This month's Nintendo Power has a short preview feature on BWii, which, aside from some bare plot hints and a unit overview (naval units having already been revealed last year), confirms online multiplayer. Two players can play online in three different modes: a co-op objective battle, a competitive objective battle, and an all-out skirmish. Awesome.

When I started into MP3 again this evening, planning out this glog entry in my head, I thought about comparing it to the buildup of the previous games - where the introductory phase is slow, but necessary for driving the ramping excitement as the game continues. Then I engaged a boss in epic battle, saved a planet, and was knocked unconscious. "One month later," the screen says, and Samus wakes up in an infirmary, completely changed. Now, I can use the power of Phazon for good, instead of evil (also some evil).

Following are some spoilers if you haven't followed previews of MP3 in the media already:
The mission upon landing on Norion is to reactivate the energy reactors that were, until the pirate attack, powering the planet's primary defenses. Halfway through this exercise, comm chatter from the fleet above reveals that a massive meteor (evident to the viewer as comprised largely of Phazon) is headed straight for the defense control tower. A friendly hunter, Rundas, who has abilities similar to Iceman, even helps you on your mission - maybe I wasn't doing good enough? - by going off on his own to activate the second of three generators.

At the third generator, after another friendly hunter (Gandrayda the shapeshifter) takes out some hostiles, a morph ball puzzle is of course required to fix some broken machinery. Then the generator falls back into place - oh hi Meta Ridley! The mechanically enhanced space dragon pounces on Samus, shattering the floor beneath them and initiating a boss fight while falling, with your rapidly decreasing height displayed as a time limit for the encounter.

Eventually Meta Ridley is incapacitated, and Rundas uses his ice-surfing powers to rescue Samus from the shaft. Then the hunters (including a fourth I hadn't mentioned, the cyborg Ghor) make for the elevator to the control tower. But just before they can activate the planet's defenses, Dark Samus crashes in, wipes them all out with a powerful Phazon blast, and flies away. Samus manages to drag herself to the control panel and turn on the automated defense system to destroy the meteor just before falling unconscious.

In the infirmary, a nurse (...technician?) informs the just-awakened Samus that after the blast, she and the other hunters now have some mysterious bodily mechanic that produces Phazon. Siezing the opportunity to create a powerful weapon of war, the Galactic Federation took the liberty of equipping Samus with a Phazon Enhancement Device in her power suit.

The PED is activated by holding the + button for about half a second, and turns Samus into a mad killing machine, firing blasts of superpowered Phazon to and fro. But 'Hypermode' consumes life energy, and according to the multilingual instruction manual ("HYPERMODO"), has other, more dire risks as well.

I've been playing it slow, getting all the scans that I can (see below), but I'm already stoked to progress farther in what promises to be a grand space opera.

So, last time I promised to elaborate more on MP3's achievement-like system. There are four kinds (colors) of tokens: red, blue, yellow, and green. Red tokens are earned from scanning Creatures, and Blue from scanning Lore; these are the same kinds of logbook entries that appeared in Samus's previous outings. Yellow tokens are earned by defeating bosses. Green tokens are where it gets interesting, as you get these when your friends (from your Wii's friend list) send them to you - at least I think this is how it works, since I really have no one to test this with at the moment.

Throughout the game, certain accomplishments will bring up a black logo and a message, e.g. "GFed Trooper Saved" or "100 Enemies Defeated." These are Friend Vouchers. From the game's Extras menu, you can send a Friend Voucher to anyone in your list of friends. This list displays a number for 'Sent' as well as a number for 'Received' next to each name, thus my inference on the operation of the green tokens.

In any event, the game's extras are purchased by way of these tokens, each item having a specific cost of each type. In addition to art galleries, you can purchase each track of the game's soundtrack, and other miscellany with titles like "Screen-Shot Tool" (!!) and "Mii Bobblehead." I look forward to getting some green tokens and trying these babies out.

Progress: 6%

The pending release date is next Monday, 8/27, but being employed by Nintendo has some serious benefits.

I haven't gotten very far into MP3 - just past the intro level - so my opinions may change over the course of the game. So far, it's very similar to the first two, in focusing heavily on exploring and paying attention to your surroundings. The primary difference is that there's a lot more going on. The first game was a classical Metroid situation, where Samus was more or less the only sentient non-pirate on the planet; the second tried to spice things up with the Luminoth, but they were so scarce that the effect was negligible.

Contrarily, the introductory stage of Metroid Prime 3 takes place in a Galactic Federation command ship, complete with crew - and then it gets attacked by space pirates! The ship and its fleet are in orbit above a populated planet, so there is a ton of stuff going on outside as, inside the ship, Samus navigates corridors rapidly being boarded by invading pirates. And after finally getting back to the docking bay and landing on the planet below (I'll do more on piloting the ship in a later post), GFed troopers and pirate fighter craft exchange laserfire endlessly just outside. Much of the ambience of the first game came from its mysterious, serene environment, and I think it will be interesting to see how MP3 fares with what is thus far the polar opposite.

Controlling Samus was really awkward at first. This is the first time I've played a first-person game for Wii, so being completely new to the point-and-aim mechanic might have something to do with that. I was also one of those guys who really relied on being able to lock-on to targets in the other Primes because I just can't aim to save my life. Anyway, I'm starting to get used to it. In general you shoot where you aim; the nunchuk's Z button can be used to lock on to an enemy and keep it near the center of your view, but aiming precisely at it is still up to the wiimote.

Some of the most interesting stuff I've come across so far isn't even in the game proper. You may remember that in Prime 1 and 2, extra art galleries could be unlocked by meeting certain conditions, e.g. completing the game on X difficulty, or attaining Y percent of all logbook scans. In MP3, the Extras - and there are way more than just art galleries - are unlocked by spending points on each one, points that are earned through certain in-game accomplishments and landmarks (reminiscent of the Xbox's 'Achievements,' but much more frequent). I still haven't figured this out completely, but will be sure to explain it in more detail when I can.

Progress: 3%

The same simple gameplay that I previously lauded is the reason I haven't picked the game up in weeks. It just isn't engaging anymore. It's fun enough, but gets old quick, and it doesn't help that the game itself seems quite long - 13 and a half hours in, I still only have three of the eight gym badges. And the third badge was enough of a pain that I really don't look forward to the rest (I had to go through like three or four different cities to actually find the next gym leader, due to recurring "Sorry, but our gym leader is in another castle" scenarios).

I may return to it eventually, but I currently have no drive to continue this game.

Progress: Gave Up -- 3/8 badges

It is clear to me now that (the majority of) God of War was made extremely well, with an impeccable plot and excellent level design. The game doesn't shy away from very challenging trials, but at the same time, the last checkpoint is never far behind, and so it is difficult without being frustrating - most of the time anyway. A few schlocky lines and awkward segues aside, the cinematic elements are extremely good. But, I say the 'majority' is made well because, again, the first part of the game is just not very fun; it feels like filler, added to a short but otherwise great game, that simply doesn't cut the mustard.

After fighting a giant mechanically-armored minotaur in Hades' wing, I made my way to the Cliffs of Madness, the final area of Pandora's Temple. It isn't really as difficult to navigate as its name suggests, but is a rather fun change of scenery from all the interior dungeon rooms in the rest of the temple. At the end of this area is the tomb of the architect who designed Pandora's Temple, and a final puzzle room before reaching Pandora's Box itself, which will grant Kratos the power to kill Ares.

However! Just when Kratos is about to remove the box from the temple, Ares, with godly omniscence, hurls a stray pillar at the hero, impaling and killing him. The next part of the story is about Kratos's escape from Hades, complete with the absolute evillest areas of any game I can recall. Eventually, upon escaping from the underworld, the final showdown with Ares is had, wherein Pandora's Box gives Kratos the power of the gods - extreme largeness - and an epic battle is had.

In the end, the gods thank Kratos for his service in destroying the reckless and destructive Ares, and invite him to replace the former god of war in Olympus. Awesome.

At some point I'll have to get to the sequel, which I hope has kept the good of this game while neglecting the poor.

Progress: Finished Hero Mode

Getting through the first third of the game was a chore. After the boat escapade, Kratos is tasked with finding the Oracle of Athens, which first requires he wander around the town forever. This part of the game - running down streets and slashing up swarms of enemies - felt a lot like EA's The Two Towers and Return of the King, but without the levelling up, which was really the only fun part of those games. There was nothing more to it than mindless button holding and tapping, and I was severely underwhelmed.

Then, when Kratos finally managed to find the Temple of the Oracle, things started to turn around. An NPC gives Kratos a mysterious message. More of his blood-soaked backstory is revealed. A new quest: to find Pandora's Box, hidden in a temple in the desert. This is where things became less dumb and much more interesting. At this point there are finally enough enemies that combat has some level of variety. The puzzles have become better too; where before that point, there was perhaps one puzzle in the game (and I never would have figured it out in a million years had I not looked it up), they're now of the caliber that I feel proud of myself for unraveling them.

It helps that so much of the game (after some cool desert stuff) is in Pandora's Temple, which is really a giant puzzle consisting of several smaller puzzles, and has really tested my battle skills several times so far. I'm about two-thirds of the way through the game now and still not done with this massive dungeon. Branching off of the central temple structure are a few different wings, each representing a challenge from a different figure: first some warmups in the Atlas wing, then underwater adventuring in the Poseidon wing, and now I'm just entering the Hades wing, which has fire and lava and shit. Cool stuff.

Two things that are particularly striking about God of War are the level of violence and the amount of nipples. By 'level of violence' I refer to impaling zombie warriors, beheading minotaurs, slaughtering townsfolk, and sacrificing Roman soldiers to progress; it is really quite astounding. And by 'amount of nipples' I do not refer to male nipples - there is a perhaps surprising amount of breast non-coverage, in cutscenes and gameplay. In the early game these factors really enhanced how cheap and trite I felt the whole thing was, but now they are just cool tertiary features.

Progress: Pandora's Temple - Hades' Wing

I've done dozens of group quests. I've been to Heroic dungeons, and Karazhan. I've gathered the money to buy the ultimate riding skill, allowing me to fly the fastest flying mounts around. But despite having completed so much - and in spite of the misgivings of any online game - I still really enjoy playing. This is nothing like level 60, where I felt like I was forcing myself to keep going.

There is so much to do, and the design is really quite brilliant. Old dungeons are reused as "heroic" versions, with difficulty and rewards ramped up to keep things fresh. Intricate chains of quests lace Outland and all its locales - every time I think I've finished them all, I find that they're still going. There are two endless sources of quests: one that requires maximum riding skill, and has you disguised as a fel orc, winning the favor of the nether drakes (which you can eventually ride); the other brings a caste of superintelligent ogres to your doorstep, and has you bombing demon camps and completing Simon-esque trials. And there is so much more that I haven't even touched, in the raiding game beyond Karazhan - The Eye of Tempest Keep, Mt. Hyjal, the Black Temple and others.

It is boggling how much there is to do in Burning Crusade, for players of all tastes and preferences. And all of it is designed having learned the lessons of the original. All of it is more fun. Level 80? I can't wait.

Progress: Level 70, 390 Engineering, 300 Riding

As I've gotten more time with the game, I've learned more advanced moves and tricks. Items - gained by being hit - are used with the nunchuk's C button. Holding Z while passing will lob the ball in the air. Holding down the B button will charge your shot, giving it more speed, or culminating in a power-shot unique to each character. The D-pad can be used for character-specific deke moves (some players will move ahead, others will perform an offensive move) while you have the ball, or while you don't, to do a slide-tackle and a steal.

Charging and passing are integral to success as the AI (or human) opposition becomes more difficult. A charged lob, if intercepted with the B button, can be headbutted or air-kicked for a super goal shot. Charging makes the ball go faster, so volleying before an attempt on the goal helps too. And some of the dekes can actually be used to skip past the otherwise-inpenetrable goalie and into the net.

The game is kept lively by a great amount of variety. In items - there are green shells, red shells, ice shells, bananas, chain chomps, and even bob-ombs. In characters - in addition to team captains (Mario, Peach, and DK to name a few) with superpowerful special abilities, each of the selectable team members (including Dry Bones, Toad, and Monty Mole) has its own moves, and everyone has different stats for running speed, tackling, passing and shooting. And in stadiums - every one has its own special tricks, from the slow turf and dropping Thwomps in Sand Tomb, to the wall-less and windy Thunder Island, in which the occasional flying tractor or fish will knock players off for a period of time.

Strikers Charged has great, fast and fun gameplay, with a fantastic challenge, and enormous multiplayer potential. Unfortunately it doesn't look like you can play online with more than two Wiis, but this is a perfect companion to your other party games.

Progress: Gave Up -- Lost to Diddy Kong

Set in ancient Greece, God of War is the story of a mighty Spartan warrior named Kratos, and his struggle against the god Ares. Kratos is plagued by nightmarish visions of destruction from his troubled past, and pleads with the gods to relieve him of his pain. Finally, Athena responds with a request: stop Ares, who has been laying siege to Athens, since the gods themselves are forbidden by Zeus to war with one another.

After a brief introductory cinematic (with excellent narration and voice work), the first area of the game is set in the Aegean Sea, where Kratos fights off undead warriors infesting a fleet of ships. The fleet has also been attacked by a hydra, the boss of the area, which Kratos must violently dispatch.

Violence is something Kratos is very good at, and something which the game is very good at showing. Though highly reminiscent of the newer Prince of Persia titles in terms of game world interaction, God of War is much less focused on the environment, and much more on brutal combat. There is a high emphasis on chaining together combos, the rewards for which go toward upgrading Kratos with new or more powerful abilities. Slaying enemies is often a terribly bloody affair, further reinforcing Kratos' bloodthirsty character.

Contextual commands are frequent - for instance, when a hydra's head lay before Kratos, pressing the face button displayed over it initiates a special sequence where more buttons are prompted for, and pressing them correctly will yield bonus results, be it more damage, more upgrade points, or what have you. These contextual minigames are not limited to boss fights, though, as I just happened to encounter one in the process of pleasuring some women in Kratos' bed (for ability points, of course).

It is a solid game, but so far I am not as impressed with it as the hype surrounding it appears to be; probably due to in how many ways it reminds me of Prince of Persia. The gameplay for one, and the old-world setting for another; then there's the intro scene on boats at sea with zombies (sans Hydra, directly from Warrior Within), and the contextual minigames are quite similar to the speed-kill system used in The Two Thrones. Even Kratos' blade chain weapons are a bit like the Daggertail the Prince uses in both aforementioned games. Anyway, I'm counting on the upcoming areas to mix things up.

Progress: The Gates of Athens

I only played some multiplayer matches, so I don't know anything about extra features, unlocking things, online play, or anything beyond the basic game; but the game setup is really fun and easy to play. The controls are simple: A for a pass (or to change players if you don't have the ball), B for a goal shot, shake the remote to do a tackle, nunchuk stick to move. Yeah, there is the hindrance that everyone will need a nunchuk to play, but it is worth it. This is one of those games that becomes exponentially better with more people.

The look and feel of the game is a bit weirdly futuristic, maybe a little on the x-treme side, but the run-and-tackle soccer gameplay combined with special Super Mario items and abilities is a real blast.

Progress: Gave Up