New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Nintendo
Available for Nintendo Wii
If you’ve never played a 2D Mario game from the early days of Nintendo, then you probably won’t understand the huge draw for retro gamers to the newest Mario Bros. game on the Nintendo Wii. While Mario’s 3D adventures have been satisfying they never held the same pleasures and challenges that the old 2D side-scrollers did on the NES and SNES. Jumping into the New Super Mario Bros. Wii is like curling up on the couch with your favourite author’s newest book after they stopped writing for 10 years – nothing could be more surprising and comforting at the same time.
If you do know what I’m talking about, then imagine if you took the best elements from Super Mario World and Super Mario Bros. 3, added in some new Wii graphics, controls and a few additional power-ups, and then threw them into a blender to mix - the final product would be the New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Since the days of the SNES, Mario’s adventures just haven’t been the same and thought we’ve had the New Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo DS to tide us 2D lovers over, having Mario on the big screen moving left to right again is so old school, I could bust out the neon leg warms and the New Kids on the Block tapes.
For the retro gamer, NSMBW brings back sweet elements from Super Mario Bros. 3 like the Mushroom houses, the over-world themed maps, the Koopa Kids and the hidden warp points. We also get elements from Super Mario World like riding Mario’s buddy Yoshi again and collecting special coins from each level. Of course to avoid the same old, same old, new elements have been added into the game like special Wii-mote controls, new power-ups, up-dated graphics and 4 player co-op or versus play. Some of these new elements make the game better while others could have been left on the cutting room floor.
The Wii controls, for example, were a bad idea as the game difficulty only increases as you fumble to shake the remote and hold two buttons down together in order to hold objects and run at the same time. Whatever happened to simple pressing down and pressing one button to hold objects? That was easy – this new control scheme makes me feel like I’m having a damn seizure rather than playing a simple Mario game. This also makes it darn near impossible to save the hidden Toads in each world because you can’t run, hold, shake and jump, all at the same time. Whoever designed this control scheme must have a sixth finger – perhaps he’s the six-fingered man from the Princess Bride and that would explain why he made an impossibly, cruel control setup for us five-fingered people.
The multiplayer mode was a great idea but the character roster choices weren’t as it always leaves two players with the no name Toad characters instead of a cool character like Mario or Luigi. The roster would have been better with Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Peach like Super Mario Bros. 2 had, plus Nintendo could have broken the whole “Princess Peach is a helpless girl that can’t stay safe for more than 5 seconds” thing for the second time since the 80s. Its 2010 and the Princess has to learn to kick Bowser’s butt sooner or later.
This is definitely a challenging and fun game. Each level holds tons of nostalgia for the retro gamer but also brings some cool new elements into play like tilting see-saws controlled by the Wii remote and levels completely full of giant flying beasts for Mario to run on top of. Overall, the level design is on par with the original Super Mario Bros. 3 but with better graphics.
The music in this game is so cute and whimsical. The enemies actually bust a move at a key point in the music which is such a great little detail in the game. There are a lot of retro sounds throughout the game and if you managed to hit the end of stage marker at a specific time, you’ll get to hear the original Mario Bros. song play. Some sound effects like 1-ups and voice-overs come through the Wii-remote speaker make the player more aware of events in the game.
The graphics are extremely up-dated in comparison to the old 2D games with new chunky 3D/2D polygonal characters and layered and scrolling backgrounds. The Mario world is bright and colourful, full of life and each world out does the last with such cool themed levels.
I can’t say this isn’t the best Mario game I’ve ever played but I enjoy every minute I played it, and I’m happy to see Nintendo going to back to their roots and giving a little something back to their core gamers especially since we’ve politely suffered through all these fitness games. The New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a clear winner for all Mario fans as it has plenty of challenge and fun for everyone new and old to the series. I highly suggest you grab a copy, if you can find one.
Wolfenstein
Activision, ID Software, Raven Software
Available for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC
Nostalgia can be a huge motivator. You can see the effects of it in the market currently as a generation of 80s kids is now all grown up, and creating and buying icons from their childhood. The gaming industry is definitely one of those markets that is seeing more and more icons from my childhood return in sequels and re-makes. Sometimes this can be a good thing like the case of the Telltale Games and their revamp of the Sam & Max and Monkey Island franchises or a bad thing like the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise which really just needs to die.
One game series to get a next generation make over is the Wolfenstein series which was first created in 1981 by Muse Software with the game, Castle Wolfenstein. The newest instalment in the series is a direct sequel to the game, Return to Castle Wolfenstein which was made by Id software and created in 2001. Return to Castle Wolfenstein followed the story of an American soldier, William “B.J.” Blazkowicz, as he tried to escape from a Nazi stronghold and overthrow the regime.
Well, Blazkowicz is back in Wolfenstein and this time, he’s taking on the Nazi army from the outside. Set during World War 2, Agent Blazkowicz is sent to by the OSA to Isenstadt look into a mysterious medallion he finds on a Nazi warship during a mission to stop an attack on London but when he arrives, the Nazis not only knew he were coming but they have an ambush prepared for him. B.J. manages to escape but during the process sets off a strange weapon in the Nazi’s possession which removes the gravity from the area.
After B.J. meets up with his contacts in the area, you discover the Nazis have been looking into the occult and B.J. manages to steal another medallion from them much like the first one he found on the warship. This one, the Thule Medallion, allows you to enter a strange barrier dimension which stands between our world and the world of the Black Sun which is full of strange floating monsters.
The medallion also gives you special powers like veil sight which allows you to walk through walls or veil shield which protects you against bullets. In order to power up the medallion, you must find crystals called Nachtsonne to increase its power and they can only be found in Isenstadt.
Beyond the medallion powers, Wolfenstein plays pretty much like any other FPS game as you must run and gun your way through the levels. You will be given a multitude of weapons to find, purchase and upgrade throughout the game but I pretty much stuck to one gun throughout. You will have access to a black market to buy your weapons, ammos and more between each level.
The game at first starts out on a linear path but will soon open up to a sand box type world where you will have the opportunity to choose what mission you go on. After you complete a mission, you will be able to teleport back to base and purchase new weapons and upgrades. During missions, there are side items to locate like Nazi gold and intelligence reports.
The A.I in the game is horrible as most soldiers will stand still as you toss grenades at them. Honestly, the game is only really difficult because the developers decided to cram the game full of enemies and throw them at you in mass amounts. Some levels have so many enemies being thrown at you that the only way to pass them is with the use of the veil powers.
As I am not a huge FPS fan, I tend to base my love of the genre of the other aspects found in the game as shooting hordes of enemies for several hours is just not enough to keep me interested. I generally like a game with a good plot, graphics or some sort of hook. This game was lack quite a bit of those.
While the storyline in Wolfenstein is cool enough, the way it was present was poorly done in my opinion as it took forever to get the information across. Instead of giving the player a nice entertaining cut scene to explain the story, you have to instead talk to several informants and contacts to find out what is going on and you don’t get to talk to them just once – no, you have to talk to them multiple times which just seems to drag on and on.
Graphically the game is not bad with the occult special effects wowing you at every move but when you compare it to current games on the market like Halo ODST and even Call of Duty: WoW, the graphics could be better. The characters were incredible rigid in the cut scenes and there were a lot of glitches like walking partially through walls or enemies getting stuck in open doors. Such a shame that the graphics weren’t up to par since this game had huge potential.
The audio wasn’t much better as each unimportant character sounded stiff and similar as if they pulled the development team in to do the extra voiceovers rather than hire a real voiceover guy for them. The soundtrack was decent with a lovely epic battle music track following your every move as you blow those nasty Nazi soldiers away.
For a fan of the Wolfenstein series, this is a good game to pick up and relive your childhood but for players looking for something with a little more meat, I would suggest looking at other FPS games on the market before you head here. Wolfenstein is a decent FPS but decent is just not enough here to stand out in seas of Call of Duties and Halos.
Tales of Monkey Island will launch its first episode, Launch of the Screaming Narwhal on July 7th and I am so excited. The game will be available for PC via the official site.
If you want a really good deal on this episodic game, I suggest fans grab the $34.95 pre-order deal now while its still available. It includes:
- All 5 episodes delivered to you monthly - A collector's DVD available at the end of season (you must pay shipping) - Access to exclusive Monkey Island content on the site - An exclusive DVD case slip painted by Steve Purcell - A free Telltale episode of your choice
Until then here's some game play footage to tide us all over.
EA has finally released their first video featuring game play footage for the new G.I. Joe - Rise of the Cobra videogame. I actually watched G.I. Joe when I was a kid and I'm still not sure about this whole movie thing, but I'm holding my opinions until it comes out.
Resistance 2 SCEA, Insomniac Games Available for Playstation 3
Despite the success of the PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2, Sony never really had a shooter that they could call their own. Killzone was supposed to fill that void but it could never live up to its potential. It was PlayStation 3 launch title Resistance: Fall of Man that gave Sony its first big in-house shooter. Resistance was set in an alternate 1950’s timeline where World War II never happened and humanity faced a far greater threat against a force known as the Chimera. Resistance was a solid launch title that went on to sell 3 million copies worldwide.
Two years later, developers Insomniac are back with their latest and much more ambitious offering - Resistance 2. Featuring a single player campaign spanning across the United States, an eight-player co-operative campaign with its own separate story and a 60-player online multiplayer, Resistance 2 is all set to deliver the definitive shooter experience for Playstation 3 owners.
The game begins exactly where Fall of Man ended, as Sergeant Nathan Hale wanders across the snowy field after destroying the Chimeran towers in London. He gets picked up a black-ops squad who later come to be known as the Sentinels. The Sentinels are a group of soldiers who, like Hale, are infected with the Chimeran virus, but somehow are not completely affected by it. Hale and the rest of the Sentinels arrive at their base in Iceland, which is under Chimeran attack. Unable to save the base, Hale and the rest of the squad are forced to abandon their base and flee to the US. Two years pass and Hale, now a lieutenant, is part of the Sentinels and leads their Echo squad.
On May 15, 1953, the Chimera launch a full scale attack on the United States. As Hale and his team make their way up to the surface from their secret underground base, you get the first glimpse of the scale Insomniac are aiming for with Resistance 2. You’ll witness the Chimeran invasion of the United States along the San Francisco Bay and be completely awestruck by the sheer magnitude of the scene. It truly is an incredible moment and it’s just the first of many such jaw dropping scenes you’ll encounter throughout Resistance 2’s single player campaign. From the lush jungles of Orick to the research facility in the Bryce canyon, every area you visit in Resistance 2 is diverse and captures the essence of 1950’s United States under an alien invasion perfectly.
The story in Resistance 2 is told completely through Hale’s perspective; the lack of a narrator does hurt the game, but since the story focuses of Hale himself, it never really becomes an issue. Apart from the usual cutscenes, Insomniac have chosen a very unique way of telling the story. Bits of the story are told to you via the communications headsets that Hale and his team wear. It’s your typical ‘save the world from the alien invasion’ story and despite a cliffhanger ending that is sure to stir up a lot of debate among fans, it manages to keep you entertained throughout, thanks to the feverish pace at which it unfolds (a huge step up from Fall of Man).
One of the complaints from the first game was that it lacked variety as far as enemies go. In Resistance 2, insomniac introduce a number of new Chimeran enemies, including a cloaked Chimera that can kill you in a single blow called the Chameleon, the brainless grims that simply charge at you, an elite group of Chimera known as the Ravagers and the various sentry drones. You also have huge bosses like the Leviathan, the Goliath, the Kraken etc. The enemy AI more than makes up for its lack of intelligence with sheer numbers. The boss fights, on other hand, are extremely disappointing.
Like all insomniac games, you’ll run into to a large arsenal of weapons. The new magnum that you get early on is quiet possibly the single best handgun ever to appear in a game. Not only do they pack a punch, but you also have the ability to detonate the bullets fired to cause increased damage to nearby enemies. Other weapons include a rail gun called the wraith that comes with a mobile shield, and a weapon called the splicer that fires saw blades. Most of the older weapons also make a return, including the fan favorites - the bullseye and the auger.
The game itself plays like the old Resistance, albeit a bit slower. The unique health replenishing system from Fall of Man has been replaced by regenerating health. The weapon selection wheel also makes way for a two weapon system. The battle set pieces in Resistance 2 are humongous; at times there are literally dozens of enemies and friendly NPCs fighting it out. Other pulse pounding moments include the ones involving the grims or the spinners as they mindlessly charge at you. On the flip side, the game is extremely linear and the story is never really fleshed out beyond Hale, which makes it feel very disjointed. It’s also a bit shorter than the first game with the campaign taking around 10 hours to complete on your first playthrough.
While the single player campaign never reaches the dizzying heights of a Half-Life title, the multiplayer modes are in a league of their own. Multiplayer modes comes in two flavours, co-op and competitive. The online competitive mode now features as many as 60 players in a single match. The game does a great job by dividing the players into squads of 5 each, resulting in battles that make you feel just a small part in a larger war. As the match nears its end, the game will makes sure all 60 players converge towards the centre of the map resulting in some intense battles. You get the usual deathmatch, team deathmatch and core control (capture the flag) modes. There’s also a skirmish mode where different objectives are given to your team, be it capturing a node or assassinating someone in the opposing team.
Completing the package is the class-based cooperative mode. Borrowing heavily from current-day MMOs, the 8-player co-op is unlike anything you have ever played before. As you and your squad move from one area of the map to another, the game will throw objectives that’ll change with each subsequent playthrough. Even the difficulty and the number of enemies are all scaled according to the number of players playing it. You get to play as either a soldier, a spec-ops or a medic. Each class has its pros and cons and finding the right balance is necessary in completing these maps. The scale of the single player campaign is also carried forward here. Not only does it throw a large number of enemies at you (around 100 at times), but most of the bosses from the single player also make an appearance.
Holding all three modes together is the XP system. No matter what mode you play, if you’re shooting someone in Resistance 2, you’re collecting XP points. The points are used to level up your characters and unlock cool extras like a new gun or a piece of armour. You also unlock a higher difficulty and an arcade mode once you complete the single player campaign. There are also 40 trophies to collect.
Graphically, Resistance 2 is pretty inconsistent. The polycount on both human and Chimeran models has increased and the textures are also much sharper this time around. It also sports much better lighting than Resistance: Fall of Man. But it lacks some of the spit and polish you would associate with a third generation Insomniac game. Thankfully, what Resistance 2 lacks in detail, it more than makes up in scale. Even with dozens of enemies on screen, the framerate remains rock steady.
Sound on the other hand is very impressive. The main theme is excellent but sadly it’s never used outside of the menus and a few cutscenes. As expected, the voice acting is excellent and the Chimeran troops sound as vicious as ever.
Resistance 2 is everything you would expect from a sequel. The epic single player and the varied multiplayer modes offer one of the most complete gaming packages available. While the single player may disappoint a few people, the multiplayer, with its wealth of options, will make sure you play this game for a long time. It’s an incredible shooter and is right up there with some of the PS3’s finest games. Don’t resist; Buy this
Put your friends, family and even your favorite celebrities into EA's new boxing title, Facebreaker.
Watch as EA Sports puts in famous people like Sly, Arnold, Mr. T and even George W into the photo game face tool and then watch them go at it in the ring. Pretty friggn' neat.
Of course, where's there EA's NHL 09, there's going to be 2K Sports' NHL 2K9 as well. Both as titans in the hockey videogame arena and fans will be dying to find out which game is better this year especially with the 2K gitches and bad EA controls last year.
Capcom Entertainment announced Flock! for PLAYSTATION Network, Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360, and Windows PC. Developed by Proper Games, whose talented team members are known for their previous work on Lemmings, Crackdown, and Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, Flock! is currently scheduled for a downloadable release this Holiday season.
In Flock!, players take control of a UFO that has been given the challenge of herding farm animals to its mothership through a variety of puzzle-filled interactive levels, including corn fields, pastures and other “plushie”-like environments. In order to succeed, players will have to manage the quirkiness of the animal’s distinct behaviors, as well as solve a series of environmental puzzles using Flock’s! physics-based gameplay. The animals that populate these islands – sheep, chickens, pigs, cows and more – respond to the UFO in all kinds of eccentric ways based on their nature. By finding or creating a passable route across a level, players can herd the animals safely toward their ship. Solving the puzzles within the suggested time limit yields exciting rewards, but players can also take their time in order to find more hidden bonuses.
Flock! uses a physics engine that drives the challenging puzzle elements of the game. Whether using the Tractor Beam to move obstacles out of the way or the Depressor Beam to stamp out crop circles to guide your herds, being an extraterrestrial has never been this fun! Friends will also be able to join in on the animal herding adventures through co-op play. And when all the levels have been completed, users will be able to make their own customized puzzle-filled levels using the level editor.
From the Microsoft conference yesterday, a developer walkthrough for Fallout 3. View the first video of game play footage for the game. The video shows off some of the game's weapons, the targeting system, a couple of the enemies, a devastated Washington D.C., some tools, and finally a selection of music from the game.
Looks good so far, but nothing is jumping out as spectatular. The music is terrible.
If you're interested in seeing a demonstration of the new Diablo III, then please check out this gameplay video.
Blizzard shows off everything in the video: the new destructible environments, monsters, character classes, character movement and fighting styles, the characters, the items, the health & mana system, traps, item screen, and so much more.
This is a really a great video to watch in order to get a good idea of what the new game is going to play and look like.
Chocobo's Dungeon for the Nintendo Wii is scheduled for release in North America next week, but until then, here's some sweet gameplay footage to hold you over. I know I'm getting this game the first day it comes out.
Epic Studios has given some exclusive new footage of Gears of War 2 to Gametrailers.com to post on their site. Wanna see? Watch it above.
Wait? If you can watch it here, or anywhere else someone can embed the video, how does giving Gametrailers an exclusive on the footage really help them? Sure, they may get a few more hits than usual, but if they really wanted to use the exclusive to their advantage, wouldn't it be better to disable the embed feature on this video, so everyone has to go to their site to watch it?
Makes more sense, doesn't it?
Anyhoo, check out the new footage. Cliffy B is in it and he babbles about the new features in the game and some other stuff.
I don't know. I tend to blank out every time I see him. Guy pissed me off once, so I really don't care about him. Too bad his games are so good.
I'm not a huge fan of first person shooters as everyone should know by now, but secretly I do love to play arcade shooters like House of the Dead or Carnival King. Give me a light gun and I'll kill monsters from sunrise to sunset. I love using light guns because I can aim much better than I can with a controller.
With Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles coming out soon for the Wii, I'm so exciting at having a "House of the Dead" type rail shooter to play. I love the Resident Evil series and the trailers look so good. The bonus will be me being able to play the old Resident Evil 2 & 3 because I never got to before. Looking forward to picking this wicked looking game next Tuesday.
The newest game in the Dragon Quest series hits stores tomorrow for the Nintendo DS and I can't wait to get my copy. Dragon Quest: Joker allows players to scout the world for monsters to join their ever growing army of monster teams. Much like Pokemon but with cool monsters and a kid with weird hair.
Look for a review of this game in the near future.
Already released in Japan, Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland looks like it may be coming to Europe or North America with the release of this new English language gameplay footage. Girls and Gay men everywhere are jumping for joy right now. I love anything to do with the Zelda franchise and plan to pick this game up along with Phantom Hourglass for my DS.
