#what else were we expecting?? as a long time nintendo + ac fan this is exactly where i imagined the game ending up

[poorlittlevampire]

as a massive ac fan i understand the frustration but this is how nintendo has run for a while now lol they stopped focusing on it bc there was money to be made elsewhere (like splat3 which apparently shared a lot of the same devs, and most were moved from ac to work on splat from what ive heard)

[kyndaris]

Pray Forgive this Discourtesy of an Impression

Many of my friends - and by extension, I also include you dear readers of this blog - know, I have been a fan of the Ace Attorney series for a very long time. It began in the days of my youth, when I discovered Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney for the Nintendo DS. As someone that was interested in legal proceedings but was unsure of actually taking the step of becoming an actual barrister in court, it helped feed my very unique itch of shouting OBJECTION! and pointing at the counsel opposite me.

That and the fact that the lawyers of the franchise were also amateur sleuths, piecing together the truth of whatever crime had actually been perpetrated and denouncing the witnesses brought in to testify as the actual masterminds.

Honestly, I wish court cases in real life were this exciting.

Even back then, the idea of acting the sleuth and figuring out the intricacies behind a complex plot of murder had me salivating. It did not help that I had read Arthur Conan Doyle’s collection of stories about a world-renowned detective and hoped to emulate his ability to make rapid deductions based on simple observation.

So, when The Great Ace Attorney was first announced, I was justifiable excited. To play as the ancestor of the great Phoenx Wright? Interact with Sherlock Holmes in 19th century London? WHERE DO I SELL MY SOUL TO?

To my great dismay, however, there were no immediate plans to release the games in the West. In fact, I even pondered on whether or not I should indulge in obtaining a fan translated copy (or watch a playthrough).

As the years passed, I lost hope that there would ever be a release of The Great Ace Attorney games in the West. And so, life went on.

UNTIL OF COURSE, THEY ANNOUNCED THAT IT WOULD BE RELEASED! IN JULY 2021! AND THOUGH MY SPIRIT WAS A LITTLE CRUSHED TO HEAR THAT THERE WOULD BE NO PHYSICAL RELEASE IN AUSTRALIA, I QUICKLY PUT THE GAME ON MY NINTENDO ESTORE WISHLIST, READY FOR PURCHASE!

When release day came, I was pumped to dive into the world of finger-pointing and strange reversals where the defence attorney had to prove their client innocent beyond all reasonable doubt. The game itself begins with Ryunosuke Naruhodo, a student of Yumei University being accused of murdering a visiting professor: John H. Wilson. At his side is his best friend: Kazuma Asogi, a practicing law student.

Wishing not to dash his friend’s dreams of travelling to Britain (should the trial not be won), Ryunosuke steps up to represent himself. Valiantly, he battles against Prosecutor Auchi. And just like his descendant, fumbles his way through to the inevitable truth. That he was setup and that the actual culprit was a person hidden under plain view: an English gentlewoman by the name of Jezaille Brett. She had murdered the esteemed professor through the use of a special poison that could not be identified by the technology at the time before shooting the victim to pin the blame on our hapless student.

It was a tale as old as time for those that have played the Ace Attorney series. What I liked, however, was the fact that this time round, there were multiple witnesses in the stand and how they would play off each other. Their reactions to what someone else said were great ways to enliven up the gameplay and helped move the story along when I seemed stuck on where to present my piece of crucial evidence to highlight an inconsistency.

By the end of the first trial, however, the game sees our protagonists on the way to the United Kingdom. Having stowed away in his friend’s trunk, Ryunosuke is accused once again of murder. This time, of his friend. And by the great Herlock Sholmes, no less! Unfortunately, due to copyright infringements, the translation team was forced to change the name of the character. Still, this adaption of one of the best literary detectives served to be a breath of fresh air. He was an enjoyable and lively companion. 

I also very much liked how they inserted so many references to the actual stories that were penned by Arthur Conan Doyle: the Red-Headed League, Speckled Band, Hound of the Baskervilles, the Man with the Twisted Lip...

The reinterpretations of so many beloved characters also helped to put a spin on what I would have expected. Truth be told, I never thought I would become so protective of diver-turned-inspector-apprentice Gina Lestrade. She is a precious cinnamon roll! How dare anyone think she would actually murder anyone when it’s clear that she’s a misunderstood tsundere with a heart of gold!

After finishing the first game: The Great Ace Attorney Adventures I could not help but feel that the story was incomplete. In many ways, just like with Trails of Sky, it served as a prelude to things that would come. There were plenty of hints of what Ryunosuke, with plenty of dangling and tantalising mysteries. A few characters that were introduced, such as William Shamspeare, never got to see the limelight until the second entry: The Great Ace Attorney Resolve. 

Why have such a uniquely dressed character walk by in passing without putting them into a case? It made no sense. It was as if Chekhov’s gun, placed in clear view, remained unused.

As such, when the credits rolled, I immediately dived into the sequel. The cases that I played through in the second entry seemed much more connected and provided a more cohesive overarching plot. In fact, while I thought the first game was a good addition in its own right - what with its stereoscopic images (which was very difficult to try and make 3D on a huge television), I thought Resolve was much better at tying up all the loose ends that players were left with. 

That and we also got to enjoy the return of multi-day trials, with a mixture of investigation and court appearance, rather than ones that seemed concentrated on a single day (and were quite tiring to endure). I will say that the final episode being a continuation of the fourth was a little suspect, but didn’t mind it because of how much was revealed and discussed in those last few moments.

In saying that, the games are not without their flaws. As always, sometimes it takes a while to make the connection on what evidence needs to be presented to which statement. There were times in the first case of the second game where the hints provided to the the player once they had gone through the testimony, made me focus on a completely different area than I should have. 

I also floundered a little because the clues relied more on memory of what Ryunosuke and Susato had been discussing when they were examining the evidence, but which was not updated in the actual information. As such, it took quite a while to figure out the SS Grouse inconsistency during the fourth case in the second game.

Then, of course, there were the the inconsistencies or unexplained plot points in the games themselves. In the first case of the first game, one of the key evidences that was used to highlight who the real murderer in the John H. Wilson case was blood on a serving of beef steak. The blood was on the left of the platter. The victim however, had a bullet hole on the right hand side of the chest. Given that he had been facing the table at the time he was shot, why would the the blood be on the left side of the serving platter?

Also, how did the reporter Menimemo even get a knife to stab Jezaille Brett in the first case of the second game? Did he already have it on his person? Also, since it had been first established that the victim had been stabbed, why go through all the rigmarole of having to also prove that the reporter had both poisoned and stabbed the victim? Talk about overkill.

And someone please explain how anyone could serve as a prosecutor in a case when they have a CLEAR CONFLICT OF INTEREST! A court of law is not a place where someone can slake their thirst for vengeance. And it was clear from the start that Kazuma Asogi should have been removed because of his misguided vendetta against Barok van Zieks.

The same could also be extended to the jurors. I don’t think anyone who knows the accused or the victim personally is allowed to serve as a jury member because of implicit bias. Then again, this is a game and I should probably just enjoy the game for what it is.

Despite these little quibbles with the narrative and the fact that there seem to be a very limited number of prosecutors and defence attorneys in Britain and Japan (along with jurors), I had a fun time playing through both games. After all, never in my wildest dreams did I think that they would be released out in the West. Even the summation examinations and pitting the jury members against each other was something fresh and different. While the Mood Matrix and Apollo’s ability to perceive have given new ways to solve cases, there’s still little that’s been done to shake up the formula of cross-examining a witness.

The Dance of Deduction between Herlock and Ryunosuke was also a brilliant piece of change that made some of the investigations more fun. While I’ll miss the psyche-locks, perhaps it’s a good thing that The Great Ace Attorney has moved away from mysticism and spirit channelling to focus more on Herlock’s wacky hijinks.

And before I forget, I need to throw out a special mention to Iris Wilson, the ten-year-old child genius that puts us all to shame. Growing up in an Asian household, I’m sure my mother wishes I could have got a doctorate in medicine by that time. 

On a side note, it was fun voicing a few of the characters as I played. I’m sure my family were quite confused as to why these terrible accents were petering down to the kitchen. 

Do I have any regrets?

Some.

But it’s always fun giving voice to these wacky characters and bringing them all to life with a few flamboyant performances.

[smash-64]

Ok so I typed up a super long review of Starlink: Battle for Atlas, and I spared nothing in what you might call a scathing review. It’s below the cut, but if you’d like the TL;DR part, I’d summarize it as follows:

The Starfox stuff is fun, but the rest isn’t. 5/10

Starlink Battle for Atlas review

Being a huge fan of Starfox, I’ve had my eye on this game for a very long time. However, the whole “toys as games” thing was a huge turnoff, coupled with the fact that apparently even getting the physical version meant you needed to devote 15GB of storage space to the game, which makes no sense to me. 

Anyway, I watched the reception closely, and it was pretty lukewarm, at best. People generally had very little to say about the game, so I only ever occasionally looked into whether it was on sale or not. Luckily for me, I got my hands on a 400GB microSD card for my Switch at the same time that the digital version went on super sale at 70% off, so I decided the time was right to try it out.

The Good

The Starfox team is at their graphical best in this game, by far. They looked great in Starfox Zero, but they look exactly how I pictured they would in my most fantastical dreams from when I was little. They all move smoothly, have perfect fur and feathers, emotive expressions, and they just fit so well with all the other characters in Starlink. There is a wide variety of allies and NPCs in this game, and they all have just as wide a variety of races and species. One guy looks like he should be a grass type Pokemon. I really think the character design is fantastic in this game. The fact that the entire inclusion of Starfox was an afterthought, yet they all fit in so perfectly is really a huge victory for Starlink. 

In addition to how they look, the Starfox team also sounds great. They got the original voice actors back for Fox and Slippy (and I do mean the originals from Nintendo 64!), and the rest of the squad, plus Wolf, came back from the 2011 remaster of Starfox 64 for the 3DS. That game was a great remaster, and the voice work was phenomenal. The characters and their personalities all shine through just as you expect them. They banter slightly less than on the N64, but part of that might just be because sound bytes were at a premium on that system, so they had to pick and choose what lines to include more carefully. So, I don’t think you can really count that against Starlink, which is a game that can include just about as many lines of dialogue as it wants. Fox, for one, has a TON of dialogue and I loved every bit of it. I kind of wish I lived in the Seattle area so I could hear Mike West’s radio show (and hear Fox’s voice all the time), which is how Nintendo discovered him for the original voice of Fox McCloud way back in 1997. Another great piece of work here.

In what very well might have been the source of the “Star Fox Grand Prix” fake leak a few years ago, there is a planet called the Crimson Moon where you can take part in what is essentially pod racing with your Arwing. Now, I really did not enjoy the pod race scene of Star Wars Episode I, and aside from Mario Kart 64, I really don’t find racing games very rewarding. However, these racing levels are actually pretty fun. There are hidden shortcuts you can take, plenty of obstacles, and the computer racers are actually fairly difficult. I honestly found myself getting really into these races. The only downside is, there aren’t very many of them. They’re also kind of long, which is no problem for a veteran of N64’s Rainbow Road, but I was a bit surprised at the length of some of the courses.

The Meh

The music, which I have come to believe might be the element of games that really determines whether I just like a game, or love it, is fairly generic. It sounds like your average Marvel movie soundtrack, except without any real bangers. The Corneria remix is too short and not often played, and the Star Wolf theme is the same deal. That’s just about it for Starfox music, and the rest of it is just so generic that I can’t even comment any further. A real letdown for me, although it doesn’t particularly take away from the game or produce any grating tracks.

The difficulty was a mixed bag as well. I played about 70% of the game on Hard mode because I’m very experienced with Ace Combat and Starfox games, so I thought I’d be fine with the air/space combat. But, the difficulty slider didn’t really make the game more difficult, it just made it take a lot longer. I guess that could be seen as a good thing for people who get upset about dying really quickly on harder difficulties, but it felt like a way to cheat at padding the game’s playtime. I ended up lowering the difficulty just so I could finish faster.

The Starlink characters are a really big missed opportunity. They all have very distinct personalities, but I was shocked at how little content actually featured them. They each have a backstory cutscene that highlights them, but those scenes are so short that it’s more of a 30 second elevator pitch than anything else. None of the characters have more than a sentence or two to comment about said cutscenes, and none of them ever show any growth. Even the “main” character of Mason is basically the same by the end of the game. Although, I do think their designs are excellent and their personalities stand out from one another well enough.

The Bad

Spoilers ahead for the next three paragraphs! The story itself is pretty crappy. I’m still not really sure what was going on or why the Equinox (the main ship) was where it was. In more than one of the character-specific backstory cutscenes I already mentioned, they talk about Earth. So, ok, we understand that almost everyone on the Equinox is human, that’s fine. But...how exactly did they get here and why do they want to recapture the solar system of Atlas? As you play, you essentially claim territory in the name of Atlas, but it’s not clear at all who that exactly is. Does that mean the Equinox is in charge? Is there a government somewhere? Military affiliations or alliances? Because plenty of territory seems to be independent, in addition to enemy-controlled territory. Maybe there was a single line of dialogue I missed somewhere.

But, ok, we just want to fly spaceships and shoot stuff, who cares about politics! Well, there are still issues with the story because I honestly could scarcely care less about any of the plot in this game, which makes it tough to get into any of the battles or things at stake. The entire Starlink team was so unimportant that I literally never used ANY of them even one time, and the game never encouraged me too, either. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by the unparalleled writing and character development of the Kiseki series of JRPGs, or maybe I just really don’t like the storytelling methods and style of western RPGs, but I feel like the story should make you WANT to learn more about characters. Instead, I was just constantly asking questions like “Why does any of this matter?” 

Now, that would be a totally unimportant question if the game was all about space battles and explosions and pew pews, but it pretends to have this really deep, engrossing story with characters wracked over the (spoiler!) kidnapping and death of their leader and captain. We barely even get to know who this dude is before he’s kidnapped, and then the rest of the story is so bare-bones that most of what we’re “supposed” to be feeling has to be completely assumed under the guise of “Well, I guess he was the captain so we’re supposed to feel bad, right?” He did apparently act like a father figure for many of the Starlink pilots, but we are only briefly told that in those previously mentioned 30 second elevator pitches. We never actually see it.

Ok spoilers done, but I’m not. The enemies that you fight in this game are also horribly boring and repetitive. We get about 10 enemies in total throughout the entire game, and most of those only have very slight variations. They try to spice it up a bit by adding in “elements,” but about 70% of what I fought ended up always being the fire type anyway. Sure, we get five or so “boss” type enemies, but they’re not particularly special, either. Most of these enemies are copy-pasted all over the planets you visit to give the impression of a planet full of activity, but really it’s just the same things over and over. 

The real issue here is how the Big Bad, a bird guy named Grax, is supposed to be really feared but we only get like two cutscenes about him. His army is completely faceless. It’s really shocking that we got significantly more development from the Star Wolf team almost 25 years ago on the Nintendo 64, and all of that was delivered in five second one-liners spread through only a couple levels! 

All I’m going to say about the “toys as games” thing is that it’s stupid and clunky and should never be used, especially the way they make you mount the ship onto your controller. What an absolutely idiotic method. I can understand having a portal like they did with Skylanders. Still not a fan, but you can toss something onto it and it doesn’t weigh down your controller. If it was required to play, I would have never even tried this game.

Gameplay is supposed to be the real winning point here, with an honestly unbelievable amount of content available for each planet you visit. I think there were six or seven planets you could visit, so there was actually a ton to do. But I can’t imagine beating my head against the wall so many times on each planet to complete any of it. If you really enjoy grinding, monotonous, pointless gameplay, then by all means, try this game.

Conclusion

I mean, if you like Starfox, I think you’ll have at least some fun with it. The Starfox levels are fun, and it feels like legitimate Starfox content. It also shows that Starfox could branch out into something different, but I’m not sure I’d be a big fan of it going such a repetitive route with regards to gameplay. If a game like this were fully devoted to a Starfox story, and not just including Starfox as an afterthought, then I do think it could be a good game. But as it stands, Starlink: Battle for Atlas is an example of something that looks and sounds great, but revels in gameplay mediocrity and fails at story-telling. 5/10. If there was no Starfox content, it’s honestly a 3/10.

[futuresmashmemes]

You're called Future Smash memes-- can you see into the future of my universe? We just had 6 more character slots announced for our game, meaning there are 6 we dont know who they'll be! Do you have any insight? Or at least a prediction o'wise one?

Hmm. You know, I’ve been told that your timeline is the “main” one, and therefore is very tricky to predict and deal with. It may not be much, but I guess I’ll give my two cents on who I think the final six DLC slots for this timeline will be.

First of all, it’s important to remember that these choices were made by Nintendo, not Sakurai. I think that’s the reason why we got Sans and Cuphead miis in this timeline rather than full on fighters: for one reason or another, Nintendo didn’t want them (or at least, didn’t want them as much as the chosen fighters). Sakurai has said that he’s an avid fan of Undertale and Cuphead, so this makes sense. Then again, he’s also an avid Persona fan and I still don’t get why Nintendo would’ve chosen it of all franchises. Don’t get me wrong, Persona looks great and all (never played it myself), but it’s not very…Nintendo, y’know?

With that in mind, I think it’s safe to say that we won’t be getting an indie rep. Nintendo currently doesn’t seem to be very open to the idea of full on indie reps, so that means that characters like Hat Kid probably won’t get in (maybe as a mii costume, though aHiT isn’t as well known for its music as undertale and cuphead are, so I don’t think it would be a deluxe costume). Really, the only indie reps I see getting in are either Reimu or (as much as I hate to say it) Steve. Touhou is the poster child for popular indie projects, even if it isn’t as big over here as it is in Japan. ZUN is also open to the idea of Reimu in smash. The main things that go against Reimu is the fact that she isn’t very well known outside of Japan (and those who do know her often associate her with loli culture, which might be a problem) and because the way the franchise is set up, legalities with Touhou would either be really easy or really, really hard. Steve, on the other hand, has sort of transcended being an indie character. Minecraft recently overtook Tetris as the best selling game of all time, and has become a household name around the world. Maybe I’m just projecting (I’m probably the only person from my generation that doesn’t like Minecraft), but I don’t think Steve is getting in either. First of all, legality with Microsoft would probably be an issue as they would certainly demand more money for Steve than Banjo, who, while a treasured character worthy of his spot, comes from a dead IP who wasn’t had a new game since 2008. Also, similar to former best seller Tetris, I just don’t think that Minecraft’s blocky, pixelated art style and rigid player animations would be a good fit for smash. Again, totally me projecting, but that’s just what I think. I do expect to get Steve over mii swordfighter, though. That makes sense.

Now with my little indie rant out of the way, I’ll do a bullet-point list for characters that I’ve posted memes about on the blog before and what I think of their chances of getting in:

First of all, I think it’s obvious that Raz isn’t going to be one of the DLC characters. Yes, Psychonauts 2 is coming out later this year and the first game is one of my favorite video games of all time and he would fit in perfectly, but let’s be real. The franchise is a cult classic that has never been released on a Nintendo system in any way and probably sold horribly in Japan. Double Fine was also recently bought out by Microsoft which really killed any small chance he had of making it in. Sir Daniel is in a similar position

First/second party characters like Bandana Dee and Impa I think are deconfirmed because most of them are represented by Spirits, and I don’t think that they would “double dip.” And because of the scope of spirits mode, I think it’s unlikely that we’ll get any older characters from prexisting franchises (I say older so people won’t hound me with “WELL BYLETH GOT IN SO”).

We are not getting another FE rep lol. Rip red head merchant waifu.

Shooter characters are in a really weird spot since these games tend to not be made for kids (it’s easy to forget in all the hype and speculation that smash is first and foremost meant for kids), yet have made such a big cultural impact on the gaming scene that it’s hard to deny their “worthiness” to be in smash. Master Chief in particular is tricky to place since I definitely think he has much more character than most other shooter reps (cough cough Doomguy) and could have a more varied moveset than just “gun.” But that being said, he’s once again a character owned by Microsoft and comes from a franchise that up until very recently was Xbox exclusive and (as far as I’m aware, has never been released on a Nintendo system). It’s also important to remember that the original Xbox sold miserably in Japan, so I doubt that he’s getting in either.

On a similar note, I’ve seen people throw around ideas for a TF2 rep. This makes a lot more sense to me than Halo or Doom; the playable characters have much more personality and the cartoony aesthetic of the game fits in way better than most other shooters (cough cough Doom). I don’t know which character would be chosen though. Heavy probably? I think their main problem is that Valve would probably be picky about licensing and whatnot (I don’t think we’d be getting Gordon Freeman or Chell for the same reason). Additionally, I struggle to imagine TF2 without it’s signature dark humor which would most likely be cut for smash

Due to recent events, I do not think we will be getting an Overwatch or any other Blizzard rep.

If there’s one character I’d be willing to bet money on getting in, it’s Crash. While he’s never really been all that popular in Japan, it just feels right to me. He fits in perfectly, he has some history with Nintendo (even if he is more synonymous with PlayStation), and I mean…he just feels right. I know that sounds shitty after having just denied a bunch of other characters in an articulate manner, but I don’t know what else to say. I’m not even that big of a Crash fan. The only thing I can see hurting his chances is Activision potentially asking for money than Nintendo is willing to give (this is why he didn’t get into Pl’ystation Allst’rs)

Similarly, I think Spyro has a good chance of getting into smash, but not as well as Crash. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I always thought that Crash just had more of a cultural impact than Spyro did. I do think Spyro has a good chance of getting in though. Maybe some Skylanders/amiibo crosspromotion? Probably not.

Given how stingy they were with Hero (when compared to other DLC reps) and _especially _Cloud, I don’t think we’re getting another Square Enix rep, be it Sephiroth, a Black Mage, or Geno. That being said, it could’ve all been a long con and the FF7 remake will release alongside Sephiroth DLC with the actual fucking spirit battles that we should’ve gotten. Probably not though.

Dante I think has a pretty good chance at getting in. I think that he stands at a similar position to Bayonetta when it comes to censorship, so I think he could work. God knows that he would be broken if he did get in though.

I’ve been a big advocate for a Puyo Puyo rep in smash, and if we were to get one I think it would be Arle (maybe with other characters on her alts like Koopalings/Heroes). People have already theorized how her moveset could work, and I agree with that speculation wholeheartedly. Puyo Puyo unfortunately isn’t very well known outside of Japan since in the past it was usually released under a different brand (Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, Kirby Avalanche, etc). I do think that we absolutely need more puzzle reps than fucking Doctor Mario though, and Puyo Puyo seems perfect.

Professor Layton has unfortunately not had a new game in a long time (at least not one where he has a staring role), and outside of his swordsmanship, which is seen very rarely throughout the series, I don’t think that there’s much of a moveset to be made for him.

I love Ace Attorney, but I don’t think that Phoenix Wright is getting in. I don’t think that Sakurai would realistically just copy and paste his MvC3 moveset to smash and I don’t know what else you could do with him. Also, we haven’t gotten a new international release for Ace Attorney since 2016.

I know next to nothing about No More Heroes but I know a couple of people who will have a fit if I don’t mention Travis. I know there’s a sequel on the horizon but similar to Psychonauts, I don’t see it really happening. It feels to much like a cult classic to me. Once again, I know next to nothing about No More Heroes, so take that with a grain of salt.

I don’t think that any assist trophy characters will be “promoted” to playable through DLC.

And that’s about it. I know that sounded really pessimistic, but that’s honestly because I haven’t the foggiest idea about who’s going to get in. Everyone I want in in this timeline is either an assist trophy/spirit or a niche western/indie pick that I doubt has a chance. That sucks, but it’s just life. As long as we don’t get Goku or Fortnite though, I’ll be happy with whoever.

[mysmashplaythroughs]

My choices for the final Smash character. (And other general stuff)

Well, figured I would post something. My OOT Zelda post is taking a bit and admittedly I’ve just been wrapped up in other things. I’ve made a lot of progress with playing through the games on my list, having only three games for stages left before I’ve done all the ones I had in place for them. The thing is, two of those are somewhat long games and the other is Minecraft which I’ve just been casually playing alongside everything else for a while now. The Direct yesterday had a lot of pleasant surprises, especially for me with games like Dr Mario 64 and of course Banjo finally being available on a Nintendo console again (would have loved to be able to buy it but I guess I’m glad it’s on there at all...) Not to mention Castlevania Collection (which will come in handy in not too long on my list.) 

With the reveal that the final Smash character will be shown in detail on the 5th of October, it’s given me a drive to try and finish the last three games on the stages portion of my list, Minecraft, Final Fantasy 7 (which I beat before but it was on Steam on PC and I lost my save data so I’ve been playing the Switch version again.) and finally Three Houses. Since I want to be in a position by the 5th where I can play through (granted depending on who it is) the game/s related to the final character, I’ve decided for my current playthrough of Three Houses to stop it at a specific point (without spoilers let’s just say the halfway point) along with playing the DLC for the first time. I will come back to it for the next section on my list which are the background and stage hazard characters, with the second half representing the various Three Houses characters who appear in Garreg Mach in the background. My rationale for this is that as I’m playing currently for the stage, it changes a lot in the second half of the game, so therefore that part of the game is better suited to representing the background characters. Call it a copout or whatever you want, I just want to avoid burnout with too many long games at once which has been hitting me a little admittedly. Oh also for context, my first playthrough of the games I went with Blue Lions, this time I’m playing through Black Eagles, I plan to play the other paths when I get to Three Houses for the Spirits part of my list.

So, onto the title of this post. I mentioned in an earlier post plans to talk about what I want/expect for Smash, but seeing as this is confirmed explicitly to be the final update, I thought it was now or never really when it comes down to it. I will admit with this list, I have definite biases, there’s characters I just don’t want (Fortnite Jonesy, Freddy Fazbear), characters I think are fine for base roster but would not bring enough new as the final DLC character to really be justified (and admittedly some I’m just absolutely sick of people saying ‘everyone wants’) such as Waluigi, Skull Kid or Shadow the Hedgehog, and finally, ones I keep seeing people ask for that I just don’t want and don’t feel would fit in Smash (Master Chief, Kratos, Doomguy (I only give him a bit of a pass because of how big DOOM’s legacy is)) I know ‘anything is possible’ and people are always going on about ‘fan rules’ but there are things I think it’s reasonable to think damage a characters chances. I believe if a character’s had a Mii costume added as DLC (eg. Dante), if their game has had a spirit event (Resident Evil) or most importantly to me, they’re an assist trophy, it means Sakurai’s team considered the possibility of adding them and decided not to, representing them in another way. Mii Cosumes I think it only applies to the specific characters who have had DLC Mii outfits as we’ve seen with Kazuya getting in after the Heihachi Mii Costume, but if it’s a character who was a Mii costume in the base roster it doesn’t necessarily count them out (Dixie Kong for example). For Spirit events, I don’t believe they’d have done an event if the series was planned to be added with a fighter, there’s not been any cases of that happening so far, such as there not being a Three Houses spirit event. We know spirits in the base game don’t matter like for Min Min and Pyra/Mythra, but I think with the DLC already planned they wouldn’t then do those series for a spirit event. Assist Trophies, I feel whilst people keep saying about there being an option to switch them off when they’re playable, there was probably lot of work put into making them work as Assist Trophies and it was done to represent them in the game, so I just personally don’t believe they’d suddenly go “Oh actually lets add Waluigi as DLC.” Of course, I do have a big bias with this, I like seeing new stuff with the DLC, or for them to bring something new other than just the fighter. Yes Waluigi could bring ‘Mario Sports spirits’ or something but that’s hardly something not in the game already, not to mention it’d be seeing a character who already has a model in the game, there’d be very little new about him imo.

Anyway, now I’ve probably pissed off half of the people who might read this, my personal wants for characters in Smash are first and foremost that they bring an interesting franchise to the series. Simon and Richter were really cool additions, but even bigger to me was how they brought all the Castlevania stuff, a franchise I love which got so much representation with the stage and even a Dracula boss. A second element for me personally, is I like when it’s a character who has a history with Nintendo. Obviously, this isn’t a dealbreaker and I know they’ve done plenty now who have very few links to Nintendo (although, still even now every character in has had at least one small appearance on a Nintendo console beforehand) but part of why Banjo was such a big deal to me was because of just how intertwined with Nintendo he and Rare had been in the past. This has played into my list admittedly a bit. So, with that all said, here’s my top 5 predictions based on what I think it plausible and I would like for Smash.

5. Crash Bandicoot: Simply put, this isn’t one I personally want, just of all the popular suggestions that I think are workable, he’s the one I’d be most ok with. I believe his legacy in gaming is enough that he ‘deserves’ a spot in Smash. I’ve never been particularly interested in his series, but it does seem like it’d be ripe for adding a lot to Smash with a stage, spirits and music etc. Overall, if I don’t get one I want, I guess Crash is the one I’d be most ok with. (to be clear even if it was Master Chief I’d be fine seeing what’s done with him, only Fortnite really would be one I’d not like in any way.)

4. Dixie Kong: I don’t think this is likely at all, it goes against everything I’ve said before almost, as unlike with Sephiroth or Pyra for example there’s not tons of things Dixie could bring with her not already in the game for the DK series. This choice is purely if I got to add my dream character and since the DK franchise is a really huge deal to me, Dixie would be it.

3. Professor Layton: If this was Smash 4, I’d be putting Layton at number 2, his games were a pretty big deal on the DS and he’s got a lot of history with Nintendo, not to mention seeing Sakurai think up a way to make him work would probably turn out really special. The main problem with him nowadays is simply his series has pretty much ended. There’s a spinoff (which I really need to finish someday) but the Layton series was really at its peak on DS and 3DS. In more realistic terms, I’d love to see a Mii Costume of Layton at least, paired with my number 1 choice would make it fit even better.

2. Dr. Eggman: So, growing up during the SEGA vs Nintendo era, honestly, I never ‘picked a side’. I enjoyed both consoles and I liked Sonic just as much as many Nintendo series back then. In my mind, Dr. Eggman is one of the most iconic videogame villains of all time, he has that same quality Bowser has where he can work as the overall antagonist or a side character and not ever really feel out of character. Apart from that though, fighting in his Egg Mobile there’s all sorts of cool things could be done with him, and being a fair bit bigger I think it’d be different to how Bowser Jr works meaning he wouldn’t be redundant. On top of that, Sonic is one of the series in Smash that arguably is somewhat lacking in content, not to the degree of FF7 of course, but there’s a lot that could still be added, with Eggman perhaps bringing various Badnik spirits with him and there being plenty of awesome music from the Sonic series that could be added. Overall, if they were to add a character who wasn’t from an all-new series as the finale, Eggman would be in my opinion the best choice.

1. Phoenix Wright: So, yes I am a huge fan of Ace Attorney, it’s a very important series to me so I’m absolutely biased in this. Whilst I understand why there’s plenty of reasons to doubt this happening, I think the chances are higher than people think. Firstly and probably least importantly, but something that I do personally consider is that the AA series has a long history with Nintendo, starting in Japan on GBA, then on DS, 3DS and now Switch, the series whilst not remaining exclusive has never skipped out on a Nintendo console. When it comes to how iconic the series is, honestly for visual novels, I think it’s the most famous overall. So many times when I see people who don’t really play visual novels talk about them they often say things like “so it’s like Phoenix Wright.” This doesn’t mean of course that these people have actually played the games, but they are easily the most recognisable examples of the genre in my mind. (Maybe Dangan Ronpa would also count, but I don’t hear that referenced as often) Add to that how often people recognise “OBJECTION!” as being a Phoenix Wright reference, even if they barely know the series and I’d say it’s pretty iconic. Next, probably most surprisingly to me, Capcom’s only new character in Smash Ultimate is Ken, an Echo Fighter. Capcom has a long history, a huge list of franchises (in some ways arguably rivalling Nintendo themselves with how many iconic franchises they’ve put out) and have definitely had a lot of involvement with Nintendo over the years (I mean, they’ve been involved in a few Zelda games such as Minish Cap). The thing is, almost all of their biggest franchises that weren’t already in Smash have now been represented in various forms, Resident Evil got a spirit event, Dante infamously got a Mii costume, as has Arthur from Ghouls and Ghosts. Of the most recognisable Capcom franchises not represented at all in Smash from Capcom, I’d say off the top of my head, the only two really remaining are Ace Attorney and Okami. Of those two, AA imo is the one that’s more widely known (not to mention has had a lot more entries etc).

One thing that both supports and goes against his inclusion is that he appeared in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 as a fighter. Going for him with that is that it’s been shown he could work in a fighting game before, but against it is therefore it wouldn’t be as surprising to see as it was in that case. I’d argue, due to the nature of Smash as a game, there’s a lot that could be done with Phoenix that couldn’t have been done in UMvC3 (btw, I really enjoyed playing that game). Probably one of the biggest things to me is the stage it could offer. In the Ace Attorney series, the majority of the game shockingly is set in the courtroom, Phoenix Wright being the Defence Attorney (in the original Trilogy, there’s other characters in later games) and there being various Prosecutors he’s faced over the years with the majority of the time the same bald bearded Judge presiding over every trial. The somewhat sedentary nature of the games, where the characters stand in the same spot 99% of the time and cycle through various reaction animations (desk slams, damaged shocked sprites and of course lots of pointing) would be fantastic as a stage. Given how many cameos and things we’ve seen in recent DLC stages, having the courtroom rotate through various prosecutors as well as maybe having Phoenix (when not being played as) appear behind the Defence bench would be something I’d love to see. I realise now I’m going into way more of a ‘moveset ideas’ type thing than I should so I’ll just leave it off with I feel Phoenix would be a really awesome if admittedly controversial choice (with those that wouldn’t have some sort of controversy if they get in becoming a smaller and smaller pool and mostly ones I find personally kinda boring.) and as a final plus would represent a game genre not represented yet overall with visual novels.

So yeah, that’s my personal hopes. I said before, there’s very few characters I’d outright be unhappy with if they got in. I’ve gotten sick of hearing certain choices but either way based on everything so far I trust whoever it is will be done well. I got my wish for Banjo, so anything else now is a bonus. Just as a blog that’s focused on Smash (although, I definitely want to stick to my references and origins of characters lane rather than the whole competitive etc scene...) I wanted to at least put my guesses out there before the final reveal. Looking forward to it.

[gamerzcourt]

Xbox One and The Quest for Relevance At E3 2018Xbox One and The Quest for Relevance At E3 2018xbox 360

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Xbox One and The Quest for Relevance At E3 2018Xbox One and The Quest for Relevance At E3 2018xbox 360

It’s not often that I rant at Microsoft and even less so around E3 time. After all, tis the season for every company to hawk their wares, put everything up for show and convince us to actually partake in their games/services for the next year. Well, except for maybe EA which devoted significant effort to showcase a Command and Conquer title that no one enjoyed. But I digress.

Isn’t it better to judge a company after their press conference is over? In Microsoft’s case, the struggle that its Xbox brand is having to remain relevant isn’t new nor did it begin a few years ago. The resulting struggle has been going on for a while now, taking roots in the Xbox 360 era up till the introduction of Kinect.

“Cut to 2017 and what is Microsoft best known for? Why, cancelling Scalebound and shutting down Lionhead Studios along with Fable Legends.”

In this day and age, the Xbox One is still a fairly popular console. Granted, it won’t ever reach the PlayStation 4’s sales and may even be struggling to hit half that amount. That was becoming incredibly apparent only a year after both consoles launched. It was painfully obvious that Microsoft was lagging behind. It was incredibly sad to see the company’s botched “always online” functions ultimately drag the Xbox One down, even if they were completely reversed before launch.

However, in 2014, the Xbox One was cooking in some pretty cool ways. Titles like Sunset Overdrive, Titanfall (which would also release for Xbox 360), Project Spark and Forza Horizon 2 were cementing it as this place with great games. Well, except for Halo: The Master Chief Collection that is. 2015 would seem to be even better with franchises like Forza Motorsport, Rare Replay, Gears of War Ultimate Edition, Halo and Tomb Raider (albeit in timed exclusive form) sharing space with new franchises like Ori and the Blind Forest and Rivals of Aether.

Of course, it didn’t take long before Microsoft’s old habits began to creep up. Halo 5: Guardians was a huge disappointment at launch, especially with its campaign, and only cemented 343 Industries as a developer that thought it knew what made the Halo games great, and not the fans. Gears of War 4 would release in 2016 and barely carried the franchise forward in any meaningful way. Forza Horizon 3 was pretty incredible but titles like Quantum Break just didn’t rise above our already average expectations. Dead Rising 4 was just awful and ReCore wasn’t the best new IP by a long shot despite the incredible talent involved.

Cut to 2017 and what is Microsoft best known for? Why, cancelling Scalebound and shutting down Lionhead Studios along with Fable Legends. Were both projects going to be amazing? Well, we don’t really know but this was a console that desperately needed exclusives. With Sony firing on all cylinders with its first and third party exclusives in that quarter, Nintendo at the pinnacle of hype with the Switch release and no major exclusives but Halo Wars 2, Microsoft seemed trapped.

“It’s that Microsoft has failed to really foster new ideas within those franchises (or indeed within new franchises) to really excite anyone in recent memory.”

This practice of cancelling projects and relegating studios by the wayside wasn’t exactly new either – Microsoft had done the same to Obsidian Entertainment, with the company on the verge of bankruptcy before Pillars of Eternity was fully funded. Similarly, the numerous hoops that it made developer Darkside jump through before taking them off of the Phantom Dust sequel were similarly damning.

It’s not like the latter part of the year helped either. Cuphead was the one shining light in a land of original IPs but Forza Motorsport 7, despite being excellent, felt like more of the same (but with progression seemingly gated behind loot boxes). Tacoma was all well and good (even though, again, it was a timed exclusive) but Microsoft was laser-focused on PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, particularly on its exclusivity to the Xbox One. It was marketed as this huge prize that would see console players flock to the Xbox One. In December 2017, not only was PUBG one of the worst optimized games for either Xbox One X or Xbox One but the base PC version is buckling under the lack of improvements, new content and proper optimization. Granted, things have improved but PUBG’s popularity also took a significant hit with Fornite: Battle Royale’s release.

What is Microsoft’s plan come E3 2018, which will pretty much define its strategies going forward? Will there be much change with Matt Booty as head of Microsoft Studios as of January 2018? Rumours indicate that Halo, Gears of War and Forza will form a major part of Microsoft’s plans (with some Fable thrown in for good measure). Looking back on Microsoft in the Xbox 360 days, it’s incredible how the company seemingly doubles down on these franchises when all else seems lost. The spoiler is that these franchises aren’t advancing the Xbox business as much as Microsoft would think.

You could argue that back when the Xbox 360 was winding down, Kinect was popular and for sure, it did some very good business for Microsoft. However, the crux of the issue is that – unlike Nintendo – Microsoft has struggled to really muster up a compelling first party catalog when motion controls started trending downwards. The one constant isn’t that Microsoft keeps going back to its known franchises to cater to their respective fans. It’s that Microsoft has failed to really foster new ideas within those franchises (or indeed within new franchises) to really excite anyone in recent memory.

“The point isn’t that Sony is pro-consumer. It’s the building of successive franchises with a longer goal in mind rather than going back to the well again and again and again for diminishing returns.”

Look at Sony, which pushes new franchises like Horizon: Zero Dawn and new ideas in established franchises like God of War. Not every new idea is a slam-dunk hit (see The Order: 1886) and not every idea is incredible out of the gate (Evolution Studios’ DriveClub). However, it’s clear that the studio isn’t looking to just compete with the best that first party competitors have to offer. It’s competing with third party developers, pushing higher production values in offbeat concepts and providing a platform with benefits for third party developers on the PS4. Meanwhile, Microsoft continues to minimize its third party dealings.

I’m not saying that deals with timed exclusive DLC for FIFA or Call of Duty set my world on fire but they were a few of the aces that Microsoft had. This is, again, to say nothing of Microsoft’s dealings with developers like Platinum Games who it completely shafted. We could talk forever about Microsoft’s failure to really employ the creativity seen in the Japanese game development market. But those chickens came home to roost in 2017 itself when all the big names like Nier: Automata, Persona 5, Nioh and so on stuck with the PlayStation 4 at their respective launches (with Nier: Automata only now being confirmed for Xbox One).

The point isn’t that Sony is pro-consumer. It’s the building of successive franchises with a longer goal in mind rather than going back to the well again and again and again for diminishing returns. Yes, God of War and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End remain some of the most successful PS4 titles. Re-imaginings/remakes of old classics like Ratchet and Clank and Shadow of the Colossus have also proven successful. However, it’s the franchises like Horizon: Zero Dawn, Until Dawn, Detroit: Become Human, Bloodborne, Nioh, Nier: Automata, Persona 5, Gravity Rush 2, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and so on which it either developed or helped foster (even as some released on other platforms later) that are ultimately building up the console’s brand.

“If Microsoft goes back to the well again with Halo, Gears of War and Forza, it’s shooting itself in the foot a decade later.”

On the flip-side, look at the Nintendo Switch. Even if Nintendo does go back to the well with franchises like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, it’s still pushing relatively newer properties like Splatoon 2, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, Snipperclips, Fast RMX, and ARMs. It’s providing a platform for games like Xenoblade Chronicles 2, numerous indie titles which couldn’t break out on other platforms, and so on to achieve success. Even when it does recycle old IPs, it does so in unique ways as the open world of Zelda: Breath of the Wild attests. Furthermore, it’s proving a strong platform for indie developers to really taste success.

Of course, foresight is 20/20. Even if franchises on Nintendo’s less successful Wii U platform didn’t exactly set the charts on fire, like Bayonetta 2, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, it still brings them over to the Switch on short notice at the behest of fans. Furthermore, it uses properties like Bayonetta 2 to help promote upcoming exclusives like Bayonetta 3. It’s almost like Nintendo seems in tune with what the consumer may want and attempts to deliver it to them. What a funny concept, right? That doesn’t dismiss whatever issues people may have with the upcoming online service but again, there are still more incredible games on the Nintendo Switch in its first year then there’s been on the Xbox One in the past two.

At the end of the day, whether it’s Sony, Nintendo or even the various PC-exclusive developers, players around the world are given umpteen reasons to invest their time into these platforms. Those looking to get into a platform won’t just have the future to look forward to – they’ll have a compelling backlog supported by strong names, whether new, old or rising. The Xbox One currently lacks this and if Microsoft goes back to the well again with Halo, Gears of War and Forza, it’s shooting itself in the foot a decade later.

“With Nintendo and Sony doing incredibly well for themselves, Microsoft and the Xbox brand are in danger of not just “third place” but total irrelevance.”

The Xbox One doesn’t just need new IPs. It needs IPs that people would fall over themselves to invest time into. State of Decay 2 garnered over one million players in the first two days of release while Sea of Thieves reached over two million its first week. Game Pass user breakdowns aside, both titles have motivated Xbox One users to invest in them. Microsoft is on some kind of right track (even if the above titles were rather average in their critical response) but needs more quality and in larger quantities. It needs its own Bloodborne or Uncharted 4 or Horizon: Zero Dawn. Not in the sense that it needs the exact ideas those games contain but to inspire the same kind of frenzy that those games do.

Microsoft’s E3 2018 presser is on June 10th. Will we see history repeat itself as the company struggles to relate to a user base that expects more? There are 15 “World Premieres” planned for the show. Will that equate to 140 minutes of just premiering games that will also be coming to other consoles like Battlefield 5? Will it simply cut the prices for the Xbox One, Xbox One X and Xbox One S even further? Announce some free subscriptions? Or will it ignite our excitement like it did in 2014, showcasing a company that doesn’t just want to talk down to its players but offer them exciting things and back up those offers with exciting products?

Time will tell and for better or worse, time seems to be running out for the house that Xbox built. A long time ago, we would push certain companies to be better simply because more competition was good for everyone. With Nintendo and Sony doing incredibly well for themselves, Microsoft and the Xbox brand are in danger of not just “third place” but total irrelevance.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to GamingBolt as an organization.

Video Game News, Reviews, Walkthroughs And Guides – GamingBolt

[xseedgames]

2017 End-of-the-Year Q&A Extravaganza Blog! #1

It’s time for our first 2017 End-of-the-Year Q&A Extravaganza! We’ve got a bunch of these we’ll be posting over the holiday break, so please look forward to them. Now, let’s roll right in!

We have answers from: 

Ken Berry, Executive Vice President / Team Leader John Wheeler, Assistant Localization Manager Nick Colucci, Localization Editor Liz Rita, QA Tester Brittany Avery, Localization Producer Thomas Lipschultz, Localization Producer

Question: Has selling your games on PC worked out for you so far? I know supporting the PC platform is a relatively recent choice for XSEED. - @Nate_Nyo

Ken: Being on PC has been great for us as it allows us to reach anyone anywhere in the world regardless of region or console. We were probably one of the earlier adopters in terms of bringing content from Japan to PC as we first published Ys: The Oath in Felghana on Steam almost 6 years ago in early 2012.

Brittany: I love working on PC. The work involved is greater than working on console, but I feel like it's a bigger learning experience, too. For console, the developers normally handle the graphics after we translate them, and they do all the programming and such. For PC, everything falls on us. I wasn't that experienced with Photoshop in the beginning, but I think I've gotten a lot better with it over the years. We can also receive updates instantly, and since I talk with our PC programmer through Skype, it's easier to suss out our exact needs and think of ideas to improve the game or bring it to modern standards.

Question: What non-XSEED games do you praise the localization for? - @KlausRealta

Brittany: Final Fantasy XII. I love everything about Final Fantasy XII's writing. I'm also a big fan of the personality in the Ace Attorney localizations. I'm still playing Yakuza 0, but you can feel the passion of the localization team in the writing. There are some projects where you can tell the editing was phoned in, and then there are games where it's obvious it was a labor of love. All of these games have a color I aspire to.

Tom: Probably going to be a popular answer, and not an especially surprising one, but I've got to give props to Lost Odyssey. It's hard to deny the timeless quality and absolutely masterful English writing that went into basically every line of that game's massive script, with the many short stories being of particular note. That game really does represent an inspirational high bar that I think most everyone else in the industry will forever strive to reach in their own works.

For a more unexpected answer, I've also got to give mad props to Sega for their work on Monster World IV. As a Sega Genesis game released digitally in English for the very first time less than a decade ago, I guess I was kind of expecting a fairly basic "throwaway" translation -- but instead, the game boasts a full-on professional grade localization that's easily up to all modern standards, brimming with charm and personality. It's really nice to see a legitimate retro game being given that kind of care and attention in the modern era, and it makes it very easy for me to recommend (as does the fact that the game is actually quite fun, and is sure to be enjoyed by anyone who's played through all the Shantae titles and really wants to try something else along similar lines).

John: I played Okami on PS3 earlier this year (before the remake was announced), and I was awed by how skillfully the team handled text that is chock full of localization challenges like quirky nicknames, references to Japanese fairy tales, and regional dialects. I was especially amused to see a reference to "kibi dango," the dumplings Momotaro uses to bribe his companions in that famous story. We dealt with the same cultural reference with STORY OF SEASONS: Trio of Towns.

Nick: My go-to response is always Vagrant Story, because it’s the game I credit with getting me really interested in a career in localization. Before that point, I had enjoyed games for their story and characters, but hadn’t realized just how much the specific word choices and tone contributed to a reader’s perception of a story as a whole. The gents behind VS’s localization would go on to be industry luminaries, with Rich Amtower now calling shots in Nintendo’s Treehouse department and Alex Smith being synonymous with the highly regarded prose of Yasumi Matsuno’s games – including the cool and underappreciated Crimson Shroud for 3DS, and Final Fantasy XII, which as anyone who’s played it can tell you is a stellar localization. Having spent a lot of time with FFXII’s “The Zodiac Age” remaster this year, the care and attention to detail put into the localization still blows me away. The unique speech style of the Bhujerbans (with...Sri Lankan inflections, if memory serves correctly) sticks with me, because I knew that I myself would never have been able to pull off something like that so deftly. I guess you could say Vagrant Story started a lineage of games that’s always given me something to aspire to as an editor.

Final Fantasy XIV, which I’ve been playing this year, also has a very good localization, especially considering the reams of text that go into an MMO of its size and scope. Michael-Christopher Koji Fox and his team have done a bang-up job giving life and personality to the land of Eorzea, and I’ve enjoyed seeing how the localization has changed in subtle ways as time has gone on. The initial “A Realm Reborn” localization sort of cranks the “regional flavor” up to 11 with heavy dialects and vernacular, but in subsequent expansions, they kind of eased up on that and have found a good mix between grounded localization and the kind of flourishes that work well in high-fantasy settings.

 And, while I haven’t played it in a number of years, I remember Dragon Quest VIII having a really great localization, too, with ol’ Yangus still living large in my memories. Tales of the Abyss was fantastic as well, and both DQVIII and Abyss delivered some really brilliant dub work that showed me how much richer one could make characterization when the writing and the acting really harmonized. I still consider Tales of the Abyss my general favorite game dub to date. The casting is perfect, with not a bad role among them. I also want to give mad props to Ni no Kuni’s Mr. Drippy, just as a perfect storm of great localization decisions. Tidy, mun!

Question: How hard is it to turn in game signs and words to English for Japanese? Is it as simple as going in and editing text? Or as hard as creating a whole new texture for the model? - @KesanovaSSB4

Tom: We refer to this as "graphic text" -- meaning, literally, text contained within graphic images. How it's handled differs from project to project, but the short answer is, yeah, it involves creating a whole new texture for the model. Sometimes, this is handled by the developer: they'll just send us a list of all the graphic text images that exist in-game and what each image says, we'll send that list back to them with translations, and they'll use those translations to create new graphic images on our behalf. For other games, however (particularly PC titles we're more or less spearheading), we'll have to do the graphic edits ourselves. When the original PSDs or what-not exist for the sign images, this is generally pretty easy -- but as you might expect, those aren't always available to us, meaning we'll sometimes have to go to a bit more trouble to get this done.

John: The best practice is to review graphic text very early in the localization process because it takes effort to fix and can throw a wrench in schedules if issues are discovered too late. On occasion, it is too difficult to change ubiquitous textures, especially those that might also appear in animation. This was the case with "NewTube" in SENRAN KAGURA Peach Beach Splash, which the localization team wanted to change to "NyuuTube" to make the wordplay clearer to series fans.

Question: With the Steam marketplace becoming increasingly saturated and being seen as a greater risk to publish on in recent times, what does XSEED plan on doing in order to remain prominent and relevant in the PC gaming space? - @myumute

Ken: It is indeed getting harder and harder to stand out as hundreds of new titles are releasing on Steam each month. We are working our way towards simultaneous release across all platforms to help leverage some of the coverage from the console version to get more attention to the PC release, so hopefully that's something we can accomplish soon. For PC-exclusive releases it continues to be a challenge, but at least they have a long tail and even if it's not an immediate success at launch we know it can continue to produce sales for years to come.

Question: What was your favorite film that you saw in 2017, and why? - @Crippeh

John: I'm way behind on movies this year (haven't seen Disaster Artist, Phantom Thread, or Get Out, for example), but recently I've enjoyed both Star Wars and Lady Bird. I expect I'll watch my favorite film from 2017 sometime in 2018.

Ken: Wind River. Mainly because of Jeremy Renner's performance and how many quotable lines he had.

Liz: Get Out for horror mindblowing amazingness, Spider-Man Homecoming for genuinely fun comic book movie, and The Shape of Water for Guillermo del Toro. Guillermo del Toro should always be a category.

That’s it! Stay turned for blog #2 later this week. Here’s a preview of the kinds of questions we’ll be answering:

Question: Have you ever considered selling the music CDs for your licenses stateside? - @LimitTimeGamer Question: If possible, would you please consider researching and localizing classic Korean-made PC xRPGs? - @DragEnRegalia Question: Do you have any interest in pursuing the localization of any of the large, beautiful Chinese RPGs that have been hitting Steam? Or are you focused exclusively on Japanese titles? - @TheDanaAddams Question: What inspired you all to do this kind of work in the first place? Also, what’s the story behind the company name XSEED? How did you all come up with it? - @TBlock_02 Question: What was everyone's favorite game(s) to work on this year? - @ArtistofLegacy Question: What's everyone's favorite song from the Falcom games you've released so far? - @Crippeh

[entergamingxp]

5 Dormant Franchises They Could Revive for Holiday 2020

July 30, 2020 10:00 AM EST

Nintendo have a very light Christmas line-up this year. We look at five dormant franchises they could revive to make holiday 2020 a success.

2020 has been a strange year for Nintendo. They’ve had some major success with Animal Crossing: New Horizons and we got the surprise announcement of a new Paper Mario game. Other than those two games though, there’s not been a huge range of first-party titles to get excited about.

They also seem to have forgone the usual format for Nintendo Directs. We have had a couple of “Nintendo Direct Mini’” presentations and a handful of franchise-specific directs, including Pokemon and Animal Crossing, but other than a few shadow dropped videos like Paper Mario, nothing. That’s left the second half of the year looking strangely bare for the company.

  Now we do have a New Pokemon Snap that was announced last month and the rumoured Super Mario 35th anniversary collection, but neither of those are confirmed yet to be dropping in 2020. That leaves the holiday season completely empty.

What Nintendo does have however is a plethora of franchises in their back catalogue that lay completely dormant. With that being said, I’ll take a look at five of these franchises that–should Nintendo choose to revive before the end of the year–would change their holiday landscape.

1) Pikmin

Now, don’t get me wrong: a new Pikmin is very likely coming, it’s just a case of “when.” Back in 2015, in an interview with Eurogamer, Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed that not only was a new Pikmin game coming, but that it was also close to completion. While in that specific instance the game likely turned out to be Hey! Pikmin on the 3DS, Miyamoto has since confirmed that a new Pikmin game is “progressing.”

Aside from the 3DS spinoff, the last mainline Pikmin game we got was Pikmin 3 for the Wii U back in 2013. While the franchise has never been one of Nintendo’s best-selling, it offers something wholly unique from the company. Real-time strategy, or strategy as a whole, is something Nintendo rarely tackle, and the Pikmin series is known for doing it incredibly well, in a very unique style, all while loaded with that typical Nintendo charm.

The problem with Pikmin 3, like a lot of other of Nintendo’s best games, is that it launched on the massively unsuccessful Wii U. This undoubtedly hurt its numbers, as estimates put worldwide sales of the game well below one million units and potentially raised questions in Camp Nintendo about the viability of the franchise.

The simple answer though is for Nintendo to do what they’ve done with many other games over the last few years; release a Pikmin 3 port to the Switch. It was rumoured only a couple of months ago and could easily solve a multitude of problems. It gets the game into the hands of those who didn’t have a Wii U, scratches that Pikmin itch for the big fans of the franchise, fills a hole in Nintendo’s holiday line up, and would allow Nintendo the opportunity to see just what the demand for a new Pikmin game is, which I’m willing to bet is pretty high.

2) Advance Wars

Speaking of Nintendo’s limited foray into the strategy genre, a new Advance Wars title is near the top of many people’s list, including mine. The handheld franchise has been absent for 12 years now since Days of Ruin on the Nintendo DS, and it’s high time it makes a comeback.

Last year we were treated to Wargroove, Chucklefish’s spiritual successor to Advance Wars. The game played incredibly similarly and looked just like what you’d expect from an Advance Wars game, however it just wasn’t quite Advance Wars. The setting was slightly more fantastical when compared to the military theme of Advance Wars and it was thematically less dark. Now, this isn’t trying to detract from Wargroove–in fact, it did some things better–but Nintendo struck gold with their strategy franchise and it would be incredibly hard for anybody to replicate just how good it really was.

Advance Wars was designed for handheld and the Switch’s functionality makes it more suitable for a release now than on perhaps any of their other home consoles. There would no doubt be palpable hype around the announcement/release of a new Advance Wars title, and it’s a franchise that would be right at home on the console.

3) F-Zero

Nintendo have a rich history of great racing games on their consoles. Mario Kart is the gold standard when it comes to kart racers, Diddy Kong Racing was fantastic, and Wave Race was another N64 classic. But a franchise that’s been absent since the GameCube and simply needs to come back is F-Zero.

Starting out on the SNES, F-Zero is known for being a high-octane, futuristic racing series that offers something different from a typical racing game. The races contain up to 30 different competitors (including yourself) and are played at a blistering pace. The neon-futuristic aesthetic is full of well-designed courses that are accompanied by some of the coolest music in Nintendo’s catalogue.

We’ve not had a brand new Nintendo racer since Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U, and while Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has performed incredibly well on the Switch, ultimately it’s a port of a now six-year-old game. Given the advancements in technology since the GameCube, the potential for online races (no matter how sketchy it might be given Nintendo’s infrastructure) and the offer of something completely different, it’s hard to imagine an F-Zero game that would be anything less than amazing.

4) Star Fox

While the Star Fox series may not have been away as long as the rest of the games on this list, it’s certainly a series that would benefit from an overhaul and Switch release. The last Star Fox game, Star Fox Zero, was released back in 2016 towards the end of the Wii U’s life cycle, and it’s safe to say it was unsuccessful. The result of being released so close to the end of the Wii U’s catastrophic life was some extremely subpar sales numbers (with estimates putting it at less than 500k units sold) despite the game reviewing pretty well.

Star Fox arguably peaked back in 1997 with Star Fox 64, with its on-rails sci-fi shooter gameplay exciting fans. However, since then Nintendo has pivoted backwards and forwards on what they want the franchise to be. The N64 game was followed by Star Fox Adventures on the GameCube, which was a complete departure from what the series had tried so far by turning to Zelda-style gameplay. Star Fox: Assault followed Adventures, trying a combination of spacecraft and on-foot elements. After that we got Star Fox Command on DS which mixed in some turn-based strategy elements, and then 10 years later saw Star Fox Zero. Every iteration of the Star Fox franchise has adapted the gameplay in some way by trying to carve out a niche, without ever really setting the world on fire.

Alongside Pikmin, Star Fox is a franchise that Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto has always been fond of, saying back in 2016 that he “always wanted Fox McCloud to be a bit more popular than he was.” So despite the failures of the series’ recent entries, there’s definitely hope for a reboot, and what better time to do it than when there’s little else coming out on the Switch to compete with.

5) Nintendogs

While not a game for the “hardcore” audience out there – Nintendogs certainly shifted units. The game was released a few months after the original DS launched and was nothing short of a phenomenon. Across the lifecycle of the DS, the original Nintendogs fell only a few thousand units shy of selling 24 million. Despite only having two games (Nintendogs and Nintendogs + Cats) the series has outsold a string of other huge franchises including Metroid, Luigi’s Mansion, and Fire Emblem.

Like many of the games on this list, Nintendogs did something different; Nintendo spotted a gap in the “pet simulation” market and they took it. The simple gameplay loop of caring for a dog, feeding it, walking it, and generally just looking after it resonated with the masses, and the release of multiple different versions with different breeds helped further the game’s success.

Last year, developers Imagineer released Little Friends: Dogs & Cats as a spiritual successor to Nintendogs, however the game paled in comparison when contrasting the two. Several critics, including our own Cameron Hawkins, were quick to point out that “it is very limited on what you can do, especially for the game’s asking price.”

Like most of these dormant franchises, Nintendogs would benefit greatly from the advances in technology since we last saw it. A reboot of the franchise would be a great way for Nintendo to capitalize on the more casual market this holiday season, especially after the success of Animal Crossing: New Horizons earlier this year. While Animal Crossing certainly has more depth, the two games would likely have some overlapping appeal. Releasing a “New Nintendogs” would hit the nostalgic sweet spot for many, and would no doubt help sell both Switch hardware and software units.

Honorable Mentions –

Kid Icarus – Kid Icarus Uprising is the only non-Smash Bros. title from Masahiro Sakurai since 2005, and it was a very solid game; it offered a compelling gameplay loop and came out to some very strong reviews. While not having the pulling power of the other names on this list, a new Kid Icarus would be very much welcome, especially with Pit being a much more familiar character to Nintendo fans now.

Golden Sun – The Camelot-developed/Nintendo-published Golden Sun series was a stellar range of handheld JRPGs that ended most recently with Golden Sun: Dark Dawn on the DS. Octopath Traveler has shown that there’s a demand for high-quality RPGs on the Nintendo Switch, and what better way to fill that demand than with a new entry in the beloved franchise.

Mario Sports titles – Mario Tennis Aces released on the Switch in 2018, but that’s the only Mario Sports game on the system so far. Mario has dipped his toes into golf, football and basketball in the past, and any of these games (especially a new Mario Golf) would make an impact on the Switch.

WarioWare – WarioWare Gold was another relative commercial failure in 2018 with many asking the question–with the Switch being so well established by that point–why release a WarioWare game on the 3DS? This Christmas would be a perfect time for Nintendo to right those wrongs and release a new entry in the party-game series on the Switch. Another Wario Land game wouldn’t go amiss, either.

Wave Race – Revered for its realistic water, Wave Race is a fantastic racing series set on, you guessed it, the waves. Like F-Zero, Wave Race offered something different in the racing genre and would be another popular pick to resurface this holiday season.

So while it’s looking quiet for Nintendo towards the back end of this year, there’s an undoubted amount of potential for something special. If they can drop a trailer for Paper Mario: The Origami King and have it release a month later, there’s hope for all of the franchises on this list that (hopefully) some of them are already in the works. Which one of these games would top your Christmas List this year? Let us know in the comments below.

July 30, 2020 10:00 AM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/07/5-dormant-franchises-they-could-revive-for-holiday-2020/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=5-dormant-franchises-they-could-revive-for-holiday-2020

[mehringguie-reblogs-blog]

All 7 Pokémon generations, ranked

The Pokémon establishment commended 20 years in 2016 with the introduction of Pokémon Sun and Moon.

As the seventh era of the Pokémon establishment, Sun and Moon pay tribute to what preceded while blasting a strong new way ahead. In spite of the considerable number of changes and new highlights, nonetheless, the inquiry still remains: How do Sun and Moon stack up to the arrangement's past sections?

To praise the twentieth commemoration of one of gaming's most notorious establishments, we glanced back at each Pokémon age to choose which amusements are the genuine champions. (Searching for the best Pokémon spinoff amusements? We have you secured here.)

Nintendo

7) Generation 4

While not terrible recreations by any methods, Diamond and Pearl speak to the Pokémon arrangement at its weakest. The story is a weakened chaos of interdimensional babble with a level reprobate whose lone inspiration is to wind up plainly the leader of room and time. The Sinnoh area is one of the slightest motivated situations in any Pokémon amusement, brimming with hilly landscape and very little else.

Another enormous issue with this combine of amusements was the new Pokémon to gather. A large number of them were advancements or child types of effectively existing Pokémon, and couldn't be gotten until after the fundamental experience.

The Platinum Version tagged along and settled a large number of the issues with the exhausting locale and its poor Pokémon offerings, yet it remained a generally straight amusement with a deadened story. The Sinnoh district offers awesome starter Pokémon, and chasing down incredible animals like Giratina and Heatran in the wake of finishing the story gave a lot of rushes.

Nintendo

6) Generation 6

X and Y brought handheld Pokémon into the third measurement, and keeping in mind that the recreations were incredible to take a gander at, they didn't offer much else as far as advancement. This age presented Fairy Pokémon, the primary new sort since 1999, and Mega Evolution, offering new searches for old top choices. X and Y depended on time tested mechanics too every now and again, in any case, and they appeared the most modest number of new Pokémon in any age. X and Y played excessively safe when it came, making it impossible to huge changes, however were an incredible dosage of sentimentality for long-lasting fans.

These amusements had an earth shattering errand to fulfill: convey the well-known universe of Pokémon to another motor on the 3DS. The story and lowlifess were in a split second forgettable, and outside of gathering Mega Stones and focused preparing, there was too little to do in the wake of beating the Pokémon League. In any case, X and Y were a respectable reintroduction to what makes Pokémon so unique.

Nintendo

5) Generation 1

Where everything began, Pokémon Red and Blue tragically demonstrate their age in 2016. Everything about the Kanto locale, its Pokémon, characters, towns, and urban communities, are as famous as anything Pokémon-related can be. Each of the first 151 animals is essential and very much outlined, yet Red and Blue renditions are regardless a task to play through. There aren't numerous solid moves to instruct your Pokémon, and some effectively abused combos and issues with individual details can cause various issues on any given playthrough.

In any case, the narrative of a youthful coach ascending to bring down Team Rocket and acing the Pokémon League stays similarly as drawing in now as it was in 1996. Revamps of this age, FireRed and LeafGreen, are currently the authoritative approach to encounter this story, and backpedaling to the firsts may urge long-term fans to evacuate their rose-tinted glasses.

Nintendo

4) Generation 7

Pokémon Sun and Moon are the most unmistakable interpretation of the Pokémon equation in the primary arrangement of diversions. They wear their Hawaiian effect on their sleeves, making for an energizing enterprise with phenomenal music and beautiful visuals. Sun and Moon expand on the establishment worked by X and Y, making full utilization of the 3DS's innovation. The Alola locale presents a scope of new animals with intriguing capacities and sorts, and in addition crisp tropical goes up against a couple of more established outlines.

Rec center fights and HMs, two gigantic staples of the Pokémon establishment, are dumped this time around. In the wake of playing through Sun and Moon, it is difficult to envision backpedaling to these mechanics after the Alola locale brilliantly prevails without them. The story and characters of Sun and Moon are drawing in, passionate, and energizing, and the puzzles of Ultra Beasts will keep players charmed after the underlying credits roll.

Nintendo

3) Generation 3

Before Sun and Moon's tropical interpretation of Pokémon, the Hoenn locale was known as the tropical heaven in the Pokémon world. Ruby and Sapphire made utilization of the GameBoy Advance to move Pokémon into another age, bringing an age loaded with unique, inventive animals. Pokémon music has never sounded superior to the brave horns and clearing synths that scored this enterprise, and the situations were essential increments to the Pokémon mythos.

Ruby and Sapphire aren't without their issues, however, surfing forward and backward around the globe can turn into a task, and there isn't much to do post-story outside of testing the Elite Four once more. Emerald Version included the Battle Frontier, a testing turn on focused Pokémon engaging, which gave much more to achieve in Hoenn.

Nintendo

2) Generation 2

Gold and Silver expected to demonstrate that Pokémon's prevalence wasn't only a fluke. These amusements presented the main cluster of new Pokémon outside the first 151, and they gradually crawled their way into promoting, the anime, and motion pictures. Yet rather than a retread of natural ground, Gold and Silver spun the equation into a more intricate, testing, and finish experience. New sorts adjusted the issues of Red and Blue, the day and night cycle included new system, and new mechanics made discovering Pokémon all the more energizing.

These titles likewise filled in as an immediate continuation of the first amusements, enabling players to return to Kanto and perceive how it changed since their first experience. The aftermath of Team Rocket's takedown and an unbelievable standoff with Red at the diversion's peak made the Johto area feel like a natural, populated place. The riddles of the amazing Pokémon matched with all the new highlights to find made this age a completely acknowledged extension of the Pokémon establishment, putting it down the correct way.

Nintendo

1) Generation 5

High contrast went for broke bringing players into another world where none of the animals they perceived were accessible. Fans lashed out about this decision, reprimanding the outlines of a few Generation 5 Pokémon, however with almost 150 new beasts to gather, the Unova area was populated with identity. High contrast included an enormous measure of new highlights, incorporating having Pokémon move in fight out of the blue. With the Pokédex sitting at just about 500 aggregate animals to gather, they stay as entire as a Pokémon bundle can get.

Unova's urban areas are as thick as any to date, and the story presented a few elegantly composed characters. At the point when Black 2 and White 2 hit a couple of years after the fact, they stretched out the story and secrets to influence this age to feel like a more full affair and included before Pokémon back in, adding up to a gigantic accessible choice. The multiplayer highlights were specifically incorporated into each feature of gameplay, effectively available with a touch of the DS's base screen Between the astounding first match of amusements and their enhanced spin-offs, Generation 5 offered an overpowering measure of substance to keep any Pokémon mentor occupied for a significant long time.

[eggoreviews]

13 Nintendo Direct Predictions! - 13.2.19

In case you haven't heard the exciting news, Nintendo is giving us a lovely 35ish minute direct tonight, which is all regarding viddy games for the Switch (I'm not crying over the 3DS you're crying) So below you will find my best attempt at picking out 11 predictions for this direct, all of which I've probably gotten wrong. Enjoy! Note: These are in no particular order, but I'm more confident about some over others. Also, Fire Emblem Amiibo Festival Three Houses news is absent here because we already have confirmation that's happening.

Luigi's Mansion 3 news

I think this one is almost a given, considering it's a title that we know is dropping in 2019 we know basically nothing about. Everyone wants to know what kind of direction the game will take this time around. Will the third in the series take the route of the first and have one big ol spooky mansion for Luigi to navigate? Or will it be a much more fast paced, moment-by-moment experience with multiple mansions to explore akin to Luigi's Mansion 2? Or hell, maybe they'll go down a whole new road with it, it really is all up in the air. All I'm sure of is that they'll be plenty of ghosts and also probably amiibo support. Weird request, but I'd love a King Boo amiibo. Animal Crossing news

Another (almost) given, Animal Crossing is a title we haven't even seen gameplay for yet. This means we've got arguably less of an idea of what kind of mechanics will return. But now the series is finally making its return to a powerful home console, it makes sense to take how the game itself plays into the next gen too. A popular request I've seen thrown about a bit is the ability to customise your town however you want, with the option to build literally anywhere you like. As a newcomer to the series, this would definitely draw me in, as I'm waiting for this title to experience AC for the first time. In any case, I'm sure Nintendo have cooked up a game with plenty of fishing, digging and also amiibo. Trailer for Bayonetta 3

One of my more risky picks, I think we're pretty likely to get our first proper glimpse of the Bayo threequel that isn't just a vague teaser. Whether this will kick off the direct or will be something they'll sneak in the middle, a tentative release date and a cheeky look at gameplay I feel are more likely than some may think. I think the basic rule is that if it's anything like 2, it's gonna be pretty darn brilliant. So watch this space, and if it isn't this direct, I'd expect it soon after. SNES for Switch Online

Another slightly risky pick considering Nintendo haven't confirmed any classic console support on Switch beyond NES, alongside the fact that they're still releasing NES games on the system, it could be that SNES is just that bit further away. But with the recent datamine leak listing 20+ games for SNES online that I feel to be credible enough to keep in mind, this could yet be something Nintendo surprises us with. And if it's true that'd be a little bit too exciting. As for the N64 Classic, I'm gonna go ahead and say we aren't getting that here. Or maybe not at all. Who knows at this point. NO Pokemon

Yep, you read right, this prediction is more of an anti-prediction, but I firmly believe that Pokemon will be entirely absent from this direct for a number of reasons. With this direct focused around Fire Emblem and seemingly other announced but yet to be detailed games, I feel that any games we don't know about yet will either get a small trailer or they'll be saved for something bigger, like E3. It's that and to be honest, I've just got a gut feeling that they're not quite ready to show off the new Pokemon just yet, Let's Go is still relatively new so I think Nintendo will let it simmer for a while longer and focus for the most part on games we already know about. But you know, we'll see. Super Mario Maker

Considering how well Mario Maker did as a whole on the Wii U and 3DS, and seeing how the business of Wii U ports is looking pretty spicy at the minute, I think either a Mario Maker enhanced port or even a sequel could be imminent. The versatility of the Switch would be perfect for a game like Mario Maker and I believe it makes a lot of sense for them to wait this long, as a game like Mario Maker would've very much undermined their recent port of New Super Mario Bros. U. It's either this or they'll have to think about Mario Golf Aces so I reckon they'll take this route. Pikmin

As the list of fairly current Nintendo IPs yet to be represented on the Switch grows ever shorter, fans seem to be turning their attention to the likes of Pikmin. Knowing that Pikmin 4 was finished a while back, but was unannounced as to what system it would appear on, makes a Pikmin 4 trailer pretty darn likely. However, if ResetEra leaker King Zell (who correctly leaked the date for this direct by the way) is to be believed, we could even be seeing a port of Pikmin 3 instead, although personally I find this a bit less likely, especially if 4 is already apparently finished. Zelda HD Port(s)

Continuing the theme of Wii U ports, Nintendo seemed to have wholly recognised that not many people actually owned a Wii U in the grand scheme of things and there's a heckton of people who are eager to play some of the games they may have missed on the last console. I certainly think this extends to the relatively recent HD remasters of Twilight Princess and Wind Waker, both of which I would basically swallow up if they were announced. While this isn't a certain pick, I'd say it's a fairly safe bet with the surprising amount of demand I've seen for this titles. In a really ideal world, this would be bundled alongside a brand new shiny HD remaster of Skyward Sword, but I guess we'll see. Oh, and going back to King Zell for a sec, he's said a new 2D Zelda is happening. As much as I'd love this to death, I'm also going to be saying that won't happen either. Smash Bros. Ultimate Joker Gameplay

Seeing how there's probably been a couple of dedicated months of development for Persona 5's Joker since he was announced at the 2018 Game Awards as the first DLC fighter, it's not outlandish to think that he might be at a stage that a gameplay showcase could be possible. Hell, maybe they'll even give us a rough release date for him, which would get me heckin excited bc I am V E R Y hyped to play as my best boi. Alongside this, a possible stage reveal or a music track list is gratefully very plausible. And although I could see yet another Smash reveal as unlikely but plausible, I think they'll get Joker done and dusted before they drop another one on us, but again, it's certainly not out of the question. Metroid Prime Trilogy

Here it is, the prediction I'm arguably most confident about. Since Prime 4 was halted this month, and the growing rumours around an imminent Prime Trilogy release refusing to go away, I reckon this direct is finally the time for a whole new generation to experience what brought Metroid into glorious 3D. As always, nothing's certain, but part of me would be unusually surprised if this gets skipped out on, especially since this direct is so close to the recent Prime 4 announcement and Nintendo will likely be looking for something to give to the Metroid fans to make them a little more patient. And, you know, to get everyone else excited too. DLC for Mario Odyssey/Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

As I've mentioned in previous posts, these two are basically DLC goldmines waiting to happen. And to e perfectly honest with you, I wouldn't be mad at all. New worlds to explore in Odyssey, perhaps even based on previous 3D Mario games, would definitely elicit some excitement, while the addition of even more tracks and characters to the already great MK8 would help to draw a bit more attention back to the launch titles that got the Switch its initial sale spike. And, you know, in a lovely dream world where BotW wasn't already announced as finished, there would be a DLC pack 3 for Zelda but I'll keep that locked in the hopeless dream box. Dragon Quest XI & Persona 5 for Switch

The latest installment in the long running, critically acclaimed Dragon Quest series has already been confirmed to be coming to the Switch at some point, with Switch exclusive content to boot, but we don't really have any indication when. This direct I believe is incredibly likely to finally deliver a release date. As well as this, Atlus' weird cryptic Persona trailer they released a little while back could very well point to a Switch port on the horizon and, even if it didn't, I still think it'll happen anyway. Especially now Joker's been Smash'd. And these are both must plays if you haven't had a chance to get hold of them yet!

Final Fantasy VII drops immediately after the direct

With the recent announcements of release dates for FFXII and X/X-2 for April this year, we’re still in the dark on when Square Enix plan to release VII and IX. Considering that FFVII has started appearing in Switch adverts, it feels like it’s getting close and I can definitely see them taking us by surprise and dropping this imminently.

Something Kingdom Hearts related?

For those who haven’t seen, Square Enix producer Shinji Hashimoto, co-creator of the Kingdom Hearts series and producer for several of the Final Fantasy games, retweeted the Nintendo Direct announcement TWICE. While this could just be a prelude to more Final Fantasy news, there’s a chance it could be something relating to Kingdom Hearts too. Reeling off the list of slight possibilities here, we could be seeing a 1.5. 2.5 and 2.8 port for the Switch, the announcement of a future Switch port for KHIII or, if we really want to dream big here, the reveal of Sora for Smash. But that won’t happen. So I’m trying to push down my hype as far as I can.

And that's all my predictions for tonight's direct! Want to see my personal wants for this direct? Check it out here and let me know what you think! Whatever happens, keep your expectations tempered to avoid disappointment, because I think we've all been guilty of getting a little too hyped at one point or another. But above all, I hope the game you want gets announced! Unless it's a new F-Zero, because that really isn't gonna happen. Sorry friend.

[minhthangcoi9993-blog]

Review Game Mario Tennis Aces

Never has a game console been more suited to tennis than the Nintendo Switch. Its portability makes it a great option for getting in a match or two on the go, and its motion control features allow even the least experienced players to get in on the action. Mario Tennis Aces, a game that manages to pack complex strategies and abilities behind its adorable mustached façade, is perfect for the console. That depth doesn’t extend to the variety of content in Mario Tennis Aces, however, as you can easily see all the game has to offer in a weekend.

SAVE YOUR FAMILY Mario Tennis Aces automatically launches into Adventure Mode, the story-heavy campaign that serves as an introduction to the game’s many shots, mechanics, and strategies. While Mario, Peach, Toad, and the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom’s heroes have been working on their serves and volleys, the dastardly Wario and Waluigi have managed to acquire a cursed tennis racket capable of giving its user unthinkable power.

Worse, the racket is prone to mind-controlling its users. Both Wario and Waluigi – along with the captured Luigi – are brought under its spell. Only with the five Power Stones scattered throughout the Kingdom of Bask can Mario defeat his nemeses and rescue his less-talented brother. Of course, he’ll have to defeat a number of bizarre tennis challenges along the way.

Unlike the role-playing story modes in older Mario Tennis titles, the Adventure Mode in Mario Tennis Aces doesn’t offer much player choice. You’re shuttled from one challenge to the next, and except for a few optional challenge stages, the path is completely linear. That isn’t a bad thing if you’re accustomed to the storytelling style of recent Mario platformers, but it does limit variety. There’s no surprises here.

What Adventure Mode does do is provide you with a solid tutorial for the moment-to-moment tennis action you’ll see in all other modes. Beginning with simple, quick matches against lowly opponents, Mario eventually faces off against bosses that make use of special abilities like teleporting mirrors or cannon blasts.

These may seem like silly gimmicks to change up the basic tennis formula, but as you learn to deflect super-powered shots and place your own shots in the corners of the court, you’ll be gearing up to face off against live players without even realizing it. You’ll discover how to make use of the trick lob and drop shots, when to fire off a high-speed “zone shot” or “star shot,” and when to lay it all on the line with a devastating “special shot.”

Play more 60 Second Burger Run

3D Penalty

Despite a few moments of frustration with later challenges and bosses, Adventure Mode is a blast to play, and the writing is consistently funny. A few baddies get some jabs in at Mario’s mustache, though he remains unfazed in his traditional heroic manner, and underappreciated cast members are given time in the spotlight. Petey Piranha deserves to be a star.

Unfortunately, Adventure Mode isn’t something you’ll keep coming back to for several sittings. It can be completed in just a few hours, and it’s clearly intended to be an introductory mode rather than the main attraction. That honor goes to multiplayer, which sees Mario Tennis Aces at its most thrilling.

PROVE YOURSELF You can compete with up to three other players locally, and face off online against players who’ve mastered every shot and tactic you have, and oftentimes have figured out maneuvers you didn’t even know were possible. From curving serves out of your reach to launching lightning-fast spikes, your opponents will keep you on your toes, and Nintendo’s matching system does a good job of pairing you against similarly skilled players. We encountered a few connection issues during our time with the online tournament mode, but changing a few Wi-Fi settings on our end seemed to fix the problem, and games stopped dropping like they did in the pre-release online beta.

With 16 characters to choose from right now, and three more coming over the next few months, you have plenty of options and play-styles at your disposal. “Tricky” characters like Boo and Rosalina can make jittery players crazy with their hard-to-reach slices, while the “defensive” Waluigi can return shots from nearly anywhere on the court. Discovering your favorite style by trying out all of them is part of the fun, and we saw players succeed with nearly everyone on the roster, including jack-of-all-trades characters like Mario and Daisy.

Mario Tennis Aces delivers a solid game of tennis underneath its playful experience. From placing your shots to returning difficult serves, you feel like you’re in complete control of your racket and the ball, and you can even learn to block the most powerful special shots after a little practice. Managing to place a drop shot in the perfect spot feels incredible, as does punishing another player for prematurely moving to one corner of the court before you slap a slice right behind their back. In the “simple” game type, you can experience a match with nearly all special and magic abilities removed. It’s a nice diversion, and forces players to locate their shots more carefully, but you’ll want to go back to the wackier standard option before too long.

For those who might not be comfortable with traditional controls – or those who simply loved the tennis mode in Wii Sports – Mario Tennis Aces offers the motion-controlled “Swing Mode.” With a single Joy-Con controller you can play tennis much like you would in real-life, swinging the racket to the left and right to send shots flying back to your opponent. Swing at the wrong time and you risk hitting a shot out of bounds, but mastering the mode is far easier than anything else in Mario Tennis Aces. Movement is handled automatically, though you can use the analog stick if you prefer, and it’s a worthwhile choice if you’re having a party and want to get everyone involved.

OUR TAKE What’s included in Mario Tennis Aces makes the game a great choice for Mario and tennis fans alike, and we can see dedicated players competing in high-level player over the next few months, but we wish there was more meat. Unless you plan on becoming really good at online player, or constantly have visitors at your home, you’ll be limited to only a few modes, none of which are likely to keep you entertained for more than an hour or so at a time. For a commute, or something to play before work or bed, it does the job — but don’t expect it to keep your attention throughout the summer.

Is there a better alternative? No. Tennis games aren’t common on any console, and Mario Tennis Aces is the best tennis game you’ll find on Switch.

How long will it last? Adventure Mode will last about three hours. Other modes can last for much longer, but only if you’re interested in improving your skills through competitive online play.

Should you buy it? Yes. Despite the lack of length, Mario Tennis Aces delivers a fun, difficult, flashy take on virtual tennis, and its competitive mode can lead to nail-biting moments.

[gamerspasm]

My 2016 in Games

It’s that time of year again. Time for me to look back on all the games I’ve played in the last 12 months and review them for no other reason than it’s the end of the year. Honestly, last year took a while to write up, but I’ve been looking forward to this since January. Obviously, like 2015, this is a mishmash of different games, both old and new, and ONLY games I haven’t played before. What’s more, these are games I have at the very least beaten. So let’s get right to it:

Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice (3DS)

I’m a massive fan of the Ace Attorney series, and it feels like it’s been ages since the last one. Realistically it’s only been 3 years. Like most of the games before it, Spirit of Justice does what it can to balance the classic gameplay everyone loves with new elements that help to keep the series fresh. Here, it’s the divination seance, adding literally the last moments of the victim’s life to the testimony. It’s a nice addition, offering a lot to consider, but given how previous additions make a return also, it does feel a little clustered when they try and cram them all in. Still the cases are a lot of fun. Typical Ace Attorney, with plenty of twists and turns along the way. One thing I did find irksome though was I felt some cases could have been expanded upon more in order to make the shocking reveals all the more impressive. There were a few “plot twists” that fell rather flat, basically. Plus, despite the inclusion of colourful characters, most of the time defendants are people we already know, which can lead to the stories feeling stagnant. The music is great as always and the overall look does the job. All in all it’s great, but, personally speaking, not the strongest entry in the franchise. The finales are always big in these games, but this one just doesn’t seem to have the same gravitas. That said, it does have one of the most emotional and heart-wrenching moments in the series’ history, but I dare not spoil it here. You’ll have to play the game yourself. 8/10

Another World 20th anniversary  (Wii U - eShop)

This game has been sitting on my Wii U for a while now, but I finally got around to playing it this year. I never played the original, but even so I do have a soft spot for these types of puzzle/action platformers; especially those that came out during the SNES era. Graphically the game isn’t brilliant, even when updated, but it’s kind of cool that you can switch back and forth between the old and new on the fly. Sound-wise there’s absolutely nothing memorable here, which is a shame, but there’s a surprising amount of humour. I don’t know why, but all the death animations and cutscenes just made me laugh. I think it was the abruptness of them. Speaking of, the near instantaneous respawn makes failure less painful to endure, but dying can still be frustrating. For example, the game is programmed to only save progress if the player has accomplished the tasks before it in the right order. However, because the solutions to some of the puzzles aren’t very clear, it can lead to massive set backs, where the player is catapulted seemingly half the game backwards. It can be quite annoying. That, teamed with the terrible controller response time - something that seemingly feels neglected during the update - makes failure almost inevitable in some instances; and with a lot of reaction based combat being sprinkled in, it can drain the fun. Overall, the game is average. Nothing I’d write home about and it is a little short, but it’s fine. 6/10

Bayonetta 2 (Wii U)

I really enjoy Platinum Games’ stuff. No matter what they make their content is almost always unanimously fun. Bayonetta was no exception, and it’s sequel continues the trend. Going in, this game had a lot of praise. There was a lot of love for it, with many holding it up as one of the best on the system. Would I agree? Yes and no. Graphically the game is bright, colourful and lush, and the soundtrack is brilliant once more, but I couldn’t help feeling, especially in the early stages, that Bayo 2 was just a retread of the original. Story structure and level layout is very similar and there was very little new. Not that that’s a bad thing, but I guess I expected more. The plot at first is also a little sporadic and difficult to keep up with, so that didn’t help. By the end though, not only is the story proven to be really well done and thought out, but the game finally has a lot more to offer than what was previously there. Aesthetics are a little disjointed however. Whilst enemy design is magnificent and always interesting to look at, location design is often bland and boring. Even Hell, which is usually a goldmine of imagery, looks standard and uninteresting. Then of course there’s Bayonetta herself, who again seems to be mostly eye-candy for the male gaze. That does die down again, like it did in the first game, but somewhat much further along. It’s a shame really as I do think Bayonetta is actually a good character. She’s a badass who takes charge and doesn’t give a crap about what anyone else thinks. Plus she has a sensitive side beneath the bravado. I’d like to see more of this, not just the sex appeal. Ah well, I still had a blast with it, despite my own personal drawbacks. 8/10

Box Boy (3DS)

To be clear I started playing this last year, when it came out, but I only got around to beating it this year. Box Boy is a delightful and cute puzzle platformer that has all the charm and love you’d expect to find in a Nintendo game. The design is brilliantly simple but its surprising just how complex these puzzles can get from it. Each world has its own theme, with gimmicks and traps getting steadily harder as you progress, and there’s a challenge element there too. You can beat the stage using as many boxes as you want, but if you’re ruthlessly efficient you can earn the crowns. These don’t really do much outside of earn you more cash at the end of a stage, but some are really devilish to get so bragging rights are to be had too. Music, much like its appearance, is rather underplayed and standard, which is a shame, but I guess it’s forgivable. The reason why this game took me until this year to beat however, comes down to the secret stages after you clear the story. These worlds are no joke, compiling everything in the game up to that point into one gauntlet of puzzles; many of which make you feel like you’ve cheated when you beat them. It’s really interesting to see how complicated these simple mechanics can become, but the difficulty serge may put a lot of players off for a time. That includes me. 8/10

Castlevania (Circle of the Moon) (GBA - Wii U Virtual Console) 

Fun story. When I was first getting a Game Boy Advance, I couldn’t decide which launch game to get with it. F-Zero Maximum Velocity or this. This was before I had ever played a Castlevania game, and so I ended up going with F-Zero; but looking back, I think this would have been a better fit for me at the time. As Castlevania games go though, and having played plenty now, it’s a little rough. This was very clearly the starting point for some of the later GBA and DS titles. Never the less, it’s a lot of fun. Graphics are gorgeous for its time, gameplay is mostly intuitive, and the soundtrack has its moments. Difficulty’s a bit cruel, mind, and there were some bizarre decisions made regarding design. Why is walking even an option? Why do I have to get a power-up in order to run, and even then, why do I have to double tap a direction to use it? These set backs make the game needlessly finicky at times, and the alternative isn’t so great when the game has an excruciatingly slow walk speed. For what is supposed to be a fast paced action game, you can see why this can be an issue. Then of course there’s the endgame structure. No real spoilers, but having a final boss that can kill you in one hit isn’t hard, it’s cheap; and having to grind for a stupidly long time in order to beat said boss is also poor design. Even so, I had a good time with the rest of it. 7/10

Chibi Robo Zip Lash (3DS)

Being a Nintendo fan is sometimes less fun than expected. With a company that has so many beloved franchises you’d think they’d use them properly. Well turns out, no, actually. Instead Nintendo has been taking some of its IPs and experimenting. Nintendo have been doing this so much recently, I’ve decided to coin a term for it: Genre-flipping. Chibi Robo Zip Lash is one example of this. Chibi Robo is a time management series, with fun visuals and an adorable character. Chibi Robo Zip Lash is not a time management game and nor are the visuals that fun. At least they got the character right. I’m not truly sure where to start. Visually, it’s bland, with environments being seemingly made out of lego bricks, and the soundtrack is absolutely forgettable. From a design standpoint, taking Chibi’s mechanics into consideration, it’s a little fun, but ultimately nothing special. It’s all rather by-the-numbers. There are a few collectables here and there, along with some bonus medals that do absolutely nothing. Of everything though, the most bizarre thing about this game is its wheel-of-fortune way of progressing. At the end of each stage you spin a wheel that tells you how many stages you advance through. Essentially it runs like a board game, with one path doing a circular from numbers 1 through 6 and then again. My question is: why? Beyond being pointless, it’s also annoying. You, the player, don’t get free movement of a world until you beat every level, and because you have to essentially roll a dice to decide which level you go to, you could end up doing laps of the world just to get to the level you need to play. Oh and FYI you need to clear the level again in order to roll again. Fun. Eventually, I learned a trick that guaranteed that I would play each level consecutively after the other, but again, that just hits home how pointless the gimmick is. The only explanation I have is that very early on this game was going to be a free to play game, only they changed their minds at some point and went to retail. The final boss is also dumb, asking the player to essentially buy the final level (if this WAS free to play, you know it would have been locked behind a pay wall). Still, it comes with a Chibi Robo Amiibo. So that’s nice. 5/10

Dante's Inferno (X360)

What’s that? A game that was no where near my back log and practically forgotten? Sure, why not, chuck it on. This year I’ve kinda had a thing for all things Hell related. I just find interpretations of it fascinating. That’s what led to me playing this. Graphically it’s a little dated now, but not hard to look at, and the music is actually quite impressive. Mostly its just choir and eerie instruments, but it’s Hell, what did you expect it to sound like. Mechanically it doesn’t really do anything special though. It’s about as standard a hack-n-slash as you can get - borrowing elements from games like God of War and such. That’s not really a bad thing, as the game plays fine, it just gets a little repetitive as you go. Furthermore, the difference in difficulty is too vast. On easy, enemies die in seconds, but in normal, you’re hacking away for ages. I never even bothered wasting my time on hard. Personally however, the thing I loved the most about this game was the design from an aesthetic standpoint. Each circle of hell is given a different theme that is faithful to its source material, and I often found myself just stopping to take in my environment. I wish the levels were longer to be honest, but at least everything keeps moving, unlike Castlevania: LoS last year with the intrusive results screen at the end of each “stage”. What I also like is how the game ties the levels of hell into the story of our hero. It’s not exactly an original plot, but it was interesting how Dante had committed sins worthy of each circle, and that every descent brought him closer to redemption. It’s certainly a nice adaptation, and the game ends on a never to be realised “to be continued” but it doesn’t need a sequel. it’s fine as it is. 7/10

Destiny (PS4)

There are certain genres I have no interest in getting involved with for whatever reason. MMO is one of them. Multiplayer games just don’t grab me as much as single players do, so generally, I don’t bother with them. So, when Destiny was released, I couldn’t care less. That coupled with the infamous lack of content didn’t really spur me into buying it, but when the taken king DLC pack came out I decided to give it a go. As stated, I’m not really an MMO gamer (shooter or otherwise), so I’m very aware there are probably much better games in this field, but I have to admit I kind of like it. It looks stunning, if a little too spacious, and there’s always something to do, even playing in single player. By far the most fun I had was playing with others though, time that led to some genuinely memorable moments. Enemy design is interesting, albeit unoriginal (the Fallen are essentially the Covenant from halo - like for like). Bizarrely, it’s the small stuff that makes this game good to me. All the big stuff where the budget clearly went (i.e. voice talent) doesn’t add all that much. What did shock me though, was when the Taken King story began. Not only was it a better campaign to play through than what had come before it, but it also highlighted just how bare bones the original title was at launch. This also goes into another matter of constantly re-releasing the game with brand new bells and whistles every 6 months - something I have no time for - but I digress. If you haven’t played it yet and you have a couple of buddies online too, give it a whirl. Nothing ground breaking, but enjoyable enough. 8/10

Doom (XBO)

Last year I wrote about Halo 4, and I talked about how it was the game that pretty much ended my affair with First Person Shooters. Realistically that hasn’t changed; I’m still not a massive fan of FPS games, but Doom got my attention. There was a lot concerning me about this game. No pre-release reviews (which is never really a good sign) and a lot of the gameplay footage resembled every other FPS game out there, so I was a little split on picking it up. Still, I gave it a whirl and I have to say this game is an absolute breath of fresh air. Action is thick and fast; locales are always different; and set pieces are easily distinguishable. Even the story, which you’d expect to be quite weak, is engaging. The ultimate word I would use though is fun. This game is a blast play. The character of the Doom Guy is so enjoyable to play as you can’t help grinning from ear to ear as you mow down the hordes of hell’s army. Which reminds me, enemy design is not only unique but also faithful. I’ve never played a Doom game before this one, but looking at the older games and seeing how the designers remained true to the originals I can see how much this game is a labour of love. The soundtrack is brutal and raw; not exactly something I would stick on my MP3 player, but enough to get the blood pumping, and there is a surprising amount of content. I think what makes Doom so enjoyable though is that it knows what it is. It’s a video game. It’s not focused on keeping things realistic. It’s all about carrying an arsenal on your back, destroying demons in endlessly satisfying ways, and finding little mini figurines, secrets and references. A surprise hit for more than just me, Doom may be one of the best 2016 had to offer. 9/10

FAST Racing Neo (Wii U - eShop)  

FAST Racing Neo is a game that got a lot of hype, both before and after launch. It was easy to see why. Not only did the game look truly outstanding, but to many, it was the worthy successor to F-Zero that they were craving. Unfortunately it’s anything but. This is not F-Zero. It may look like F-Zero. It may sound like F-Zero. Hell, it may even want to be F-Zero, but it’s not. So what’s wrong with it? Simple: mechanics and design. There are some good ideas here, but an hour of testing should have told them they were going the wrong way about them. Changing colours to suit the boost pads is nice, but said boost pads are few and far between. Not to mention how truly difficult it can be to drive at such speeds. Turning or adjusting course is just straight up stressful when it’s this unreliable. This leads me on to the next problem, the difficulty itself. It’s way too hard for the earlier difficulties. It just throws you in the deep end. Refreshing as it may be, it’s certainly not welcome. It can lead to genuine frustration, and can make the player feel as though the game is unfair. This tied in with easily the biggest issue of them all: the boost pellets. Scattered about each course are small pellets that fill up your boost meter which can ultimately turn the tide. Again, nice idea, and on paper there’s nothing wrong; but when these pellets are incredibly tiny and laid out in tricky positions you can see where the issues come from. Not to mention the speed your travelling. Yes, I know it’s *FAST* Racing Neo, what did I expect, but the game has to accompany that speed. Fast is great, feeling like everything is based on luck with a near vertical learning curve, isn’t. 5/10

Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)

Fire Emblem is without a doubt one of my top 5 favourite gaming franchises, so you’d think it strange that I’ve not really played it in about three years. Maybe even longer. Thing is, Fire Emblem is a series that deserves respect. No distractions and no commitments. Just you and the game. So, earlier this year, when all my distractions and prior commitments were dealt with, I decided to finally play what many consider to be one of the best. It’s hard to disagree. As a Fire Emblem veteran, Awakening is probably the most refined of the series thus far (I haven’t played Fates yet). It’s simplified for newcomers, whilst maintaining the difficulty, and it introduces a lot of value to the support system, leading to some great battles. It also introduces the quick reset function for the purists. The characters are brilliantly likeable, and with the ability to play previous maps again and again, it allows you to get the most of the team mates you don’t typically use. The inclusion of an Avatar is a welcome change too, as is the chance to get specific special characters as a reward for gaining S rank support. The music is also wonderful. If I had any downsides it would be that it is overall quite easy by comparison to other Fire Emblem games, with only a handful of levels proving any challenge; allied AI is almost intentionally crap, with CPU villagers running headlong into enemy fire; and the story is a little disjointed - it feels more like three different stories, with one thread running weakly through them. These problems don’t really effect the overall experience however, and as always I walked away absolutely satisfied. An absolute gem. 9/10

Hyrule Warriors (Wii U)

There are hack-n-slash games and there are hack-n-slash games. Some play out a narrative or story that requires you to take out a number of enemies to progress, whilst others set an objective and ask you to mow down hundreds of thousands of foes to see it through. Hyrule Warriors falls in the latter category. Coming from the same studio behind the cult-hit Dynasty Warriors series, the game is a collection of levels and maps with a set task and just hordes of enemies between you and it. I’ve never played the Dynasty series, nor have I had any inclination towards this vein of hack-n-slash, but I have to say the experience was extremely enjoyable. In many ways, tackling army after army is cathartic and in the simplest of ways plays into a person’s deep desire for destruction. Want to feel godly? Play one of these games. Surprisingly though, there is a hell of a lot more on offer than you’d think. There are challenges and bonus tasks to each main stage, plus rewards for playing the stages in unorthadox ways, and that’s just the main game quest. There is an absolute boat load of content outside of that, with practically over a hundred levels and challenges, all of which encourage you to play the game to the fullest. Play as various characters, upgrade in various ways, grind, farm, there’s so much to do in fact that any attempt to 100% would be enough to drive you out of your mind. You’re looking at 200 hours, easy. As a result, there’ll come a point when you just stop. Not that the game gets bad, or gets stagnant, but that the way forward just gets too trying. I might jump back into it one day to relive the same joys, especially since they’re releasing DLC, but until then, I think a breather wouldn’t go amiss. Oh and the soundtrack is flawless. 8/10 

Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush (Wii U)

If there’s one thing I hate, it’s gimmick games. No, not games with gimmicks in them, but rather games built around gimmicks. The DS suffered from an influx of these at the start of its life, with every title shoehorning needless touch screen elements into their games, but thankfully they started to die out. Nothing stays dead for long, it seems. Enter Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush, a follow up of sorts to the DS’ Kirby’s Canvas Curse. Let’s get the good out of the way first. Straight off the bat, this game looks gorgeous. The clay motif is wonderful to look at, and the lighting really makes the colours pop. Soundtrack-wise it’s nothing exceptional, but there are some good songs in there, along with some classics from the previous Kirby games. And that’s it. There is nothing else this game has to offer. Look at screen shots and listen to the soundtrack online; you do not need to play this game. Why? How about the game being 100% touch screen controlled. Buttons do nothing, and so you the player must scribble the life out of the Gamepad in order to do anything. I’ll try and convey how atrocious the controls are. For a start, once Kirby starts moving, he doesn’t stop. So he will just keep rolling about until you direct him otherwise. This leads the player into a wrestling match to keep the little bugger from wandering off. Then, in order to turn Kirby around, you “simply” draw a wall in his path. Except if your wall is drawn upwards and not perfectly vertical, Kirby will mount it and roll up it instead. Then there’s the limit to the rainbow rope. I get it, I know why there’s a limit, but once you draw a line, there’s no way to make it go away without using MORE rainbow rope! This can lead to the groundless levels being painfully frustrating, and even the standard levels aren’t much better. You can’t truly relax, you’re just always in a constant state of rage. You can forget collecting everything too. Not only is Kirby a pest to control in order to get all collectable items anyway, but many collectables are hidden in mini game rooms. These rooms are not fun. They give you 15 seconds to figure out what you need to do AND get Kirby to play along for a change. The number of times I came so close, only to be thrown out. It’s a joke. So yeah, bad, BAD, game with only a few - and I mean a few - moments of enjoyment. It’s only marginally more playable in multiplayer, but even then its just a game of babysitting that nonce, Kirby. 4/10

Kirby Triple Deluxe (3DS) 

I actually don’t hate Kirby games. I mean, they’re not masterpieces, not by a long way, but they seem to get the right things down. Most of the time. By and large Kirby games are fun, if a little easy, but fun all the same. Triple Deluxe is just that, fun. I kinda don’t know what else to say about it really. Graphically it looks good - with some great character animations - and the music is, again, okay but nothing truly spectacular. It was good to play Kirby as he was meant to be played. Even if it wasn’t that hard, there was still a lot of enjoyment to be had. It’s classic Kirby gameplay with a slight 3 dimensional twist. If I had any negatives it’d probably be the ending, which I do feel goes on overly long with boss fight after boss fight after boss fight. Some would say it makes the finale all the more impressive and epic, but, to me, there’s only so epic a Kirby game can get before it outstays its welcome. It’s more of a personal reason, I know. Overall a quaint and charming game, which is certainly more relaxing than a certain other Kirby game I played this year. 7/10

Legend of Zelda: Picross (3DS - eShop)

After my frankly unhealthy addiction to picross at the end of last year, I’ll take any excuse to get back into it. So when Nintendo went ahead and released a Zelda version (essentially for free to My Nintendo users) you better believe I snapped it up. What can I say, it’s picross. It’s the same simple, enjoyable, and addictive puzzling its always been, only now you’re drawing Zelda things. For what is a cheap pick-up-n-play title, there’s actually a fair amount to get through, along with a new mode if you succeed at beating the main challenges. That being said, this “new mode”, otherwise known as Mega Picross, isn’t actually that great. Besides being needlessly complex and confusingly explained, you’re solving the same puzzles as before, only everything is convoluted and frustrating. All in all though, it gave me the perfect picross fix. Just don’t expect it to hold you for longer than a weekend. 7/10

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD (Wii U)

Nostalgia can be a difficult thing to get past. Case in point, Twilight Princess; a game I felt was truly a flawless game the last time I played it on the Wii. Playing the HD update however, I’m not sure I can say that anymore. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a fantastic game, with great structure, dungeon layout, mechanics, graphics and soundtrack. Furthermore, it isn’t *worse* because it’s a HD remaster, its more or less the same - with slight improvements and detriments. It’s more that, playing over it again and doing everything I could to 100% it, I found a lot of the game more frustrating than the last time I played it. Certain side quests that were ultimately poorly designed. For example - having to manually trek back to the beginning of a quest if you fail it rather than just being transported, is a pain. I even rage quit at one time because it was so infuriating. There were even parts of the main quest that I felt were needlessly elongated. I know they were for story purposes, but when you’re having to travel back and forth to the same points over and over again, it can be a bother. In terms of what’s new in this version, much like the Windwaker HD, it’s mostly small items that don’t shake the foundations, but they certainly can be a big help. I also felt some of the collect quests were made a little easier, but I can’t be too sure about that. Of all my problems with this game though, my biggest comes down to the controller mapping. It’s not unplayable, but, just rather bizarre. The way certain buttons are mapped is a little backwards in my opinion, with some buttons literally not being used at all. It just feels odd that in the process of making the game slick and smooth on all fronts (gameplay included) they would seemingly botch this area up. Ah well, the game is still great, and one of the best in the series; even if my eyes have been opened to   its shortcomings somewhat. 8/10

Liberation Maiden (3DS - eShop)

Japan is an odd place. There are some games that struggle to get a western release despite a built in audience abroad, whilst there are others that get released without any real problem. In the latter zone we have liberation maiden, one of a compilation that was released digitally outside of Japan by Level-5. Why do I emphasise Japan so much here? Well, because if I had to describe this game in one word I would say: Japan. It’s everything you would expect from a Japanese title. You are the princess of a space colony that is tasked with stopping the evil metal aliens from polluting the planet by using a giant, meta-morphing battlebot. See what I mean. If you take out the (questionable) english voice acting, this game practically screams “Japan”. But lets move off that shall we. Graphically, this game doesn’t look all that good, and the soundtrack is...well...it’s hard to say. Most of the time the music is really quiet and you can’t hear it over the sounds of explosions. As for the gameplay itself, it’s a little stiff, and it’s all rather confusing. I spent a little too long waiting for the game to grab me, and even then it never did. I found the combat to be rather bland, and the levels to be quite repetitive. That’s not too bad though, considering realistically you can beat the game in a single sitting. Generally, it was a decent way to kill an afternoon, but ultimately, its about as standard as it gets. 6/10

Limbo (PS3)

Limbo has been one of those games that I’ve watched from the sidelines. A lot of people praise it, it’s earned a lot of respect in the indie community, but it’s never really shot to the top of my to-play list. That was until the developer released “Inside” earlier this year to the same critical acclaim. Right off the bat, Limbo makes you feel like it’s a game with more style than substance, but as you play you get given more in-depth challenges with more dangerous obstacles. By and large its a puzzle game, but each brain teaser keeps you on your toes and forces you to think differently using the game’s design and logic to win the day. Visually its impressive. The dark tones create a brilliant atmosphere, as does the eerie soundtrack. It’s also a game with little to no frustration. If you fail a puzzle, you die; but you respawn so quickly, that the whole trial and error prospect doesn’t seem too bad. Honestly I wish more games did this. It’s a little on the short side, pretty much beatable in two sittings, but it’s just about the right amount of enjoyment. Like a French Fancy cake. 9/10

Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam Bros (3DS)

In spite of the fanbase, I actually like the recent run Mario and Luigi games. I mean, of course the original DS trilogy is better, but these are hardily trash. Hell, I actually think Paper Jam Bros gets the series staples bang on. It has refined and purified all prior game problems to create an experience that is efficient in its execution, and one that never asks too much from the player involved. With that said, it is strange then that this game is not the series best. I can’t really describe it, but it just feels as though this game is missing somewhat of a soul. Don’t get me wrong, the music is great again; it’s visually interesting; the battles are really clever and can be quite strategic; the writing and humour is some of the series’ best; and the overall gameplay is fun. But it’s something beneath it all. There’s no grandness to the adventure. No point or reason to having it. It just feels like an idea that, whilst done well, didn’t really have the weight to go anywhere. Structurally it’s not terrific either, with the game bouncing back and forth between the main adventure and mini-games. The mini-games do offer a nice distraction, but they aren’t really paced properly, which can make them feel completely out of place more than once. And if they aren’t thrown in at random occasions, they’re predictable. It all feels by the numbers really. The game is great, and in no way do I regret playing it; but it just doesn’t have the same quality and heart as previous entries. 8/10

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (PS4) 

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first: Shadow of Mordor doesn’t have an original bone in its body. Realistically, this isn’t a bad thing. It has the free roaming and wall climbing mechanics of Assassin’s creed, whilst also bringing in the combat and stealth segments of the Arkham games. In many ways, it delivers on the best of both worlds - albeit in a little clunky fashion. I did like the “power system” though, a near limitless roster of ranked orcs that you can take out, sometimes more than once, and the overall interface was quite intuitive. Graphically it looked great too, and the background music was atmospheric and cinematic right when it needed to be. The story too is quite interesting, offering not just an adaption of the events preceding the Lord of the Rings, but also an enormous amount of lore to get stuck into. Not to mention the side quests and bonus content available if you’re willing to put in the time. Sadly, in spite of all it’s good qualities, and there are a lot, the fact that there isn’t really anything that makes this game stand out from the crowd can lead people to just shrug it off. The final boss is also incredibly anti-climactic - unless of course you pay for the DLC which gives you a “better” send off. Typical WB; what are games for if you can’t make money off of them, amiright? 8/10

Overwatch (XBO)

I’m repeating myself. Multiplayer focused games just aren’t my thing. I can appreciate the design, and I can love the overall experience, but the games just do not have the power to hold me for longer than a week. With that in mind, Overwatch is incredibly enjoyable, with a few minor drawbacks. The cartoony style looks lush and interesting, and the characters are all beautifully realised and unique. The maps are quick and frantic, leading to some genuine fun and epic moments. It’s not all smiles and celebrations though. Naturally there are some pros out there who can play this game blindfolded, which in turn can make some matches incredibly one sided, and when there’s a heavy emphasis on teamwork, having that one teammate that does nothing, or even having a smaller team than the opposition, can make things un-fun very quickly. Fortunately, there is an option to play against CPUs, but these matches do not give out the same rewards to playing against real people. The rewards themselves are also meagre. They’re random, can be duplicated, and half the time they’re locked behind micro-transactions. You’re essentially gambling to get worthwhile skins and other cosmetics. Beyond all of this, there isn’t much the game offers, but I will say that when you’re playing with friends, it is a lot of fun. Definitely for its competitive audience, but that doesn’t necessarily include me. 8/10

Pokken Tournament (Wii U)

I feel I should point this out now. This game’s score is attributed exclusively to the gameplay. By that I mean the fighting. Whether its between you and a friend or the computer, it’s fun. Combat is surprisingly in depth, offering a lot to fighting fans, and the graphics are spectacular. Plus there are plenty of characters to choose from, so you can tell this had some effort and thought put into it. As for everything else though, it’s a little bare bones, and frankly tedious. For starters, all you can do is fight; and you fight a lot. There is literally nothing else this game has to offer. There is a story that pans out as you play through the game’s “league mode” (essentially a ranked arcade mode) but beyond that all you can do is fight. Over and over again. The way the league matches are organised is incredibly repetitive and asks for a lot of patience out of the player. As a comparison, imagine being asked to play street fighter’s arcade mode upwards of 8 times just to advance to the next bit. Sounds like a slog doesn’t it? Furthermore, the menus are intrusive and, as a result, make the player less inclined to change their fighter during the main modes - given that you have to pick a default fighter from the start that can only be changed by going to the main menu itself. Finally, the voice acting; oh god the voice acting. Not only is it obnoxious coming from your “guide” character - who will not shut up unless you switch her off - but it is also woefully bad. Delivery is a farce with lines and emphasis not matching up, and the general dialogue sounds like it was written by a 5 year old with no idea what pronouns are. Still, the gameplay is good. 7/10

Rhythm Paradise Megamix (3DS)

I’ve never played a Rhythm Paradise game before, and really, I didn’t exactly want to. They looked like fun, but when they were being packaged and retailed at the same price as other, far more in-depth games, I couldn’t bring myself to get into them. When Nintendo announced they were going to be releasing what is essentially a collection of the entire series up to now though, well that was a different story. Honestly, I’m kinda glad I skipped the series before now, as I can experience the greatness of the franchise in all its glory all at once. I’ve got to say, RPM is an absolute blast. Brimming with life, colour, and most importantly, rhythm, the game is almost impossible to put down. It’s highly addictive and more fun than you might think. Plus there’s actually a lot of content to get through, with challenges, highscores, and unlockables. The best thing going though is the soundtrack. Every stage has a completely original song made just for it, and each one is wonderful to listen to. I often found myself playing through the same levels over and over again just for the hell of it. If I had any draw backs, I’d have to say its more what they could have done, or should have done, but didn’t. For example, the perfect campaign, the ability to earn rewards by clearing a level without missing a single note, shouldn’t even exist; Three goes and then it kicks you out? Why? Why not instead just have it always on the level and then if you fail it doesn’t stop the song and boot you? Also sometimes the margin for error varies too much and occasionally button presses aren’t recognised on some of the faster games. Finally, why is there no randomizer option, or playlist function? These seem like no brainers to me, as the game is already the perfect down-time game. Ah well, the game is still a lot of fun, and I think I’ll be humming its beats until the day I die. BA BOM BOM BOM! 8/10

Rise of the Tomb Raider (XBO)

Tomb Raider’s latest reboot was a brilliant surprise last year, so I couldn’t wait to dig into this one. Right away, it certainly ups the ante. The game plays a lot smoother and the newer mechanics give depth and strategy to the overall experience. Lara’s character is irresistibly good, and still retains a lot of her strengths from the last game, but the good news is, they’re actually taken further here. The developers could have easily carted out the same old Lara, but it’s good to see they really care about her as a character. Now, Lara’s much more tenacious without being over-confident. She’s vulnerable, but resourceful; and she’s formidable but not impervious. The way she develops as she goes ties into the game’s title really well; this is Lara truly becoming the Tomb Raider we want her to be. Stealth elements are beyond intuitive. Everything flows without coming to a standstill and it’s all incredibly simple. Crafting items like bombs and Molotov cocktails in the midst of battle can also shake things up, and the layout and design compliment these elements perfectly. Everything is laid out so well that, if you play your cards right, you can take down an entire platoon of enemies without them even seeing you in a matter of seconds. In terms of content, there’s a lot to do and find, and the interface is so useful that the path to 100% is rather straightforward. Negatives? It does feel a little shorter than its predecessor, although I don’t know if that’s because the individual areas are a lot bigger or not. I don’t know. Honestly, I really struggle to find fault with this game. It was a lot of fun to play, and on top of that, it’s incredibly well made. 9/10

Shantae (GBC - 3DS Virtual Console)

After playing and loving Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse last year, I thought I’d go right back to the beginning with the Gameboy Colour original. And how was it? Well...let’s just say it’s certainly come a long way. Oh the game is good. It’s a lot of fun, with a startling amount of content for a Gameboy Colour title, but it is a little rough around the edges. Not only is a lot of the game not really laid out for you (forcing you to question whether or not you’re going the right way) but it’s also unspeakably difficult. Like, immediately this game pulls no punches at all. From the get-go it’s hard, with enemies doing a hell of a lot of damage, and Shantae herself being unable to hit them without getting really close. Not only that but there are insta-death zones everywhere, and also there’s a day and night feature which rotates every 5 minutes. How is that bad? Well enemies take twice as long to kill and do twice as much damage at night. This can make a lot of areas unplayable in the dark in the earlier stages, and as the game is designed in a metroid-type way, there’s a lot of back tracking involved, so you’ll be passing through the same areas a lot. Finding the warp squids makes travel less cumbersome, mind, but even so it doesn’t make exploring the wilderness any easier; a lot of the game’s secrets frankly require a strategy guide. By the end though, despite the unforgiving difficulty, I was somewhat sad to leave it all behind. I did have a lot of fun when all was said and done, and even though I’ll probably never play it again, I would recommend it to those looking for some retro adventure gaming. 8/10

Star Fox Zero (Wii U)

Here we are: arguably the most divisive game of 2016. One half claiming it’s great, with a lot of value and charm; whilst the other half calls it a broken piece of trash that doesn’t work. Frankly, I have no idea what the latter group is on about. Star Fox Zero is a fantastic game that’s a hell of a lot of fun to play. It looks brilliant, with a style that seems to be both realistic and retro at the same time, and the music is really engaging and great to listen to. The opening level has one of the best tracks to get the blood pumping. Honestly, going in I had reservations. I was worried about the controls. I feared they would get in the way of the gameplay, but I was surprised. In fact, I played the entire first level without even using them. Plus, they’re customisable to a degree, so you can mix and match to suit your style. Granted there are some learning curves later on, specifically with the walker, but as far as I’m concerned, if you’re willing to put in the time, you’ll be rewarded in spades. If I did have any problems I would say that the branching paths don’t really feel like proper levels, as they’re more like bonus levels; I wish the game wasn’t just a reboot of the series; and the final boss almost doesn’t feel like the final boss; but realistically that’s it. The controls are fine unless you have literally zero patience or tolerance for trying something new, and half the time you can play without them. And on top of all of this, it has the best tribute to Mr Iwata. I’m just glad to have Star Fox back. I’ve missed you, buddy. 8/10

Steamworld Dig: A Fistful of Dirt (3DS - eShop)

Steamworld Dig is an odd game to talk about. I don’t really know where to begin. On the one hand I could call it a dungeon crawler - although that’s not entirely accurate - and on the other I could say its an exploration adventure game. Tell you what, I’ll go with the title. Dig. Because that’s what you do. You dig. Downwards and sideways and sometimes even upwards. That’s practically 90% of the game. And it’s awesome. Who would have thought a game that asks you to do the same menial task again and again within seconds of each other would not only be fun but also incredibly addictive. Forging your own way through the underworlds below, finding treasure and mining ore as you go, as well as uncovering more of the plot, all come together into a highly enjoyable package. There’s just something incredibly soothing and cathartic about smashing a rock until it breaks. I rarely got tired of it. Even when I did, I was back to playing it after a few hours. It’s just a blast, surprisingly. There are a few downsides of course. It’s a little on the short side, even with the different worlds to uncover and the music is rather standard outside of the main theme, but these are just minor details when all is said and done. Pick it up if you can, it’s certainly good for a weekend. 8/10

Super Luigi U (Wii U)

Can DLC really count as its own standalone game on this list? When it’s released as its own retail copy it does. And what a strange one it is. It’s not Super Luigi U, it’s New Super Mario Bros. U + New Super Luigi U. That’s the name of the game. Meaning when I put it in my Wii U, the console had no idea about my NSMBU save file. But I digress. Super Luigi U is all right. Well it wasn’t really going to be anything special when it’s essentially built on top of a pre-existing game, but I do like what it’s trying to do. All stages are practically speed runs, with only 100 seconds on the clock, and a number of challenges between you and the goal. This is probably the game’s best feature. Honestly, I didn’t feel like I was trudging my way through another Mario title, but rather breezing through it at an alarming pace. It’s also pretty straightforward to 100%, even if Luigi plays like he’s on roller-skates and some of the levels are a little on the difficult side. At the end of the day though there was no shaking that this title didn’t really feel like its own game. I mean, I know it isn’t and that it’s DLC, but still. It’s more of a pleasant distraction than anything else. I would like to see Nintendo do more with Luigi, but until they start giving him his own proper space, instead of having him just run around in Mario’s, he’s always going to be second rate. 7/10

Tengami (Wii U - eShop) 

Tengami to me is a classic style over substance game. There is some substance admittedly, but this game is clearly built on its look; which is paper. More specifically, origami. I do have a soft spot for it though. Having everything being treated like a literal story book, turning over pages and such, it did bring a certain charm to the game. Then again, it was developed by ex-rare staff, so we’re clearly dealing with some talent. It’s essentially a point-and-click puzzle game, but when I think about it there actually weren’t that many puzzles. The puzzles it did have were great, with some intriguing and inspired brain teasers, but it would have been good to see some more. Easily the game’s biggest strength though is it’s soundtrack, which honestly floored me with how good it was. This game came out in 2014, along with Shovel Knight, Bravely Default, Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse, and Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze. It got me thinking: 2014 was a bloody good year for Video Game music. Speaking of Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, the soundtrack is done by the same guy; the irrefutably gifted David Wise. He captures such mysterious nuances to everything he puts his hand to here, and it’s truly remarkable. Even if you’ve never played the game, I implore you to look up the soundtrack. I’m going a little off topic here, so let’s talk about Tengami’s problems. For starters, it’s short. Alarmingly so in fact. I beat it in a single sitting and with very few moments of pause; which is even more damning when you take into account the other major flaw. The game’s nameless hero moves so - bloody - slow. It’s painful sometimes, and god forbid you forget to do something before you move on because back tracking is an absolute chore. Overall, I don’t regret playing it, and if you’re looking for a decent game to unwind to, look no further;  just be prepared to wait a while for your character to get his arse in gear. 7/10

Theatrhythum Final Fantasy Curtain Call (3DS)

Hey, big shock, I like Video Game music. You wouldn’t know it, would you? All joking aside, Video Game music is some of the best music out there in my opinion, and it’s a shame it doesn’t get more attention. So when a title comes along that takes video game music and makes an entire game around it, you know I’m down - especially when the music in question belongs to Final Fantasy. Theatrhythum Final Fantasy Curtain Call is a sequel of sorts. I played and enjoyed the first game, and found myself getting addicted to it, so it was only natural I played the follow up. Funny thing is, it’s not really a follow up, or a sequel, it’s more of an ultimate edition. This game is the first game again, only with a bazillion more things in it. It’s a rhythm game with some of the best songs in the Final Fantasy library; only now there are over 200 songs to play through, on multiple difficulties. Yikes! No joke, the way the game works, I hadn’t even played all the songs once by the time I reached the credits. Plus, you keep unlocking new songs as you go, which just adds to the playtime, and, whilst the first game just featured the main canonical Final Fantasy games with a few bonus extras thrown in, this game features music from any game with Final Fantasy in the title. It’s insane. Plus it doesn’t just stop there. There’s also a cool adventure-type mode, that sees you playing song after song, sometimes on the hardest difficulty to reach the end. You have to play through these if you want to get even close to unlocking everything. Oh did I mention the unlockables. As well as extra songs, the game also has extra characters, collectable cards, and Sound Test items to unlock. AND THEN, even though it has SO MANY SONGS to begin with, there are DLC songs too, just in case you were thinking of giving up on the real world altogether. This game has so much in it, in the end I just had to cut the cord whilst I was still plugged in. For the sake of my health I just had to put it down for good and walk away. Definitely a great time, but be careful you don’t lose yourself to it. 8/10

Thomas Was Alone (PS3) 

One of the more random games I decided to pick up this year, Thomas Was Alone is a fun, quirky, and most of all funny puzzle game. I got plenty of Portal vibes off this game while I was playing. The dialogue is so witty and humorous. Add that to Danny Wallace’s excellent comedic delivery and you’ve got a game that has you laughing on every stage. Graphically the game is lacking, although this is intentional, and the same goes for it’s soundtrack. But the design and narration easily make up for the absences. It’s a little short, but it’s charming. No other game has given faceless, coloured shapes personalities before. That’s got to count for something. 8/10

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)

The Uncharted series has been on my back log for a long time, but this year - with the release of Uncharted 4 - I decided to finally get stuck in. And it’s ok. That’s it. Sorry, Sony-boys, the original Uncharted is only just above average in my opinion. Maybe for its time it was a much better example, but right now it’s a little dated. Graphically it’s not too bad, though environments are rather stagnant, and the music is very cinematic, but the gameplay is rather bland. Combat is tiresome, with firefights being overly long and boring. Seriously, you take on something like thirty guys every time; what other word is there but tedious. Then there’s the puzzle segments of which there aren’t that many. Most of the time you’re climbing which is equally as overplayed as the combat, and when that’s your lot it doesn’t take long for the game to get a little exhaustive. The structure here is also questionable. When Nathan Drake steps foot in a secret chamber no one has been in for centuries, why are there suddenly armed guards to take out in there? Basically, it seems combat is used as a device to add variety to the exploration, but there are surely more and better ways to do this. The best qualities this game has however are the plot, which is highly engaging, and the characters who are irresistibly likeable at all times. The overall gameplay is fine - although very clunky and rough around the edges - and for the most part it is enjoyable enough. A decent first effort from Naughty Dog but nothing truly spectacular. 7/10

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)

Coming off the back of Uncharted 1, I didn’t really have a lot of enthusiasm for the sequel. But, a lot of people had said that it was ultimately a better game and so I gave it the benefit of the doubt. Thankfully, it paid off. Among Thieves is a much tighter experience than its predecessor. The story is just as good as the first, and of course the characters and writing remain brilliantly entertaining; but on top of this Naughty Dog have worked on the faults of the first game. Combat is much more balanced, with firefights now making a lot more sense, and there are a lot more environments to explore. There are also a lot more puzzles, although 90% of the solutions require climbing. Fortunately, that too has been improved, with Nathan moving a lot quicker and seamlessly from foothold to foothold. General variety is up too, with combat not just being the only thing to do. Generally the whole game is a mark up from the last one, but there are still a few problems. It does still feel clunky moving about - more than once Nathan swan dove off a ledge I didn’t want him to go near - and some of the newer elements, more specifically the stealth aspect, don’t exactly work. All it needs is a button prompt when you’re close enough to do a stealth takedown, but because it’s not there, Nathan just swings his fists like a maniac and draws all the attention to himself instead. Luckily, no parts of the game require stealth, but it’s frustrating none the less when you want to be stealthy but the game messes you up. In the end I gave up on sneaking and just went in guns blazing. All in all Uncharted 2 is a much better game and seems to be going in the right direction. A few weak areas here and there hold it back and I’m still waiting to be absolutely blown away but it’s definitely a great game. 8/10

Undertale (PC)

I am a firm believer that video games are art. Art - to me - is a means of expression that can be interpreted in different ways by different people on top of connecting emotionally with the viewer. So basically, so long as the user is connected and is invested in someone else’s creation, it is art. Now, not all video games should be considered art, but there are nevertheless plenty out there that could. Undertale is one of those games. Quite frankly, this game is a masterpiece. Part RPG, part bullet hell, not only does it do new things and break the mould of its genres but it also exemplifies the video game experience. Now I’m sure I’m not the first person you’ve heard say these things about this game, but I’m in earnest. This game is a triumph. In many ways, Undertale is the true Citizen Kane of gaming. Like Orson Welles, Toby Fox is pretty much a one man army with this project. Designer, Director, Writer, and Musician, among many other things I’m sure. Speaking of musician, can I take a moment to bring up how immaculate the soundtrack is. It’s easily the one of the best video game soundtracks of the decade. Every track is perfection and immediately recognisable, not to mention incredibly well made. Gameplay is excellent and intuitive, and it’s one of the games where the player’s actions directly impact the game as a whole. This is a game that rewards you for not killing, and vice versa. Beating the game on a pacifist run (do not kill a single enemy) will give you arguably the true ending to the game, whilst beating it on a genocide run (kill literally every living thing in the game - yes, that’s a genuine possibility) will result in the game being broken forever. I never had the guts to attempt a genocide run. For starters the characters are too endearing and full of life, but also because, if you constantly kill, the game openly does what it can to make you feel like a horrible person as you play. Music becomes distorted, your inner monologue becomes much more hateful and aggressive, and characters and NPCs regard you with fear. It’s seriously messed up. Honestly, the pacifist run alone is what made this game truly exceptional. I can’t say too much without spoiling it, but I’ll just say during the perfect pacifist run something happens that changes the way you see this game. All previous assumptions get turned on their heads. That sudden change in perception is what cemented this game as a work of art. I thought it was just a brilliant and fun game, but it’s something a lot more special. Undertale is the real deal; the genuine article, and you owe it to yourself to play it if you haven’t already. 10/10

Yoshi's New Island (3DS)

Ah, Yoshi’s New Island; or as I like to call it: Yoshi’s DO IT ALL AGAIN. This game is just disappointing, and I’m saying that after going in with low expectations. It’s hard to believe this game came out in the same year as Yoshi’s Woolly World (i.e. a vastly superior game). Presentation is lazy, soundtrack is obnoxious, and level design is bland and generic. I also find it ironic that the game calls itself Yoshi’s *NEW* island, and yet it seems hellbent on re-enacting the original SNES game. Every world is themed and structured identically to it, but whereas then it made sense given the structure of the island, here it doesn’t work. Why is world 5 a snow world? In the original it was because you were climbing the mountains, but here it’s just snowy. The game as a whole adds a little bit here and there, but nothing ultimately earth-shattering, and it’s not exactly hard. The overall design is just unfair for completionists though. The way collectables are placed can lead to some genuine fury, and if you end up missing that one red coin, that’s right, you have to do the whole level again! Not surprised I gave up on 100%-ing this after a while. Oh, and as if to throw in some form of self awareness, the final boss repeats itself. Nothing changes, it just asks you to, literally, do it - all - again! Fine as a “Babies First Yoshi” game, but for fans, stay away. 5/10