DS

Arkanoid DS

July 8, 2008

Arkanoid ranks highly as an arcade classic, despite being a takeoff of Atari’s Breakout. The plot of the game revolves around the planet Arkanoid and eight satellites that orbit it. Each of these satellites is powered by the light of an alien hero. One day, the heroes of the satellites are all called to one of them, Ananke. A rift in space opened, drawing in seven of the heroes, leaving only the hero of Ananke behind to defend Arkanoid from an evil alien horde using the spacecraft Vaus.

The gameplay is simple and straightforward: use a paddle (as is the case in Arkanoid series, Vaus) to bounce the ball around the field and destroy all the bricks to advance to the next stage. Certain blocks like the silver blocks require two hits to break, and gold ones can’t be broken at all. Some blocks drop items like paddle extensions to make hitting the ball easier, laser gun upgrades to shoot blocks, the ability to catch and re-launch the ball, multi-ball upgrades, slowing the ball’s speed, and turning the ball into a megaball able to shred through blocks without bouncing off them. More uncommon abilities include reducing the size of the paddle which also doubles the points earned, the vanish ability which causes the ball to clear all blocks of a single color on the next bounce, and the rarest of all, a warp ability that automatically clears a level.

The single player experience consists of clear, quest, or versus the computer modes. Clear mode allows the player to traverse the seven invaded satellites, each with five stages. The end of the game consists of a battle and freeing the alien heroes from their captors. There are branching paths along the way, each with a different set of stages all leading up to a slightly different ending. Each ending gives a hint to unlocking a bonus, so be sure and pay attention during each ending. Quest mode allows replay of levels cleared in clear mode, each with a specific puzzle or objective such as clearing all blocks of a designated color, clearing all blocks, using a limited amount of lives, and so on.

The VS COM mode consists of two submodes: a race to clear all blocks of a certain color from the field, or a race to clear all blocks. In versus games, ball speed reduction and paddle size reduction power-downs still appear, but affect the opponent’s field instead of the player’s own, as well as other items to make more blocks appear on the opponent’s field. The game also has local and wi-fi multiplayer for 2 to 4 players, with the same modes as the previously mentioned VS COM game. The multiplayer experience is a bit limited, what with only two modes of play. However, playing with friends via the WFC is still enjoyable.

While playing through most of these game types, the player can accrue “game points.” These points can be traded for extras to enhance the game experience: backgrounds, sound effects, frames that shape the field, music tracks, block shape, and even the type of Vaus used to launch the ball. Probably one of the most amusing things about the game is that some of the levels, custom backgrounds, sounds, and block types pay homage other Taito games such as Space Invaders, Bubble Bobble, Exit, Lost Magic, Legend of Kage, Darius, and more.

Arkanoid DS is a wonderful game experience with a great presentation: it’s the classic game with all sorts of new levels and a wonderful soundtrack. For all its positives though, there’s a bit to frown upon. It feels a bit incomplete, for one thing. The lack of variety in multiplayer modes can get boring somewhat quickly. Also, the original game had a bonus minigame called Uranoid that could unlocked with a special code on the title screen; this seems to have been removed from the US version. Also, what happened to the paddle controller from the original version? There was a special attachment that could be plugged into the DS’s GBA slot to be used as an alternate method of control rather than using the stylus or control pad. The last gripe is how come there’s no stage builder? Granted, there’s only 3 types of blocks to build stages with, but all sorts of interesting structures could be put together. As far as nostalgia value goes, the game certainly has that angle covered, so it’s definitely worth playing for awhile.

Summon Night: Twin Age is a fun action-RPG that borrows elements from its Gameboy Advance counterparts and at the same time does a few new things of its own. While the first two games focused on becoming the Craftlord, what is essentially a heroic smithy, Twin Age takes a divergent path. It focuses upon a young girl named Reiha and her summoned beast-boy Aldo. The world they live in is wrought with strife, as there is an ongoing conflict between the humans and the demi-human race, the Kascuza. The Kascuza were exiled to a small island called Jarazi, and even though some animosity between the two races remain, the conflict has somewhat settled down. As for Aldo and Reiha, it’s close to their coming-of-age ritual, but they discover that the spirits on Jarazi have begun to act erratically. It’s up to them and friends they meet along the way to discover the source of the spirits’ behavior.

Twin Age is a bit of a departure from the first two GBA titles. The plot is oddly compelling, mostly since it’s driven by a cast of colorful and interesting characters, as well as the fact that the game play itself is vastly different. The first two played out like a traditional RPG with dungeon crawling and random battles that were more akin to a side scrolling beat-em-up type of game. Twin Age throws away the notion of random battles in favor of real-time battles controlled entirely by the touch screen.

When the game first starts, the player is given the chance to select whether they want to play the game from Aldo or Reiha’s perspective. It is possible to freely switch between the characters during battles, and the plot of the game remains largely the same. The narrative of the story merely shifts onto the character of choice and reflects their thoughts and opinions of the situation at hand.

Combat is handled in real time with character movement and attack/skill execution manipulated with the touch screen. A lot of what goes on in battle is fairly straightforward; the menu is used to assign skills to the skill palette, which allows for quick execution of skills and fast use of items, and speeds up the pace of battles. The skill menu also allows acquiring of new skills for use in battles. Skills are learned through leveling up from battles and then spending SP to learn and level up skills. Each skill has a maximum level of seven, and learning different skills allows both Reiha and Aldo to traverse their respective skill trees in different orders.

In addition to Aldo and Reiha, the player gains access to other AI party members such as Nassau, Aldo and Reiha’s axe-wielding friend, and Ayn, the young girl aspiring to be a Spirit Priestess of the Kascuza, close to the beginning of the game. Skills can’t be assigned to the AI party member, nor can they be directly controlled. Their levels are assigned as equal to that of the player’s main character, and they typically come with a handful of healing items at the start of each dungeon. Each AI party member has their own governing element as well as weapon specialization, such as Nassau having a few wind-element abilities and bearing an axe, and Ayn using mainly water-based skills and using a staff to cast spells.

The action is broken up with story sequences and dialog interspersed within the dungeons, as well as at the beginning and end of each chapter. Typically at the end of each chapter, the player is allowed to select a partner character to have a conversation with. How this conversation plays out is affected by the player’s choice of main character and the partner selected to converse with. They help to affect the relationship between the player’s selected character and the partner and increase the partner’s support rank, which increases their skill and usefulness in battle.

Despite the drastic changes from the previous games, Twin Age has a very polished look and there is a lot of fun to be had. The graphics are bold and colorful and the game’s score is quite enjoyable. Fans of Shinichiro Otsuka’s character designs from the previous games might be a little surprised to see that Twin Age’s character designs were handled by Sunaho Tobe, the artist responsible for the character designs in Riviera: The Promised Land. The only complaints are that the AI characters can be a little foolhardy; it’s not possible to freely customize their AI much more than use items/don’t use items, use skills/don’t use skills, use normal attacks/don’t use normal attacks, which takes away a little of bit the strategy. Also, at around chapter 5, the game difficulty sharply spikes, particularly during boss battles, so be prepared to do a little bit of grinding. For those who enjoyed the gameplay in Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, Summon Night: Twin Age should have a pretty good appeal.

Crosswords DS

May 19, 2008

With Nintendo’s experience translating pen-and-paper classics Picross and Sudoku to the DS, the release of Crosswords DS was highly anticipated. Those titles appealed to a casual audience, and this title is no exception, wholeheartedly earning the Touch Generations label. The real problems that it faces deal more with experienced crossword enthusiasts.

The letter entry system is fairly problematic. It often misreads Is as Ls, Ks as Hs and Vs as Us, among others. This is understandable, but coupled with the relatively slow process of entering letters, even a smaller puzzle can become a tedious effort.

The most disappointing aspect of Crosswords is the clue writing. Most are just simple definitions, lacking any creativity or challenge, and some even just put blanks inside of larger words. Most people with a serious interest in crosswords come to expect a bit more from clue writing.

The game’s Anagrams mode shows a bit more promise. Though very similar to online addiction TextTwist, it puts the focus on completing the entire set of words, rather than getting the most in a short amount of time. It can be a bit frustrating, but is still a good way to pass the time. This is by far the most addictive mode in the game, and would be a great addition to a different casual title in the future, but it isn’t quite enough to make this one solid on its own.

Word searches are also included. Though there aren’t as many problems with controls, having to scroll the area to see words is infinitely frustrating when words span multiple screens.

For crossword novices and DS neophytes, Crosswords DS has a solid set of help tools. The training mode is clear, simple and comprehensive, and a set of hints and wrong letter notifications are available when a puzzle gets too tough. However, after a few days, even they will be advanced enough to want more of a challenge. Increased difficulty doesn’t really make the game harder, and instead makes it larger and longer.

While Crosswords DS is certainly no substitute for GAMES Magazine or The New York Times Crossword, it may be enough for less intense puzzle-seekers to warrant a purchase.

Many recent game releases are overly complicated. This is not to say that they aren’t fun games, but there is something great about a simple game you can pick up and play for just a few minutes. Puchi Puchi Virus is exactly that, a simple game that you won’t want to put down.

Puchi Puchi Virus takes place on a planet similar to Earth. One day, a virus named Puchirus began to infect the residents of this quaint planet. The residents begin to transform into odd creatures due to the virus. The protagonist of our story, Dr. Kevin Longfellow, sets out to help the residents. With the help of his assistants, Honeydew and George the Chicken, Dr. Kevin developed the “Virus Buster DS”. The Virus Buster DS is how Dr. Kevin cures the patients.

Puchi Puchi Virus has single and multiplayer modes. The single player mode allows you to A

Nanostray 2

April 30, 2008

The first Nanostray game started out as a little-known vertical scrolling shooter on the DS in 2005. The game’s developer, Shin’en, took influences from its Iridion games they developed for the Game Boy Advance. It was a sleeper hit and solid game; Nanostray 2 takes most of the first game’s flaws and corrects them, but adds a few more problems in the process.

Nanostray 2‘s menu is set up much like its predecessor: it has Adventure, Arcade, and Challenge modes, as well as offering co-op via multi-card and single card play. To unlock all the levels, you first have to go through the Adventure mode, which happens to be excruciatingly hard, even on the easiest setting. The game gives you five ships and three continues to work through all the levels. Once a level becomes available in Adventure mode, it unlocks in Arcade mode, allowing you the ability to replay a level you’re having trouble on.

The gameplay is standard shoot-em-up fare. Your ship progresses through the level and you destroy waves of enemies leading up to the boss of a level. Standard fire is the A button, and your special weapons are the B button, attached to a meter which drains after a few presses. Enemies drop yellow and blue coins which can be collected: yellow adds to your score while blue replenishes your special weapons meter. You don’t choose your ship, but you do choose your special weapon and, in addition, you can choose where your outermost lasers fire, which you can control through the trigger buttons. The special weapons you start out with include a high powered laser beam, seeker missiles, and an electric field that surrounds your ship. As you progress in Adventure mode, you gain new special weapons which will also become available in Arcade mode.

The game’s eight levels have varied settings and the game mixes up the gameplay by having your ship facing different ways. The first level, Teppeki Dock, scrolls horizontally from left to right while the one of the game’s second set of levels, Shinkai Bay, scrolls vertically from bottom to top and even rotates the screen at several points. The unpredictability is interesting, but can be frustrating at times and requires memorization. Challenge mode adds more to the game by setting different requirements, such as getting a high score on a level you’ve already completed, after you’ve unlocked those particular levels in Adventure mode.

Nanostray 2 seemingly improves on the first game in every way while keeping up with detailed, interesting levels and gameplay. The sheer difficulty of the game, however, is enough to recommend that only dedicated shooter fans pick up this title. While the game is fun, it’s also extremely hard, and will probably be a turn off for some gamers who don’t like replaying the same thing over and over again because their ship got shot up just before they finished a level. For everyone else, it’s a great time, and Challenge mode adds to the replay value after you finish the main story.