Chris Ingersoll

Punch-Out!!

July 6, 2009

It’s been fifteen years since Nintendo laced up the gloves and stepped into the ring, but there’s no ring rust to be found on Little Mac. Punch-Out!! was last seen on the SNES, but fans are more likely to remember the original NES Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! (or non-Tysoned reissue); this new game is actually much more of a sequel to its 8-bit predecessor than to its Super cousin. Considering the span of time between games, however, it’s actually reasonable to assume that many gamers are experiencing Punch-Out!! for the first time. (It should be noted that both previous editions are available via the Virtual Console.) Those who have played games like EA’s realistic Fight Night series and/or the more cartoony Ready 2 Rumble franchise could be in for a sucker punch when they came in expecting Nintendo’s take on the sweet science.

What sets Punch-Out!! apart from all of the other boxing games is the fact that it’s not really a boxing game at all. As with the two previous editions of the franchise, Punch-Out!! is really more of a puzzle game that happens to be wearing boxing gloves and smashing you in the face. Each of your thirteen opponents has a pattern to learn and what works against one will earn you a missing tooth against another. Your first few opponents will force you to learn the basics, like dodging and counter-punching, but after you conquer the Minor Circuit you’ll need every trick at your disposal to dispatch the remaining combatants.

Fortunately, the big gameplay innovation of actually being able to practice against your opponents (or holographic facsimiles thereof) in advance is a huge help here. The illusory sparring partners won’t damage you when their virtual punches land, so it’s impossible to lose against them, but knowing their tricks in advance will save you some actual stitches. You can pick up some advice from your old trainer Doc between rounds, but most of your learning will be of the Hard Knocks variety. Once you defeat an opponent, the real deal is unlocked in your Exhibition Mode instead, with some challenges for subsequent rematches and replay value.

Thirteen opponents may not seem like much, but once you earn the World Championship a new mode is unlocked: Title Defense Mode. Each of your previous conquests totally revamps their fighting style, adding a whole bunch of new tricks — and harder hits, effectively doubling the number of opponents in the game. There’s a final, secret challenger to be found after a successful run through TD Mode (and earning the final mode, Mac’s Last Stand), but I’m nowhere near good enough to have seen him.

Punch-Out!! offers two control schemes with an option for a third. The classic way to play works basically just like the NES version while holding the Wii Remote sideways, although I find a couple of buttons awkwardly-placed. The new Wii way to play involves swinging the Wii Remote and Nunchuck as fists; normal waggles default to hooks (body blows), but either pressing up on the C-stick or holding the B/Z button will let you jab your opponent in his grill. Once you accumulate stars (up to three), holding the A or C button and swinging will consume all your stars and fire off a brain-scrambling uppercut that will usually drop ’em like flies (if it connects…). Owners of the Wii Balance Board can also employ their footwork to dodge and duck, but I’m not one of them so I can’t really speak to that method of play; I also can’t comment on the split-screen Versus mode, although in theory it strikes me as being a somewhat tacked on extra.

Overall, Punch-Out!! improves over its NES ancestor in just about every way. Comparisons to Super Punch-Out!! are less direct, due to significant gameplay differences, and will mostly depend on your preference of those changes. Taken on its own merits, however, Punch-Out!! is simply a blast that should be enjoyed by all gamers, nostalgic or not. At its higher levels it might skew a bit more towards the hardcore gamer than the casual type, but everyone should be able to get a kick out of knocking the croissants out of Glass Joe.

ESRB: E10 for Cartoon Violence and Comic Mischief; there isn’t any blood, but characters do suffer some noticeable bumps and bruises as the match progresses.

Plays like: the ultimate version of the original NES Punch-Out!!, minus Mike Tyson

Pros: large, expressive characters and precise control; technically over 25 opponents

Cons: Some players may prefer the one round/S-meter system used in Super Punch-Out!! more than a return to the 3-round/star punch format.

Gaming Unplugged: Easter Island

June 26, 2009

Features / Unplugged / by Chris Ingersoll /

Different “abstract strategy” games take the word “abstract” in their description different ways. Most are just a bunch of themeless geometric pieces and/or arrangements that don’t really represent anything: Go, Blokus, Connect Four, etc.. Then there’s stuff like Easter Island, a game in which players represent powerful wizards engaged in conflict with each other by using the titular island’s trademark Moai statues as powerful solar-powered deathrays.

No, I’m not kidding.

Each player has a total of seven Moai statues in his color (white or black); each statue has a triangular as a base, with one side parallel to the back and a point at the front. Play begins by players alternating placing four of these statues anywhere on the grid/board with the base of the statue parallel to the gridlines. Each player also has eight “sun disks” in their color.

Each player usually takes two actions per turn; whoever takes the first turn of the game takes only one action. These actions can be any combination of the following choices (and the same choice can be used twice):

Place a statue from your reserve on to the island.
Place a sun disk on one of the twenty sun spaces.
Rotate one of your statues either 90 or 180 degrees.
Move one of your statues any number of spaces in a straight line (without rotating it); you cannot pass through or jump over any other piece.
“Activate” a sun token already on the board.

There are only two simple restriuctions to these rules: you cannot activate a sun token that you placed this turn, and if you place a statue as your first action, that statue cannot be involved in any beam that might be created during your second action. These rules basically prevent you from ambushing opponents with moves that weren’t already on the board.

If a sunbeam strikes a statue either directly from the front or directly from behind, the statue is destroyed; if that beam were to strike on either side, the beam would be redirected toward the front of the statue (presumably from its “eyes”). In the event that a statue is hit twice by the same beam, it is destroyed (it “overloads”, I guess); if no statue is destroyed by these means, then whichever statue was last struck by the beam is destroyed instead. Play ends when one player has only one statue remaining on the island, even if that player has additional statues still in reserve. If, in rare cases, the game reaches a point where both players have fired off all eight sun tokens without ending the game, whoever has the most statues left on the board wins; in the (even more rare) event of a tie, whoever placed the last statue wins.

Easter Island is a glorious game of move and counter-move, as each player attempts to orchestrate positions to trap his opponent’s statues in the sights of his unforgiving solar death beams while simultaneously trying to avoid the same fate. Sacrifices must be made in order to progess, and momentum constantly shifts back and forth as play progresses. Attacks can come from various angles as the imaginary beams pinball around the board, and an unexpected rotation or shift could spell your doom at any moment. As an added bonus, the game plays fairly quickly, with around a thirty minute run time for most cases. I would really like to see a “deluxe” version of this game (or perhaps a video version) that could really capture its quirky laser-shooting majesty, but the colorful board and solid plastic statues will have to suffice for now.

Avalon Code

April 13, 2009

DS / Reviews / by Chris Ingersoll /

I’m familiar enough with RPGs to know that Avalon Code’s adventure elements isn’t exactly an RPG. Sadly, several inherent flaws temper a great deal of the ambitious innovation that went into its design, leaving behind an unsatisfactory experience filled with promise but short on delivery.

For reasons not explained, your character has been chosen to bear the Book of Prophecy and is thus tasked with recording information about the world before it is destroyed and replaced with a new one based on the Book’s contents. People, monsters, items, flowers, and maps each get a two-leaf spread in the book’s several thousand pages. There are also pages that will record every one of the game’s cut-scenes for your later perusal, which is a nice feature; your scores in a couple of mini-games are also recorded. Maps are automatically generated as you enter new areas, but everything else must be Code Scanned, which is fancy language for “smacked with the giant book”. This does not inflict any damage, and in fact nothing is aware of this even happening due to the book’s mystical properties.

Once an object is scanned, Avalon Code’s key innovation comes into play. Everything in the book is represented by several gene-like Codes in a grid called the Mental Map. Each Code represents a material, elemental attribute, abstract concept, or animal, available in seven different shapes and sizes. By combining these Codes in various ways you can change the nature of whatever you wish; for example, putting both Illness and Copper Codes in something’s mental map results in it either becoming rusty or tired. As you explore the world you can also scan tablets called Metalizes which contain recipes for various special items; sometimes you must first solve a sliding block puzzle (ranging from 3×3 to 5×5) in order to “translate” the tablet. Characters have aspirations that will suggest a recipe that will vastly increase their value — and sometimes free them of a detrimental “locked” Code that is holding them back.

As mentioned, each entry in the book has a value. Recombining Codes will often increase the value of objects and characters, while maps gain value either by exploring them or by scoring high in a dungeon’s segment. Each room of a dungeon will task you to either defeat all of the enemies or flip all of the switches, awarding you points based on how fast you complete the task as well as several other bonuses like not receiving damage or fighting with specific types of weapons. As the Book’s total value increases, the Book itself will level up; each time it levels up, it offers you a brief glimpse of the future, revealing new events.

Your character levels up as well, but in an unusual manner. There are five schools of combat (Swords, Hammers, Projectiles, Bombs, and Unarmed); as you fight, you gain experience in whatever weapon you struck your enemy with, and eventually level up in that fighting style, increasing your damage output or improving your special move within that school. Combat is mostly real-time hack and slash, wielding weapons in both hands (controlled by the X and Y buttons), although you can also juggle enemies via hitting the A button to trigger Judgement Link… which is the only way to recover health, magic, and mystic jewels (money), so you better get used to it. Your HP (a Zelda-style heart system rather than the usual RPG numeric totals) and MP are increased only when you scan specific tablets, most often after defeating a boss.

It is this unusual level-up system, combined with the mini-game nature of the dungeons, that start to give me pause when referring to Avalon Code simply as an action-RPG. Further clouding the issue is the fact that the plot and character development, my two biggest criteria for judging an RPG, are inconsistent at best. The narrative is broken down into several chapters (fitting the whole “Book of Prophecy” theme) that give you an ultimate goal, but otherwise just hangs in the background, leaving you to wander around randomly trying to trigger side quests from various characters, including pursuing one of several romantic interests (the game allows for both male and female protagonists). This is accomplished mostly by giving them gifts to gain friendship (their page will tell you their likes and dislikes), but there’s little rhyme or reason as to when a given character will actually offer up a quest. Even once you have fulfilled a character’s aspirations, however, there is often no significant change in their demeanors. It basically seems like all of that work is only paid off in a higher score for the Book.

Once you overcome the ultimate Big Bad, you are offered a glimpse at the world that will be created after the destruction of the current one, as influenced by the contents of the Book (including several questions that ask you “How will it be in your world?”), but you can continue to explore post-adventure areas at your leisure, further refining the future world through your actions. Whether or not you want to bother will probably depend on how much of a completionist you are and how tolerant you are of the game’s shortcomings and unusual style (like the dungeon design). Personally, I was most frustrated with the endless flipping of pages as you try to find appropriate Code pieces to complete recipes; the game (eventually) allows you four bookmarks that you can move around at will in addition to the pre-set bookmarks for the Table of Contents, Player Information, and Save/Load page, but what the Book really needed was a simple search function that could tell me, say, where all of my Silver Codes are currently assigned. I actually wonder how much of the 51 hours I currently have on my save file was spent simply rifling through pages to find specific Codes.

Frustrations and complaints aside, there are several original ideas contained within Avalon Code that I wouldn’t mind seeing again. While the actual execution of the Code-swapping was somewhat lacking, it is an awesome concept that deserves a better chance. Much effort was put into squeezing a lot of quality visuals and sounds out of the DS, which includes voice clips for most of the (in-engine) cut scenes. If we are to get a sequel, hopefully having most of the ground work already done will allow for more focus on the story and Code system. As it stands now, Avalon Code is worth checking out if you want to try something a little different, but not something I recommend going out of your way to pick up.

ESRB: E10 for Fantasy Violence and Mild Language; the romantic sub-plot never progresses much beyond hugging

Plays like: something between a Zelda clone and a regular action-RPG

Pros: Ambitious, unique concept

Cons: Questionable design choices, especially “mini-game dungeons”; plot and development lacking

The World Ends With You

March 31, 2009

DS / Reviews / by Chris Ingersoll /

For a company generally afflicted with an incurable case of sequels and remakes, Square-Enix took every risk possible when unleashing The World Ends With You (WEWY) on the gaming populace last year. Unrecognizable by any established Japanese RPG standards, WEWY is an amazing mix of new ideas and brilliant execution that adds up to one of the best DS experiences in the record-breaking handheld’s lifetime.

Designed to make use of every one of the DS’s unique features, WEWY will throw simultaneous two-screen real-time combat at you, requiring use of the d-pad as well as the stylus (and sometimes the microphone) in a rub your stomach/pat your head manner. Fortunately, you can set your partner’s control to fully or even semi-automatic until you get the hang of things, but fully-manual control isn’t that difficult once you’re used to it; usually just spamming left or right while you work the bottom screen will get the job done, although paying attention to the top screen for combos is far from impossible.

In fact, the defining feature of WEWY is scalability. Nearly every aspect of the game is adjustable to every skill level: besides setting the level of AI control over your partner, you only engage in random encounters when you want to (and a few times when you have to, but almost never randomly), you can set the difficulty from Easy to Ultimate (once you unlock each level), and you can even turn your experience level up or down (lower levels result in higher frequency of item drops). Along the way you’ll acquire a couple of hundred different pins (weapons, basically), each with their own command input, strength, number of uses, type of damage, and fashion brand; these pins gain levels and occasionally even evolve into different pins not unlike Pokémon. Further customization can be found in your threads (equipment), food (stat improvements… once you’ve digested them via combat, but only up to a certain amount per real-time day), and whether or not you pay attention to the ever-shifting trends in Shibuya which affect the strength of pins and equipment, with popular brands in a given area being stronger and the least popular brand being only half strength.

It all adds up to a bizarre RPG that defies all expectations. Even the narrative is out-there, pitting you as 15-year-old Neku trapped in some sort of strange “game” being contested in the streets of Shibuya, Japan. You and your partner combat creatures called “Noise” as you jump through hoops set before you by beings called “Reapers”. The Game takes place over a week, and each day kicks off with you receiving a timed mission via your cell phone. Eventually you figure out that you are in a parallel dimension from the normal world, and although you can see and interact with it to a certain extent, nobody from that dimension can interact with you except in special circumstances (i.e., shops). The exact nature of the Game and its participants will also unfold as you progress, and rarely in ways that you anticipate.

Don’t be too worried about those time limits, by the way. There is no actual in-game time restriction; even if your mission is to be completed in 15 minutes, you can safely spend hours grinding and exploring without penalty. In fact, this is the most enjoyable grinding that I have ever done in any RPG, thanks to the intense combat mechanics and the fact that I more or less choose which monsters to fight in a given area. And without spoiling too much, don’t worry that the game will be over after only seven in-game days, either (a quick read of the manual would have tipped you off about that anyway).

Despite all of the amazing things this game does, there is at least one shortcoming, however. While the amount of information recorded and provided to you is impressive, the game never tells you that some pins require different types of experience if you want them to evolve. You see, in addition to Battle PP, the pins you currently have equipped will also earn experience while you’re not playing (Shutdown PP); there is also Mingle PP, gained by having your DS sit in wireless mode for a while and picking up signals from other WEWY players, other DS wi-fi signals, and miscellaneous other signals (“Aliens”). Even when you do evolve your pins, there’s never any indication of how you did so in case you want to make some more. Anyone seeking total Pin Mastery and a couple of other “totals” that are based on that will have to consult a FAQ, but most completionists are probably used to that.

Once you’ve completed the main narrative, several post-game options become available to you, including the ability to jump to any one of the game’s chapters. Not quite a “new game+”, you can replay these days with all of your advanced equipment/skills/etc. to find certain items, and completing each of a day’s goals will unveil a piece of the backstory, which is a fascinating bonus. There’s also a bizarre “Another Day” chapter that takes place in a different universe but somehow all makes sense within the framework of the game’s world (especially as you read the Secret Reports). Finally, you can also play a Bakugan-style mini-game called “Tin Pin Slammer” with up to four players over local wireless; the game occasionally crops up in the main narrative as well, so you’ll at least have some exposure to it regardless.

It all adds up to a truly staggering amount of content. I really hate the fact that Square-Enix charges $40 for their new DS games, but WEWY would almost have been worth it just to encourage new ideas from The House the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest Built. Fortunately it’s now available at most locations for only $30. At that price it was just a matter of finding time to actually play the game, which every RPG fan should do eventually. I don’t know if we’ll ever see a sequel to The World Ends With You (probably… the story can support it, sort of), but I’ve definitely never seen anything like it before.

ESRB Rating: T for Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, and Mild Suggestive Themes. The usual.

Plays like: nothing else

Pros: A pile of unique ideas and DS-specific design combine to create one of the most enjoyable RPGs in a long time, on any system

Cons: Still suffers from some “Guide Dang It” design that plagues most RPGs, but most players probably won’t notice

Okami

March 31, 2009

Reviews / Wii / by Chris Ingersoll /

When Clover Studios first put out Okami for the PS2, many gamers believed that its “Celestial Brush” mechanic would make the game a perfect fit for Nintendo’s then-new motion-controlled Wii system. It may have taken two years, but Ready At Dawn finally gave it a shot; the results are a solid effort, although maybe not quite the perfect port many would have expected.

Retelling the Japanese legend of the sun goddess Amaterasu, along with other stories from Japanese mythology, Okami puts you in control of Ammy in her white wolf form (“okami” can mean both “wolf” as well as something along the lines of “high god/spirit”). Essentially a Zelda-style adventure game, the game’s single most distinguishing gameplay feature is the “Celestial Brush” I mentioned a second ago. As you progress through the story, Ammy gains access to over a dozen brush techniques that can be used in various ways; pressing the B button pauses the game and lets you “draw” on the canvas of the game’s world. Slashes cut down obstacles (and enemies), spirals cause breezes (or gales!), and circles regenerate once-green plant life, among other effects.

While the Celestial Brush does feel natural when using the Wii Remote’s pointer functionality, the reality is that the recognition of various strokes is inconsistent; straight lines are especially problematic, although holding down the Z button while you sketch will aid you greatly in that respect. This can be frustrating at first, but eventually you learn to overcome these issues and fling ink like the goddess you’re supposed to be. Another issue in the PS2-to-Wii translation is the use of gestures for combat maneuvers; the short version is that unless you are using the whip-style bead weapons (the first of which you don’t find until the second area of the game), it will be very awkward to execute combos and combat will be difficult.

Fortunately, these are the only shortcomings with the Wii version of this otherwise-solid game. Everything else, from the “living painting” art style to the mythology-spanning narrative, is largely intact from the original edition. If you missed out on Okami the first time around and own a Wii, Okami bears a worthy comparison to The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It’s not as fluid a port as it probably could have been, but ReadyAtDawn did what they could considering that they weren’t the original developers. I’m just thankful that I got to experience the game at all, and anyone else who skipped the PS2 version should be as well. It should be available at a bargain price by now, so pick it up if you haven’t already.

ESRB Rating: T for Blood and Gore, Crude Humor, Fantasy Violence, Suggestive Themes, and Use of Alcohol and Tobacco. When you think about it, Greek/Roman mythology is just as bad.

Plays like: most Zelda clones.

Pros: gorgeous visuals, unique concept

Cons: inconsistent motion controls

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