DS

Wall-E

October 22, 2008

DS / Reviews / by Graham Russell Make a comment! / Tweet it!

WALL-E, Disney’s smash hit animated film, was inevitably going to spawn some tie-in games. Not only is the movie popular with kids, it’s also about a robot, and robots are good material for game characters.

With the DS installment, THQ took more of a puzzle-type approach. As the movie’s title character, players navigate paths with conveyor belts, lasers, and boxes, all in an effort to get to the end.

What is the end? It’s never really said. The title doesn’t follow the plot of the movie, and the text-free cutscenes do very little to explain anything. The game is somewhat aesthetically pleasing, at least; cutscenes are smooth and well animated, and the static 3D presentation gives the world depth while avoiding camera issues.

The real flaw here is the level design. Simply put, levels are just too long. WALL-E has limited health to get through areas, and when one obstacle late in the level proves tough, players must trudge through from the beginning again just to get to one trouble spot. This proves to be infinitely frustrating, and could have been remedied with more save points or smaller levels.

Also included are levels featuring EVE, WALL-E’s flying girlfriend. In these stages, the goal is to fly down a path while avoiding obstacles. This seems tacked on when interspersed between levels of the main game, and doesn’t add much in the way of fun. A modified version of this mode is the only included multiplayer option, and is equally forgettable.

If a young child really loves WALL-E, it’s possible to get a bit of enjoyment out of the game’s look and charm. For everyone else, it’s just not worth picking up.

Plays like: Chip’s Challenge.
ESRB: E, Just like the movie.
Pros: Well-done cutscenes
Cons: Bad level design, throwaway EVE sequences

Bangai O Spirits

October 21, 2008

DS / Reviews / by Justin Last Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Bangai-O Spirits has a lot to live up to. Gunstar Heroes, Ikaruga, Radiant Silvergun, and the 1994 original Bangai-O all precede it, and with those games Treasure built up a reputation for creating unique and challenging shooters with a fun and unexpected twist. For Gunstar Heroes that twist was combining different weapon types, for Ikaruga it was mixing and matching weapon and enemy color, and for Bangai-O Spirits the hook is taking everything you know and love about shmups and turning it up to 11 while giving you the tools to deal with it. The masochist in you will revel at the mind-boggling number of enemies and bullets on screen at any one time. It’s not enough for Treasure to make a challenging game. They’ve been doing that for years. Bangai-O Spirits delights in your frustration, and it literally laughs at you when you die.

At first glance Bangai-O Spirits doesn’t feature a single player campaign. Don’t let the menu label fool you. Tutorial is where you want to start, and you’ll be there for a good long while. The tutorial is where Bangai-O Spirits hides its 17 levels and nearly 150 mission campaign mode. It’s lengthy, it’s challenging, and it is the only game mode to feature characters or narrative.

After the tutorial you’ll most likely land in Free Play mode where each of Bangai-O Spirits‘s levels is available to you. Freedom must be carefully managed. In some games it is welcome and makes the environment feel more alive (e.g., Grand Theft Auto IV, Saint’s Row), but here freedom is daunting and a bit unnerving. Shooters need a linear progression with a steady difficulty ramp-up.

Despite the open-ended nature of Free Play mode Bangai-O Spirits still manages to be fun thanks to great level design and play mechanics. Bangai-O Spirits, like many shooters out there, revels in filling the screen to capacity with enemies and their bullet spray. The difference lies in your defense against the enemy hoards. Both sets of weapons can be customized before each level. Each set can be used separately or combined. Combining weapons drains ammo faster, but their effects are combined allowing you to use homing lasers instead of just homing shots or just lasers.

Bangai-O Spirits sets itself apart in terms of multiplayer and level creation. Not only does Bangai-O Spirits support four player cooperative play (multi-chip) and a robust set of level-editing tools. Any level can be played in multiplayer, and any level can be tweaked in the level editor. If editing stock levels is unappealing the tool set also allows new levels to be created from scratch. Treasure even came up with an ingenious way of distributing user-created content. Edited levels are stored as sound files that can be recorded from the DS onto your PC for easy uploading to the Internet.

Bangai-O Spirits is not for the casual shooter fan. It is for the grizzled veteran who can play classic shmups by memory. Bangai-O Spirits is a spiritual successor to the N64’s Bangai-O so if that struck you as a rare gem then Bangai-O Spirits will satisfy you. For those that may not be sure I would advise you to check out some of Treasure’s other works before picking this one up (Ikaruga, for example, has a free demo available on XBLA).

ESRB: E10+ for Mild Fantasy Violence – this game is appropriate for any that won’t be frustrated by it.

Pros: Robust level editor, clever level distribution scheme, fun weapon customization

Cons: extremely difficult, too open for its own good

Plays like: Bangai-O, Gunstar Heroes

Line Rider 2 Unbound

October 21, 2008

DS / Reviews / by Graham Russell Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Line Rider, the popular Flash toy, is an intriguing way to spend a few minutes, but it wasn’t the most likely to turn into a retail product. It had no goals, no levels, and no real original content. The player was presented with a white screen and a few controls at the top of the screen. That was it. All the fun came from drawing on this canvas and watching a little guy on a sled ride on these lines. The guy usually got stuck or crashed until the player got the hang of it, and from there the experience really took off. (Of course, many people never got that far.)

So how did Genius Products turn Line Rider into a game? Well, by adding goals, levels and original content. There’s now a rough story: something involving a snowy mountain and a stolen girlfriend. It’s certainly not crucial, but it makes for a few amusing Pac-Man-style shorts between groups of levels.

The gameplay of the campaign takes a puzzle-style approach: the majority of the level is locked into place, but certain areas of each stage are open to drawing, and players take a trial-and-error approach to getting to the end. This would be monotonous, but Genius Products injected a bit more variety by adding different line types. Some lines speed up or slow down the rider, while others break or disappear after use.

Rather than making players with unsteady hands suffer, Genius implemented a line-drawing system similar to the pen tool in Photoshop. After first drawing a straight line, players can alter the curve of the line by dragging two little handles. It’s an intuitive approach, and works well.

Also included on the card is a recreation of the original game with the added line types. This is the primary attraction of the game, because the story mode is relatively short. Players can upload levels via wi-fi, and download others’ creations for extra challenges. It isn’t for everyone, though; creating complex levels requires an uncommon level of skill and dedication.

If you’re one of those people that became addicted to the Flash game, you’ll have fun with the extra features and portability. If you didn’t like it, there’s nothing here to bring you around.

Plays like: An upgrade of the flash game.

ESRB: E- The little guy crashes, but he doesn’t seem to be hurt so much.

Pros: Portable version of the Flash game, added modes
Cons: Not enough added value for a retail product

Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness

October 13, 2008

DS / Reviews / by Graham Russell Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness is one of two titles released by Natsume to celebrate the series’ tenth anniversary. Essentially an upgraded version of Harvest Moon DS with a different story, it would normally be correct to challenge such a product as unnecessary.

Not with Harvest Moon, though. The fanbase is intensely loyal, and the games are designed to keep playing for months and years, so bug fixes, tightened controls and a few more features can go a long way in keeping the experience fresh. In a series known for reusing characters, IoH features a largely original cast of townsfolk, including new bachelors and bachelorettes to court.

The graphics are upgraded from HMDS, as expected, and aren’t amazing but do enough. The sounds and music have a charming quality to them, but some more variety would have really helped in a game that’s made to be played for hundreds of hours. Of course, as usual, this Harvest Moon title contains a few bugs, but they don’t break the game, and are largely avoidable.

The goals and costs for things have increased since the first DS game. Where HMDS had almost infinitely deep mines and an insane number of Harvest Sprites to unlock, Island of Happiness has just one medium-sized mine and no Sprites. On the other hand, attracting and keeping villagers has become more time-consuming, and construction costs have been, shall we say, adjusted for inflation.

Island of Happiness would have benefited from a control scheme that uses the D-pad, simply because the game is laid out into little squares anyway. There are times when the system is as easy to grasp as Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, and there are times when it’s hard to line up the character at all for watering or a similar task. That said, anyone looking to invest in Harvest Moon should be prepared to play more than long enough to get used to the system.

A small bonus is IoH‘s WiFi connection support. While there’s not much to do, a weekly contest allows longtime players to compete to complete specific objectives, like growing the most of a certain crop or making the most money.

Critics will largely pan this game because it doesn’t have enough upgrades to appeal to the gaming mainstream. Nevertheless, it added a lot that series fans were hoping for. There’s still room for improvement, but IoH can hold its own until the next installment.

Guitar Hero On Tour

August 19, 2008

DS / Reviews / by Graham Russell Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Guitar Hero has always been about two things – being a great party centerpiece and giving the player the feeling of really playing a guitar. Activision’s newest release, Guitar Hero: On Tour, has neither of these qualities. Does the gameplay still hold up?

It’s hard to say. The game certainly looks like Guitar Hero, though. The graphic engine created for the title looks as it should, though two-dimensional menus could have used a bit more polish.

The playlist is a bit limited compared to the console versions. On Tour packs less than 30 songs. Playing alone on the DS, as is often the case, songs become tired a lot faster than in a party situation. What songs are there, though, are solid and appeal to a large audience.

The controls were obviously the focus of the development team, and they almost pulled it off. The Guitar Grip almost feels like the top of the console guitar, and strumming on the touch screen does feel like strumming. Unfortunately, there are a few problems with this setup. Anyone with average-sized hands or larger will be uncomfortable holding the DS at the angle required, and playing more than one song at a time is basically impractical. Also, the Guitar Grip tends to slip out a little when gripping it, which makes players pay attention and keep it in while playing. At least Activision had the foresight to include an adapter to make it compatible with the original DS, but this setup makes for even less comfort.

Having a friend with the title gives it a bit more value. On Tour‘s multiplayer modes are similar to the console version, allowing for cooperative play or battles. The weapons are increasingly gimmicky, but when playing fake guitar on a tiny screen, maybe it shouldn’t be taken so seriously. This definitely doesn’t replace playing at home, but in a pinch it can be entertaining.

All in all, Guitar Hero: On Tour is a passable title, but the inflated $50 price tag makes it just not quite worth it. Once it hits a reasonable $35 or so, it might be worth a purchase.

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