Ooops! I posted this everywhere else except here on our own site when we finished recording it last week! Better late than never right? Katy and Shawn discuss the differences between the DS Lite and the newly released DSi at the behest of a beloved listener! So, should you buy one or not?
15 Apr, 2009
Maxx and Shawn gush over a timeless classic, Gitaroo Man, taking you on an audio journey through the game (with music!). We also talk about the new DS game, Rhythm Heaven. It’s only an hour, what’re you doing right now? C’mon, listen!
Just watch the trailer, ok?
I never got that into 5th Cell’s previous DS offerings — Drawn to Life and Lock’s Quest — but I loved the clever concepts behind them. As unique as they were, the team’s latest title for Nintendo’s handheld makes them both look tame in comparison.
Think of Scribblenauts like a mix of platforming, puzzle solving, and graphic adventuring. The twist here is that whatever you write on the touchscreen is what you use to solve the game’s 100+ “grab the star” puzzle scenes, if you can tear yourself away from spawning tornadoes, pizza, soldiers, lantern fish, or just about any other noun you can think of.
Joystiq has a fluffy interview with the team and the pictorial to the left explains a bit but the trailer over at the official site is what you should really check out first. Just go, you’ll see. Scribblenauts just shot to the top of my can’t-wait-to-play list for 2009.
19 Feb, 2009
Dan Sock aka Dan Hsu. Can I just say how brain-melting it is to see a modern day photo of Dan posing as EIC of the fictional magazine GameFan in 1982 that was a real (and beloved) magazing in the 90’s? More photos from Retro Game Challenge at my Flickr page, here. Also, crossposting from Flickr is once again boned so this post was way more complicated than it needed to be.
14 May, 2008
When last I wrote about the game I was still plodding through the opening chapters. Now, having seen it through I can say without a doubt that there’s no finer action game on the DS and that anyone hoping to compare should bow with respect and shamelessly copy this game.
As I expected there aren’t any other weapons besides the upgradeable dragon sword, some explosive arrows, and a handful of ninpo magic attacks, but the gameplay remained mostly solid and rewarding throughout. The difficulty didn’t ramp up too much but the game starts throwing more and more enemies at you, along with environmental hazards, which leads to plenty of cheap jabs to your health bar. It didn’t lead to many outright deaths, and it’s really just a nagging complaint, but it definitely made me feel very un-ninja-y.
The boss battles also leave a lot for a master ninja to desire. With a few end-of-game exceptions they don’t feel as epic as the console versions and the attack patterns come slow and easy to avoid. Not even the final showdown felt as harrowing as the original game’s battle against Alma, which is a moment of horror that is forever ingrained in my mind. In Dragon Sword her evil Fiend sisters feel about as scary as being confronted by a Renaissance Festival player who dresses up and pretends it really is 1459.
Ryu’s lightning fast attacks may also contribute to how easy the whole adventure is. With few misinterpretations by the touch screen it’s easy to stay airborne while slicing and dashing through a dozen enemies, landing with just enough time to charge up your even-more-powerful Essence attack. Should you get in a jam you can almost always rely on your ninpo magic to level the field and even conjure up a spell that refills your health.
I’m sure the game is much more challenging on the next difficulty setting but I’m not the sort to trudge back through a game just to make it harder. Nor am I the type to play through all difficulty settings just to find hidden items, which is the only way to collect all of those pesky wooden amulets. The reward? You can rewatch the cutscenes, see character bios, and read diary entries. The diaries are entertaining, especially for the villains, but definitely not worth that kind of commitment.
The magic’s still here. Team Ninja has once again retooled their original 2004 adventure and I’ve once again trounced my way through it, living the rockstar ninja lifestyle and loving every bit of it. Now can we please get on with Ninja Gaiden 2 and another four years of remakes and updates?
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