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The Sixth and Seventh Days of Gamesmas

I recently got a copy of Dragon Quest IV in the mail from Amazon. I haven’t delved too far into it yet, but if it’s anything like the other Dragon Quest titles I’ve played (and I imagine it most definitely is) I should be in for quite a treat. I just can’t seem to get enough of the DQ formula. Well, other than Dragon Quest VIII, which I’ve owned for years now but have never gotten into. I hear it’s one of the best games in the series, too!

Maybe it’s because I’m so used to playing RPGs on the go. The majority of my game time is done on handhelds, actually. It’s been thAt way for a while, and now that I’ve got both a 3DS and an iPad, I’ve got quite a selection of games to choose from. Not that my consoles don’t have that same selection (especially considering I own a PC, PS3, 360, and Wii), but there’s something about having games in my pocket that I find more appealing.

Maybe it’s the amount of time it takes to start a console game: find the controller, plug the system into my TV/monitor if it’s not already hooked up (I, um, have a lot of cables to plug in), etc. Or maybe it’s that I’m stuck in one place, and that I can’t just drop the game and continue later like I can with handheld games (which either have built-in quick saves or follow the system’s sleep mode). Or maybe I’m just biased and making up excuses!

Regardless, I do have a new console game to play, also provided by Amazon: Blue Dragon. The art style is lovely (might be my Dragon Quest love showing) and the game seems like a simple, fun RPG built in a classic style that, even after all these years, I still love. I’ve been told to lower my expectations for it, so I’ll go in with a certain mindset and just hope for a decent experience. Maybe It’ll be good and I’ll get a pleasant surprise!

I’m also thinking of picking up Lost Odyssey. I played up to the second disc a few years back when I rented the game over a weekend, and did enjoy it, though it also felt a little… I don’t know… generic. However, I spotted the game for 10 bucks, so I figure that’s a good enough price to see the game through and hope it gets its claws into me. I’ve heard it reminds people of Final Fantasy IV, and since that’s my favorite 2D Final Fantasy game, I’m hoping LO ends up being a new favorite of mine.

Other than those three games, I’ve been playing a lot of the GBA ambassador titles. It all feels a bit overwhelming, so I think I’ll need to set up some sort of plan to play each one at a time instead of jumping into each one whenever they strike my fancy, which is what I’ve been doing. But hey, can you blame me? These are some amazing games, and considering my favorite Mario game is among them, I can’t help myself. If Nintendo ever decides to start selling GBA games on the eShop, I fear for my wallet.

Sorry for the short entry today, but work calls! I have a day off tomorrow, so hopefully I can deliver something a bit more meaty for you all. Hope everyone is enjoying their holidays!

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The Fifth Day of Gamesmas: Skyward Sword

Oh, The Legend of Zelda, how I love thee. And oh how that love grows when you decide to do something new and interesting to mix up your aging (but still rather lovely) formula, like wrapping yourself up in a beautiful art style and using the Wii Remote and motion controls to their full potential. In fact, with Skyward Sword you might have finally justified motion controls as something that truly make video games better, not just gimmicky and physically tiring, making it difficult to think about just pushing buttons anymore.

Yes, the motion controls in this game are that good. In terms of the movements on screen matching your own, Nintendo has found a balance between too precise not precise enough, every sword swing and flick of your wrist coming together effortlessly to bring down your enemies. Guiding a flying beetle weapon through the air to cut down hanging ropes, or sometimes deadly foes; aiming your slingshot to knock crawling spiders off walls or hit switches in the distance; holding your arm up and flinging bombs, or rolling them on the ground like bowling balls; all of these things feel natural, intelligently-designed, and even fun. Which is what games are supposed to be about, right?

Nintendo has ditched the use of the sensor bar (other than a short calibration screen when the game starts), allowing you to control aiming, menu traversal, etc. with just motion controls, meaning there’s no more “the pointer just went off screen, you dummy!” to interrupt your adventure. Plus, if you happen to twist the Wii Remote a little too much and lose calibration, you just tap the d-pad and you’re good to go again. Nintendo really couldn’t have made it simpler to just… play, and not needing to think about what you’re doing.

The motion controls effect everything in the game, from puzzles to combat, the latter being one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in a game before. Let’s say you come up against Bokoblins (for those unfamiliar, they’re little pig/demon things that carry swords or clubs). They’ll hold their weapon up defensively, and you won’t be able to attack unless you slice them from the right direction. Deku Babas, another Zelda staple, can only be vanguished if you slice at their mouths in the correct way. Beamos, a new totem-like enemy, have to be sliced horizontally until you break them down to just their eye piece and give them a good poke. Other enemies, like Staldras and Stalfos, are much more difficult to fight and require different sword techniques combined together, along with a little of patience; waggling the Wii Remote around aimlessly will quickly get you killed. Even bosses have evolved from their usual patterns, every fight requiring strategy, and you will feel good when you win.

Similar to Majora’s Mask, Skyward Sword is a game in which each character matters. Even if they don’t seem to at first and feel like they’re just there to fill space. But give them time and you’ll discover who they are and what makes them tick, helping them with their various troubles, and in return having them help you with yours. Not just with items or side-quest completion, but with a little more understanding of Link’s world and what it’s like to live there. The more you interact with them, the more rich your experience will be.

The importance of story in SS is greater than most Zelda games too, giving you a reason to care about Zelda and Link’s intertwined fate. The dialog is full of not just wonderful writing, but constant nods to Zelda games gone by, a small reward for all of us who’ve stuck with the series for so long. Some references are subtle, while others are very much visible, and you will be smiling a lot regardless. It’s nice to know that as someone who’s invested a great deal of time in this franchise, Nintendo acknowledges me as a supporter, constantly tugging at the nostalgic strings in my heart. Or heart piece, as it were. It’s also nice to have an origin story, seeing every action you take and knowing how it will effect future incarnations of our heroes as they travel across Hyrule and beyond.

The music in SS is fully orchestrated, finally giving justice to a soundtrack that, even in its 1980′s origins, can put many games of today to shame. I felt relaxed, angered, afraid, and courageous, just as Link was feeling the same emotions. And though no one in the game speaks with a voice, other than small sounds of laughter or frustration, I’m beginning to think the franchise is better off without voices at all — there’s something simple and charming about the experience, like a film with little to no dialog that still manages to tell a great story and make you care about its characters. The eternal battle of Link needing to talk or not continues as well, with the only real words from our hero being said with dialog options (which, other than a bit of humor, don’t have much effect on the game). Still, a silent protagonist allows you to enter into their character and become the hero yourself, a good or bad thing depending on your own opinion.

In case you have’t noticed from the screenshots above or various videos posted throughout the Interwebs, SS is a beautiful game. Really, truly gorgeous, one of the best looking titles ever created and easily the most stunning game of this generation, “good looking for a Wii game” be damned. The visuals tie in perfectly with the music as well as the controls, creating a seamless audio/visual/play experience that is a joy to behold and a wonder to think about: Just how much time and effort did Nintendo put into this game? What hurdles did they have to overcome to create such a perfect blend of every aspect? Would the game be as enjoyable if they had gone in a different direction? However they came to the end result we have today, they deserve all the praise in the world for it.

Whether you’re a Zelda fan or not, a Wii fan or not, I cannot recommend this game enough. Few games try to do what this game does, and even fewer succeed. SS does it almost effortlessly. Play it.

Images are from the Zelda wikia Zeldapedia.

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The Fourth Day of Gamesmas: Super Mario 3D Land

Excuse me if this blog reads like it was rushed; it is. I need to be at work in about half an hour, so I’m rying to type this out like a mad man who’s eaten too much sugar. That’s what I get for sleeping in! Then waking up then sleeping in again when all I meant to do was grab a “few blinks.” Stupid blinks turning into hours.

Anyway, today’s game is Super Mario 3D Land, which just so happens to be one of my favorite games of the year (if not the favorite — stay tuned for the “Best of 2011″ blog probably around the first of next year to find out). Why, you ask? Because it takes every single thing that makes Mario games great, cuts away the extra baggage that can sometimes bring them down, and in the process creates something truly memorable, something I imagine I’ll remember as fondly in 20 years as I do Super Mario World and Super Mario Bros. 3 today.

What makes the game so special is its pure platforming nature. There’s no gimmicks thrown in here, no collect-a-thons, nothing. The game gives you an excellent run and jump Mario experience without any of the bulk. The overworld map isn’t a map at all, but a straight line from stage-to-stage, as simple as things have been since the original Super Mario Bros. You run through each level not trying to collect stars or star bits, but reach the end goal. It’s the simple formula that made Mario so great and it works wonders on a system that is built for small bursts of gaming on the go.

The game plays wonderfully, with full 3D control of Mario (bless the circle pad, which I initially had a lot of fear about) and a perspective that makes traversing the environment easy and fun. Though I’ve described the game as fairly linear (a good thing, in this instance), there are plenty of hidden paths in each level, mainly to grab star coins that unlock new levels. However, you never really feel forced to collect these, as the number of them needed to unlock new stages is never impossibly high.

There’s also a healthy mix of levels, from shorter ones with hardly any large spaces of ground at all (I like to call these stages “OMG PLATFORMING HEAVEN” levels) while others allow you to run around a bit, kind of like how you could do in Super Mario 64; I’m pretty sure all of you remember cruising around on a turtle shell in Bomb-omb Battlefield, right? Glorious. So yeah, there’s a healthy mix of levels so it never feels like you’re entering into the same situation every time. Very nice!

The 3D effect is subtle, as it is in almost every game I champion on this system lately, allowing for an easier understanding of the 3D space, as well as a few “whoa” moments (especially during the final showdown with Bowser, which I guarantee you will fall in love with). The 3D is especially useful when the camera puts itself above Mario and you have to judge long falls or long jumps. Of course, with the return of the Tanooki Suit, you can pretty much just hover over everything and laugh as the game’s more challenging tricks and enemies simply stare up at you with a fist shake.

Well, that is until you unlock the post-game content. I will not spoil said content here, as I believe it to be the best the series has ever offered, so all I will say is this: be prepared for more. A LOT more. Love letters can be sent to the Nintendo offices as often as you like.

The music, as in all Mario games, is all sorts of lovely, the kind of music that has you bobbing your head and actually trying to run and jump to the beat. There’s something about Nintendo games that always come together like this, every aspect creating a full experience that has so much joy in it you wonder how they managed to craft something so fun and entertaining. However they do it, I thank them endlessly.

Sorry for the short entry, but duty calls! Stay tuned tomorrow for Cody Doesn’t Sleep In: A Better Blog Edition!

Images found on Destructoid and PC World.

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The Second and Third Days of Gamesmas: GBA games and Pushmo

Whoops! Looks like I’m making Santa’s naughty list, as I didn’t post a blog yesterday. Due to being worried about certain activities going on in Washington D.C. (darn politicians and their hatred of my Internets) and then an earlier day at work than usual, I had no time! But I’ll make it up for you with not one, not three, but TWO WHOLE THINGS today.

So, as many of you might know, those of us who purchased a 3DS early (and most likely at full price, unless you caught a late deal before the price drop) were promised a slew of free GBA titles by the end of the year. Well, they’ve finally arrived, and I spent the wee hours of the morning before I caught some shut eye playing them (I’ll also be doing the same tonight, the next day, and so on forever).

I only played about half of these games on the original Game Boy Advance system, so count me happy I’ve got some “new” games to play. Also, the games I already own/have owned are ones I enjoyed immensely and love having all in one place; hurray for no longer needing to lug around all my GBA games! Other than Golden Sun, of course, but we can always hope Nintendo changes its mind and starts selling more GBA games in the eShop.

Anyway, the games are all wonderful, and, at least to me, look great when they’re stretched out to fit the 3DS screen (though you can hold select before loading the game for the original resolution too). DS games are a little hit and miss when played on Nintendo’s 3D handheld, but I’ve noticed downloadable titles, especially the NES ambassador games, look pretty slick. So, that’s good news for anyone worried about iffy visuals!

For those unaware, the games include The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, WarioWare: Mega Microgames, Metroid Fusion, Yoshi’s Island (OMG!), Wario Land 4, F-Zero: Maximum Velocity, and Mario Kart: Super Circuit. If you’re a 3DS Ambassador, go to the eShop, check your settings, click on “my downloads,” then look for your new bundle of fun titles and download away! While you do that, I’ll be rescuing baby Luigi.

Now it’s time to talk about Pushmo, a puzzle/platforming game available right now on the 3DS eShop. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a pretty simple concept: You’re faced with a wall of blocks, and you need to pull these blocks outward in order to create pathways to the top of the block pattern in order to rescue your fellow citizens who’ve been trapped inside said blocks. Like I said, pretty simple stuff.

It starts out rather easy, but as the levels progress you’ll have to start using new techniques, such as pulling blocks from the side and constantly pushing blocks in and out to solve each puzzle. The game uses the 3D effect brilliantly allowing much easier traversing of the 3D space, and it does wonders with the cute, colorful visuals. Yes, this game is cute. High levels of adorableness await you, if you can handle them.

I’m only on the second set of stages right now, but I already feel healthily challenged and have had more than a few head-scratchers that stalled me for a few minutes. There’s no timer; you can reset the puzzles at any time by hopping on a switch behind your character; and the game even lets you skip levels you’re having a tough time with, so there’s no sense of failure or cause for frustration, which is nice. If you think that might make the game too easy, you can always set goals for yourself or ignore the game’s offer of help completely. Isn’t it nice when a game gives you a little choice?

You can also create your own puzzles and share them with friends via QR codes. Let’s say you have a great idea for a puzzle. Just hop into edit mode, put some blocks together, do a little testing, name your creation, and get yourself a fancy QR code to post on the Twitters and such. It’s a very cool, quick, and easy way to share the content. I created a Mario level, if you’d like to give it a shot! You can find it here. Think of it as an early Christmas present! Pushmo itself comes highly recommended from me, and isn’t all that expensive to boot!

Until tomorrow’s blog, I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays!

Images are from Joystiq and Giantbomb.

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The First Day of Gamesmas: Mario Kart 7

Happy Holidays, everyone! For the next twelve days (as the old Christmas song numerically demands) I’ll be blogging about different games I’m spending time with during these cold, yet happy, December weeks. I hope you’ll tune in each day, and don’t worry — I’ll try to keep things short as I don’t want to take up too much of your valuable shopping/planning/traveling time!

First on the list is Mario Kart 7, which is much better than any candy cane or geese a’ laying, tasty as they might be. Though the Mario Kart formula is 20 or so years old now, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel fresh. It also doesn’t mean the formula itself is worn out; if MK7 is any indication, it still has plenty of gas (hee) left in it. Drifting, power-ups, crazy courses — they’re all here, with a few new spices thrown in for added flavor, including delicious 3D visuals, underwater and glider-based driving, and, finally, decent online multiplayer.

Though the game is on par with the Wii version of MK in terms of visuals, the use of 3D — a subtle use, which I find nice and easy on the eyes – is really wonderful. Just wait until you see the last track: It’s a remake, of course, but seeing everything pop off the screen is really, really amazing. The 3D effect also alters the way you play the game in tiny ways, like making the Blooper Ink power-up actually useful and giving a brilliant sense of speed that I don’t remember having in previous Kart titles.

The ability to play with your friends, be they on the couch next to you or across the world, in a very non-Nintendo (see: difficult) way helps foster better skills (you’d be surprised by how much your skills will improve once you see some of your friends’ and strangers’ techniques) and also more reasons to keep playing, including unlockable parts if you manage to raise your online ranking high enough, which seems fairly easy as I was thrown a few points even when I came in 5th place.

You can also unlock kart parts by collecting coins during offline racing. It’s actually quite easy to collect these, though with a limit of 40 coins per cup it can take a little while (you’ll have unlocked everything once you’ve hit 5,000). I imagine Nintendo put the limit there so players wouldn’t knock all of the replay value out in one weekend, and hey, I don’t mind going back and replaying different races.

You can alter your frame, wheels, and glider, though the different gliders don’t really have an effect on your stats. The other two kart parts do, however, enough so that you could make Toad race similarly to Bowser. I’ve spent hours (yes, hours at this point) trying out different customizations to see which works best for me, and there’s quite a difference in how your kart behaves based on which parts you go with. I’m fond of the cloud frame with mushroom wheels, myself, which give my racer quite a light weight but keep my steering and acceleration near max.

You can also access the Mario Kart Channel, which downloads new content through SpotPass (just ghost data right now, from what I can tell, though I’d expect tournaments and other events in the future). I’ve had new ghosts to race every day, which has kept me busy. I’m hoping Nintendo keeps this up; I’d love to always have something to do when I flip open my 3DS and see that glowing blue dot next to MK7′s icon. It’s quite exciting :)

Oh, and I’m also asking Santa Reggie for some DLC in the future. There’s a possibility here to basically have every single Mario Kart track in a single game, and also a continuous flow of new racers (where the hell is Waluigi, Nintendo!?), so let’s hope the Big N takes advantage of their own system update and gives us some new content every now and then.

Overall, MK7 is a lovely game, with super tight controls, great course design, good multiplayer content (including a clan-like system), and something I didn’t touch on at all here so you can enjoy it for yourself: the best music in the series’ history. Definitely a must-buy!

Stay tuned tomorrow for the next Gamesmas title!

Images are from the official Mario Kart 7 site and Destructoid.

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Betting on Bits

As much as it shames me to admit, I’ve spent over $15 on a fake currency called “Tower Bux.” You spend said faux cash in order to progress faster in the game Tiny Tower — which, if you haven’t heard of it, is a building sim in which you’re tasked with moving in new “bitizens,” giving them their dream jobs at different businesses you create, and increasing the overall height of your tower one floor at a time.

I say “faster” instead “further” progress because you don’t actually need to use Tower Bux unless you want to, say, shorten the waiting time on the restocking of a specific store or upgrade the speed of your elevator. Neither is required, but both are incredibly appealing options when the game is going too slow for your liking.

And for me, it often was.

I normally enjoy a game with a relaxing pace, but with timers on each floor counting down to your next available action, you can’t help but get a little antsy. Tower Bux can be earned through in-game efforts like tips from tower visitors/shoppers or fully stocking a floor with merchandise, but the game is careful to give these rewards out randomly, resulting in an uneven inward flow. This uncertainty led me, at least, to forgo the random chance of earning Tower Bux and take the easy way out through my own wallet.

After spending more money on this free game than most others in the app store are worth, I decided there was something wrong and, my shady past with Xbox Live Avatar gear aside, this wasn’t what I as a gamer wanted to do with my hard-earned cash — especially as the Holiday rush of games is about to begin and I’ll need every last dollar I can hold onto.

I normally don’t pay much attention to free-to-play games like this as I figure most people will simply download them, play for a little while, and move on. Or at least they won’t spend real money on things that have no real value (“Why in the world would you spend real money on a fake farm?”) like I have.

I mean, sure, the fake currency may have kept me playing longer, but everything I spent Tower Bux on, or could have spent it on, simply sped things along, adding nothing whatsoever to the experience. At best, it skipped over “boring” parts of the game, which is a pretty cheap way out of bad game design; at worst, it rewarded me for not playing. And by reward, I mean I paid the game to let me not play it. Something is very… unclean about that.

Don’t get me wrong: Tiny Tower is a decent sim game with a brilliant aesthetic, and it’s fun to see your friends’ towers; dress up your bitizens; name your stores as crudely as possible; and watch as your tiny tower (no pun intended) grows and grows as you sink more time into it. It’s a great game, as long as you don’t fall for the seedy underside of it like I did (meaning: it’s definitely not the game’s fault alone that I’m a few bucks short). Have a little patience going into it, and hopefully your wallet won’t get so curiously thin as mine.

Oh, and for the record, I’ve gone Tower Bux Sober this month. My bitizens couldn’t be more proud.

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Final Fantasy V Advance Review

Info: Final Fantasy V Advance was developed by Tose/Square Enix. It is an RPG featuring turn-based battles, a detailed job system, and magical crystals.

Educate: FFV shows us that we should make sacrifices for others, as well as accept both friends and strangers completely — especially if they themselves can’t accept who they are (physically or mentally), and let them know every day what wonderful people they are. In terms of self-identity, you are who you are, and if someone has a problem with that, throw ‘em in the brig, continue being yourself, and create a much better world by loving yourself and accepting other folks’ quirks and uniqueness like you hope they’ll accept yours. And for those out there who lose themselves, we should help them find their way, even if it’s just a kind word or two while you pass them by in the street; you could save someone’s life that way and never even realize it. Also, crystals are really super magical and hella important and stuff.

Challenge: Throughout my years as a gamer, I have both loved and loathed RPGs. Though it is and has for quite some time been my favorite genre within the videogame medium (and one that seems to have seeped into almost every other genre), I often tire of random battles, endless grinding, and overly-dramatic melodama accompanied by some of the worst acting possible. However, I find myself coming back regardless. FFV is full of content I should, by my own standards, hate, but here I find myself, continuing to play it well into the night and even into the next morning. I can’t help but wonder what makes me love these things I claim to hate. My only guess is that it reminds me of my younger years, a pull of nostalgia that ignores the bad and focuses on what was once enthralling and magical to me — quie nice in a time where credit cards and college and getting a job don’t allow for much magic.

Entertain: Final Fantasy V’s job system is about as deep and robust as you could ask for: plenty of classes to choose from and all sorts of tricks of each respective trade to master. The characters, though cliche at times, are lovable and memorable, especially a certain pirate and an amnesia-ridden old man. The game mechanics are classic Final Fantasy, so if you’ve ever gotten your hands on the series you know what to expect. Mixing and matching your characters’ job skills to defeat different opponents adds a bit of strategy and challenge to a somewhat easy game (at least, it’s no Final Fantasy III), and as is common in this genre, the feeling of exploraton and adventure is wonderful, even though I did get lost a few times. That’s old-school RPGs for you.

Final Word: Excellent!

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Dragons and Kings (and Slimes)

Most Dragon Quest titles, to their fans delight, have remained true to the series’ roots, changing very little over the franchise’s storied history — which, in the case of DQ, is most definitely a good thing. The not so good part, however, is trying to write about it in a drastically different way than I’ve written about DQVI or DQIX. So, forgive me if it seems like you’ve read this blog before, because you probably have.

What impresses me most about Hand of the Heavenly Bride is its charming, quaint, and quite wonderful story. I won’t go into detail for fear of ruining it for you, but it is indeed a great experience — a game that wanted me to see its closing chapters, working hard to earn my attention, sparking a desire to finish it, and emotionally attaching itself to me and never letting go.

This is due, in large part, to its creators giving us characters worth caring about. The hero, silent in all his RPG-cliche glory, is you in a way that makes you care about his fate, his friends, and his family. The connections you make stay with you, even after closing the DS’ shell, brilliantly turning a collection of sprites into your friends, your allies, your own flesh and blood.

It’s not just humans that make the game great, either: you can recruit monsters to your side after you’ve defeated enough of each type in battle. Besides being a neat little feature that expands the already-excellent battle system, it also makes the game’s slightly unforgiving difficulty level easier to swallow: where I would normally have met a gruesome fate, my buddies Purplish Slime and Other Purplish Slime saved the day.

The world itself is endlessly fun to explore, capturing that oh-so-rare magic that makes you feel like a kid again — when everything you couldn’t see held untold wonders. As you explore the world map, the gray, untouched masses slowly fill themselves in with detail, making you want to venture through the ever-shrinking unknown even more. It might be a simple thing, and most games do this in some way or another, but that sense of excitement, and fear, of what your next steps might uncover always gives me chills.

I said this with Dragon Quest VI as well, but it must be said again: bless the wonderful artists who have put this game together, especially those responsible for the in-battle animations. Seeing the game’s myriad creatures animate the way they do always leaves me in awe, no matter how many times I see them. It breathes life into DQV’s colorful world and, occasionally, takes mine away. Sounds like a pile of hyperbole, I know, but it really does blow me away, a beautiful work of art where you can truly feel the love and dedication that’s been poured into it.

The game’s battle system, similar to every other Dragon Quest game I’ve played, is polished to a brilliant sheen, simple and intuitive yet deep and rewarding. It’s the classic turn-based experience I grew up with and holds together incredibly well for a game over a decade old (it’s a remake of the SNES original, if you weren’t aware). Just goes to show that great game mechanics, when crafted by caring hands, can age brilliantly. With Western RPGs holding a continually stronger presence in the industry, it’s also nice to experience something different — something that was once the norm when red-headed heroes and amphibious knights were saving time itself.

The only thing I don’t much like about DQV is that it had to end. Very rare for me, as when I’m nearing the 30+ hour mark in most games, I become emotionally and mentally exhausted, wishing they’d just hurry up and get themselves over with. Here, though, as the credits rolled and the last few moments played themselves out, I felt like I was saying goodbye to an old friend — one I wish I could spend just a little more time with. Ah well. There’s always a new save file.

 

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Not a Hole-in-One, But Worthy of a Birdie

I know they’re getting a bit more respect these days, but I still hear how iPhone/Pod/Touch games (Let’s Golf 3D is somewhat of a port of Let’s Golf 2 on iOS, from what I understand) lack substance, how much deeper games on “real” gaming devices tend to be, and so on. But you know what? There’s a whole lot of content packed into Let’s Golf 3D, especially considering the price I paid (count me as someone who would have paid a lot more for it, too).

You’ve got the ability to jump right into the game with the Instant Play option, but the reason you’ll want to keep coming back is the Career mode. You select your golfer and play through variations of each of the six courses, like stroke play through all 18 holes, a match against unlockable characters, a 3-hole closest-to-tee competition, etc. Each one you win nets you a Gold Medal (or Silver and Bronze for 2nd and 3rd place, respectively), which unlock new courses, new equipment (spread across all golfers), and new clothes and hairstyles (unique to each golfer).

There’s also an Achievement-like system built in: a total of 2,000 points you can earn by landing your first Eagle or getting a certain number under par on harder difficulties. I’ve only gotten about 300 myself after a few hours of play, so I imagine they’ll keep me busy for quite a while (I swore to give up my obsession with Achievements long ago, but occasionally I’ll get the urge to dive back in, especially when something like this comes along when I’m not expecting it).

There’s also the Challenge mode. It’s not something I’ve gotten the chance to play around with much, but it consists of games like Birdie or Bust — getting a Birdie within the time limit — and Catch the Star — hitting the ball into stars littered throughout the course in order to finish the hole. There’s also a two player mode, though it’s only available locally on the same DS. Sorry kids, no online for you, which is really disappointing as everyone could play at the same time, or see each other’s faces with the 3DS camera. The limit of just two people in offline multiplayer is disappointing, too; there’s no reason to not allow more golfers than that. So much potential, in my opinion, wasted.

Don’t get me wrong though — the game is a blast. It’s just a blast that’s limited to yourself. So, if you don’t mind being a lonesome golfing veteran, you can still find a lot of entertainment here. Or, if you’ve got your SO somewhere near by, you could have a nice, romantic swing or two out on the fairway (heh, you were swingers and you didn’t even know it).

(…I’m sorry.)

You only start with two golfers, but you can customize them quite a bit with the aforementioned new clothes and equipment. They’ll also gain experience and level up as you play, so though you might start out with a weak swing or poor putting, you’ll turn into a champ in no time. The equipment you select and the clothes you wear change your stats, both positively and negatively, so choose wisely. Each golfer also has a unique power they can use once their skill meter fills up (which usually happens every three or four holes, in my experience).

The game plays a lot like Mario Golf, which is a very good thing. You press A to start your shot, press it again to select your power, and once more to hit the sweet spot. Sliding your finger/stylus on the screen or using the circle pad controls spin while the ball is in the air, but be careful — you can put a lot of spin on the ball, which I discovered about 100 yards too late and landed out of bounds. (Seriously, careful with the spin.) You can control the camera before your shoot, though oddly enough you can’t rotate it in a complete circle (first ever invisible camera wall?). I had a little trouble gauging distance at times, which I find odd as the game is in 3D, and putting can sometimes be difficult since the guide doesn’t always show a line all the way to the hole. Or maybe I’m just terrible at putting. Probably the latter.

There’s another problem, though it’s more easily remedied than the others. Occasionally the game set my shots up somewhere I didn’t want to aim the ball. Example: I got close enough to the green to chip the ball in, but the game pointed me backwards toward the fairway. Apparently it thought the green wasn’t where I wanted to be. Another time it pointed my putter in the opposite direction of the hole. This has been a rare occurrence, thankfully, but just to be on the safe side, look around before you swing.

A few glitches and issues aside, it’s a fun little game. Lots of content, decent visuals, and a whole lot of value for almost 1/6 the cost of a retail 3DS game. It could use better multiplayer, but I still recommended you pick it up if you’re looking for a quality 3DS title (goodness knows the system needs them right now) and don’t mind playing by yourself.

(Images borrowed from IGN/Okami.)

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Growing Up A Gamer

Since yesterday was Father’s Day and tomorrow is my mother’s birthday, I figured it’d be a good time to write a little something about my parents and how they’ve influenced me when it comes to videogames, because if it weren’t for them I wouldn’t be the lover of videogames I am today.

My mom is, and always has been, a gamer. She goes on game collection hunts with me, plays Mario Party and Mario Kart anytime an extra player is needed, and even takes interest in newer titles like Alan Wake. I get to talk game culture with her, chat about all the excitement from events like E3, watch terrible videogame movies, etc.

My dad, on the other hand, doesn’t play videogames very much. I’m pretty sure this stems from something that happened to him when he was younger: he was trying to impress a pretty girl while playing pinball, but didn’t do very well and the girl ended up laughing him off. Ever since then he’s been a little bit skittish when someone asks him to play something, be it analog or digital. Still, even with that apprehension I’ve gotten him to play a few games with me now and then, and he’s actually very good. For example, he plays one mean game of Duck Hunt.

Despite not playing them much, he’s always been very accepting of games, and everything about them tends to leave him in awe; he comments on how far games have come, and he’s always curious how stuff in each game works. That probably comes from his mechanic/working man background — tinkering with everything and seeing what makes everything tick.

Despite my parents taking very different roles in my life when it comes to games, they’ve always been of like mind on one thing: how important games are to me. The biggest example of this came when we lost our house. Both of my parents were injured on the job and couldn’t work, which also meant they couldn’t keep up with all the bills and house payments that were pouring in, so we had to live with my grandparents for a while.

Though we didn’t have bills to pay once we were all moved in, times were still tough. However, my parents managed to scrap together a little money each month of that year and somehow put together enough by Christmas to buy me a GameCube. A GameCube, at its original price, along with Super Smash Bros. Melee. How amazing is that? Even with all of their troubles, they wanted me to have the new, shiny game system to help me forget about everything that was going on. I will always remember that, and maybe someday I’ll be able to repay them.

My parents have always been there for me in some way or another when it comes to games, be it supporting me when it comes to writing about them, making sure I always had a new game to play, or giving me someone to talk to when something in a game piqued my curiosity and I just needed someone to listen to my zany thoughts.

So thanks, mom and dad, for letting me love videogames. They’re a huge part of my life now and that wouldn’t have been possible without you. (Oh, and you’re awesome in every other regard, too.)