Those hoping to play LittleBigPlanet 2 over the holidays will be disappointed. Media Molecule announced on the game’s official site that development concerns would push the release into early 2011.
Really early 2011. READ MORE
September 2010
When I talked about Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer last time, I made constant reference to Dominion, the first such “deck-building” game to gain popularity. For those who haven’t experienced Dominion, this column is for you. I’m not going to cover any of the expansions, as I have not played them; this will only cover the base Dominion game.
In Dominion, up to four players start with a deck consisting of some copper Treasure cards (which also exist in silver and gold for more purchasing power) and some Estate victory cards (which, along with the upgraded Duchy and Province versions, are the only way to score at the end of the game but are otherwise useless). Stacks of these six types of cards are available to purchase during the game, as are ten “kingdom” cards. These cards are selected (either randomly or according to a suggested arrangement) from the twenty-five different types available. The last type of card are “Curse” cards, which are negative-VP cards inflicted on players by one of the kingdom cards. (The box’s “500 card” count includes 40 additional cards that are either blank or placeholders.)
On a player’s turn they use the five cards in their hand to execute one action and one buy (purchase), in that order. An “action” is playing a kingdom card to generate some effect (more gold, additional action[s], drawing extra cards, additional buy[s], etc.); some actions are “attacks,” which affect other players in the indicated ways unless a given player has and reveals a “Moat” (reaction) card (which has its own action use). A “buy” is using Treasure (and other coins gained via actions) to acquire a single card from the matrix and add it to your discard pile for future shuffling into your deck. Once these two phases are complete, the player discards any remaining cards in their hand and draws five new cards (reshuffling his discard pile as necessary).
This continues until one of two endgame conditions occur. Once three of the kingdom piles are exhausted or all of the “Province” cards have been purchased, the game ends on that player’s turn. At that point, each player determines the value of all of the VP cards in his deck with the highest total being declared the winner. Ties are broken by whoever took the fewest turns, although it is still possible for the game to end in a tie.
While Dominion is a very solid game which has won a large number of awards in the last few years (including the 2009 Spiel des Jahres), it has a few flaws that keep it from being a favorite in my group. The first and most obvious is the need to have essentially-blank VP cards taking up valuable slots in your deck. It’s not impossible to have a turn that consists of a five-VP draw and is essentially wasted. The other obvious problem is the default limit of one buy; should you somehow draw more cash than you need, the excess is also wasted. The one action/one buy nature of the game has several other ways to result in a less-than-optimal turn; on the other extreme are the turns that go on forever as one player keeps chaining cards that give additional draws and actions — often ending without being able to buy anything worth all of that effort!
There are other potential problems with the game in its base state, especially if you use a random assortment of kingdom cards (having a lot of attacks but no Moats gets ugly fast, for instance), but I don’t want to give too much of a negative impression here. Dominion effectively opened the doors of the deck-building game genre, and is still popular for its ease of play; it’s currently the #7 overall game on BoardGameGeek, after all. I’m told the various expansions address many of the base set’s issues, and a few are capable of being played by themselves without the base set. I’m still not a fan, but I do respect Dominion for paving the way for its genre.
Dominion is available for $44.99 at local game stores or around $28 on Amazon.
This console generation hasn’t seen too many quality Japanese RPGs, or many JRPGs in general. Arc Rise Fantasia is here to remedy that and provide a traditional RPG for Wii owners. If you can look past some of the very obvious problems, you’ll find a surprisingly deep RPG with a lot to offer.
The story and characters in Arc Rise are nothing that you haven’t seen before. Your overall goal in the game is to, as expected, save the world from some kind of overwhelming evil that is beginning to take form. Now the world of Fulheim itself is a very beautiful place, but you never get any ensuing sense of danger. It’s a basic, predictable “save the world” story you’ve seen in most JRPGs.
The characters are nothing special either. Each character seems to have one very predictable personality trait that slightly sets him or her apart from the rest, but aside from that, there is nothing that really distinguishes these characters from each other. None of them seem to have any real personality, and they seem to do the dumbest things without any rhyme or reason. Just when you think you have figured a character’s motivations out, he will do something that seems completely out of character.
The game itself looks gorgeous and the music is brilliant, but there is one major problem that holds this game back: the localization. Not only is the game poorly translated, it also has some of the worst voice acting I have ever heard in a video game. It completely takes you out of the experience and it never seems to get any better. Some actors don’t even sound like they are trying most of the time. You’re going to want to turn the voice acting off as soon as you start playing.
Despite all of those complaints, Arc Rise Fantasia does have something good going for it: the gameplay itself. A lot of RPG fans play for the story and characters above all else, but I feel like the battle system alone is enough to make this fun little adventure. It has a pretty traditional battle system, but with enough twists in the already proven formula to make it a more exciting experience for veteran gamers.
You have a three party team and a single AP (or action points) meter shared by all three characters. As you perform various attacks, it empties, and once it hits zero you must end your turn. You can just have one particular character use all of the AP, or share it among your three party members. It leaves a surprising amount of room for strategy. Combine this with the many different magic spells, as well as different monsters you can summon and you have a battle system with a lot of variety in terms of combinations of attacks.
The game can also be pretty difficult, but not unfairly so. As with most JRPGs, there is a bit of level grinding involved, but it never gets old or feels like you need to do it more than a few specific times during the game. Combine that with plenty of variety in the enemies, dungeons, and a fairly lengthy game length and you have an enjoyable game for those Wii owners dying for a new RPG.
Despite the terrible voice acting, horrendous translation and very lackluster story, Arc Rise Fantasia is a solid RPG with plenty to do and a very enjoyable battle system. If this game looks like it may appeal to you, it is at least worth a rental. Look past the flaws and you will find yourself with a solid and lengthy adventure that may surprise you in more ways than one.
Pros: Colorful presentation with great music; very fun battle system; a lengthy adventure that should hold over any RPG fans for a while
Cons: Atrocious voice acting and a terrible translation; forgettable story and characters
Another year, another Layton game. And they’re smart, well-made games, but as people who’ve played the first two know, each entry is essentially an expansion pack of puzzles. So we’ll focus on the changes in Professor Layton and the Unwound Future.
First, though, a primer for the uninitiated. Each game follows Professor Layton and his assistant Luke as they wander around an alternate version of Britain with two major differences. First is that everyone’s involved in some sort of mysterious activity. Layton and Luke are on the case, trying to uncover the overarching mystery and smaller ones on the way. The second? Everyone’s obsessed with puzzles. Everyone. All the time. Be prepared to suspend your disbelief.
Anyway, though there are more Layton games coming, it is the end of the story chronologically. (At least for Luke.) So while the titles are fairly interchangeable, this has a larger amount of references to series tropes and should be played last of the three currently released. The installment involves time travel, and as such many of the puzzles are time-themed. There are more animations this time, and there’s a little more voice acting. The latter may not be a plus for everyone.
There are a few additions to the system. The “memo” feature added in the last installment now includes colored pens (which are more useful than you’d think). The minigames are different now. That’s about it.
Ultimately, this is a great addition to the series, and if you enjoyed the previous games, pick it up. But if you’re not interested in a third helping of puzzles, there’s not much to bring you into the fold.
Two years after Worms: A Space Oddity brought the warring annelids to the Wii, Team 17 will be bringing them back for more this November. Titled Worms: Battle Islands, the worms will be fighting in good ol’ 2D. READ MORE
