October 2006

Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime

October 23, 2006

DS / Reviews / by Ben Jacobs Make a comment! / Tweet it!

[i]Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime[/i] falls into the category of games labelled “Charming”. It stars our favorite [i]Dragon Quest[/i] enemy, Slime, in an adventure that will steal your heart. The game is not overly difficult or deep, but the presentation and outright fun make it one of the best Nintendo DS titles to date.

The bulk of [i]Rocket Slime[/i] places you in the role of Rocket, a Slime with a mission. See, all of his friends and family were kidnapped by an evil organization called the Plob. Engaging, eh? Well, thankfully, the game is executed well. You play it from a top down perspective, ala Zelda, and most of your attacks involve hurling yourself at the enemy. Rocket can also carry items on top of his head which can be chucked for various pleasing results. [i]Rocket Slime[/i] is incredibly easy to pick up so even rookies will have a fun time with it.

When you are not adventuring around areas beating up baddies, you’re jumping in your gigantic Slime tank to do battle with the Plob’s army of tanks. Here is where [i]Rocket Slime[/i] sets itself apart from other adventure games. Every item you find in the adventure portion of the game can be sent back to town and used as ammo for your tank. Clubs, bombs, arrows; The works. You also get a crew of 3 helper characters, which can be picked from dozens of characters. There is plenty of strategy here. Tank battles are done using the same interface as when you are walking around the levels. To shoot at the enemy, you need to walk to the ammo chutes and pick up some ammo, then throw it into your cannons. What makes the battles especially intense is that both sides can walk over to the opposing tank, beat down the door, and wreak havoc. Tank battles are one way you can rescue the 100 slimes that have been captured by the Plob. Rescuing your friends results in your town coming back to its former glory, Soulblazer style.

Those who have an appreciation for 2D graphics will get a kick out of [i]Rocket Slime[/i]. Rocket and every other character is represented and painstakingly animated. A lot of the music is classic [i]Dragon Quest[/i], and I recognized many tunes from playing through [i]Dragon Quest VIII[/i] recently.

The main problem I have with [i]Rocket Slime[/i] is the difficulty. It is not a very hard game. It is fun, and absolutely engaging, but you will rarely lose a tank battle, and dying is simply a non-factor given how many hearts you have. Fortunately, [i]Rocket Slime[/i] has what may be the most entertaining multiplayer mode in wireless gaming. You are going to need multiple copies of the game, but it’s part of the fun. Each player takes their tank set up they have built up over the course of the single player game up against their friends. The difficulty not found in single player definitely comes into play when you are against a human opponent. Buy your friend a copy of this game if you have to, because if you don’t play multiplayer you are missing out on a significant portion of the game.

Well that’s it. [i]Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime[/i] is awesome. It is one of the most entertaining games in recent memory and will provide you with hours of bouncy, gooey fun. Highly recommended for both the [i]Dragon Quest[/i] fan and new players alike.

Gears of War banned in Germany

October 23, 2006

News / by Mate Bors Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Gears of War, one of the most anticipated games coming out this holiday season for the Xbox 360, has been banned in Germany. Apparently, the game was too violent, and the cencors flat out banned the game. Importing companies and sites will be raking in big cash because of this. This sucks for german gamers.

God Hand

October 23, 2006

PlayStation 2 / Reviews / by Justin Last Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Clover Studio, you will be sorely missed by those that enjoy innovative games, those that like new experiences in tired genres, and those that just want to have a good time. God Hand delivers on two of those three points, and, if developed by anybody else, would most likely have been just another three-dimensional brawler, but Clover managed to create a unique experience much more like that of old-school two-dimensional brawlers of ye olden days (Street of Rage 2, you are fondly remembered).

Gene, the game’s protagonist is… never mind. The story is bad. And unimportant. The graphics are bland, and the camera clips through walls on a nigh constant basis. None of that matters. Here’s what you need to know. You control Gene. Gene beats up on everything that moves until he stumbles upon a level boss at which point he beats the snot out of it. Then a new level starts and it happens all over again. And it works because the combat system is wonderfully deep and downright fun to play and watch. The soundtrack is catchy, too.

This game certainly isn’t for everybody. It’s for those of us that grew up saving a kidnapped girlfriend from a street gang, beating up transvestite prostitutes as a kangaroo, and rescuing the president from ninjas. Combat is where it’s at, and Gene can dish out quite a bit of punishment. Gene has access to one player-generated combo at a time that be changed on the fly from the pause menu. One’s a low number, but it works because it can be changed at any time. This makes the combat a little simpler, and when the screen is full of enemies it’s easier to remember to bash square than to hit square, square, triangle, circle, circle, L1. Power ups and new moves are earned as the game progresses, and it’s always fun to throw a new move into the combo and see how it works.

Gene controls well, and he has to in order to fight demons, insane clowns, and succubi all day long without dying. Gene’s movement is done primarily with the left analog stick. Tap a shoulder button for a quick 180 degree turn, while the right analog stick is used for dodging hits. You’ll need it, too. Gene can’t block, and the demons he’s fighting aren’t going to sit back and let Gene beat up on them without a fight.

What really pushes God Hand over the top, though, is the presentation and how fun it is. In other brawlers, you’re restricted to punching guys in the face or kicking them in the stomach. God Hand finally lets you kick that stupid demon that’s been giving you trouble right between the legs. It looks cool, we’ve all wanted to do it, and it gets the job done. God Hand takes us back to a time when it was enough to know that those guys over there need the stuffing beaten out of them. The cutscenes didn’t have to make sense; they were simply rewards for finishing a level, damn it! God Hand is brimming with the feeling of old-fashioned arcade entertainment. Give yourself a few minutes to adjust to the controls and you’ll find yourself having more fun than you probably ought to be. Thank you, Clover. You will be missed.

Interview: Peter Olotka, Cosmic Encounter Online

October 20, 2006

Features / Interviews / by Edward Pollard Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today about Cosmic Encounter Online. Could you tell us a bit about yourself, your background, and your current role with Cosmic Encounter Online.

I have been designing since the 1970’s. I have designed games, products, exhibits and experiences in virtually every form of media including: museum kiosk, computer, Internet, board, card, kit, large group experience, VCR, CD-ROM, laser disc, interactive cable, interactive movie, TV game show, and radio. I have consulted as game and exhibit designer for dozens of companies including AT&T, Disney, CBS, Children’s Television Workshop, Boston Museum of Science, National Inventor’s Hall of Fame, Discovery Networks, Electronic Arts, Ford, IBM, Lucas Arts, Scholastic, Sundance, WGBH TV and WNET TV. I have a BA in History from the University of Colorado and a Masters Degree from Emerson College in Mass Communications. I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Marshall Islands in Micronesia in the 1960s.

My role in Cosmic Encounter Online is to keep it alive in its new home. I am President of Future Pastimes, LLC which has the non board game rights to Cosmic Encounter Online and President of Eon Products Inc., which has the boardgame rights to Cosmic Encounter.

In 20 words or less, could you describe Cosmic Encounter?

Use alien powers with strategy, cunning, and diplomacy to encounter opposing aliens. Millions of alien combinations make every game unique.

Taking as many more words as you want, what else would you say is integral to describe Cosmic Encounter?

When you play Cosmic Encounter you will become an alien with a special power. Your goal is to establish a colony on four planets outside your home system. Cosmic Encounter is a highly social experience. Players can win alone or share a win with others. Clever use of your special power, a judicious balance of diplomacy and
strength and a healthy dose of Cosmic luck are the keys to victory. Cosmic Online games take about 30 minutes, making it easy to stop by at any time for a quick dose of Cosmic Encounter. But beware! All of your games will rapidly blend together into a collection of surprising social experiences that you’ll savor for a lifetime. As a Cosmic Encounter Online member you get monthly, yearly and lifetime rank- based on how
well you’ve fared in every game that you’ve entered.

No online game has the diversity of the Cosmic Encounter Online
audience. Cosmic players are drawn from gamers of all classes: casual, serious, male, female, younger, older, newbies and veterans. You may not know who is behind any given alien. But one of the many surprises of Cosmic is that veteran and newbie players all have a chance to win on any given Sunday. And to sweeten the pot, our ranking system rewards you when you defeat someone ahead you in overall rank.

Cosmic Encounter has a substantial history, practically a mythological entry into the world of board games. How did it all begin?

Cosmic predates D&D and Magic: The Gathering. When we released it in 1977 under our Eon Products label there was no game like it. I took cartons of newly minted Cosmic games to the Sci Fi WorldCon in Miami and gave away free copies on the first day with the caveat that players had to play in the lobby. The next day we sold all I had brought.

Now thirty years later there is still no game like it. But there are a host of game designs that are derivative of Cosmic. The very first Cosmic Encounter game prototype was created on a beach in Truro on Cape Cod by me and my partner Bill Eberle. We just imagined what it would be like if there were these aliens finding each other in the
vast universe. Key to the design were a set of principles, like there would be no dice in the game, no one could be kicked out the game before it ended, you could always come from behind, it had to have compromise as well as attack as way of making progress, everyone would have to be different.

One thing that emerged from the design was that it created situations that WERE NOT FAIR. So I have added that to the list. It would not be fair.

FAIR IS BORING.
NOT FAIR IS FUNNY AND SURPRISING.

Bill still works on Cosmic Online as one of the three Future Pastimes partners. The third partner is my son Greg who is currently managing the NBA’s new FanVoice website. Greg had been working on Cosmic Encounter Online nonstop for a few years before leaving for the NBA job this month.

Cosmic Encounter is, to a large extent, very much about breaking the rules. How much trouble was it to design and play balance a game that is about rule breaking?

It was very hard in the early days with yellow legal pads and hours of cross checking. Recall that with 75 aliens and 4 players there are 1.4 million different alien combinations. Add FLARE effects and 6 players and its staggering and uncheckable. Play balance, is not an issue with us. We don’t try to balance (see being fair above). We don’t care if some of the 1.4 million games are unbalanced. The universe full of aliens must be unbalanced by definition. The fun part is to win a game where the odds were against you. The gloat factor is exponential.

How do you involve the Cosmic Encounter Online community in the evolution of the game?

We have a cosmic forum set up and run by the players, I post up in cosblog, and a Founder (lifetime member, TheDulester) runs blogmic encounter, we are linked to the board game forum which predatres Cosmic Encounter Online run by Cosmic Encounter Online player hadsil. And I am online nearly every day chatting and IMing with the cosmic masses.

Do you have any plans to bring Cosmic Encounter Online to another format? Xbox Live Arcade, or the PS3 or Nintendo equiavlent?

As I am writing this I am working on an XBLA proposal submission that was requested by us of a developer.

Will we ever see a tabletop version of Cosmic Encounter in print again?

As I am writing this I am responding to a publisher (FunAgainGames) who is interested in republishing Cosmic Encounter and perhaps the whole Eon line under the Eagle brand, which they acquired.

Clubhouse Games

October 20, 2006

DS / Reviews / by Ben Jacobs Make a comment! / Tweet it!

About time, is really all I can say. This is the multiplayer game that I have been waiting for on the Nintendo DS. It offers dozens of simple, fun games that not only can be played with single card wireless, but over WiFi. From chess to blackjack to darts, [i]Clubhouse Games[/i] has a little something for everyone.

Every single game on this card plays exactly like you think it would, employing the touch screen for every action. At first, the names of some of the games are a little disconcerting. What I always called ‘Speed’ is called ‘Spit’ here and there are many other examples. Thankfully, there is Stamp mode, which is what the single player game is mostly made up of. You play through every game in the Clubhouse, getting a feel for them all.

Don’t know how to play Rummy? No problem! Every game has its rules extensively written out in a very useful help system. Every game, even the more obscure ones, can be puzzled out via the rules system. Thankfully, every interface in [i]Clubhouse Games[/i] works together to create a cohesive system. When you are reading the rules, the game will tell you if it is your turn. This becomes especially useful when you are chatting. Yes, [i]Clubhouse Games[/i] has in-game pictochat. While you are writing to your friends, it will inform you when you need to make a move. It all comes together to be both enjoyable and easy to use.

All of these features are present in [i]Clubhouse Games[/i]’ robust online mode. Wifi play is supported in over 30 of the games present. They also play exactly like they do in local wireless or single player mode. Unfortunately, you can’t pictochat with strangers, just people on your friend list. Also, each game has its own lobby, so finding a game in some of the more unpopular offerings is a little difficult. Texas Hold Em always has competition going, though.

Some of the offerings in [i]Clubhouse Games[/i] are a little dry, however. The version of Battleship is a little broken. Texas Hold Em lacks an “All-In” feature. Billiards is painful to play and almost embarassing. There are plenty of little gripes to be made about all the games in this package, but for $30 dollars, you are getting a lot of gameplay. The interfaces are clean, and multiplayer is an absolute blast. Hell, my mom steals my DS now to play Solitaire. This game is sure to be very popular with anyone who just wants something simple that they know how to play.

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