally, although Starfi 2 is much lengthier, I like Starfi 1 more just because at the end of each level you can look forward to a boss encounter. Starfi 2 breaks each world into multiple stages, a la Super Mario Brothers 3, with a boss in the final stage of the act. The lack of bosses in some of those acts just contributed to the boredom.

Starfi is definitely a kids game, but I wonder if even they could be captivated by its non-existent challenge.

Fatal Frame 2

Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly
Survival Horror - Xbox
Backup memory - 8 save slots
1 player

Coming off the awesomeness that was the first game, I had high expectations of the second. And they were met. Sort of.

Going through the game, I can see they improved a lot. The only real complaint I had about the first is specific to the English versions - voice acting. Thankfully the acting in Crimson Butterfly is much better than the awful performances in the first. However, the male characters could still use more emotion. Their monotone lines sound like they were just read off a paper. Nevertheless, it's a marked improvement. It matters because it makes the whole environment more authentically spooky.

Speaking of spooky, the production values of Crimson Butterfly are much higher than the first. I love the Japanese directing style of flashing disturbing imagery in between footage and you can definitely tell Tecmo went all the way, making it just short of a full-fledged horror film. Creepy scratchy audio in full 5.1 Dolby Digital surround further accentuates it.

FF2 begins with two sisters, Mio and Mayu, visiting a spot in the wilderness where they used to play. Mayu gets distracted by something and wanders off. Mio follows and they find themselves at a forsaken village, which had vanished in one evening. Why did all the townspeople disappear and why is Mayu always going off on her own?

The game pretty much follows the same conventions as the first game. You unravel the mysteries in typical survival horror fashion by retrieving items, backtracking, finding documents that give more backstory, and by solving puzzles. What's new with this outing is that you can also find stones that you can listen to, for some audio backstory. And what's survival horror without things to scare you?

The ghosts are back and this time, they are more likely to travel in groups. But Tecmo has tweaked the camera-weapon to be much more complex and engaging to handle the situations. Whereas in Fatal Frame, spirit stones were one-time use items to use special shots, FF2 incorporates special shots into the core gameplay. This is done by adding a meter which charges up whenever you snap pictures. It's a great change because now I actually use Slow, Stun, etc. FF2 adds a few new abilities that weren't present in the first as well.

Finally, perhaps the most dramatic change is the addition of the Fatal Frame. When fighting ghosts, there is the most vulnerable moment for them. And if you shoot them at this time, you will get a Fatal Frame. Not only do Fatal Frames do more damage, but it automatically gives you a chance to shoot again. Time it right and you can do 2 or 3 shot combos. This gives Crimson Butterfly far more involvement in the combat than the previous game.

But there are downsides to it too. Because FF2 is about waiting for Fatal Frame chances, fights are slowed down dramatically compared to the first. It involves patience and sometimes requires an enemy to appear and disappear multiple times before it gives you an opportunity for a Fatal Frame. Enemies also travel in packs more often too, which slows it down even further. But for all it's worth, the changes to the camera system are fun.

I come away with FF2 less impressed than I was with the first. Even though it has nicer visuals, more convincing audio, and better directing, I felt kind of immune to the scares because I had already played the first game and knew what to expect. The gameplay changes definitely make Fatal Frame 2 enjoyable. However, I don't necessarily think they make FF2 better. Just different. FF1 had more of an action-y feel to the whole game, and as such, has more intense and more difficult battles. FF2 has a more strategic approach, and its slower pace suits it very well. Both are great for what they try to accomplish.

Fatal Frame 2 ends up being a worthy sequel.

Panzer Dragoon Orta

Panzer Dragoon Orta
Action - Xbox
Battery Backup - 1 slot
1 player

When Panzer Dragoon was released for the Sega Saturn, it was an immediate hit. There you flew a dragon with limited mobility on a fixed path, hence the name of the subgenre: "rails shooter" because it's like you're moving on rails. It was unique in that it allowed full 360 degree targeting so enemies could literally come from any direction. Panzer Dragoon Zwei followed it up with more rails action, but this time there were multibranching paths to each level depending on where you pointed your dragon. It also added a berserker attack in which you unleash a barrage of beams when your meter is full. Azel Panzer Dragoon/Panzer Dragoon Saga was the third entry to the system, and although it was a RPG, it still had the same atmosphere, and combat was inspired by its rails shooting roots. In a strange move, Orta is the fourth entry in the series and brings it back to the rails shooter it started off as - but with some major twists.

Let it be said: Orta isn't quite like the old Panzer Dragoons. The elements are still there - flying on rails, multibranching paths, 360 degree shooting. However, two additions to the gameplay change it completely. The first is the ability to change dragon forms on the fly. There are three types with their own strengths and weaknesses. The base form allows you to lock-on to the most enemies. The heavy wing form is slow but dishes out heavy lock-on damage. And glide wing form gives you the most mobility and a automatic-homing-cannon which is best used against incoming projectiles. The way the game is designed, you really need to switch between the three to optimize each situation you come across. The more you play a level, the more you'll get a feel for which is ideal. I like the strategy the forms add to the game, particularly on boss battles. Each form has its own version of the berserker attack as well.

If the form-changes weren't enough, there is another component that is just as important. Your dragon is able to "glide" in both base and glide form. By pushing X, your dragon speeds up for a moment, ramming into any objects along the way. It's a good way to clear an area infested with lots of little enemies. By pushing B, your dragon slows down momentarily. Both the speed up and slow down glides are useful for avoiding gunfire or even attempts of enemies to ram your dragon. Essentially the glide gives you more control over the rail speed for moments at a time. Every use of the glide depletes a notch on your glide meter, which automatically fills up over time. In addition to avoiding damage, there is another use for gliding. Similar to Azel/Saga, many bosses will have weakpoints. By gliding forwards or backwards, you can navigate around a boss to find its weakpoint. By being in the right quadrant, you can dish heavy damage to a boss. By being in the wrong quadrant, you could be on the receiving end of a devastating attack.

All of these new mechanics add up to ... well... an overwhelming experience initially. I remember popping in the game and getting rocked right from the get-go. You can only go so far by using the basic techniques of the old Panzer Dragoon games. But as you get familiar with the stages and the buttons, form-changes and glides become more and more second nature. The moment where it all clicks together, you realize the brilliance of it all.

Panzer Dragoon Orta has ten stages of rails action. Believe me, that's quite lengthy and more than expected. It is by far the most difficult of all the Panzer games. It also includes a Pandora's Box which has additional scenarios with different characters and different vehicles. They're not as elaborate as the main game, but adds an extra touch to the world. But perhaps the greatest inclusion is the original Panzer Dragoon. After finishing Orta, I started playing PD again and realized what was missing in Orta. Simplicity. I adore the original Panzer Dragoon and playing a little of it again reminded me of why. It's simplistic in that there are no meters to charge, no forms to change, no speed boosts to monitor. Your path is already predetermined. So you concentrate on locking on and using your cannon to take out enemies, gun turrets, etc. You can see from the design of the game that it works quite well and is very fun despite lacking all the bells and whistles.

But this is no knock on Orta at all. Orta does not have the same emphasis as PD or PDZwei, but it forges a new path by incorporating Azel/Saga elements. It changes what it is, and there's nothing to be ashamed of. It is an excellent game where the additions are substantial, and level design revolves around those changes. They are not just gimmicks. So hats off to Smilebit for their most polished title to date. With an awesome new type of Panzer game and the inclusion of the original Panzer, this title comes highly recommended. A must-have for all XBox owners.

Gunstar Super Heroes

Gunstar Super Heroes
Action - GBA
Battery Backup
1 player

Treasure is one of the few companies I respect. They have consistently provided game experiences that are unrivaled. Most of this is due to their unorthodox design, usually pioneering mechanics that spice up what would be normally formulaic. Their ticket to fame came in the form of Gunstar Heroes for the Genesis. It is still considered to this day as among the best action games ever made. Since I never owned a Genesis, I'll have to be content with trying this semi-remake/semi-tribute made for the GBA.

Wow. Immediately upon firing the game up, you're thrown into the thick of things with classic run & gun action. You are given three weapons that you can switch between at any time. Each of them come with their own meter for super shots. Enemies come from all sides, machines fly around you, and bullets pour down . Visually this is one of the nicest looking games for the system with no sign of slowdown. It's a grand action-fest with a lot of variety from stage to stage. Unfortunately, it's that variety that is also the game's greatest weakness.

Gunstar Super Heroes never comes together as a complete experience. As you play on, you'll be shooting on top of a rotating ship, freeing hostages, collecting cutesy things in a maze, flying a huge helicopter in a vertical shooting stage, and navigating a board game. It almost seems like Treasure wasn't sure what to do with the game. The quality and enjoyment vary from stage to stage, so it's a very inconsistent experience.

The boss battles are pretty good, though. It's classic pattern-based gaming. Many of them require a few attempts before figuring out how to conquer them. For example, there is one boss, aptly named Seven Force, which shape-shifts between seven forms. It's a total thrill to take down all of them. You pretty much can't go wrong with Treasure boss battles. In fact, I kinda wish there were more of them.

After all that's said and done, Gunstar Super Heroes is a decent action game. It is definitely an uneven experience, but it's interesting enough to play through. The problem is that it's a very short game and the flaws don't come out until you play it again. While I appreciate the new story tidbits on switching characters and higher difficulties, you realize that the game is... well... boring. After the initial novelty has worn off, you come to see that Gunstar Super Heroes is pretty average. Even on Hard mode, not much has changed from Normal to make it feel like a different game worth playing through.

I come away with Gunstar Super Heroes with mixed emotions. On one hand, it is a competent run & gun shooter with interesting boss battles and some great looking sprite graphics. But on the other, it holds no lasting value and ends up being quite forgettable when it comes down to it. At no point did the game wow me. And I'm pretty disappointed that it's not interesting enough to hold up for additional play throughs. It's the epitome of mediocrity. Come on Treasure, you can do better.

Conker Live & Reloaded

Conker Live & Reloaded
Platform - XBox
3 Save Slots
1 player / Multiplayer

Conker L&R is a remake of the N64 game, Conker's Bad Fur Day. I confess that I've never had the opportunity to try it. But that's exactly the reason I picked up Live & Reloaded. A remake with a total graphic overhaul? Sign me up. What I didn't count on was getting a game completely different from what I was expecting. But sometimes that's not a bad thing at all.

I've always thought Conker was a third person shooter. I've seen clips of Conker here and there with references to The Matrix and Saving Private Ryan. Little did I know that these scenes are at the very end of the game, and that for the other 90% of the time, Conker is a 3D platformer. The way it controls reminds me of Rayman 2. Both have loose control. Both have a helicopter-glide move that extends jumping distance. And both have clunky combat. Your main weapon is a bat. If you time your attacks, you can perform a combo to defeat enemies in fewer hits.

By far, most of what you'll be doing is jumping and gliding over a large expansive world. As you progress, you'll be able to go further and deeper into the areas. The thing that impressed me the most is that Conker consists of a series of puzzles. Everything from how to proceed to how to defeat bosses requires some brain-work. I first noticed this on the initial boss fight with an angry bull. There were healing items all over, and even when consumed, they would reappear after a little while. It finally dawned on me that this wasn't a game to be conquered by outlasting the boss, but rather by discovering the opponent's weakness. All bosses seem impenetrable, but as you try different things, the game will alert you when you're getting warm. So the game gives you a few clues, but stops short of holding your hand. It's a nice change of pace and many of the boss battles are quite clever.

One of the most talked about things about Conker is its humor. There's a lot of cursing in the game, mostly bleeped out, and there's a lot of wrongness too. I can't think of any other games where you push a ball of feces which grows bigger as you roll it over the diarrhea-covered ground in hi-res glory. I also appreciate its neverending list of film references. They're really just icing on the cake.

Conker is one of the most original games I've played in a long while. I had a blast going through the game and its variety of playing styles. You'll sneak, jump, push, whack, fly, shoot, pilot, and swim your way through the stages - and what pretty locales they are. The effects and graphical power of the Xbox really make the graphical update worth it. It's one of the nicest looking games on the system. But what I enjoyed most of all really are the puzzles. Some of them are quite a challenge. Once solved, they're rewarding. There's something about having it click that gives you a feeling of accomplishment. Funny how perceptions of what a game is like can be so wrong. This time though, I've been pleasantly surprised.

Mario Kart DS

Mario Kart DS
Racing - Nintendo DS
1-8 players w-lan, 1-4 players wifi

I loved the original Super Mario Kart. It was simple, and it was fun. I didn't really get a chance to play MK64, MKDD or MK Advance, but from what I've heard, MKDS is a return to its roots. From what I can discern, it feels very much like the SMK that I've played, only with new additions.

As a racing game, it's still pretty solid. There are tons of karts to choose from. Each of the characters have their own attributes. Some have faster acceleration, others higher top speed, others are bulkier ie. harder to knock off the road, etc. Not only are there different characters, but each of them has a choice of two vehicles with slightly different charateristics for even more variety. It's all about the choices and Mario Kart DS has it in spades. This is reflected even in the tracks. There are a whopping 24 tracks here. 12 of them are "retro courses" that contain popular tracks spanning the entire series. The other 12 are new. It's a nice blend of old and new, so it's very accessable to old-timers and new-comers alike.

What makes Mario Kart unique is the ability to pick up items for use in the race. Some items give you a boost to help you make up lost ground. Others are purely offensive, where you can launch either forwards or backwards at unsuspecting opponents. Three new items make their appearance in MKDS - a squid will squirt black ink on all opponents ahead of you in the race. Their screens will be partially covered with the ink, so their vision is obscured. That's where the second screen comes in handy. It acts as a map of the course and it's detailed enough so that you could actually navigate your racer fairly easily by just looking at the map screen. Another new item is Bullet Bill. You transform into a bullet for about 5 seconds, and head toward the lead at rocket speed, knocking down any racers in your path. It's pretty destructive, but if the #1 person is pretty far ahead they'll still maintain their lead. Finally, there is a bomb you can toss that causes a small explosion. Anyone within that area will be knocked out for a couple of seconds.

Although most of the game sounds like familiar territory, there have been some tweaks for higher level play. First of all is the draft. When you tailgate an opponent, blue streaks form around your kart like a wind tunnel. If you maintain it for about 5 seconds, there will be a blue glow all around your kart that grants you an instant boost of acceleration. This keeps the game competitive, especially since tailgating could conversely result in a banana peel thrown your way. Also, like the original, there is a hop you can perform by pressing R. However if you hold R in conjunction with a direction, you'll start to drift. Drifting allows you to take corners without a loss of speed. This technique is a must to navigate corners sharply and quickly. And if you drift, rocking from one direction to another, your tires will start burning. Letting go of R will grant you a miniturbo for a temporary burst of speed. These additions reward technique and precision.

One of the main selling points is the multiplayer. You can play up to 8 players using one cart, if other DS owners are in the immediate vicinity. You can race or play battle mode with this method. Even more ambitious than just wireless LAN, Nintendo pushed to have Mario Kart kick off their wifi network. Using your home wireless router, or many wifi access points scattered throughout the world (McDonalds is an official hotspot), you can race against up to 3 others. You can choose to be matched with people in your country, people around the world, people on your friends' list, or even against people with similar win/loss records. The only option with wifi matches is racing the circuit. Battle mode is for 1-player or wireless lan only.

The online component is pretty barebones. You merely choose a category of people you wish to play with and Nintendo will randomly match you with them. In the games I've played, I have not experienced any lag at all. It's pretty amazing at how smooth everything runs. But if you're looking for other online features like communication, you'll be extremely disappointed. There is no dialog between the parties. You only get to be matched, view the opponent's win/loss record, and then race. Nothing else is allowed. Despite the lack of communication, for pure racing competition, MKDS is great. The neat thing is that every participant can choose their courses to drive on. It's a majority-rules system. If there is a tie (most of the time, there is a 4-way tie since everyone chooses a different one), the game selects one at random. So Nintendo has the essentials down. Hopefully as their wifi network expands, we'll see a lot more user-friendly services on their games.

Any way you look at it, Mario Kart DS is a fine game. As a single player experience, it's packed with different modes including 3 difficulties for the normal races, time challenge, and a new mission mode that contains various objectives. There's a lot to do and plenty of things to unlock. The addition of drifting and drafting techniques give the player even more incentive to master them for better times through the courses. Multiplayer and online wifi gaming is really just bonus and ensures that you'll have real people to play against to test your mettle. So if it's racing you're after - with a twist, Mario Kart DS is hard to beat. It delivers the goods.

Halo 2

Halo 2
First Person Shooter - Xbox
1-2 players campaign / 1-4 players deathmatch

As the sequel to one of the most beloved recent franchises, Halo 2 has a lot to live up to. Even though Halo 2 follows most of the conventions of the first game, Halo 2 carves up its own game. Unfortunately, I just don't care for what it has become.

Let's get the good out of the way. Supposedly Halo 2 is awesome on XBox Live. I don't have a subscription so I never tried it out. But from what I hear, Bungie concentrated on making it a blast to play online against other people. The interface, maps, balance patches, etc are all geared toward an awesome competitive experience.

But for all the work they put into the multiplayer, I'm a campaign player. And I just didn't enjoy the experience. Most people bash on Halo 2's ending, but that's a non-issue for me. In fact, I thought the ending was one of the highlights of the game. Not that it was great. It just wasn't that bad.

Halo 2 feels like a totally different game than its predecessor. It's faster paced and more action-focused. I'm sure some people would appreciate the change, but I personally played Halo for its emphasis on strategy and resourcefulness. Halo 2 is more of a blast-a-thon in that the situations are more wild. You have to run around like mad shooting enemies left and right. In Halo, many times you would want to be more discreet and sneak behind enemies to whack them on the back of the head. Halo 2 isn't any more difficult because of the action emphasis. It's just different.

Nevertheless, Halo 2 does have some cool aspects. Vehicles play a bigger role here than in Halo. There are more types of vehicles that you can ride, and you find yourself having many more vehicle-vs-vehicle battles here, distinguishing it from other FPS. Halo 2 also has a lot more weapons to play with, although a lot of them are unnecessary.

The big thing Bungie was plugging for Halo 2 is the ability to double-wield, and I have mixed feelings about it. Basically for the smaller weapon types, you are allowed to hold two guns simultaneously. They don't have to be the same weapon, so you can mix and match at will. And with each gun mapped to the L and R triggers, you have perfect control over them. The nice thing is that dual-wield has a cost. With two guns, you give up the ability to perform melee attacks and the ability to throw grenades. So there will be times in the game where you'll dual-wield, drop a weapon, toss a grenade, pick up another weapon, and starting firing out of both guns again. Nevertheless for all the trouble, it mostly feels gimmicky and propagates the action-oriented experience of Halo 2.

There are other changes to the game that I don't like. The guns have been rebalanced - but not always for the best. Now rocket launchers can shoot homing missiles against vehicles. In Halo, there was a certain sense of satisfaction that I got when I perfectly aimed and timed a rocket to blow up a tank. In Halo 2, you just home in on an enemy and press the trigger for effortless killing. It just makes the game less challenging. Halo 2 also gives up what I was most impressed with in Halo - the scope of the environments. Whereas Halo had these expansive immersive worlds to explore, Halo 2 is very confined. Sure, Halo level design had its issues, but Halo 2 is completely uninteresting.

I admit that I am sorta biased because I played Halo on Normal and Legendary and had a blast. Halo 2 I've only played through on Normal, and didn't find it challenging at all. I'm sure if I turned up the difficulty level, it may force me to be more strategic. But even after finishing Halo on Normal, I knew I wanted to play it on Legendary. The fact that I don't want to play Halo 2 again speaks volumes about the changes implemented in the game. Bungie pointed the series in a direction I don't enjoy. I'm skeptical, but I hope Halo 3 makes Halo proud.

Advance Guardian Heroes

Advance Guardian Heroes
Action - GBA
Battery Backup - 1 slot
2 players

I did not like Guardian Heroes on the Saturn. There I said it. It's nothing more than slapping a beat 'em up together with RPG leveling aspects and street fighter moves. There is no cohesion to the design, and although there's some neat things about it (multibranching paths/stories, crazy sprite fest) you could have just button mashed your way through and it wouldn't have made a difference. But this isn't Guardian Heroes.

And that's a relief.

Advance Guardian Heroes is in many ways a sequel to GH. The storyline continues, albeit at a future timepoint. But other than the mythos, AGH plays quite differently from its older brother.

It's still a frantic beat 'em up with juggling tendencies. But Treasure does something different here and adds a new mechanic - the counter system. The counter system works similar to the parry system of Street Fighter III. You need to time the counter so that it executes right when you are to get hit. If you mistime it, you're generally wide open to get hit. But it's in the details that Treasure distinguishes itself.

Whenever you attempt a counter, your magic bar goes down. So you have a limited amount whether successful or unsuccessful. If you counter a melee attack, the enemy is stunned for a couple seconds so you can unleash a combo. If you counter a projectile, the projectile is reflected back toward its original owner.

This one addition is a rebirth for this stale genre. Now instead of mash mash mash, there are many times where you have to coordinate with countering attacks going around you making it far more thoughtful and engaging. Not only is the counter system an addition, but the entire game is built around it. Bosses will have minions that shoot projectiles at you while you are trying to take him down. And some parts of the game you can only get through with counters. In some ways, it feels very much like parts of Sin & Punishment, except in that game you are shooting at enemies and whacking projectiles back at others with your sword.

AGH is very much like Guardian Heroes in a lot of aspects. You still got the juggle fest going on, the crazy spells, an arsenal of moves to choose from (although, all the Street Fighter moves are gone), and it remains a celebration of sprites. They did away with the 3-plane system, but now give you free Y-axis movement like other beat'em ups. Plus you can still level up at the end of each stage. The multi-branching is gone, however it's not really missed. I much prefer the carefully designed stages of AGH to the random sloppiness of GH.

The dueling is still here too! There are 2-4p battles (only 2 human though) and it's just as crazy as the Saturn version, except throw in counters and it's a whole new game.

There are tons of extras in the game, where you can unlock a slew of characters to play in single player and battle mode. There's multiple difficulty levels that in typical Treasure fashion, mixes up the enemies you fight rather than just increasing damage. Super hard is ridiculously hard, for all you enthusiasts. And finally, there's a time-attack mode that opens up where you take 50 enemies and compete for fastest ranking.

Advance Guardian Heroes is a total-package game. I've been lacking in Treasure love lately, but AGH shows me that they are back to their innovative selves. The English localization is pretty poor - awkward grammar abounds. But since it plays well, who cares? Seriously, this is one of the best games of "this generation". Every GBA owner should have this in their library.

Trace Memory

Trace Memory
Adventure - Nintendo DS
Battery Backup - 2 slots
1 player

Ever since I saw a trailer of Another Code ~ Futatsu no Kioku, I knew I had to get this game. The atmosphere and art seemed captivating right from the trailer. And now it's come to our shores as Trace Memory!

If you've read any reviews regarding this game, there's one consistent comment being made - It's short. Yep. The game will probably take around 5 hours. But that's not a huge deal to me. It comes with the genre. I can't think of many straight-up adventure games that are longer than that anyway.

With that out of the way... Trace Memory's story begins with Ashley Mizuki Robbins heading toward Blood Edward Island to meet her father. Thing is, she thought he had been long dead. Ashley realized that most of her life has been a lie. Why is her father alive? Why did he wait over ten years to contact her? Is her mom alive as well? On top of her confusion, she's been having recurring nightmares of the past. Is there a connection?

The point of the game is to unravel all these mysteries. Trace Memory is a traditional adventure game in that you do nothing but do fetch quests and solve puzzles. As long as you don't have any illusions that it's greater than that, then read on.

The dual screen is put to good use with the top screen typically signifying Ashley's view and the bottom screen is a top-down navigation screen. As you walk around, Ashley's perspective changes to help you figure out what you can examine. It's mostly a point and click adventure in that regard.

But Trace Memory could use some work in the puzzles. There's just not nearly enough. Most of the ones that are present, are easy to solve. There were a few that stumped me. I confess: I had to look up Gamefaqs on a couple of occasions. When I looked them up, I realized that those puzzles were pretty clever - maybe too clever. The cryptic nature of the clues can be a challenge or just plain frustrating. Still, I wish there were more puzzles in the game because it would have made the game a bit more interesting. Too much of Trace Memory is spent on examining surroundings.

Some minor quibbles I have about the game: When I first saw the trailer, I thought the game would be dark in tone. But as you play, it's really light-hearted in nature. For instance, the music is very poppy and doesn't shut up. Even though you're walking through dark corridors with spooky atmosphere around you, you hear this happy bgm playing through the speaker and it kills the mood. It could have been more eerie and immersive if they used BGM more sparingly. I also didn't appreciate that you aren't able to skip text. Granted, this is a text-driven game. But when you're stuck and you examine an item (or accidentally click it) for the umpteenth time, there should be a way to bypass the description or fast-forward it.

As with many other adventure games, there really isn't much incentive to play again when you're done. There is a starred save for subsequent playthroughs. But the differences are so minor that they're not even worth mentioning.

Overall, the Trace Memory was as expected. It wasn't phenomenal. Neither was it garbage. Compared with other $30 games out there, it's hard to recommend a purchase. But if you're ever aching for an adventure game with some pretty neat visuals, it's definitely worth a rental.