The bizarre, segmented areas I've complained about before, stop being an issue in the last 30-40% of the game. Then you go to Dracula's castle, and Ecclesia becomes pretty much just like every other Metroidvania game. The story - not that it was anything special to begin with - vanishes outright, save for a short ending scene. The castle is very much back-to-basics Castlevania, with a clocktower and a dungeon and a library and so on.

It's much more engaging than the lame stages that precede it, but does nothing about what I perceive as the game's statistical problems. Namely: there are too many statistics. There are ten different damage types. There are glyphs out the yin-yang, not to mention the different possible combinations used for special attacks. Each enemy has its own weaknesses and strengths, and while some of them are obvious (fire demons are weak to ice, Death is weak to light), the fact that some aren't is a real stumbling block. This is an action game, not Pokémon. Thank Gunpei for GameFAQs, or I'd still be wasting my life trying to figure out how to deal damage to half of the castle's bosses.

I also feel like a bunch of things in this game do way too much damage. With the right weapons, offense is rarely an issue, but defense is paper-thin. Walking into enemies (especially bosses) tends to remove huge chunks of your life bar. There's one boss in the castle that you have to climb on, and there's no way to tell which parts of it you're allowed to touch except by dying on it a million times. What a dick.

The pinnacle of this game's frustration is, in a late stage of a boss fight, or deep in a level trying to find the next save point, being blind-sided by something that instantly takes half your health away. Put that together with the enemies that don't advertise their weaknesses, and it's clear that OoE is a stalwart of the old-school Die And Retry game design mantra. Come on, guys. It's 2009 - you can do better.

I'm somewhat non-plussed by the replay value, too. There are a couple of extra, semi-hidden stages to play through, but the monsters do shittons of damage and there's only one save point all the way at the end, so, fuck that. There are also a bunch of dumb NPCs who send you on quests, but most of them have you grind on some enemy forever for a rare item drop, only to give you a completely useless reward. And once you beat the game, there is of course an extra mode where you play as a character without glyphs or equipment, but I really have no interest in going through the same dull levels a second time.

This isn't to say the game doesn't have its fun points. The castle is, irritating bosses aside, generally as exciting as Castlevania ought to be. It's a shame that most of Ecclesia is instead filled with comparatively boring micro-stages. And the core gameplay is fun; just seriously hampered by irritating design decisions. I wouldn't really call this a bad game, but I don't think it lives up to the previous few 2D Castlevanias.

Progress: Beat Dracula

I hate to be such a bitch about graphical quality, but the Wii version of this game's weird aesthetics kind of ruffled me, and I'm starting to get concerned about seeing early-PS2-quality visuals on my HDTV. The 360 version looks gorgeous, which I assume means that the PS3 and PC versions look great as well.

Unfortunately, that's not the only comparison I can make between Ghostbusters and Force Unleashed. While the higher-horsepower version of the game looks way better, its gameplay mechanics just aren't as fun. As awkward as using gestures to swing a lightsaber wrangle a ghost can sometimes be, it is at least more satisfying than tilting a stick and jamming a shoulder button. And - judging by the demo - despite being developed by two different studios, the hi- and lo-def versions of Ghostbusters' levels appear to have the same amount of interactive detail and engagement.

So the characters actually look right in this one, and it has a neat money-based upgrade system, to boot. But there's no campaign co-op, and the ghost-catching isn't quite as fun as on the Wii. To me, this version doesn't really seem better.

Progress: Gave Up -- Finished the demo twice

Surprise! Only one version of the new Ghostbusters game has a co-operative story mode. And it's the Wii one. I've been playing it with a buddy for a while, and though there are some rough spots, I would in general give it a solid "not bad."

The gameplay is sufficient, if generally unremarkable. Imagine a third-person shooter where your gun is a Proton Pack, and you're most of the way there. What makes it different from your average shooter is that, while some enemies are dispatched simply through unlicensed nuclear power, most have to be weakened, then wrangled, then caught - just like in the movies. This is the central mechanism of the game, and along with different Proton Pack upgrades that work well in different situations (like an ectoplasmic slime launcher that un-possesses NPCs), it's fairly well executed.

Hours in, it's still fun rolling the Nunchuk to deploy a ghost trap. On the other hand, having to knock the ghosts around with Wiimote swings is not exactly convenient. Laying waste to the environment and racking up damage charges for the city is pretty entertaining. Not being able to find the next corridor, isn't. (There's no map!?)

What makes Ghostbusters interesting is the story and dialog, not the gameplay. The writing and voice acting are excellent - a real step above average (or, hell, even good) video game fare. And the good news for Ghostbusters fans - which, if you aren't one, what the fuck is your problem? - is that the game doesn't just draw from the franchise, it adds to it with a genuinely interesting story that builds on the first movie's.

Unfortunately, utterly flat cutscene direction, and pacing issues introduced by the aforementioned navigation difficulties, really hurt the storytelling. The Wii version's bizarre cartoony visuals don't help either. Sometimes they work, but seeing a lanky Egon tower over a stout Ray just feels wrong.

I've still got a little under half the game to see, but so far it feels like a mixed bag. The story is great, but flies in the presentational ointment spoil it. And the gameplay, while passable, isn't anything radically new - at least, the Ghostbusters flavoring isn't sufficiently exciting to stand out. It all works, and this really isn't a bad game at all, but I hesitate to promote it any further than that.

Progress: "Closed" the museum

I spent a lot of time being frustrating by Ecclesia, but I finally figured it out: I need the right weapons. In the previous DS Castlevanias, numeric damage and reach were the only values of consequence to equippable weapons, but this game actually has something of a strength/weakness system, e.g. skeletons don't mind swords, but are easily waylaid by hammers. This comes out in a slightly different way against bosses, for instance the last guy I fought was basically unapproachable unless I used a particular spell that flies outward and can hit multiple times.

Now that I'm getting past the veneer of high difficulty, the game doesn't seem that special. Being able to equip two offensive glyphs sounds like it would promote variety, but really I'm better off equipping two of the same and attacking twice as fast. The new overworld organization is an interesting idea, but none of the miniature areas within it feel like they're being sufficiently exploited. And I'm already sick of the townspeople giving me quests to collect item drops and treasures. What is this, World of Warcraft?

Progress: 29%

The last section of the game takes Carl back to Los Santos, and back to the Gang War system. Taking turf from rival gangs can be fun, once you learn your way around it. But a number of foibles in the game conspire against this: Grove Street gang members you recruit for help are utterly worthless, ruining your aim and dying at the drop of a hat; the intricate urban landscape sometimes leads to your enemies spawning in, or pathing to, ridiculously out-of-your-way places; your turf comes "under attack" from time to time, creating a wholly unnecessary distraction that can run you all the way across the city. Gang wars also highlight one of the bigger balancing issues in the game - you don't have all that much health, and guns do a ton of damage, so turf showdowns (and several firefight missions, too) really just boil down to who gets in range first.

Los Santos is really the weakest of the game's three cities, with confused roadway planning and the stupid danger of being shot up just driving through rival gang territory, so it's a shame that San Andreas both starts and ends on this note. Especially in the end (mild spoilers), as the city begins to riot. Cops are everywhere, hookers start pulling pistols, cars will randomly stop, then explode. And this is when the game chooses to task you with acquiring more gang territory (in order to unlock the final mission), adding more layers of difficulty on top of an already touchy mechanic.

At times, San Andreas seemed determined to enhance the sense of suffering in my gameplay experience. I think this is mostly a coincidental side-effect of a number of design oversights, from the difficulties I described above, to the frequent messenger missions that sent me way across the map, to the dangerously-awkward flight controls (who knew landing a jet was so hard?), to lengthy and utterly unforgiving multi-phase missions. The final mission probably took me 30-45 minutes from start to finish, and a few segments of it I got through just by the skin of my teeth. If I'd had to retry it, I... well, I'm really glad I didn't have to retry it.

I think San Andreas makes some important points about sequels, adding new features, and refining existing ones. Though there was some incremental development in filling obvious holes from GTA3 and Vice City (namely swimming), a lot of the effort that went into this game was clearly in pursuit of new stuff, like character stats, gangs, and girlfriends. Sometimes this paid off in the form of new ways to have fun in GTA, but the times when it didn't were made especially frustrating by legacy problems, like fussy aiming and losing all your guns and ammo when you die. (San Andreas's unlockable for avoiding this death penalty is easier to get than in the previous games, but you still need to unlock it.) It's an interesting counterpoint to GTA4, which also added new features (like TV! and bowling!), but is more remarkable for reinventing and polishing the core game engine, to great benefit.

One last thing I want to mention is our hero, Carl Johnson. In the game's final act, he had some character development that made him relatable and likeable; but up until that point, I was utterly unsympathetic toward him and his plights. Even when he was just being bossed around by megalomaniacal gangsters and cops and latino women, Carl's character really seemed to enjoy stealing, killing, and generally inciting conflict. Sure, that's what the GTA games are all about, but while Tommy Vercetti and Niko Bellic were big dreamers who weren't afraid to get their hands dirty, CJ struck me as more interested in his means than his ends, which was ultimately less engaging for me. Maybe that makes me racist.

Anyway - in spite of the game's considerable flaws, it is fun. The missions are spread a bit thin across the entirely-too-big map, but the new stuff is entertaining, and the important parts of the GTA3 formula are still intact here. It's unfortunate that San Andreas's start, in Los Santos and Red County, is such a turn-off; but if you can get past that, there is some real fun to be had here.

Progress: Finished the story missions

Yes, this game is fun again. Despite having to swim for 20 minutes to build up my stats to take a story mission; despite another mission that had me driving all the way across the map - back to Los Santos - and fail when I drove too slowly (and then again when I drove too quickly); despite dying at the tail end of a mission when I exploded, inexplicably - apparently I didn't see someone throwing a grenade in my shoes.

The incredibly ambitious scope of San Andreas amplifies the engine's shortcomings and the still-maturing mission design staff's flaws. But there's still plenty of fun in here. I finally got out of San Fierro, and I just did a mission where I drove a monster truck around the desert. This beast is probably the pinnacle of the GTA3 engine: an off-road vehicle that can actually be steered. I love this thing.

Progress: Trolling around the desert

Man, this game is fun again. Now that I'm back to the occasional, comparatively middling frustrations of slippery controls and dying easily, it feels like the good old days. And now that I've got new mission spots opening up, San Fierro is a fun city to play around in - I'm saving a nerd (David Cross) from a chess opponent, escorting a blind Triad boss through his own lackeys, and trying to get in good with a pimp (Charlie Murphy) to uncover a mysterious gang conspiracy. Times like these make CJ's (my) amorality and reckless driving a real thrill again.

Progress: Running drugs for Charlie Murphy

Per Nintendo Power, volume 243 (July '09):

Throughout your travels, you'll earn panels that represent items, magic, special abilities, weapon upgrades, and more. To add one of those things to your arsenal, you simply place the corresponding panel on the grid. You have a limited number of slots, however, and you can't alter the grid during a mission, so you have to decide beforehand which panels will be the most useful. Each item and spell requires its own panel, so if you want three Potions, for instance, you'll need to equip three Potion panels. Additionally, certain panels fill more than one slot. Fortunately, the size of your grid increases as you level up.

Interesting system - other games have done equipment/skills in the form of items, which usually sucks, but doing it the other way around may just be crazy enough to work.

Oh, and:

Up to four people can embark on standalone, multiplayer-specific missions [...] Each participant can choose to play as any member of Organization XIII [...] beginning players who haven't acquired many panels yet can elect to sign on as a guest and purchase panels with a given budget. It's important to keep an even playing field, because these multiplayer shenanigans have both a cooperative and a competitive element, a la The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords. [...] When the dust settles, whoever has the most gems wins a Mission Crown, which you can trade in for special prizes back in the story mode.

This multiplayer sounds awesome. It's too bad I'll never be able to play it, because it's local-only and no one I know will buy this game.

I hadn't even heard of this thing until I saw a mini-review of it nestled in the back of a month-old Nintendo Power I was catching up on. The review indicated that the makers of Black Sigil had perhaps been inspired by Chrono Trigger. The 5.0/10 review wasn't exactly favorable, but uttering the words 'Chrono' and 'Trigger' in the same sentence isn't something I take lightly. Go on, take a look.

Is there a word between "uncanny" and "stolen?" I've been trying to think of one, but haven't so far.

I seriously suspect that this game began life as a ROM hack for Chrono Trigger, and that the final product may or may not use a Super NES emulator as part of its "engine." Really, this is hilarious. I mean even the level/terrain designs look like they've been lifted directly from CT and/or other 16-bit Square RPGs.

That said, if you're going to carbon-copy a game, Chrono Trigger is an ideal candidate. And coming out of the gate dirt cheap doesn't hurt, either. Apparently this just came out like yesterday, so I'll hold off for a bit just to confirm that the game is actually playable. Hopefully they aren't cease-and-desisted first! Bahahahaha.

I don't know if the game actually got more challenging, or if I'm just taking a different approach - but I actually had a lot of fun with level 2. The boss fight, too, was very cool, although I'm not sure if I did it right. Level 3 provided a good break from the action in the form of motorcycle-riding mayhem, followed by an on-foot boss encounter that really threw me for a loop, but I was able to get through it with an extra life.

In level 4, I didn't realize until about 15-20 minutes in that I was supposed to climb the walls of buildings to get inside. And then at the boss, I didn't figure out (or rather, see) the right strategy until I was already approaching a game over. When it challenges you, the game is definitely fun, but the black and white aesthetic does detract from it, for lack of visual assistance in figuring the game out. I'll just have to look harder, I guess.

Unfortunately, game voice-overs are only fun so long as they don't broken-record themselves, and that's what the announcers started to do as early as level 2. It got almost unbearable in level 3, when they kept spouting the same "Jack can't ride ride a motorcycle" quip every 30 seconds. Hearing new stuff from them is hilarious, but I wish they wouldn't repeat themselves so much.

Progress: Level 4: Great Wall Street