Movie tie-ins are a given in today’s game business. Movie tie-ins that are over three years late? That just doesn’t even make sense. Crave’s Napoleon Dynamite: The Game is the latter. The title offers 25 minigames based on the film, and nothing else.
The games are all based on jokes in the movie. The activities range from A
MX vs ATV Untamed is a strange mix of simulation and arcade racing, and that mix makes it difficult to really enjoy the game. Previous Rainbow games also married arcade and simulation, but it seemed to be done on purpose and for gameplay purposes. Untamed, however, doesn’t balance the two well, and it feels like it was supposed to be either a sim game with arcade parts that should be taken out or vice-versa.
Graphically, MX vs ATV Untamed is a disappointment. Models are lackluster, textures are bland, and the whole package looks like it came from two years ago. Race tracks all look the same, and MX vs ATV Untamed doesn’t push the already-underpowered DS. Sound, however, is a different story. Vehicles sound appropriate, and the soundtrack – even if the individual songs are your personal favorites – feel at home in the multiple event types.
Event types and vehicle types are both varied and interesting. Some events happen inside a stadium and have you driving your dirt bike over tire-crested hills, man-made mud puddles, and random logs while other events have you driving your dune buggy from flag to flag in a true off-road race where you’re racing just as much against the trees and other obstacles as your fellow racers. Unfortunately, the aforementioned arcade/simulation dichotomy rears its ugly head in the control scheme. You can still jump unrealistically high, but landing then has realism elements which causes you to crash 99 times out of 100. You can take a right-angle turn at full speed and be no worse for the wear, but nudging a rival racer is likely to send you careening off the race track. The whole thing just feels sloppy. Rainbow should have gone all-out arcade or all-out simulation, because this bizarre amalgamation of the two is difficult and frustrating to play. I’m all for difficulty in games, but I want to be battling racers, not the game engine.
There are better racers available for the DS (Mario Kart DS), and unless you desperately want to compete in Motocross and Endurocross events, I can’t recommend MX vs ATV Untamed; it’s just too inconsistent to be fun as more than a rental.
In a genre of heavy, dark settings, the Advance Wars series has always been a pleasant aberration. The turn-based tactics games have always been strangely and endearingly uplifting. However, with this second installment on the DS, developer Intelligent Systems decided to scrap that formula for a new, grittier one.
The basic gameplay is still the same. Relatively generic military units are deployed on a grid of squares, and players rely on tactics and rock-paper-scissors-type pairings to win the day. The title plays much like its sibling Fire Emblem, but with a focus on winning individual battles rather than building characters over a campaign.
It is obvious that Nintendo wished to change directions after the last entry, Advance Wars: Dual Strike. Many players felt that the characters’ special abilities overpowered the game in that title, so Days of Ruin ditches the original cast for a new group of commanders with simpler, weaker abilities. Instead of powers being applied to all units, only those within a small radius of the CO’s unit have boosted statistics.
The real focus of Days of Ruin seems to be online play. As with all first-party online DS titles, it has a polished (if simplistic) way to get into battles, and the turn-based nature leads to no noticeable problems with lag.
As a result of this addition, though, it seems many other areas of the game were scaled back. The campaign is a bit shorter, and the popular War Room mode has been replaced by a slightly smaller series of training maps. Dual Strike‘s impressive roster of over 20 COs is replaced with one half its size.
All in all, Days of Ruin is a wonderful title for competitive players looking for a tougher challenge online, and a solid-if-unspectacular one for casual strategy players. Now that Intelligent Systems has established this new feel for the series, expect the next title to flesh it out and surpass the previous titles completely.
Draglade is a 2D rhythm-based fighter. Rhythm games are king right now with people picking up Guitar Hero III and Rock Band in droves, but the 2D fighter is underrepresented in today’s market, and Atlus is hoping to capitalize on that oversight by publishing what is the strangest cross-genre game I’ve ever played. If you’re a fan of either genre then Draglade may be for you, but if you like both genres then you should definitely take a look.
There are four stories to work through, but none of them matter. Each is a series of fights culminating you in you becoming the best Grapper (a cross between grapple and rapper I suppose) in the land. For a game centered around music, Draglade‘s soundtrack and music integration are both disappointing. If Def Jam Icon can incorporate music so well into its gameplay then Draglade has no excuse for abrupt transitions between the standard fight and a special move. The cut is jarring and creates a disconnect where there should be a smooth transition as in any other fighter moving from standard punches and kicks to a hadouken.
Until a special move is activated Draglade plays like any typical 2D fighter. There are light and heavy attacks, blocks, and jumps to be doled out, but bouts are won and lost in bullets (special moves) and beat combos. You have a limited number of charges for each bullet which adds an additional layer of strategy to the game, and your rhythm can tip the scales in your favor when beat combos are used. Simple hold the left shoulder button to bring up the combo meter. The object is to press an attack button in time with the beats of the music to best your opponent. It’s possible to rack up a decent combo by just mashing buttons, but you’ll do a lot more damage if your attacks are all landing in conjunction with the beats of the song.
Draglade isn’t a revolution in fighting games, but it is a fun diversion, and the beat combo system is interesting. There’s fun to be had here, particularly in multiplayer. Draglade supports single-card multiplayer, multicard multiplayer, and WFC multiplayer as any competitive game on the DS should. Also of note is Draglade‘s Dragon Sequencer – a mini sound studio that allows the player to author his own combos for use in the game. Combos only last a few seconds, but the sequencer is astoundingly deep for as simple a tool as it is. If you’re looking for a good online fighter to play on the go then Draglade is definitely a front runner for the DS.
Geometry Wars is a little game that just keeps growing. The series, which started as a minigame in Project Gotham Racing 2 and grew into a Xbox Live Arcade classic is now seeing a full-version release on the Wii and DS. The new release, titled Geometry Wars: Galaxies, offers a deep one-player mode and a new multiplayer experience.
The Galaxies single player mode features different-shaped levels with different waves of enemies, as well as an upgradeable sidekick with different behaviors. The different levels manage to feel varied and uniquely challenging.
The real challenge for the series was porting to a system without dual analog controls. The Xbox version relied on this setup, with the second stick controlling the shot angle. The DS version uses the touch screen to indicate shot angle, and lets the D-pad control movement. While the new control scheme takes some getting used to, it serves as an adequate replacement and a reasonable use of the second screen.
The sound effects in Geometry Wars are trance-inducing and fit well with the experience. The bright, chaotic visual style is part of the charm, and everything that made the first game fun is still here.
The only difference between the Wii and DS versions is the visual detail. To keep all of the gameplay, developer Kuju removed the animated, fluid nature of the grid background. This is understandable, and of everything that could be removed, this takes away the least from the enjoyable nature of the title.
The multiplayer works well for a game that wasn’t designed to have it. Co-op play shares bombs and scores, and versus play has both trying to rack up more points while shooting the same enemies.
Galaxies would have been a successful title if that were the only content, but Sierra and Kuju included more. The entire original game is available to play, and there also is an extra galaxy available to those who link up the two versions of the game. Both allow downloading a demo to any DS, as well.
For players that enjoy Geometry Wars and similar shooters, Galaxies is a deep package with more of the fun you’re used to. For people that have yet to experience the gameplay, it has all you need in an easy-to-get-into package. Definitely give this one a try.
