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First thoughts: This is a really zany game. Cartoon-inspired hijinx with rabbits and flying monkeys. Kind of weird.
Second thoughts: Early levels, the puzzles are surprisingly complicated!
Third thoughts: Second tier of stages - this game is damn hard.
There is a good deal of charm in Zack & Wiki, but the best part of it, even at my early point in the game, is the incredible challenge. The last level I did took like an hour for me to figure out. And I think I've got at least 3/4 of the game left! Very, very cool.
The Wii Zapper controller shell retails for $20 and comes with this game. So your expectations might be pretty damn low. But Link's Crossbow Training is surprisingly cool.
There are three different kinds of levels, basic target shooting, "Defender" (take out approaching targets), and "Ranger" where you have to move around and aim at the same time. Controlling the Ranger mode was really disorienting at first, but after a couple levels it's easy to get the hang of.
The gameplay isn't all that complex: shoot shit. As in Phantom Hourglass's shooting gallery, you beef up a point multiplier with consecutive hits, so in general you really want to not miss. Getting more points gets you better metals (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum), which probably doesn't mean anything, but is still fun in a score-attack kind of way.
There are nine levels, each of which has three stages, so there is actually quite a bit of variety. There are even - spoilers? - two boss battles in the last levels. The multiplayer isn't as cool as you may think, as it's just taking turns and trading off the zapper, but as a single-player venture I think Crossbow Training rivals any House of the Dead or Time Crisis. And for the price, it's hard to go wrong.
I'm the manager of the Coppin' Feelies, an up and coming video rock band. Last night they won a school competition. Straight to the top baby! Yeeeeaaaaahhh!
As a rule, I don't like rhythm games, since their goals usually involve doing the same thing hundreds of times until you get it "right." But Rock Band has a tour mode that makes things a lot more interesting - you gather fans, earn money, unlock new venues, gain new band perks, and the rewards are new and cooler songs to play. Rock Band also solves the problem of looking like a jackass when you play a rhythm game, because there are three other jackasses right next to you, and you can all revel in your own jackassery. There's a lot of band synergy in it, individual players who fail out can be "saved" with another player's overcharge, and when the whole band gets going it's really a spectacle.
There are options for a solo player too, of course, with a solo tour just omitting the rest of the positions (vocals, drums, lead guitar, and/or bass guitar). Personally I haven't played it too much; just subbing for a player who had to step out, doing easy mode on the drum kit or a guitar or the mic. I'm clearly no good at it, but due to the band mechanic it's still really fun.
Now, there is no shortage of problems with the game, either. One is the high barrier of entry: $170 for the game with its kit (which does not include a second guitar), plus if you want to expand the game's 58-song catalogue, extra songs carry at least a $1 each pricetag. Another is the menu and character system. On the 360 at least, a band's progress and songs they've unlocked are tied to a band leader character - characters are tied to the instrument, which is tied to the controller slot, and to an Xbox gamer profile. If you want to make a band, get your characters right the first time, because changing them will probably involve starting the whole band over.
Also, while the craftsmanship on the instruments is generally good (the guitar's strum shoddiness notwithstanding), the USB hub that ships with it is a real piece of shit. Oh, and all the controllers are wired. C'mon. The 360's Guitar Hero III Les Paul is compatible, thankfully.
So a lot of the extraneous mechanics of the game are flawed. But the core gameplay is really remarkable. If you haven't played it with someone yet, give it a try.
A little company you may have heard of called BioWare didn't start out making space operas; one of their earlier titles was a sequel to Shiny's MDK, aptly named MDK2 (the PS2 version is an Armageddon, for, some reason). MDK2 combines three very theoretically solid gameplay mechanics - platforming, shooting, and puzzle solving.
The game stars three characters. There's Kurt, a janitor, who dresses up in a coil suit for killer jumping ability and can snipe with pinpoint precision. Max, the six-legged cigar-smoking dog, wields up to four guns at once and is all about unloading as many bullets as possible. Finally, the mad doctor Fluke Hawkins uses pickup items to solve puzzles. Each level of the game is played from the perspective of one character, e.g. level 1 was Kurt, level 2 was Max, and level 3 is the doctor.
While it sounds great in theory, unfortunately the game falls flat on some core mechanics. The biggest problem is the controls: you can select from about a dozen different control schemes, but none of them seem quite right, and you can't customize individual buttons. And the 3D engine, I mean it looks good for the time the game came out, but it feels like it runs a bit slow.
Anyway, it's an interesting title, and I'm just up to the doctor's first level. More on this as it develops.
I put the game on Hard, and all that happened was the AI got better at surviving; offense in this game is a non-issue, and games take way too goddamn long, sometimes upwards of 8 minutes. This game blows.
Progress: Gave Up -- Finished four Frontier characters
Gunpei Yokoi - creator of the Game Boy and Metroid, among many others - is my hero. He was one of the original game engineers, responsible for bridging the gap between our video game fantasies and electrical reality. Before he died, he conceived a puzzle mechanic that would help debut his brainchild, the Wonderswan, and which now lives on in a PSP and DS reiteration. It's really, really too bad.
The game is, in a word, boring. The basic mechanism is fine enough: connect a line from the left side of the playfield to the right, using differently shaped joint panels. More panels are better, e.g. forks connecting to and/or diverging from the line. It's an interesting concept. Unfortunately there's little else to the game at all; playing "against" someone is a minutes-long affair of waiting for the playing speed to ramp up enough for the other player to lose. Survival is easy, and launching "attacks" is pointless, as most of them don't even do anything.
The music is the game's second bullet point, and this, too, falls flat. It's little more than the same thing everyone's gotten used to in puzzle games, where the music ramps up as the stack increases, and sound effects flare when moving and connecting pieces. Meteos does a much better job. Not to mention that most of the BGM compositions in Gunpey are utterly dull.
I'll keep going to see if I might be missing something, but as of right now, this is far from a worthy legacy to Gunpei.
At first, Galaxy seemed distinctly unlike previous Mario outings; even Sunshine had some areas that resembled sidescrolling with a third dimension, but Galaxy puts everything into a gravity twisting multidimensional planetoid. However, as I played on and got more used to Galaxy's mechanics, it started to feel much more familiar. The spirit of Mario, its breadth of available challenge, its demand of attentiveness and precise reaction, is all here. Though the gameplay is totally different, the feel of it is the same.
Here's how it works: the central hub world is Rosalina's Observatory (Peach's Castle). It contains several domes (floors), which must be unlocked by defeating Bowser and his bratty kid in a series of encounters. Each dome allows access to a number of galaxies (paintings), with a number of missions for stars, more galaxies becoming unlocked with more stars. At 60 stars you can face Bowser in a final battle, and there are 120 stars in the game. And after finishing the game with all 120, you unlock Super Luigi Galaxy, where you can start all over again!
Getting 60 stars is simple enough, and while final Bowser is admirably challenging for a Mario end boss, most players should be able to accomplish it. But as with its predecessors, getting all 120 is rather trying, with a whole slew of them being quite difficult, and a handful of those, damn near impossible.
Gathering stars is rewarding not only for the sake of accomplishment, but for simply getting to experience the great depth of content Galaxy offers. There are 15 full-fledged galaxies with about six stars each, and another 25 bonus galaxies with one apiece; and though some borrow themes from others (for instance, two bee forests, and two penguin beaches), they are all designed to be incredibly unique. There is an astonishing amount of level design in Galaxy, and it's all top notch.
As far as the narrative goes, don't let Rosalina's "past [...] shrouded in mystery" fool you. This is (thankfully) just as meaningless as the story of Sunshine or Mario 64. There is some unimportant backstory to go along with it, and about fifteen seconds of spotty voice acting, but the only thing really worth noting in Galaxy's "story" is that Bowser is fucking evil! The last few years of games have painted Bowser as sort of a bumbling oaf, but in Galaxy he really means business.
And the soundtrack? Just as awesome as I had hoped. Remixes of old themes, great new compositions, and a dash of orchestrated magic thrown in make Galaxy sound incredible.
I hate to complain, but I must call out Galaxy's disorienting controls. I'm not talking about the learning curve, which exists, but is fine alongside the development of the game. The problem is that in select scenarios, e.g. with small planetoids and in claustrophobic water chambers, orientation and camera movement are totally bogus. The vast majority of the game is fine, and in fact I am endlessly impressed by how well it is pulled off; the game's demands upon a control and camera system are immense. But there are points where even the best they could possibly do isn't good enough.
Anyway, that shouldn't stop you from playing this game. It's just ... wow. The gameplay is brilliant, and there is so much of it, executed so well. Absolutely fantastic.
I was sort-of right. There are camera controls, in the C button and the remote's D-pad, but they're almost never useful. It's much better now with a more responsive remote than at the demo - but in general, the game's spherical playfield and outright denial of sensible gravity will fuck with your head, and in fact, the heart of the game (at least so far) is in getting used to this.
Even stumbling around a bit, the early stars are a cinch, and I really feel like I'm becoming accustomed with the game's mechanics. The instruction manual reveals a ton of things to come - there's way more than just Bee Mario and Boo Mario - and given the 'epic' nature of the game's intro and the sheer complexity of its orbital castle hub world, I can't stop thinking about what star mission I'm going to go on next.
The optional two-player dynamic is a great idea for the Wii. The game is totally possible with one player, and in this way, it is precisely what Mario enthusiasts have been waiting for. With a second player able to point things out and stun enemies (and perform even more helpful actions), the game enters a theoretical EZ-mode where any two fools can jump around and have fun.
The game's presentation is fantastic, but, you already know this. What you don't yet know is the sheer joy of seeing Mario blast through space Superman-style. I'll admit... I teared up a little.
There are three online game types, 4-6 missions of each type, and two sides in each mission. You can choose whatever side you want, or that you don't care; whatever mission you want, or that you don't care, even which game type, or that you don't care. And you can play any configuration with friends, or with Anyone - so, the net effect is that really Anyone can go to the first multiplayer screen and select Anyone / Any Type, and you can find someone waiting to play in short order.
As for the different types -
Co-Op is an interesting experience, and assuredly, best with actual friends. Two forces fight together, and each force gets different units, e.g. one might have anti-air and the other might get bazookas. Strategically, the mission demands that each regiment pick their targets and work together. So when you're playing with Ned Newbie - or even with a moderately skilled player that moves at a different pace than yourself - the missions become extremely difficult, slash, impossible. The '1' and '2' buttons can be used for suggesting orders to your compatriot, but these are mostly useless.
Assault puts one player in the seat of defense, and the other becomes the aggressor. There are five strategic points between the assault front and the defender's HQ; the defender is tasked with keeping these alive, the aggressor, with destroying them. Finally the aggressor must capture the defender's HQ. If the aggressor cannot achieve all this within the time limit, the defender wins. This is a fun gametype, especially as the close respawn points make the match enjoyable even for a player who is being stomped.
Skirmish is just what it sounds like. Each player is given some units, and kills (or alternate objectives, like destroying key targets or capturing facilities) earn points. After time runs out, the one with the most points wins. This is all-out war, and there are scenarios available for whatever your fighting fancy may be.
I wouldn't say the online multiplayer is a deal-maker, nor a deal-breaker; it's a well-polished and fun addition to the game.