Reviews: September 2007 Archives
Sega's Alien Syndrome has arrived on the Wii in this remake for the new generation console. Take control of Aileen Harding, exterminate some alien vermin and save the colony!
The adventure starts off inside a large cargo bay with plenty of things to shoot at and a wide area to explore in. This part of the game is a good start to get to know your character and a feel for the controls. As expected, the adventure unfolds as you progress. Your character will also develop in rank and weapon skills marking for new attributes and extra heavy duty hardware for your alien ker-splatting needs.
This RPG version of Alien Syndrome has a lot to offer on the menu including 110 monsters, 20 bosses (15 sub and 5 main), and up to 80 different weapons to splat them all with. There are 15 different levels also featuring side quests to beef up the length of gameplay. Aside from going it alone Alien Syndrome does offer 4 player alien blasting action too presenting some multiplayer shooting fun.
Despite having previously said the game having a lot on offer there are aspects of this game that make it all seem like hard work and not the best of gaming experiences. The thing that bugged me most about Alien Syndrome was the fast revolving 'dizzy' camera. I think sharing the nunchuck for moving around on screen with the control stick and tilting the chuck left of right to spin the camera was a novel idea but does not come off too well, perhaps a bit sensitive at times. Graphically the game isn't anything special and nothing to write home about. Coupled with the dull looking characters and bland level design this game looks depressing. The other depressing aspect of the game I found was the strange mini games that involved mixing alien and human DNA whilst swatting evil bacteria to benefit your character speed, strength, attributes. Playing the mini games are worth it for the sake of making the character better but it is much more fun blowing up crates and collecting the power ups.
I never played the original Alien Syndrome back in the day but from what I understand there are elements from the original in this (such as the giant worms and other recognisable nasties) that would spark the interest of anyone that liked it. Considering there isn't that many action games on the wii including multiplayer shooters it may be worth a look but don't expect anything special. Don't play this for too long in single player or you might fall into a coma!
-Ken Flatt 2/5
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So, you're 28. Why would you want to review the latest Harry Potter game? Perhaps in this case, my curiosity has got the better of me. Can EA really make a quality game based on the Harry Potter licence? The answer was three shakes of a Wiimote away.
After making my start, I could imagine the game becoming boring or repetitive on the PS2. Wii owners get to immerse themselves in a slightly different experience, thanks to its unique control system. I think that it does make a difference to how quickly you become bored.
The menu screen is easily accessible, offering point and click simplicity, which means you can adjust in game options and begin your adventure without too much fiddling about. Nice that, considering first impressions is everything.
After the intro movie sets up Harry's near expulsion from Hogwarts, the player is given a tutorial level, allowing them to practice with the controls, instead of just being told which buttons to press. A nice touch though not terribly original, but this has worked well for other adventure type games. Initially you're taught how to operate or select your wand, how to move around and how to interact with environmental objects.
The game story then places Harry and his friends back at Hogwarts. It's within the school's grounds and corridors that the player really gets to sink their teeth into Harry Potter's world. Initially I'd have to report that I didn't have a clue where I was supposed to go or what I was meant to be doing (who reads game manuals these days right?) but the game corrected this as we went on, leaving me with a fairly reasonable learning curve.
You have an overall map which details specific locations around Hogwarts School - after about 15 minutes I was using this confidently. When you've discovered where you need to go next, you can set a waypoint marker, whether your destination is the owlery or the boathouse. A set of vanishing footprints will then appear in game, which leads Harry to his current objective. This idea works brilliantly, because it prevents the player from ever becoming lost. A nice touch for the younger or less experienced gamer.
What game would compare well with Order of the Phoenix? Only one comes to mind; Canis Canem Edit (Bully) on PS2. Although both games utilise a similar sandbox style which allows the player freedom to explore, Canis Canem Edit has a greater level of interactivity with non player characters.
Graphically HPOOTP is very impressive; all of the main characters have been faithfully recreated and look a lot like their real life counterparts. By the same token, Hogwarts isn't all dark and dingy; there are plenty of secrets waiting to be discovered and every area on the map is different from the last.
Other nice touches include; replacing portraits to release ghosts in the walls, restoring statues and ornaments, levitating objects with your wand and practicing new spells. As good as all this sounds I doubt whether Order Of The Phoenix will appeal to older teenagers; puzzles are kept simplistic and tasks involving recruiting students for Harry's Defence Against The Dark Arts army, quickly become too repetitive. Too much of the game is also spent running around from place to place in order to meet progress objectives. Unlike Canis Canem Edit - a game which pulled off interaction with NPCs flawlessly - players aren't given the option to turn Harry bad. There's little imagination behind set objectives, which are fun for a while but offer no real replay value.
So what's the verdict? HP:OOTP isn't the worst game I've ever played by a long shot, but it's also not one of the best. Instead EA have settled for the middle ground, neither squandering their licence rights nor creating what could be called the best Harry Potter game so far.
-- Ben Daniel 2.5 / 5
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Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2 is the most recent instalment of one of the most unique 3D fighting games franchises around today. Set in the universe of the hugely successful Dragon Ball Z Anime series, you have the opportunity to play through the most well known storylines from all the seasons of the show. There are four different game modes and over 100 playable characters which are unlocked by playing through different levels. One major feature is that the original voice actors of both the Japanese and the
Characters can be customised by equipping them with Z Items which modify their stats or give them new special abilities, and these can be either bought with Zeny (money earned through playing), discovered as secret items hidden throughout the game, or given as rewards for completing certain side quests etc.
The Z items give the game a limited RPG element, where you can earn experience and increase the levels of your characters' abilities. One major difference in this game from most traditional RPGs is that it is actually the Z Items themselves which accumulate experience points rather than the characters and can be swapped around at will from one character to another. For instance, a character might be equipped with a Z Item which gives him +7 defence. Through accumulating experience, the Z Item 'levels up' to +10 defence. The character enjoys the benefit of the +10 defence only as long as he has the Z Item equipped. If you remove the item and give it to a different character, then that character immediately gets the benefit of +10 defence and the first character loses it. This allows for a greater degree of flexibility in how you want to customize your characters, and lets different players adjust the stats of the characters to suit their fighting preferences.
Fighting itself is set in a 3D landscape with a 'chase cam' view from behind your character. In 2-player mode this is presented in split screen format. The controls are difficult to pick up at first, and it is strongly recommended in the game to play through all the training missions first. Once you have completed the training there is still plenty more to learn in the form of combos and special moves, but the in game move list can be difficult to decipher, so downloading a move list FAQ from the 'net will probably be necessary. If you stick with it long enough to master the basics, then the same controls are used for each character, although their moves are different. In addition to standard attacks and combos, most characters have the ability to fly and shoot blasts of energy from their hands, as well as several special moves and ultimate finishers.
With cell shaded graphics and a cartoony style very much in the spirit of the TV series, Dragon Ball Z is very nice to look at. One of the most enjoyable things to do to your opponent is unleash a 40 move combo culminating in a smash attack which sends them crashing through a mountain, and then teleporting behind them to finally finish them off by slamming them into the ground and blasting them with a full power energy wave. Winning is very satisfying while losing in certain game modes might earn you a comical tongue lashing from various surreal characters like a fat white cat with an umbrella!?
All in all, if you are prepared to stick with the control system and learn how to play properly, then you will have a lot of fun playing DBZ. It's likely that most of your time will be spent in the single player mode however, as it might be difficult to find anyone else who is willing to put the time in to learn how to play well enough to beat you ... oooh now could that be a challenge to any of you gamers out there? *chuckles*
4 / 5 --- Paul Golf
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When Mercury Meltdown was first released as part of the first diffusion of PSP games, it was met with a lot of critical acclaim and support from gamers as an original and innovative puzzler - an accolade all too rare in today's gaming industry. Now Mercury Meltdown Revolution, the sequel from Ignition, is multi-format and as popular as ever.
For anyone who has played the original, Revolution is immediately recognisable. You play a blob of mercury which has to navigate through different levels of obstacle courses within a set timetable. Sometimes the layout of the levels requires you to divide the ball of mercury into two more blobs and simultaneously control them to reach different switches at the same time. You lose a level by falling off the edge or running out of time. Progress is made depending on how many stars you collect in each level, and by what percentage of the mercury in your blob you successfully bring to the exit.
As we have seen with other titles that are multi format, the graphics suffer from the relatively low processing power of the Wii, but what makes this game most interesting on the Wii is that it takes advantage of the advanced motion sensors in the Wiimote. Instead of controlling your blob of mercury with the control stick or d-pad, you hold the Wiimote flat and tilt it in the direction you want the mercury to move. In gaming terms what you are actually doing is tilting the level around like a tray, and the mercury moves depending on how far and how fast you tilt.
This adds a whole new dimension of play which both the original and the sequel on other formats doesn't provide and is actually one of the best third party attempts to utilise the Wiimote that we've seen to date. The tilt sensor is remarkably fluid and easy to just pick up and play. As a game it doesn't require a lot of effort to learn how to play, and is interesting and challenging enough to make you want to keep coming back to play it. Saying that, at higher levels the game does become very difficult if you want to hit all the targets for star collecting and percentage of mercury saved. If you like puzzle games and are not afraid of a challenge then you're likely to enjoy Mercury Meltdown revolution. For casual gamers who are looking for something they can dip in and out of, then this is also a good buy.
3.5 / 5 --- Paul Golf
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As one of the fortunate Journalists who got to play the Wii quite extensively before the launch date, I don't mind telling you that for some of us blokes, our favourite was Excite Truck. It felt so rebelliously fun - we expected to find a truck game quite boring and slow compared to motorbike racing but we were proven wrong ... very wrong.
Excite Truck follows on as the spiritual successor to Excitebike (NES) and Excitebike 64 (N64), keeping much of the same crazy game play the originals had and then vamping it up ten times. You'll spend so much time in the air while playing that other driving games feel restricted in comparison. Like some very memorable games of the past (Carmageddon, anyone?) 'racing' isn't strictly what the game is about - yes, you drive round 19 main courses set in different countries (and a secret final bonus location) for 2 or 3 laps ... coming first helps, but what counts is the score you get, which is rated in stars.
Stars don't just come for your finishing placement; you will usually get more for what you actually do as you drive. Skimming past trees without hitting them for tree runs, getting hang-time in the air, flying through mid-air rings, smashing other trucks, drifting round corners, spinning 360s and more in the air - all these get you stars and the longer you do them in a row the more stars you get. Your final stars give you an overall RANK. Often to get the best score you'll need to be more worried about getting extra tree runs and air time than you will finishing first, though first nets you 50 stars. Second place is only 25, and it takes a lot of stunts to make up for that!
Also making a debut for Nintendo is the ability to play your own music during the race instead of the game soundtrack - you do this by loading mp3 files onto an SD card and selecting one of the tracks in sound options after you've selected your race. This will appeal to people who always like to have their own tracks on while playing games, and is one more sign of gamer choice, which we always welcome.
You'll probably start off wrestling the sensitive steering controls since you steer the truck by tilting the Wii-mote. No buttons or sticks - over time you'll come to find it natural and more fun for the arcade style game play. You 'feel' the track you're going on, and you don't look an idiot for 'leaning' around with the controller which players have found themselves doing since the first computer racing games were made.
For extra speed you get boost ability while driving, drifting or just after leaving a jump. Boosting increases your temperature gauge and if you don't let it cool down or drive through water, you'll overheat. Adding to the crazy star gathering shenanigans is the ability to morph the actual tracks by collecting icons - these usually result in a giant ramp in front of you and often open up some rings to fly through when you shoot off the top. If that's not enough, there are 'POW' icons around which supercharge your truck and make it invincible for a short period of time.
There are three cups to play through on the first difficulty level, each with 4-6 tracks. Complete these in S rank and you'll unlock the harder difficulty. Complete those on S rank to unlock an even harder 'mirror' difficulty level. Complete those on S rank for the ultimate truck to select. Speaking of trucks, there are 21 trucks to unlock, all with differing stats. You can also unlock paintjobs for each of them by winning 10 races or getting 3 S ranks. Every time you complete a race in the main mode you'll be awarded points towards trophies. You may find yourself addicted to collecting more points towards the next one!
If you want a break from 'racing' there are challenge modes to complete - gate mode sees you driving through slalom style gates against the clock, ring mode sees you concentrating on jumping through single rings which increase in value, and crush mode which dumps you down with other drivers and you simply have to crash into them all! Multiplayer mode is excellent and a great mode for parties - you race another player in vertical split-screen mode.
With all that going on, sticking to the main track and driving competitively isn't foremost on your mind, most of the time you're either in a jump or driving towards the next. With all the unlock-able content, scoreboards to compete on and multiplayer for head-to-head action, you'll find this game a fun adrenaline rush that keeps you playing and coming back for more, just what you want for your shiny Wii.
4 / 5 -- Ben Daniel
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