I am a huge fan of The Legend of Zelda, so at first I was going to write a really huge entry about every little detail present in the game, but it’s pretty obvious that I’m going to have a lot of good things to say about practically all aspects of Skyward Sword in the first place. So, with that in mind, this Game Spotlight will be a lot more condensed and I’ll try not to ramble on as much as I usually do…

The first thing I want to say about Skyward Sword just to get it out of the way is that after a lot of thought after completing the game, I have come to the conclusion that this is one of my favourite Zelda games of all time along with Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. Part of the reason why it’s one of my favourites is because it refers back to every single Zelda game released previously but also because of the new elements it brings into the mix as well.

The 1:1 Wii Motion Plus based sword controls are brilliant, of course. You move the Wii Remote in your hand, Link does the same. Swing the Wii Remote in any direction and Link does the same with very minimal lag time. Thanks to the precise level of control you have over sword combat, encounters with enemies become a hell of a lot more interesting compared to previous titles. While a battle with a couple of Lizalfos in Ocarina of Time had you attacking your enemies as aggressively as possible and then putting up your shield every so often to deflect attacks, trying to pull off the same tactics in Skyward Sword introduced you to a world of lost hearts. With every enemy encounter you have to play things with a lot more tactical finesse.

You either watch the enemies movements and then take advantage of an opening they present or you find a way to create an opening yourself either using your sword, shield or one of the many items you have with you. There are multiple ways to take out an enemy and while there are many ways to do things right, there are plenty of ways to do things wrong as well. All in all, this game gets you to control your aggression until you’re able to get in that one blow that opens you up to completely unleash all of your wrath upon them… it certainly makes each and every battle feel a lot more epic and pretty damn satisfying. It actually reminds me a lot of the gameplay mechanics for the Punch-Out! series. Nintendo has certainly come a long way from simply tapping a button to swing Link’s sword… I’m interested to see what they’ll do with the inevitable Wii U Zelda somewhere over the horizon.

Some other elements Nintendo added to the experience also helped make this game feel like it was heading into new territory. For example, adding a durability meter to shields and limiting the amount of items you can carry in your adventure pouch such as those all important bottles has added a new element to the game that is very RPG-like. Some have criticised Nintendo for this system being too simple, however I quite enjoyed it… for a Zelda game it was something new and made the adventure that little bit more interesting without overcomplicating things. It also adds even more of a challenge to the game during the second Hero Quest mode where enemies take twice as much to take down and don’t drop any hearts which means you have to rely on potions for health refills.

In true Nintendo fashion, they seem to find ways of adding layers of complexity to their games while at the same time reducing the learning curve required to master the game. That said, this game still proves that it is not afraid to challenge you. There were many times when I was close to being defeated as enemies I underestimated took off 1 and sometimes 2 full hearts from my health with each strike. At times the game could be brutal, but I never felt that the brutality it unleashed on me was ever unfair. Instead I realised the mistakes I was making and adjusted my tactics to finally win the fight. Like I said before, there’s a level of satisfaction that Skyward Sword presents you that past Zelda games don’t come close to… it also happens to be the hardest 3D Zelda game released so far… if you let it.

Of course, gameplay changes aren’t the only thing that has set this Zelda apart from others… I’m sure some of you are probably thinking that I’m going to talk about the orchestrated music, a first for a Zelda title… but no, I’m not. The music in Zelda has always been brilliant and epic whether it is orchestrated or not.

The thing that really defined this game for me was how rich the character interactions are between the main characters in the game as well as the roles they have to play throughout the story. Yes, while Skyloft felt like a much more simple version of Clock Town from Majora’s Mask, the interactions between Link and the other main characters of the game is where all of the truly golden moments are at.

From the very first moments of the game to the very last, Zelda, Groose and all of the other characters matter and have their own roles to play in your adventure. And then let’s not forget about the main antagonist in the game, the Demon Lord Ghirahim, who is one of THE most interesting bad guys to ever be created for any Zelda game. He has a hell of a lot of presence and every moment he’s on screen is a lot of fun. Not only that, but because this game is Nintendo’s 25th anniversary celebration for The Legend of Zelda series, there are a lot of references from previous games from the series that are thrown into the mix.

Some of these references are extremely subtle while others are obvious to those who have at least heard a little bit about The Legend of Zelda. I’m actually surprised they didn’t throw in an “I AM ERROR.” joke in there somewhere… unless they have and no one has found it yet. Luckily these references are set in such a way that anyone who hasn’t played many or any Zelda games won’t feel left out of the loop.

By the end of the game I was really satisfied with pretty much all aspects of the game, though in a strange way it also made me appreciate past Zelda games even more than I did before. My advice to all those who have finished Skyward Sword and have yet to play Ocarina of Time is to either get it on Wii Virtual Console or on the 3DS and continue the legend that begins in Skyward Sword… or if you’re the type of person who likes a challenge, there’s always Hero Mode on Skyward Sword… it’s not going to be anywhere near as brutal as Dark Souls, but it’s certainly not going to be easy.

If I wasn’t so geared up for The Old Republic I’d be playing through Hero mode right now.

Xenoblade, also known as Xenoblade Chronicles in Europe and Australia, formerly known as Monado: Beginning of the World, is a game that any self-respecting gamer who owns a Wii must experience. Sure, Monolith Soft’s last game, Disaster: Day of Crisis, was so terrible that it was good in a comedic sense, but this game brings them back to their former glory they once had with Xenosaga and Baten Kaitos.

My heart goes out to everyone in North America who has to read this knowing they probably won’t be able to play this game…

Story

Generally, after you’ve played quite a few story driven games from Japan and watched a lot of anime, you tend to see a pattern of underlying themes and clichés being repeated throughout these different forms of media. They’re all present in Xenoblade just as you’d expect, however this game is also full of surprises.

When the game begins you’re launched into a battle in which a fortress manned by humans is under attack by a horde of machines, it’s a total bloodbath as the humans are being overrun and killed. It may not sound like anything special to begin with until the camera pulls back and keeps going back through the canyon and into other areas of the world until it pulls far enough for you to see the figures of two giants, one biological, the other mechanical, standing in the middle of an endless ocean.

This is a story with a hell of a lot of back-story of past history which is told over the course of the game. The more you learn about the history of the Bionis and Mechonis, the two giants, and their inhabitants, the more you’ll realise that not everything is as it seems. While some of the story does seem a little predictable, there is still enough mystery and big reveals to keep things interesting. Of course, those familiar with Tetsuya Takahashi’s work will recognise a few similarities between this game and previous titles bearing the prefix “Xeno”…

Gameplay

In an interview with Tetsuya Takahashi, Director of Xenoblade, he spoke of the initial concept of the game starting with the gameplay and general mechanics even before a story existed. The process of fine-tuning all of these different gameplay mechanics laid down a solid foundation which, together, work wonderfully and make one hell of a compelling game even beyond the truly excellent story that was created for it.

That said, much of what was come up with is strikingly like what you would find in an MMO… without the massively multiplayer online part.

Battles

Anyone who has played any number of modern day MMOs will feel pretty comfortable with the battle system that Xenoblade uses. Depending on which of the main characters you choose to play as, your strategy during battles will vary. Your character will work with two other characters during battles to deal with the enemies you’re engaging much the same way you would if you were playing online with your friends in an MMO.

If a hostile creature or enemy is near you and notices your presence, it will automatically initiate a battle and a line of nine circles with icons at the bottom will appear at the bottom of the screen. Of course you can choose to run away if you’d like or avoid being spotted by the enemy in the first place which is always a nice option when you just want to get where you’re going.

When you do engage an enemy in battle, your character will launch auto-attacks which will do some damage, however if you really want to cause a world of hurt then using the 9 skill icons listed at the bottom of the screen is the key. When you use a skill it will have its own cool down period and depending on which character you play as these skills will be offensive, defensive, status modifiers, etc… this is all sounding very familiar isn’t it… but there are some things about this game which do set it apart.

If you or one of your computer controlled team mates lands a number of critical hits on your enemies, a three segment blue bar located on the top left of the screen will fill up. Once you have one segment of the blue bar filled this will allow you to revive a team mate that has been knocked out or will allow one of your team to revive you if you’ve been knocked out… if you are knocked out and you don’t have at least one segment glowing blue then the battle is over and you restart at the nearest landmark with, thankfully, only your pride hurt. This game doesn’t really punish you that severely for failing to kill a group of enemies.

Continuing on, if you fill up all three segments of that bar you’ll be able to initiate a chain attack combo using all of the characters on your team provided that they haven’t been knocked out. During this combo attack you’re able to choose specific skills and depending on the skills you’ve assigned to your characters and the amount of “tension” the group has to extend the combo attack you’ll be able to deal a hell of a lot of damage with certain combinations of skills used.

The battles themselves can end up having quite a lot of flare and kick to them which is pretty standard with Japanese made RPGs… you’re going to be hearing a lot of attack names being called out and chatter from team mates encouraging you as you’re kicking ass and taking names.

Equipment

Part of the fun of an RPG of this type is finding equipment for your characters to use that’ll help them on their journey… and damn some of the gear you pick up ends up looking pretty awesome. Even with odd equipment matches the characters still end up looking pretty cool. One character I had went through several phases in the way he dressed, first he started out in his normal clothing but suddenly he ended up looking a little more gentlemanly than before, then all of a sudden he’s got a wild jungle vibe to him and then changes his style yet again to resemble some sort of sky pirate.

Some pieces of equipment come with embedded gems that add extra stats and modifiers to your characters abilities while other equipment come with slots you can place gems in. These gems can be crafted and depending on the materials you find which can either be mined or found with loot later in the game, you can add certain bonuses to your characters stats.

With the right use of gems you can turn help your character evade more attacks with gems that enhance agility or give you the ability to replenish a certain amount of health each time you use one of your art skills. They’re not required, but they can be very useful for your team in more difficult fights.

Oh, and before I forget, this game does follow the “less armour equals more stat bonuses” approach sometimes, but not all the time. Still, it’s nice to know that they recognise that some people want to cover their women head to toe in thick armour for practicalities sake, while others want to watch the breast jiggle physics in action… which this game does have.

The inhabitants

The world in which Xenoblade is set is filled with many different types of creatures great and small, dangerous and wonderful, so many different types of creatures you’d think Monolith Soft had actually been on location to do a survey of the creatures that inhabited each locale in the game.

You may be in a large field of long grass and spot a herd of lv10 ponies and then all of a sudden a giant creature that resembles a baboon crossed with a gorilla walks by that happens to be lv90 but not looking for a fight… unless you get too close. If you do get to close to hostile creatures you better be prepared to fight or get the hell out of there, but it’s nice how easily you can avoid fighting if you really just want to get to where you’re going. No need to press a button saying “run away” simply… run away.

On the other side of things, interacting with various non-playable characters in the game is the same as any other RPG. Every inhabited area you visit is populated by a number of named and generic characters you can interact with. Most of them will have quests for you to which involves collecting loot and killing a number of creatures or a unique creature. I’ve found taking up these quests can make you go on exploration trips which eventually lead you to some pretty awesome places you didn’t know existed until you’re standing up a ledge high up on the side of a mountain looking down at a huge lake below.

The more you interact with the non-playable characters, the more you’ll get to know them and their relationships with one another. Xenoblade has an entire section of the menu dedicated to character interactions and relationships both for the characters in your team as well as for characters you meet on your journey. It can be a fun thing to do but it can also unlock some extra things you may want to help you with your adventure.

The time and weather

When I realised the extent of how this game changed during the day/night cycle, it began to remind me more and more of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. A lot of non-playable characters in various towns and villages tend to move around during the cycle in a specific path. At 8am they may come out of their house and by 9 they’re at work or hanging around the park. Everyone is going about their business and it feels very much like a living city.

The time of day also effects what type of creatures you will find out in the wilderness. During the day you may find a herd of placid animals chewing on some grass, but at night it may be a pack of ravenous wolves ready to claw your face off. The weather can also effect what type of creatures appear and some quests will have you waiting for a thunderstorm to catch that one specific creature for your quest.

Luckily the same restriction doesn’t apply for the day/night cycle since the developers were nice enough to allow you to change the time of day at any time in the quick menu. It’s one hell of a convenient feature that is very welcome when having to hunt down creatures or the people who actually gave you the quest to hunt those creatures since they usually appear at certain times of the day.

Visuals

Despite what many people think of the Wii’s capabilities, this game is absolutely stunning in so many ways. The general visuals themselves are very well done with a great art style and excellent use of system resources to make everything in this game look gorgeous.

Environment

You start out in humble beginnings around your home town of Colony 9, it’s a pretty decent sized town with some nice scenery, however after awhile you start to get a sense of how expansive this game is when you reach a cliff high above the colony and you look down upon it. It’s a wonderful view made only more beautiful by the way the day/night cycle washes the scenery with ever changing light.,, and that’s only the beginning, as you progress through the adventure you’re witness to environments a lot more grand and majestic.

The environments in this game vary greatly and you’ll find yourself travelling to some pretty breathtaking places all of which are designed so damn well. It’s even more amazing to consider that the design of these environments are based on an ecosystem on the body of a giant which tends to make for a collection of very interesting landmarks.

This game is all about exploration, the more you explore the more you realise just how rich an environment teaming with life this world is. Explore enough and you’ll end up uncovering secret locations or find yourself on some peak overlooking the entire area or in a dark cave where a hidden creature is lurking that happens to be 70 levels above you.

In fact, this game encourages you to explore every nook and cranny when running through side quests and even in the main story itself. Exploration is also made easy thanks to the inclusion of many warp points around the map. Once you find a particular landmark that has a warp point, you’ll be able to go to that location at any time during the game from that point on, even if you’re not in the same area and are in the middle of some other quest.

There’s so much to see and it all looks so good, the screenshots I’ve provided in this entry show you only a small amount of the beauty of this game.

Character and creature designs

There are a lot of very interesting creature designs in the game from the biological life on the Bionis to the technological life on Mechonis, there’s a very interesting mix happening in this game. Some of the designs for certain creatures and mecha are reminiscent of some designs used in past “Xeno” games… those familiar will notice a few homages present.

As for the human characters, they are well designed however one small complaint I have is that they’re surprisingly blocky and have very low resolution textures applied to them which looks odd when viewing the characters during cutscenes. It’s not a huge complaint but it is a little jarring at first when the game begins with a cutscene containing quite a lot of close-ups of the character’s faces. Of course, as you continue on with the game any thoughts on this matter are washed away and you understand that such issues don’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

Audio

The Australian version of Xenoblade comes with a soundtrack CD (EU version comes with a red Classic Controller Pro) with a few selected tracks from the game, however there is an official 4 disc soundtrack released in Japan that contains all of the games music.

Music

At first I found the music for this game to be pretty standard, but after 100+ hours of hearing the various themes, a lot of it has really grown on me. There are some really great musical pieces in the game both in cutscenes and general background music that do a great job of setting the mood.

Voice acting

Being a modern day RPG, naturally it has a hell of a lot of voice acting, the bonus is that the version of Xenoblade released in Europe and Australia has both English language AND the original Japanese language on the same disc.

I have to be honest here, after a little time with the English voice acting complete with British accents, I ended up turning the language over to Japanese and turning on the subtitles. Many people across the net seem to think the voice acting is pretty good and a lot of people enjoy it, however I’ve never been a fan of British accents.

Of course, switching over to the Japanese option isn’t perfect either since the subtitles for the game follow the exact script for the English language version for the game and not what’s actually being said in Japanese. This seems to be a more common trait among video games and something that would be a total outrage if it were done in any anime. However, despite the discrepancies it’s fairly accurate aside from a few hiccups along the way.

Final thoughts

I’ve spent over a hundred hours playing this game so far and I’m still not finish… I’m close, but there’s still a bit more left to the story and I’m having a hell of a time playing it. I really can’t get enough of it, I want more! It’s a good thing this game has a new game+ option when you complete it because despite all of the many side quests I’ve completed and the areas I’ve explored, there’s still a lot of things I haven’t done in this game that I would like to experience.

I have no idea what Reggie or anyone else over at Nintendo of America are thinking when it comes to Xenoblade. It’s truly a magnificent game that has gotten excellent reviews all across the board and is a must for anyone who owns a Wii. Hell, Nintendo of Europe made it even easier for them to release the game since all of the voice acting and content translations have been completed for the release in PAL territories. So why the refusal of releasing this game in North America? Do they think it won’t make them any money? Or perhaps they feel the content may be offensive in some way… I don’t see how they could think so considering the proud release of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn for Wii.

An outlandish theory would be that perhaps they are waiting to port the game over to Wii U… though that in itself is downright silly. Nintendo of America should have released this game and no amount of reasoning they’ve convinced themselves of or a cloak of silence can justify what they’re doing… or rather, what they’re not doing. Hopefully this will change in the near future and Nintendo of America will launch a surprise announcement or something… but I wouldn’t hold your breath.

If you can get your hands on Xenoblade Chronicles, I suggest you do. It’s a game well worth playing, a credit to Monolith Soft and to the folks over at Nintendo of Europe who had the wisdom of seeing that it is a game well worth investment they put in it.

Now that Xenoblade has been released, I await the release of two other JRPGs coming to European and Australian Wii’s, The Last Story and Pandora’s Tower.

With that in mind, I’m going to attempt to write up my own views of the game as a fan of Duke Nukem and as someone who has being enjoying video games over a period of 20+ years. Did Gearbox Software do the right thing in bringing Duke Nukem Forever back from the brink of death? How does Duke Nukem Forever hold up against Duke Nukem 3D? Will we see more of Duke or was this a one off event? Can I stop asking one question after another like an idiot?…

First and foremost, the release of this game seems to be, more than anything else, a form of closure for the folks of 3D Realms which is now extinct. When I went in to play this game, I wasn’t expecting 14 years of development amounting to the greatest game ever made. I’m sure most of us know the long and horrid history of the game by now… so what were we all expecting? For me, I just wanted to enjoy a game that didn’t take itself seriously and would cause me to laugh… a lot. Luckily for me, that’s exactly what I got, however there are quite a few things wrong with this game… most of which amount to it’s gameplay.

Power armour is for pussies!

Fans of Duke Nukem 3D will instantly see that DNF takes out a lot of the elements that made that game so popular. For example, while the level designs in DN3D were linear in their own way, they were still filled lots of little secret areas and even alternate exits that led to secret levels. You also didn’t feel that you were being led down a straight path the way Duke Nukem Forever felt through most of the game. A lot of fans have also hated the two gun limit, however for me this really wasn’t that much of a concern.

Overall, the two gun system worked with DNF and there was never a feeling of missing a certain kind of weapon during certain parts of the game. You’d always be able to find the weapons you needed to do the job or find ways of using the ones you had to do some major ass kicking. It’s a little tough to figure out where in the line a lot of these design choices factored in, however it does feel like some of them may have occurred when it was decided to port the game over to consoles… though I may be wrong considering the turbulent development history of the game. In any case, along with your set of two guns you also have quick access to your pipe bombs and trip mines, each of which have their own good uses.

The weapons and shoot-outs with the alien bastards themselves worked very well and there were plenty of moments where I did feel like I was kicking some serious ass… especially with those famous one liners coming from Jon St. John, the voice of Duke Nukem. The enemies themselves have been upgraded in some nice ways, particularly the Pig Cops who like to get up close and personal and are a lot more agile. The Enforcers differ greatly from their older DN3D counterparts as they’re carrying some extra thick armour that have slowed them down and pack some serious fire-power. However, out of all of the basic aliens, it’s the Octabrains that can end up being quite the pain in the ass.

Of course, when you have enemies like those you needs guns like the Ripper, the Shrink Ray and the good ol’ Shotgun to take ‘em out. Every weapon in the game felt just right with the exception of the Freeze Ray. I dunno, I just didn’t find the Freeze Ray anywhere near as useful as it was in DN3D. It’s very tough to use on agile targets such as Pig Cops as well, though maybe I just suck at using the Freeze Ray. You really have to make good use of your weapons and items, especially in boss battles, though I do find it annoying that bosses are only hurt by explosives and turrets. I also find it annoying that there are convenient ammo crates during boss battles… or ammo crates anywhere in the game for that matter. It’s always more fun to go exploring on your own to try and find hidden ammo stashes somewhere around a level like in the old days.

The game still does have a lot of the oldskool charm I’ve come to like about Duke Nukem and much of it came from the ability to interact with different items in the game. There are very few games that will let you microwave your own popcorn… in fact, as far as I know this really is the only game that will let you do that. It does seem like really trivial and pointless stuff to do, but in some strange way it’s really fun… and that really is the key factor of DNF that saves it from being a completely terrible game for me.

It’s a game that is clearly unfinished and has a lot of stuff cut out from what was actually planned, though I’m sure we’ll end up seeing some of that content come out through future downloadable content (…if anyone even wants to buy the DLC to begin with). As flawed as this game is and as outdated as it seems to most people, it really is a fun game to play. I had a lot of laughs and felt satisfied at the end that one of the more unique video game characters wasn’t gone forever like I had thought he was.

I guess in many ways I can compare my feelings toward Duke Nukem Forever to how I feel about a game like No More Heroes. It’s just an unapologetic box of politically incorrect fun that targets everyone and every thing including itself. I’m certainly glad that the game did get released despite the view some people have of Duke as being a character that doesn’t belong in today’s day and age of gritty hardcore serious business shooters with supposedly epic stories that deal with real life human problems, yada, yada, yada… Yeah, well that’s all great, I like those games too, but I also like Duke Nukem and his hedonistic ways.

It’s down to you and me, you one-eyed freak!

I rarely score games even though I have a scoring system set up… but let’s whip it out and measure just how great Duke Nukem Forever really is…

So there you have it, a 3 out of 5. Most people would say that the correct answer would be a 0 out of 5 and that this game should never have been made. Others may think it’s only rent worthy for the curious while there are some folks who actually did enjoy themselves and would’ve given the game a 4. This game definitely is not a 5 and even though I’m a fan of Duke Nukem, I struggled to justify a 4, so 3 is as high as I’ll reach with this one.

I’ve got balls of steel!

So, what now for Duke Nukem? Gearbox Software now holds the full licensing rights to the Duke Nukem franchise so it’s really up to them as to whether any more Duke Nukem games will be made. Right now Gearbox is focusing on Aliens: Colonial Marines and the Borderlands sequel, so they’ve got plenty of time to mull it over. However, I do think that despite what people think of Duke Nukem Forever, another Duke Nukem game is definitely coming some time in the future and that it will most likely turn out a lot better than how DNF turned out after all these years. I look forward to seeing where Duke goes from here and I’m sure in my gut that the franchise being with Gearbox Software is the best place it could’ve ended up.

That said, the next Duke Nukem game is going to have to shed a lot of what Duke Nukem Forever brought to the table such as the 2 weapon limit, regenerative health, linear progression maps and focus more on the elements that made Duke Nukem 3D so damn good. Of course, there are still some elements that Duke Nukem Forever brought to the table that can easily crossover to a sequel such as the various item interactions in the game… especially wall titties. Before I played Duke Nukem Forever, I have never contemplated the idea of actually slapping a pair of breasts before… what a sheltered life I’ve led.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I really do need to get back to working on my E3 mega entry that I started working on before this entry. It doesn’t help that I’ve been sick as a dog for the last few days, but I’ll try and get it up as soon as I can.

I’m not really a big fan of the Tom Clancy series of games released by Ubisoft, and to be honest this is the first Ghost Recon game I’ve ever played. That said, I do realise that Shadow Wars (with “3D” attached to the end for the Australian release for some reason…) isn’t like other Ghost Recon games. Instead, it is a tactical role playing game more along the lines of Nintendo’s Advance Wars or Fire Emblem… which is great for me since I’m a pretty big fan of both of those series.

Shadow Wars started out its development life as a standard Nintendo DS game before jumping ship over to the 3DS, so it’s not exactly a “pure” 3DS game. This means it doesn’t really take full advantage of any of the new features found on the 3DS such as StreetPass… but it really doesn’t need to. What it does do very well is show off the 3D capabilities of the top screen, though maybe not as dynamically as Ridge Racer or Street Fight IV.

It may not be best example of what the 3DS can do, but it is still a very solid game that deserves recognition for that alone. Fans of X-COM will be glad to hear that Shadow Wars was headed up by X-COM creator, Julian Gollop, and his influence is seen throughout the game with different levels of terrain and other small touches that you’d find from X-COM. Of course, to be honest, I felt this game reminded me more of Advance Wars and Fire Emblem (with maybe a sprinkling of Valkyria Chronicles) than anything else.

Here’s a 9 minute gameplay walkthrough presented by Julian Gollop which pretty much highlights everything you need to know about the gameplay of Shadow Wars.

All in all, this is a perfect portable game that you can play on the go and features excellent gameplay. It makes me glad that I picked up a 3DS at launch despite it not taking complete advantage of the systems capabilities. As for the Hardware Spotlight for the 3DS itself, I’ll have that posted up later this month…

Just like with the first game, a comic series was created to compliment the release of Dead Space 2, though this time the comic included some playable mini-games embedded throughout the story.

Dead Space: Ignition takes place on the very day the Necromorph outbreak occurs on The Sprawl just before the events of Dead Space 2. You’re put into the shoes of Franco Delille, an engineer who seems to solve all of the engineering issues on The Sprawl by hacking into things and reflecting lasers and such.

There are three different hacking mini-games you’ll end up playing through and depending on your taste, you may or may not find them fun. There is the Trace Route mini-game where you race your red line to the finish before the other cyan lines, the tower defence based System Override mini-game, and lastly the Hardware Crack mini-game where you have to reflect laser beams to create a circuit. There are online leaderboards and 2 player local multiplayer if you’re really into this game…

The real reason why anyone would spend time to play this game is definitely not because of the art. I’d rather that grungy warped art that was in the first Dead Space comic rather than what is in Ignition. No, what makes this game worth playing, or rather the only thing that could possibly make this game worth playing is the rewards you get when you have an Ignition save file and you start up Dead Space 2.

First up, you get the exclusive Hacker RIG which you have to find in the first Conduit Room you find in chapter 2 as a schematic. Once you find it, just go to a shop and it’ll automatically be uploaded… but it’s not free… you’ll have to pay 20,000 credits for it. The Hacker RIG gives you 15 inventory slots and 15% armour and also takes away one stage from the hacking mini-games in Dead Space 2. Secondly, along with finding the Hacker RIG, you’ll also find the Hacker Contact Beam which gives you +5% alternate fire damage and a -0.1 second charge time for the primary fire. Also, as mentioned above, you get access to some Conduit Rooms which are normally locked that contain audio logs made by Franco and some random items and credits to make the game a little easier.

Those who pre-ordered Dead Space 2 got a code for Dead Space: Ignition to download for free, however everyone else has to pay… which isn’t really worth it unless you REALLY want that Hacker RIG and all that other stuff.

So with that in mind, here’s a 5 part walkthrough of the entire game on YouTube… (Just to clarify, the playlist code is from my account, however these videos were uploaded by TheMediaCows.)

Heh, This entry turned out to be longer than I said it would be… Well, anyway… That’s all the Dead Space entries for now, time to move onto other stuff!

Ever since I played the original game, I’ve become quite a huge fan of Dead Space and rank it among the best games that have come out of what has been a very productive generation. Visceral and EA have invested a lot in the series with a collection comprising of comics, side-story games, animations, etc. Though, while there is a whole variety of media with the Dead Space name attached to it, it’s the games in the main series, starring Isaac Clarke, that are the ones you really need to pay attention to.

I think this may turn out to be another long entry, so I’ll just get right into it…

Story

In the original Dead Space, released in 2008, engineer Isaac Clarke found himself stuck in a nightmarish situation aboard the USG Ishimura. Through sheer determination to reunite with his girlfriend, Nicole Brennan, and some handy tools at his side, he managed to survive… though the damage caused by that terrible incident can never be erased and will continue to haunt Isaac years later…

Whether you think the story in Dead Space was done to your particular taste or not, there is no denying that Visceral have come up with quite an interesting and rich universe filled with layers and depth we haven’t even witnessed yet.

Of course, the great thing about Dead Space 2 is that you don’t really have to play the first game or view/play any of the other media to know what the hell going on with the second game for a couple of reasons. You’re treated to an optional “Previously on Dead Space” video on the start menu that will fill in everything that has happened during the events of Dead Space and Dead Space: Extraction. Not only that, but the game provides enough well placed exposition through audio and text logs as well as some skilfully written dialogue as you progress through the game. As long as you’re willing to listen to what people are saying and read the logs laying around, you’ll be able to stay informed of the situation and why people are suddenly turning into Necromorphs with their guts spewing out of their bodies as they claw, bite and puke into those who are still human.

For those of us who are into Dead Space and have played the first game, Dead Space 2 does give you some pretty good insights into some of the unknown factors which were brought up in the first game, but it also tells a more personal story about Isaac and the trauma he has had to endure this entire time. By the end of it, Isaac realises what he has to do and you realise that what Isaac has experienced so far in these two games is only the tip of the spear going right through your eye…

I realise I haven’t really told you much about what goes on with the games story specifically, but that’s because it’s something to be experienced first hand… so let’s move onto other things…

Gameplay

Many will note that the first Dead Space feels a lot like a much smoother and fluid version of Resident Evil 4 in terms of gameplay mechanics. Both games use the over the shoulder view coupled with the hold to aim functionality, however Visceral also gave the player direct 360 degree camera control and allowed people to move as they fired their weapon. However, what really made Dead Space stand out was Isaac’s ability to use Stasis and Kinesis modules to slow down and move objects respectively. Dead Space 2 further improves these abilities awhile also giving Isaac the ability to move freely in zero-g areas.

For Kinesis, you will find that there are many more environmental objects you can use to impale and knock over Necromorphs with, allowing you to save your ammo and give you an opportunity to get into a more defensible position. But the fun really comes from being able to rip the blades and claws from the Necromorphs themselves and using them to give those creepy bastards a taste of their own medicine. Coupled with the Stasis ability and you’ll end up clearing a room full of very pissed off Necromorphs in no time… though, that’s only if you aren’t the type to be trigger happy, trying to shoot at everything that moves without considering how much ammunition you have left. Stay cool and think what kind of tactics you can use with what you have laying around you and you’ll find that Stasis and Kinesis are just as needed to survive as your trusty Plasma Cutter.

On the other side of things, Isaac’s improved mobility in zero-g environments is a HUGE improvement over the first game which just had you jumping from platform to platform to get around. Now Isaac has thrusters on his suit that allow him to get around pretty easily. It does feel a little awkward at first, however once you get used to it, the controls for zero-g travel are very easy to master and the auto-orientation button allows you to keep your feet pointing “down” so you won’t get confused if you turn yourself around too much.

All in all, what few improvements that were made to the sequel were very well done and made Dead Space 2 a lot more enjoyable to play than the first… though I do hope they allow players to open doors while holding an object with Kinesis for Dead Space 3…

Audio & Visuals

Dead Space 2 continues to bring forth exceptional direction in sound and lighting to help create some awesome atmospheric environments and the best cinematic moments ever seen in the series… or in any game made for that matter. The industrial corridors of the USG Ishimura are replaced with the more lived-in residential environment of The Sprawl including a School/Day Care Centre filled with some more evidence that the folks over at Visceral seem to think the kids are generally creepy little creatures that should be stomped on. The new Necromorph variants introduced into Dead Space 2 are very much welcomed into the fold… from exploding babies and vomiting Necromorphs to a variant that can only be described as Human Velociraptors. You’re going to have to keep on your toes and have a selection of weapons ready to handle them.

Of course, one of the biggest differences between the original Dead Space and Dead Space 2 comes from Isaac himself… his change has caused a bit of a stir among fans, some of which don’t like the idea of Isaac talking or his new look. Granted, he does look a little different from the original character model from the first game, however I do feel that it fits with Isaac’s current state… he hasn’t exactly been living a comfortable life for the last three years so he’s not going to be the well rested man who didn’t really have any troubles to concern him during the beginning of the first game.

However, I can see why a lot of people were worried by the idea of giving Isaac a voice and having him talk throughout Dead Space 2… after all, look at what Nintendo did to Samus. Thankfully, the folks over at Visceral have been a lot more careful with Isaac… he’s awesome. Simply awesome. That’s really all you can say… this is a man who has had enough of the worlds bullshit and just wants some damn answers. He’s also the only person on the entire station who knows what has to do in the face of these monstrous creatures. Instead of being told what to do, he’s the one giving orders and is very commanding when he does so… there’s one scene where he’s found himself in a dimly lit room full of Necromorphs lurking in the dark when one of the supporting characters calls him. His reaction to the interruption of what is one hell of a tense situation is a commanding “NOT NOW!”… awesome.

Isaac is voiced by Gunner Wright who does an amazing job at capturing the different emotions and intensities Isaac goes through throughout the game. The character interactions between him and the supporting characters are very well presented and the voice acting is amazing. It also feels a right to hear Isaac converse with supporting characters instead of him just silently obeying as he did in the first game.

In addition to the character interactions and voice acting, a lot more cinematic flare has been put into the various action scenes throughout the game. Isaac throws himself into some pretty crazy situations, though when you think about it, at this stage he’s a character that really doesn’t have that much to lose. Most of these big cinematic moments are scripted events with some small level of control over Isaac similar to smaller events that took place in the first game, however there are some moments where you just can’t believe what you saw and what the game just made you do.

Truly, Dead Space 3 will have a lot to live up to when it is finally released a couple of years or so from now.

Multiplayer

I’ll be perfectly honest here and say it upfront… I haven’t played the multiplayer part of Dead Space 2 yet… and, I don’t really need to because multiplayer in any form is not why I play and love Dead Space. I may give it a try in the future just to see what it’s like, but I doubt I’ll actually put any real time into it. Though, I guess, as a developer you wouldn’t feel too great about players shrugging off your efforts with adding multiplayer to a game… sorry to the folks over at Visceral, but that’s just the way I feel.

From what I have seen and read of the multiplayer though, it really is just a variation of what you can find on Left 4 Dead… just with a Dead Space theme. Perhaps when Visceral starts with the production of Dead Space 3, they’ll consider expanding on their concept of a Dead Space multiplayer into something that is actually worth getting excited about.

Final Thoughts

Honestly, I was really impressed by what I experienced in Dead Space 2… it has truly topped the original in gameplay and presentation and has geared me up for wanting more… more! MORE!! *ahem* Which is probably why it’s a good thing that some DLC is being released to satisfy those of us who will basically say “Shut up and take my money!” It’ll be interesting to play the two chapter long DLC titled “Salvage” as it stars Gabe Weller and Lexine Murdoch from Dead Space: Extraction… maybe I’ll write up another separate Game Spotlight for that when it comes out… I can’t wait.

Now that I’ve finally written up a pretty epic entry for Dead Space 2, be sure to check back for future entries I’ll be writing for the second animated movie… or rather collection of animated shorts, Dead Space: Aftermath as well as the interactive comic, Dead Space: Ignition… though, I definitely won’t be going all out with the Ignition entry as I did with this one.

I didn’t pay much attention to Borderlands when it was released and it ended up taking me a year or so to actually get it and play it. Though once I actually got my hands on it I couldn’t put it down for two weeks and ended up spending 170 hours on it… yeah I’ve done the math already, I realise I spent LITERALLY half of those two weeks playing Borderlands…

If you’ve heard anything about Borderlands, you’d know by now that it’s pretty much an RPG with guns… lots and lots of guns. Though technically it’s a collection of different guns that have different variables that make them different in terms of the different numbers attached to them. How much damage they will deal, how accurate they are, their reload speed, elemental effect and how much elemental damage dealt, etc.

However, what really drew me to the game was the ability to burn everything to death. I dunno, for some reason I felt the need the need to kill stuff with fire and watch them scream in horror (or for their mommy’s) while they’re being incinerated into ash. Oh but it’s also fun to shower enemies with acid as well and make them explode, that’s always nice too. But for me, it was all about the fire… and naturally that drew me towards choosing Lilith since she’s the elemental specialist of the four characters you can choose from.

At its core it takes all of the addictive and fun from the RPG realm and smashes it into the realm of FPS games by adding the simplicity and enjoyment of emptying an entire magazine of bullets into someone’s face just because. It’s also not the type of game that takes itself too seriously… Just take a look at the intro for the first DLC, The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, to see just what I mean…

Of course, you can’t talk about Borderlands and leave out the multiplayer aspect of the game. While you can easily experience the entire game by yourself if you choose to, the entire reason why anyone would really get into Borderlands is so they can play with their friends and share the head exploding, body incinerating, ass kicking moments as a team. I played through most of Borderlands with Mav and a bit with Jeff, though he was too busy with WoW (sigh). But if you can gather up 3 other friends, it’s a blast to kill stuff, loot weapon chests and help each other find better weapons so you can kill and loot even more.

I chose to play the PC version of Borderlands instead of the 360 and PS3 versions simply because I got it through a sale on Steam… which some people may find silly considering that this game is said to be best played on a console since it was made with consoles in mind rather than a PC. Lucky for me, I came late enough to the game that all, or at least most, of the problems the PC version faced initially have been ironed out and whatever was left could easily be tweaked with a couple of changes to some ini files. Despite the console origins of Borderlands, I still feel that this game is better off on PC for obvious reasons.

The 4 DLC packs, which come in the Game of the Year (that’s such a silly name for these things), were all mostly pretty awesome. The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned and The Secret Armory of General Knoxx are both pretty awesome. Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution is amusing and Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot is a hit or miss depending on your tastes. I liked it but most people think it’s a waste of money… though that really didn’t make a difference for me in a Steam sale.

All in all, Borderlands has been great value for money and I’m still not done with it. I’ve levelled up but I still haven’t reached the level cap and I still have better weapons to find to replace the ones I have now… there’s still much more burning to do… the only problem is that I have other games to play too.

Heh, glad I was able to get that done before Dead Space 2 comes out tomorrow… hopefully I’m able to have a Game Spotlight posted for that before the end of the month.

When it was revealed that Retro Studios was working on a brand new Donkey Kong Country game, the first thing I thought was that it seemed to be a waste of their skills. Of course, I quickly realised that this team up of the Metroid Prime trilogy developers with a series started by Nintendo previous favourite adopted child was the greatest thing that ever could’ve happened.

What you’re treated to with Donkey Kong Country Returns does feel like it belongs with the original Donkey Kong Country series (for the SNES, ignore DK64… everyone else does). There may be a few differences, but I felt that for the most part, it did feel like I had truly returned.

It’s actually been quite a long time since DK was in a proper platformer… he’s been stuck playing the bongo’s and racing barrels for a few years which is a real shame, at least I think so. Of course, he’s back with Diddy and they’re out to cause mayhem. You know the deal, for whatever reason, some creatures come along and steal DK’s banana stash and the big ape isn’t just going to sit back and let that happen so he’s off to clobber those who stole from him. You don’t really need to know any more than that… just bring on the levels and the items to collect and let’s have some fun!

I’ve played through the game using mostly the Wiimote + Nunchuk combo since it feels the most natural to me, however you do have the option of also using the Wiimote on its side as a NES controller. I started off using that but found that I preferred it the first way when performing any of the motion control moves.

I haven’t been able to play as Diddy yet, mostly because there’s not really anyone to play co-op with around here and if I did, the other person would play as Diddy, but I’m sure he controls just like he always has. Donkey felt a little heavier than he does in the original DKC game, but it’s pretty easy to get used to and he still has quite a lot of speed in him when he does get going so you don’t feel like you’re lugging around too much weight he can’t handle. If you’re skilled enough you can get through levels pretty fast with him actually. It’s a fine balance and the levels are designed to fit him perfectly… though I can only assume that playing as Diddy would be easier than playing as Donkey.

Retro wasn’t out to emulate Rare 100% with this game. They obviously wanted to make their own mark as well and it shines through just by the level design alone. There’s a tonne of awesome barrel blasting to do and plenty of platforming as well as some vine climbing and mine carting. Just like with the old games, you’re really going to have to think on your feet with some of the faster portions of the game and time your way through certain areas for the best results. You’re certainly going to get quite a few surprises as you progress through the game… never take your eyes off of the background and assume it’s all there just for show.

It may have all been inspired by the way Rare used to do things, but a lot of the hidden areas reminded me a lot of how Retro did things in Metroid Prime. They do have their own style and it shows through in this game. There is always a bit of exploration to be done when you play through a level again to find all of the puzzle pieces you’ve missed and also finding the best way to grab those KONG letters. I mean, you’d think such linear levels wouldn’t have that much room for exploration, but you’d be wrong. There’s many nooks and crannies you’ll need to poke your nose into if you want to get all of those items.

There are quite a few side-scrolling 3D games on Wii now starting with New Super Mario Bros. and now going onto Donkey Kong Country Returns and Kirby’s Epic Yarn (just to name the big 3 from Nintendo). I think the easiest way to describe where these three fit with each other is this…

Kirby’s Epic Yarn is the most kid/family friendly of the lot. You can’t die and it’s more about the fun of getting a high score and co-operating with someone else. There’s no pressure and no worries if you make a mistake, just safe and friendly fun.

Then in the middle we have New Super Mario Bros. which is the intermediate game of the three. It’s fun and mostly safe, you still have to watch out for wasting your lives and it can get pretty rowdy when playing with 3 other people. The levels aren’t that challenging but there’s still an element of danger and you can still carry less experienced players through easily enough.

Now, Donkey Kong Country Returns on the other hand is a different barrel of monkeys… I can’t believe I just said that… What DKCR brings to Wii is a more pure oldskool experience. Sure, you can still carry a second player on your back to help them through the more difficult parts, and the extra lives balloons are more frequent than in the original DKC games, but this is still a lot more difficult game than the previous two mentioned.

If you’re not careful you can end up losing quite a lot of lives trying to get by particular areas or levels… and it doesn’t take that long for the difficulty to suddenly ramp up. This game was made to be accessible by using the Super Guide, but it was also made specifically for the fans as well who don’t want to waste time with any sort of handicapping system. Prepare for a very nice challenge when you play this game, and prepare to think your way through certain levels as you replay them to get all of the puzzle pieces and KONG letters.

…and prepare to have a lot of fun doing it.

Also, this entry is SO late… I’ve been trying to post this entry up for half a month only to be distracted by Steam games and such. It was meant to be the first entry I posted up this month.

Disney games haven’t been awesome for a very long time, at least not since the days of the SNES with The Lion King and Aladdin… and in turn, Disney itself has changed much and has lost a lot of its awesomeness over the years. The kind of awesomeness I’m talking about is the type that gave birth to the original design of Mickey Mouse which is far superior to his current form, and also the type that spawned things like Fantasia (which is being released on Blu-ray soon!).

Epic Mickey takes us all back to those days before Mickey Mouse was corrupted and also takes you through Disney’s lost history in what is a very interesting game for so many reasons.

Disney knew what they wanted from the beginning which is why they approached Warren Spector to develop a different kind of Mickey Mouse game. In the beginning, it was to have been a multi-platform game for the PC, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii. Though, eventually it was decided that Epic Mickey would become a Wii exclusive and that all of the hard work being put into it would go into this one iteration.

Story

I really could go into the story, but in all honesty it’s better just to watch this YouTube video which is the opening cinematic for the game…

…so there you have it, the premise of the game. What happens from that point onwards is up to you. Will you disassemble the world of forgotten characters, or will you choose to rebuild it? What happens in the end is determined by the choices you made throughout the game. Actually, in a strange sense it felt like Disney’s own version of BioShock or inFAMOUS… no, really.

Gameplay

As stated above, the gameplay mechanics are based around Mickey’s ability to create or destroy elements of Wasteland at his whim. To do this, Mickey has a magic brush he uses to shoot paint or thinner at object or enemies. Paint will create objects and turn enemies into friendlies. Thinner will erase objects and destroy you enemies. Depending on how much you use either the paint or thinner, your reputation in Wasteland will change during the course of the game.

There are also some elements of the game that are based on pure choice… do I want to take the treasure but then activate a pressure switch that’ll launch one of the trapped friendly characters into oblivion? Or do I want to save that trapped friendly character but miss out on the treasure? Basically it’s a pretty simple choice between good deeds and bad deeds that will shape the way you play this game.

The game is full of platforming elements from both a 3D and 2D perspective, but there’s also an RPG element to the game as well. Interactive with characters in the game will open up quests that Mickey can undertake… and yes, you can actually fail a quest. Failures in this game are permanent on your save so if you fail a quest or miss out on any treasures in a particular stage/area, that’s it… there’s no going back to get them.

Some people, especially die-hard completionists would find that a nightmare, but I think it works for the overall concept of the game since it is all based on how you’ve chosen to interact with the world Mickey is in and the characters he’s interacted with. You can’t just go around doing what you want and expect to be given a second, third, infinite amount of chances if you fail.

Though, I guarantee that if you do end up failing, you’ll probably be blaming the controls for your failure…

Controls

As first, the way Mickey moved seems to suggest he was just a slower version of Mario in Super Mario Galaxy… complete with a spin move when you shake the Wii Remote. That quickly rubbed off once you realised that while Mickey has a double jump, the spin move does nothing to propel you up any further. Basically it’s just one of Mickey’s attack moves he mostly uses to destroy environmental elements to find pick-up items.

Mickey’s movement, while well animated can also feel very sticky and unresponsive at times. He tends to slow down and stick to walls if you get to close to them and his movements can be difficult to get used to since he tends to slide off of some rounded surfaces if you don’t land on them correctly. There’ll be plenty of times where you’ll find yourself falling from a great height and splattering on the ground below or falling into a river of thinner that’s going to end up killing you even if you try to head to the nearest safe platform.

Basically if you don’t screw up, you’re good. If you do, you’re going to regret it more than you realise…

Of course, while there is quite a lot of platforming to do in the game, the real focus is on the use of the Paint which you can use when you hold the B button, and thinner which you can use by holding the Z button. The Wii Remotes pointer has become very popular with many Wii games over the years and is used fairly effectively in Epic Mickey, though it does have its issues. It doesn’t feel quite as smooth as it should and there are plenty of times when you’re trying to use either your Paint or Thinner on an object but end up hitting something that’s in your way that you’re not actually aiming at.

The difficult camera system can also hinder things when you’re trying to aim at things that are at a high angle…

Camera

To put it bluntly, the camera is horrid and can really screw things up for you while you’re trying to make your way through some of the more difficult platforming parts of the game. Sure, they give you the C button and the D-Pad to try to put a leash around it, but you end up doing a lot of unnecessary wrestling with the camera that does tend to take away from the experience.

I found that while the C button was convenient, it felt very sticky to use… there I go using that word again, I’ll explain. When you press C mid-run, Mickey will end up stopping for a moment until the camera is aligned again before he’ll start running again. It breaks the flow of what you’re trying to do and ends up being pretty annoying. Of course, even when you do center the camera behind Mickey, you find that you can’t tell where you’re jumping to in many places unless you use the D-Pad to try to shift the perspective to angle downward.

Then there are other moments where the camera tends to lock in a certain angles for some odd reason. It’s all very strange and while I know I’ve complained a lot about the camera… at least I have nothing to complain about with the 2D perspective parts of the game… not that you really can to begin with.

Visuals

Now, most people would naturally assume that having a multi-platform game turn into a Wii exclusive would mean that this game would lose any beauty it had as a potential high definition game. But you’re all wrong, wrong, wrong in so many ways. Epic Mickey is a beautiful game even if you are viewing it in standard definition.

The amount of time and polish that went into making this single version was put to good use on the visuals to make sure everything held up against games you would find on the PS3 and 360.

Of course, it’s not like you really need to go that far to do so, this isn’t a photo-realistic kind of game, this is based in a cartoon world, so the key is art style and implementation of that art style. Unfortunately, none of the screenshots seem to do this game much justice which is pretty much what happens with every Wii game. To get a sense of how nice this game looks, you really have to watch the videos in HD or play the game yourself.

The opening cinematic is one thing and the cartoon animated clips in between certain parts of the game are another, but the in-game environment still looks just as good and you don’t get a jarring sense of difference when you go from the opening cinematic into the game and then view your first cartoon animation sequence. The world you’re pulled into is dark and gloomy but still has that sense of wonder that Disney was once famous for.

Mickey sports a variation of his original design and loses the whole rounded cutesy look he’s gained over the years. He’s sleek, he has his original mischievous nature and while he does make some noises, he’s pleasantly mute…

Audio

One thing I like about this game that many people probably won’t agree with is that they kept the characters mostly mute. There are just some games that need to have characters speaking in text and not with sound. I don’t particularly want to hear characters in a Zelda game speak using voices and it’s nice to see that tradition carried over to this game. I feel in many ways, it’s better to let your own imagination do the work as you read the text the characters speak. This adds to the flavour of the whole experience and helps bring Mickey back to his roots… the loud mouse Mouse we know today didn’t used to be so chatty.

It doesn’t take very long to realise how much effort was put into creating the score for this game. Everything is fully orchestrated and you’ll quickly recognise some very familiar themes right from the very start. Just like the visuals, the music is filled with a lot of the oldskool Disney charm that they’ve been missing for quite a few years.

Some final thoughts…

Revisiting Disney’s lost history and doing it with a retro style Mickey is what makes this game awesome. This game is basically an interactive history lesson of the Disney company that is fun to play despite its less than perfect controls and camera system.

Ever since it was announced, I’ve been hoping desperately that this game would turn out to be good and I was not disappointed. Thanks to Warren Spector and the folks over at Junction Point Studios and Powerhouse Animation Studios for making this game what it is.

It’s been a long time since I pulled out the score stars but here we go…

Score

So there you have it… despite the few flaws it has, it’s an excellent game you should experience even if you don’t own a Wii to begin with. Mickey Mouse is cool again! Well… at least in this game, and with the help of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask is one of my most loved games of all time and also one of my absolute favourites. It’s a game that dares to be different, especially when Ocarina of Time was just a reworked version of A Link to the Past. Of course, like many other games, Majora’s Mask has a niche following… a lot of people tend to ignore it for whatever reason… which is a shame.

“I… I shall consume. Consume…Consume everything…”
— The Moon

But don’t worry, I’ll be spilling just about everything in this blog entry, so if you’re awesome enough to read it all, it’s probably going to feel like you’ve played the game yourself… or hopefully makes you want to play it yourself.

For those of you who haven’t really seen Majora’s Mask, I guess the best thing to do would be to show you what kind of feeling this game evokes… and I think I know just how to do that. The title sequence for Majora’s Mask is a very good measure of just what this game is about… and it’ll make those who have played this game go on a nostalgia high…

If you want to see more, you can watch the prologue video on YouTube. Even after all these years I still think this game looks and sounds awesome, and think what you like, I’m not being blinded by nostalgia goggles. This is a very well made game and has a certain style to it that appeals to me greatly.

“You’ve met with a terrible fate, haven’t you?”
— Happy Mask Salesman

The story takes place after young Link is restored to his native time period at the end of Ocarina of Time. Princess Zelda and Link say their goodbyes as Link journeys deep into the Lost Woods in search of a dear friend… of course everyone who has played these two games knows exactly who that dear friend is.

During his search, Link encounters a Skull Kid wearing Majora’s Mask who ends up stealing the Ocarina of Time from Link as well as his horse, Epona. Link chases down Skull Kid and unwittingly finds himself being transported to another reality… one where all of the people who Link knew from Hyrule are living very different lives in a world not like the one he came from called Termina. To add to that, Link’s confrontation with the Skull Kid ends up with him being transformed into a Deku Scrub.

Lost in another reality, without the treasured gift that Princess Zelda gave him and without the company of his beloved horse… not to mention the fact that he’s stuck in a strange new body, Link discovers from the mysterious Happy Mask Salesman that the Skull Kid is in possession of a mask of great evil. Oh and just to top things off, the moon is going to crash in 3 days and kill everyone in Termina including Link.

That pretty much sums up what kind of a mess Link has got himself into just by minding his own business… just three short days to get back his Ocarina and his horse and to change back into his normal self and get the hell out of there before the moon destroys everything… of course it’s not as easy as that. Link will find that he’s going to have to get a lot more involved with the people of Termina… and in doing so he’ll end up with the need to save those people from what looks to be an inevitable doom.

“Believe in your strengths, believe.”
— Happy Mask Salesman

Majora’s Mask may use an updated version of the Ocarina of Time engine and also possess practically all of the same character models and textures, but whatever familiar elements it had were included along with a tonne of new gameplay features such as masks, some of which transform link into other forms.

Though… one of the more disturbing things that was first introduced in Majora’s Mask was Tingle… the first time I encountered Tingle my eyes became wide and I just stared at the TV screen thinking “what the hell is he?”… he’s either a fairy like he says… or he’s a very disturbed ugly middle-aged man in green tights… or maybe both.

“Tingle, Tingle! Kooloo-Limpah! …These are the words that Tingle created himself. Don’t steal them!”
— Tingle

With his trusty Ocarina of Time, Link retains the ability to manipulate time, though this time around he does so based on a three day cycle and as you’ve probably noticed by now in some of the screenshots in this entry, there is a dial at the bottom of the screen that measures exactly how much time has passed. With each passing day the moon gets closer and closer until the end of the third day when all life in Termina will be extinguished.

To combat the lack of time, Link just makes his own with the help of his Ocarina… he can slow time down time so the days are twice as long or he can skip forward in 12 hour increments… and at any time during the game he can also reset time and go back to the *DUN, DUN* “Dawn of The First Day -72 Hours Remain-“…

Link’s combat abilities come straight out of Ocarina of Time, however he now has the ability to use various masks that allow him to do different things… some even allow him to transform into other forms which opens up a variety of new gameplay possibilities.

“Hee, hee! Now, that’s a good look for you! You’ll stay here looking that way forever!”
— Skull Kid

Deku Link can skip on water for a limited time, is very light and can float in the wind and also has the ability to fire bubble shots. Goron Link is big, heavy and tough and can punch through large boulders and roll around with great speed, Zora Link knows Kung Fu and he’ll show you…. he’s also excellent to take underwater as he just glides through the sea at great speed and stuns his enemies with an electrical field.

Each version of Link has its strengths and weaknesses and come in handy not just in dungeons, but also around the rest of Termina. There’s a lot of exploring to do in the game and you’re not going to get anywhere unless you master all of Link’s transformations.

Of course, Link can also use another mask to transform into a giant and then there’s the very last mask… the mask you get only if you manage to get all of the other masks in the game. The Fierce Deity Mask transforms Link into a great warrior said to be a god… in this form Link is in an adult form that stands 8 feet tall, but he can only be used in boss battles.

A lot of the other masks are really fun to use. For example, the Postman’s Hat allows you to look into mailboxes, the Gibdo Mask allows you to walk amongst Gibdo’s and Redead without them trying to rape you… but to add to that, it also allows you to communicate with them, oh and my favourite mask, the Bunny Hood allows you to run really fast and jump higher than you would normally.

“Your true face… What kind of…face is it? I wonder… The face under the mask… Is that…your true face?”
— Moon Child

I always have the Bunny Hood equipped when I’m playing as normal Link since it makes it a lot easier to get around (and makes Link look very cute)… though whenever I’m in Termina Field I’ll always put on the Goron Mask because Goron Link’s rolling move is super fast… it kind of spoils the need for Epona once you get that mask though.

I’m still amazed even to this day at how well this game was put together and how much thought went into every action that every character in the game makes and how it’ll effect the timeline. Sure, you travelled through time in Ocarina of Time, but with the three day cycle in Majora’s Mask, they took the whole concept of time travel to another level. The game ran on its own schedule with every character having to be somewhere at a specific time and day. Clocktown and Termina in general felt alive because people actually went about their business instead of just walking around randomly trying to make the illusion that they had some place to be.

There were many times when I would just spend a cycle with one of my favourite characters from the game just hanging out and observing them as they went about their day to day activities. Of course, it’s not like I was watching them do boring things… while the moon was looming overhead, the people of Clocktown had their own, more personal troubles to deal with. Many of the characters even had intertwining stories and events so it was very important to learn as much as you could about every single character in Termina to be able to get all of the items and masks.

Many people expect some kind of epicly grand adventure from Zelda games these days, but Majora’s Mask took things to such a wonderfully personal level. You were encouraged to learn as much as you could about all of the characters in the game and you had the chance to help them all and get involved with their lives in a way that no other game as really done before. It wasn’t just about a cast of featured characters and then the no-name people who don’t really matter. This game spent a lot more time on the background background characters and brought them to the forefront no matter how small their part may have been… it was the first time in a video game where I found myself really caring for a lot of these characters as I helped them with their troubles.

“You feel all warm and fuzzy! inside! Sigh… You could get used to this!”
— Narrator

I remember on my very first run through of the game I decided to hold off on the final battle with Majora’s Mask until after I had collected 100% of the items and explored every part of Termina. On the very last cycle I spent my time hanging out at Romani Ranch… at first I did it just because if you take part in the events around Romani Ranch, on the very last day you’re able to drink some Chateau Romani milk at the Milk Bar so you can get an infinite magic boost (until you reset time again)… and then after helping Cremia defend her milk shipment to Clocktown, she hugged Link as thanks (It’s actually a random occurrence that happens in the game).

I decided to spend some more time at Romani Ranch because of that little moment and witnessed a heartbreaking scene between the two sisters who lived there. It’s the kind of scene I had witnessed on many occasions playing through the game with many other characters. People accepting that they would die and that there was nothing they could do about it… they all spent their final moments differently, some spent time with their loved ones, some cowered in a corner, others simply stared up at the moon as it drew ever closer.

This time it was different… I’d seen enough of people giving up… and I had to do something about it! During the final minutes of the final day, I was pretty much like “MAJORA! I’M COMING FOR YOU!!” and ran to the clock tower to face him once and for all.

When I finally got to the final boss fight, I had earned the Fierce Deity mask which pretty much makes you practically invincible against all of the bosses… but it was still one hell of a satisfying ending for me in any video game I’ve ever played simply because of how much I invested in helping each and every character in the game before finally saving them from their doom. There are more scenes during the credits as well as an epilogue afterward where you’re treated to a new day in Termina… all is well and everyone is alive… mostly. There were some people who Link wasn’t able to save, but he was still able to help them in some way…

I think that’s why a lot of people see this as one of the darkest Zelda games made… not because people actually died, it was because people died with such hopelessness in their hearts… and you bore witness to it all instead of just hearing about it or seeing it from afar. I mean, as far as villains go in Zelda games, Majora’s Mask is definitely my favourite.

Ganondorf is too much of a classic “serve me, your absolute ruler or feel my wrath” kind of lawful evil, while Majora’s Mask was the “I don’t give a fuck I’ll kill whatever the fuck I want and rape whoever I want or kill and then rape whoever I want” kind of chaotic evil. He just did everything for the hell of it and when he got bored he decided to pull the moon down from orbit to kill everyone and everything, including itself.

Aw man, I could talk more and more about Majora’s Mask but I think I’ll end it here for now… I have to go and catch up on a bunch of games I haven’t played yet and really need to finish… However, while writing this I discovered a bunch of posts from the archives of my old forum where I talked about Majora’s Mask in great detail… I’ll post them up if anyone bothers to post in this entry… not really sure how many of you in here are interested in such an old and very overlooked game.

“Whenever there is a meeting, a parting is sure to follow. However, that parting need not last forever… Whether a parting be forever or merely for a short time… That is up to you. With that, please excuse me…”
— Happy Mask Salesman