So Far With New Super Mario Bros. Wii

We recently got Super Mario Bros. Wii, and it is a blast!  In case you haven’t heard of it, this game plays much like the older Mario Bros. games, but with co-op.

So far I have only played it with 2 players. (me and my brother)  It is great running through the stages and planning strategies together. We jump off each others heads to reach items and pipes.  Also, if we ground-pound at the exact same time, we can wipe out all nearby enemies.

The game has been designed so that the more talented players (my brother) can help the less gifted players (me) along.  For example, if there is a place that I do not think I can get past, Steven can pick me up and carry me across.  Another stategy might be that Steven makes his way across by himself then I press A to enclose myself in a protective bubble that I can ride to him.  The bubble turns out to be verry usefull in getting past difficult places, since only 1 person acually has to make it.  Also, if you find yourself falling into a bottomless pit, hopping into a bubble can prevent you from losing a life.

But its not all teamwork and helping hands…with an extra player on the screen, you are extra likely to screw up. (and make your partener pay)  So many times has one of us accidentily threw a shell at the other.  It is also really easy to accidentily bounce of each other and knock your teamate into a bottomless pit before they even know what happened.  If there if one word you will find yourself saying a lot in this game its “sorry!”

This is shaping up to be a great game so far.  I just can’t wait to try it with 4 people….imagine the chaos!

The Legned of Zelda: Twilight Princess (5/5)

wow…

This game is a masterpiece.

In The Legend of Zelda: Twillight Princess you play as link trying to save hyrule from evil…as always.  But of course, there is a catch, Hyrule is not the only land that is in danger.  An evil power (and I am sure you can figure out who that is!) is blending the world of light with the world of shadows (aka, the twillight relm) and only you can stop him.  The gameplay is similar to that of Ocarina of time or Wind Waker, but with wii controls.  The motion sensing works nicely, giving an added feel of realism.

What really mixes it up though is that Link can turn into a wolf.  As a wolf, Link can dig, smell, and use a wolf sense to see otherwise invisible things.  The wolf form is a fun way to break up the gameplay, but is not quite as fun as being human.  Acually, they break up the gameplay quite nicely throughout the whole game with things such as horseback riding, flying (a giant bird), rowing a boat, and fishing.  (though the fising is not as fun as it was in Ocarina)

Also, link has a new sidekick and she is much less irritating than Navi.  Midna, is an imp from the Twillight relm that helps link through his journey.  At the beginning she seemed annoying but she grows on you, becoming one of the best characters in the series.  Acually, this game is filled with all sorts of wonderfull characters who aid Link in one way or another.

This game really manages to feel like an epic adventure.  You really feel as though you are Link, saving the kingdom.  Which, is the charm of the Zelda series.  This game is huge, it took me over 45 hours to complete it, but every minuit is worth it.

Overall, this is one of the greatest games I have ever played.  I would recommend it to anyone who plays videogames.

(oh, and thank you again Earl for lending it to me)

WiiWare Demo Reviews

In my last post, I talked about how the Wii shop channel has started offering demos for Wii Ware games.  Well, I wound up downloading all 5 demos on the channel and played them.  Now I am here to tell you what I thought of them.

Bit.Trip Beat Demo (4/5)

This rhythm based game basically has you moving a paddle up and down with the wiimote to deflect blocks that are flying at you.  Its kinda like Pong: The Musical.  However, such a simple gameplay idea turns out to be a blast to play.  Hitting all the beats is pretty challenging, but they give you a big heath bar in case you are “rhythm impaired” like I am.  If your looking for a good rhythm game, you can’t go wrong with this one.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A Darklord Demo (3/5)

I have never really gotten into Final Fantasy and I had no clue what to expect as I started this demo.  It turns out this is a castle defender game.  It involves building rooms onto your castle and summoning monsters to defend your castle as you try to rule the world.  As far as castle defenders go, this was ok, but I could not really get into it.  I hesitate to say this demo was bad, but it was not good.  If you are really really into castle defenders and/or final fantasy, you might enjoy this game.  Otherwise, I would stay away.

NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits Demo (4/5)

NyxQuest puts you in the role of Nyx, a girl with wings who is searching the ruins of rome to find her friend, Icarus.  She can fly and glide (but only to a limited degree) and as she goes through the game, she learns the powers of the greek gods.  The power included in the demo was the power of Zeus, which allows you to move around objects by dragging them with the wiimote.  Its a fun gameplay mechanic and allows for some fun (if not simple) puzzles. I was confused to see that Nyx seemed to lack any fighting moves.  She just dodges and navigates her was through the ruins.  I don’t know if there will be any fighting in the game, but from what I have seen, it might not need any.  This demo shows a lot of potential and I think the full game will probably be great.

Pokemon Rumble Demo (2/5)

Wow, its been years since I tried a Pokemon game.  Basically in Pokemon rumble you play as toy Pokemon who want to compete in the “battle royal”  In order to do so, you must go through stage after stage fighting toy Pokemon and befriend the occasional Pokemon. (after you befriend one, you can switch to him)  While this game did have a cute little charm to it, it has no real gameplay value.  Its just a button masher.  You walk around and press 2 to attack the Pokemon you see everywhere.  No strategy to the fighting, no puzzles to solve.  You just walk around and press 2.  Even if you are a big Pokemon fan, I would stay away.

World of Goo Demo (4.5/5)

I am not really sure why I downloaded this demo when I own the full game for PC…The goal of this game is to use blobs of goo to build structures to get to the pipe in each level.  Its a simple concept yet, and amazingly fun game.  This is a great little game, and I would recommend it to any gamer, casual or “hardcore”.

WiiWare Demos!

Ok, for a while I have been saying that the Wii shop channel should allow you to download demos Wii games.  Demos are a great way to try games and see if you like them before spending money on them.  Well, you still can’t get demos for the big games, but Nintendo Week just announced that you can now download free demos for WiiWare!  Yay!

Now I am going to download the demo for Bit.Trip!

Legend of Spyro Movie?!

Growing up, I loved the spyro games, and now it turns out they are making a movie about him.  It is going to be based on the “Legend of Spyro” reboot that they recently did.  The release date is for april of 2010. It was schedueled for this christmas, but they had to move the date back.  I am looking foward to this, I just hope the movie is as good as I remember the game being!

 

The Real Legend of Zelda Movie Trailer

THIS IS SO AWESOME!!!

Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 1 – Launch of the Screaming Narwhal (4.5/5)

When they first announced Tales of Monkey Island, I about exploded from overload of awesomness.  When I heard that Telltale games was giving away the 1st episode for free to celebrate international talk like a pirate day, I thought I was in heaven.  Considering how excited I was, it would talk a lot for the game to live up to my expectations.

…it did!

Launch of the screaming Narwhal sets the story for the upcoming games.  In his latest battle with LeChuck, Guybrush somehow messes things up and turns Lechuck into a human, while placing a curse on his right hand that makes it an evil hand!  He then finds himself trapped on Flotsom island, where the mysterious winds prevent traveler’s from leaving.

As Guybrush tries to escape flotsom island, he runs into all kinds of halarious characters.  The signature humor from the old games is back and spot-on.  The new 3d design and control’s has a diffrent feel, but its works well.  Basicly, if you enjoyed the 1st three games, you will love this one as well.

Nintendo Week, Its Propagandarific!

Nintendo has recently revamed the Nintendo Channel on the Wii, one of the big changes is a new weekely show called “Nintendo Week.”  This 10 min show consits of its two hosts, Gary and Allison, promoting new games for the Wii and DS.  If it sounds like propaganda, its because it is.  And its campy too…really campy…I think that it is brainwashing me.

But overall, it provides a good format for the propaganda.  It’s campyness makes it funny, and its a great way to learn about new games.  And since it is only 10 mins, it does not have enough time to send me into a coma!  They announce some good games, but it always seems like they stick allison with some “dress up” game.  (and by always, I mean in the 2 episodes I have watched)  This week’s feature was all about Mario.  They had tons of gameplay footage of New Super Mario Brother’s Wii, and there even was a special guest appearance by Nintendo Legend Sigaru Miyamoto!

If you have a wii connected to the internet, this is definetly worth checking out.  Its an amusing little way to get your weekly dose of Nintendo Propaganda.  But if your wii won’t connect, your still not missing a lot.

Needlemouse: Looks like Sega is Listening to Me ;)

Well, it finally looks like sega decided to follow my advice.  Ok, I am sure I am not the only one who gave this advice to Sega, but I am glad that they have started to listen to reason.

Back in Febuary, I wrote an artilce entitled “Sonic Should go Megaman 9;” It was all about why sonic should go back to being a 2d platformer.  As I was writing that article, Sega was already working on making my dream a reality.  Last month, they announced it.  They call it “Project Needlemouse” and it shall be a 2d platformer.  According to Wikipedia, “”The game will be a two-dimensional side-scrolling platformer reminiscent of the original Sonic games, with an emphasis on speed.”

An exact release date has not been announced yet, but we know its is going to come out sometime in 2010.  Sega has yet to name any consoles, but I think we can assume that Wii is one of them.  My guess is that it will come out for all the consoles.

This seems to good to be true….seriously, whats the catch?  Lets hope that this time its for real and not another “Werehog” or something like that.

Below is a teaser trailer, courtesy of  Machinima:

Which is Better? 6th Generation Consoles

The sixth generation was a good one for me.  It had some great consoles, but which one do you think was the best?