I'll be honest: the intro section bored me. Link's humdrum little farming village is pretty bland, and unfortunately you have to spend some time in it getting used to the controls. But now that I'm in the real adventure of the game, it's nothing short of exhilirating. I only stopped playing because I haven't eaten since this morning.

Of course there is still a long way to go, but I have an extremely good feeling about this one.

Progress: I'm a wolf!

In previous playthroughs, I had never really concerned myself with checking out multiple endings, but I made that a focus of my CT romps over the weekend and I really enjoyed it. It's remarkable how much refinement and polish was put into this little gem - I've fallen in love with it all over again. But, times are tough, so getting all that's left will have to wait.

Progress: Endings +!

I've got a little downtime before this month's big Wiilease, so I figured I'd start replaying CT for old time's sake.

So far, it's every bit as sophisticated and charming as I remember. I will say that the battles seem to be slower than I'd like, but I'm pretty sure this is just because I'm still in the early stages of the game.

Gato rules!

Progress: Doing the time warp again

Progress: 100%

The ending? Pretty bizarre. But that falls perfectly into line with the rest of the story. It also leaves a ton of doors open for the sequel.

Nothing about my previous complaint (far-off level-up abilities) has changed, except my opinion about it. Finishing the game without them is perfectly feasible and fun, and having ultra-lofty goals for character advancement is a great replay mechanic. Leveling up your bevy of cool abilities is a fantastic way to breathe life into the game well after the ending (not to mention all the sidequests). I don't have the space in my schedule for it now, but I definitely plan on coming back to do more in the post-game when I get the chance.

I have a hard time quantifying it, but there's an immense sense of nostalgia when I play Contact. It probably has more than a little to do with the SNES-esque graphical style prevalent in the Professor's lab, but there is definitely something very "old school" about Contact's gameplay mechanics. A huge amount of credit should go to this game's developers for a job very well done.

Progress: 6 Power Cells

I've been elected as my apartment's official Zelda: Twilight Princess representative. True story.

Contact was written for computer geeks. Almost every level of the game has some Internet-culture humor - even the instruction manual is written as if it's the professor's LiveJournal, each page an entry describing his newest project (parts of the game interface). All the dialogue is excellently crafted; the professor's absent-minded descriptions of his inventions are endearing, and all the NPCs have something entertaining to say.

If you're unfamiliar with the plot, it starts with the professor trying to make contact with a being (the player) from another dimension (the one with DSes). However, shortly after "meeting" you, the professor's spaceship comes under attack, and his power cells become fragmented and scattered across the planet. He makes an emergency landing right next to mild-mannered boy Terry, who's quickly rushed into the safety of the professor's ship to avoid deadly laserfire. Then the last of the ship's remaining energy is used to get to safety.

The professor ends up "merging" his ship with a pirate galleon he found lying around, which allows him to travel between islands, searching for his missing power cells. But he's not strong enough to do it on his own, so he needs Terry's help; and Terry's not smart enough to do it on his own, so he needs your help. And so begins the adventure.

I've already described the basic gameplay devices in Contact. What I didn't mention is that there are a number of outfits Terry finds within the first half-or-so of the game that you use to gain new abilities and/or strengths. There is a suit for each of the four elements, which each amplify a certain character trait - for instance, the water suit increases your magic abilities, and the rock suit increases your stamina. There are also three special suits that enable cooking, fishing, and thieving (the thief suit allows Terry to pick locks). Each outfit has a corresponding character level, and higher levels bring new abilities and moves. (Similar enhanced abilities and moves come from leveling up each of the three different weapon types.)

Yeah, there's a huge amount of opportunity for character customization. One problem I'm running into now is the experience curve; I'm already nearing the end of the game, and don't even have half of the abilities for anything. Given the lengths I have left, and that higher levels naturally take more grinding, I feel like I'm missing out on the highest echelons of abilities, and may never actually get to them.

But, I may be speaking too soon. I still have the final castle to do, and that's not to mention the game's bevy of sidequests. For instance, on specific islands, there are girl NPCs who are... shall we say, easily wooed by gifts and a particular trait (e.g. one of them likes flowers and your Courage stat). Once a girl is sufficiently impressed, she moves onto your boat and will travel with you. In fact, you can have all four of them on the boat at the same time. Contact Terry is already more of a player than real Terry ever was.

Everything about Contact is pure fun. It's certainly apparent where someone might not like it - the difficulty level, for instance, is not for the weak of constitution - but this is the kind of brilliant game I've been waiting for for a long time. I feel obligated to knock off some points for the experience curve, but there's still time for that to change, anyway.

Progress: 5 Power Cells

Hey, guess what? Touch Detective is super-short. The obtuse difficulty I encountered in the first episode did not come up again, so the game went from beginning to end fairly rapidly.

Touch Detective shows promise; there is a great framework for touch-centric investigation. I haven't explained the gameplay before because it's really explained in the title - you touch things to investigate the case, which is executed simply and intuitively. The presentation also makes it fun despite the juvenile characters. The top screen shows the thoughts and feelings of the detective herself, Mackenzie, and while this is rarely used for crime-solving, it does make the experience more engaging.

However, the engine isn't really used to its full potential. Touch Detective's story consists of four episodes, about 1-2 hours long each, if you don't get "stuck" on a cold lead. There's also a Bonus Episode, but it's just a collection of small tasks to help out the characters you've met through the other cases, and there isn't a narration or any grand goal to tie it all together.

I can also go on about other tradeoffs in Touch Detective: how parts of the soundtrack are cool, but most is forgettable; how sometimes the writing is clever, but other times laborious and tiring. But really these are just tertiary concerns in respect to the bigger flaw of the game. In the end, it's fun, but there just isn't enough to it. Watch for a (hopefully bigger) sequel, but until then, save your money for Phoenix Wright 2 or Hotel Dusk.

Progress: Almost 100%

Though the initial reports I read of this game gave me some trepidation - many remarked on how short it is - I picked this up yesterday to give it the old college try. Though I haven't completed it yet, it's already looking brief. I got stuck in the first case (of four) for a while, due to an obfuscated clue, but I finished the second inside of two hours.

At first glance, you might think that Touch Detective looks more like some little girls playing detective than an actual mystery game, and to some degree you're right; they really don't know what they're getting themselves into. But the caliber of investigation and reasoning is just as solid as a classic Lucasarts point-and-click.

Then again, as I mentioned, there was a point in the first case where I got stuck with absolutely no idea of what to do next (yes, Virginia, I had to look it up on the InterWeb to proceed). This is definitely the worst thing that can happen to such a game; when the next step is unclear, and all the hints around you are either unhelpful or seem to point somewhere else entirely. Fortunately, this situation hasn't recurred so far.

Like I said, I haven't finished this game yet, but if I had to sum up my impressions thus far, I think "lackluster" might be a word I'd use. Stay tuned for more (at this rate, I'll probably be finished by next entry).

Progress: Finished Episode 2

Contact is often compared with EarthBound, but it should be noted that the similarities are strictly thematic (e.g. the Andonuts professor Sean mentioned); as for how the game plays, it's very different and somewhat non-standard. I'd actually note Secret of Evermore as an inspiration for that department, but let me elaborate.

The combat system in Contact is in real-time, ala your everyday dungeon crawler. You move the game's boy hero, Terry, through beaches, caves, hidden military installations, et al., and enemies (which range from unfriendly snakes to missile-launching robot sentries) roam about just waiting for a good battle. By pressing the 'B' button, Terry toggles between Battle mode - he pulls out his weapon, and moves slower than normal - and Passive mode, which is used for typical movement and/or running away when necessary.

In Battle mode, normal attacks happen automatically and periodically. But you can also trigger special abilities, or consume food, or try to move about to dodge attacks, on command. While at first glance it doesn't possess the complexity of a more traditional menu-based RPG, there are a lot of more subtle options available through movement and items.

One of the more interesting aspects of Contact is the experience system. Though Terry does level up, it's not in the way you'd expect, becoming more heroic with every slain foe - experience points are earned for specific abilities or attributes based on how often they're used. There is a great degree of separation, but not so much that it's too hard to follow; for instance, the more you attack, the more your physical strength will level up, but there is also a level for each type of weapon (sharp, blunt, or fist). There are levels for each of the four elements in attack ability and in defense ability, which will go up as you use or are hit by an elemental attack, respectively. There's even a level for how fast you walk (which levels up slowly as you cover more ground). The net effect is that Terry doesn't just get better, he gets better at the things he specifically does, which is both more believable than a single character level, and more interesting to configure.

Cooking plays a big part in Contact. Fairly early on, you sail onto the island of a naked chef, who grants you the ability to cook dishes at bonfires or in your ship's kitchen. You start out an absolutely terrible cook, but as you attempt and create more dishes, results begin to become consistent. And, far from being a tertiary aspect of the game, Cooking is by far the best way to get invaluable health-restoring items.

As I compare Contact to Secret of Evermore, I must mention that in the deeper labyrinthine dungeons, it is similarly disorienting and difficult to navigate. But, Contact has a clever solution to this too. When your HP drops to zero, Terry goes "out of commission" and must be resuscitated back at the ship; but, other than your physical location, everything else is preserved (that is, the experience levels and items you picked up before you died). It gives death just enough inconvenience to make it unappealing, but at the same time marginalizes lost progress, which is a great encouragement to keep going despite it.

There's a lot more to Contact, too, like ability-enhancing costumes and a superb fourth-wall plot, but I'll get on those later. Suffice it to say, this is quite an impressive little game card.

Progress: 3 Power Cells