I Think We Need An Update Here

My posting on this blog has been missing, as of late. I'll try to be better at it, I swear.

Today's post is just going to be a few of my first impressions of games I've played recently.

First off is Phantasy Star 0 (zero). Phantasy Star 0, which is for the Nintendo DS, is very similar to some of the other games in the series, but isn't exactly like any of them. The gameplay is like a mesh of Phantasy Star Portable, Phantasy Star Universe and Phantasy Star Online, all of which were great games. I personally think the game is closer in similarities to Phantasy Star Online rather than the others. First off, the race and class selection is taken almost straight from Phantasy Star Online (PSO). Unlike Phantasy Star Portable (PSP) and Phantasy Star Universe (PSU) you're limited to 3 races and 3 classes; Humans, Newmans, and Casts for races, and Hunters, Rangers, and Forces for classes. Just as in PSO, each race is limited in what class it can be, such as Casts not being able to be Forces. Character customization is severely limited when compared with PSP and PSU, both of which let you change outfits, hair, parts (for Casts) and accesories. With Phantasy Star 0 (PSZ), you're limited right from the start. Just as with PSO, you can only change a few things about your appearance, such as your color (for Casts), your hair style and the one set of clothes you wear. (Rememeber, this is a first impression of the game. I haven't finished it yet, so the ability to change clothing and such might still come later.)

I am excited, however, at the reappearance of the Mag. (In PSO, a Mag was a small robot that followed you around and boosted stats and such. Feeding your Mag would make it "evolve" and boost you even more. PSU and PSP had Mags, but they didn't do as much as in PSO.) I'm not sure if the Mags are going to be as awesome as they were in PSO, but I can sure as heck hope they will be.

Graphics-wise, the game is nowhere near the quality of PSP (which, ironically, was on the PSP, which has always been the superior to the Nintendo DS as far as graphics capabilities.) But, the game is still decent to look at.

My only problem so far with playing is the lack of an ability to control the camera. With all the others (PSP, PSU, PSO) there was a button to swing the camera around behind you. So far with PSZ, I have been unable to find that button. Maybe I should read through the little guide that came with it, it might tell me how to do that. But, if there is no button for camera swings, I'm going to be extremely disappointed.

All in all, I'm liking the game so far. (But, I might be biased. I have liked all of the Phantasy Star games so far.) Although, I have now taken a break from PSZ so I can go back and complete PSP. I guess that's normal though. I didn't want to get too far into a new Phantasy Star game before I finished all I could on a previous one.

My first impression score (which I'm no longer calculating on a 1 to 5 basis, but on a level of how much I want to keep playing it): Interested & Wanting More.

Basically, there's too much left to play in the game for me to say "Yea" or "Nay" to it. I'm pretty sure that I'll like it, simply because it's a Phantasy Star game, but I'll try to keep my mind open and give an unbiased opinion when I finish it.

Next on my list of new game first impressions is Little Big Planet for the PSP. Little Big Planet made it's first appearance on the PS3 and was met with huge success. It was a very smart, logical step for Sony to take by porting the game to the PSP.

Little Big Planet for the PSP (LBPP) plays very much like its predecessor. The graphics are, of course, nowhere near the caliber of the PS3, but they are still quite amazing. In my opinion, it looks just fine on the small screen. The controls are almost exactly the same, minus the ability to tilt the controller to make your Sackboy move, which wasn't really a neccesity.

Gameplay-wise, you're not going to notice anything really different about LBPP from LBP. You still sidescroll across the screen and grab things. Grabbing things can help you move and can also activate certain things in the game. It's a very simple game to play that is still extremely fun.

Character Customization in LBPP is just as amazing as LBP. You can change pretty much anything on your Sackboy, and you can also save the outfits you create so you can jump between them. There are moustaches, hats, hair, clothes, accesories that you can choose from, as well as different "skin" colors to choose from.

All in all, LBPP is a great port from a great game. I definitely will be playing more of it.

First impression score: Entertained & Wanting More (You may notice that my new way of ranking something based on a first impression is not really set by anything. It's probably going to be different for each game.)

Unlike Phantasy Star 0, I know enough about this game to be able to say "Yea" to it. I know I loved the PS3 version and with how similar the PSP version is, it's safe to say I'll love it.

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days - review

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, a game for the Nintendo DS, is the fourth story installment for the Kingdom Hearts series. It follows the story of Roxas, which (if you had played Kingdom Hearts II all the way through) is Sora's Nobody, or basically a form of Sora that doesn't have a heart. Event-wise, it takes place during the year in-between Kingdom Hearts I and II, Starting at nearly the same time as Chain of Memories.

Although the story is about Roxas, it focuses on three individuals in particular: Axel, Roxas, and Xion, all members of Organization XIII, which is a group consisting of the most powerful nobodies amongst all the known worlds. The focus particularly is about their friendship and their attempt to maintain it, regardless of the other forces at hand.

The story itself is one similar to any of the other Kingdom Hearts games: it starts off simple, mostly just figuring out how to play; but it becomes very long, especially if you want to do all the side missions and stories.

From left to right: Axel, Roxas and Xion.

Gameplay follows the pattern similar to other Kingdom Hearts games, too. 3D environment, lock-on, use magic and different keyblades to defeat foes.

Differences from the other games in the title series make this a new animal to tackle, too. You don't just level up. It is in the game, yes, but it is treated differently. You are alloted slots, and everything that you would use in the game will take up at least one slot, depending on the power of the item. The items are called panels, and there is a panel for everything. You want to level up? Gain enough experience from defeating enemies, then put the level panel you obtain into a slot, as an example.

A big difference in game mechanics that I liked was the Keyblades themselves. Different keyblades not only looked different (obviously), but they were used differently. Some blades would have a small amount of hits per round but deal typically a great deal of damage, while others had long chains of hits per round, but deal little to moderate damage. Additionally, those chains would be assigned to use on ground only or in air only. You could attack either on ground or in the air regardless, but you could only do the chain on one of them.

And another difference, which I think was the biggest and best, was the introduction of multiplayer. Up to four people can play together on a mission, each person initially being able to play any member of the organization. Then, when you get to certain parts of the game or unlock specific parts of the game, other characters become available to play in multiplayer, from Donald or Goofy to King Mickey to even Sora himself.

A screenshot of the multiplayer system on the game.

Score: 4 out of 5

The game was good. Very good. I had no real complaint with the control scheme or even the panel system. Rotating the camera was semi-difficult at first, but I quickly adapted to that.

The story was also good. It answered most of the questions I had that had arisen when going through both Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II. Some other questions arose, but will most likely be answered by the next installment in the Kingdom Hearts series, known as Birth by Sleep.

The main issue I had was the amount of time it took to beat the game. I know, it had to complete a whole year within the game, but some of the missions were difficult, and if you wanted to do all of the side quests and unlock as much as you could, you would need to put in nearly triple the amount of hours. I am aware that Kingdom Hearts games take a while to beat, but I put a lot more time into this game than I originally intended.

Still, it is a good game. It is a must-have for anyone who is a fan of Kingdom Hearts, and will answer most of the questions you had about the series.


~Koubo

Note: This Is Not A Review

Read the title. This is not a review of the game Scribblenauts. Instead, this is just some of the crazy things I've done in the game so far. If you are unfamiliar with the game and are wondering how I've done these things in a game, I'll breifly explain how Scribblenauts works. In the game, you play as Maxwell. Maxwell has a magical notepad that makes whatever he writes on it appear in the game. Using this notepad, Maxwell has to accomplish goals in the game to earn Starites. The game has over 10,000 nouns in its system that you can summon with the notepad. I've been messing around with the game just to see what I could create with it. Here's some of the more interesting things.- I found out who would win in a battle between God and Satan by summoning both of them and letting them duke it out. (Also, I found out who would win between God and a Velociraptor, God and a T-rex, God and Death, and God and a Giant Squid. The results are quite funny.)

-I knocked over a stack of bottles by throwing a tentacle at them.

-I suddenly sprouted wings so that I could retrieve a flower from a cliff.

-I stopped a bee from charging me by dropping a huge boulder on it, which doesn't sound too crazy, but when everybody else was trying to kill it with pistols and flamethrowers, dropping a boulder on it made me laugh.

-I killed a pirhana by dropping a shark in with it. I also killed it with an alligator, a crocodile, and another giang squid. (I really like that giant squid.)

-I rescued a kitten off a roof by luring it with catnip.

-I created a battle royale by summoning Death, God, Satan, a T-Rex, and a Cuttlefish. Then, just for fun, I ended the battle by dropping a Nuke on the map.

-I cleaned up a park by burning all the trees and trash, then proceeded to kill a fly with a chainsaw.

-I personally killed God with a bazooka.

-I blew up a polar bear with land mines.

-I had a witch turn God into a frog and eat him.

-I shrank a tornado with a shrink ray.

These are just a few of the things I've done in the game. There are still words that I'd like to try out and see what they do. If you've played the game, share some of the crazy things you've done or some of the solutions you've come up with for the puzzles.

Watch for a full review on the game from either myself or from Koubo sometime in the near future.

Electroplankton

Today I'd like to take a minute to talk about a game that is one of the rare gems in my collection. It's called: Electroplankton.
This Nintendo DS title is not just rare in the sense that it is hard to find (which it is) but has a rare style of gameplay. This is one of the few games I've played that doesn't have a main goal. There is no beginning, middle, or end to the game and there's no way to beat the game. The game is just meant to be played for fun and not to unlock things or get a high score. In fact, there is no scoring system in the game at all and everything is unlocked when you first start playing.

Developed by Toshio Iwai, the whole purpose of the game is to create sounds and music. In the game, there are ten different types of plankton. Each type of plankton does different things when they are interacted with. All of them will make some kind of sound and will create beautiful designs on the screen. You can interact with them through both the touch screen and the microphone on the DS. One type of plankton will create designs on the screen when you make different sound into the microphone. Others will move about on a grid of arrows that point in the direction you choose, and will make different sounds depending on which arrows they land on. Another will record about 10 seconds of audio and will play it back, allowing you to alter it depending on what shape the plankton is.
Honestly, the game is meant to be fun, and it is. The different combinations of sound you can make with it are extremely entertaining. The replay value for the game is quite high. I've spent hours playing with it and still find myself pulling it out to play. If you can manage to find a copy of this game, I recommend picking it up. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

My score: Another 5 out of 5.

I've yet to find another game that is so simple, and yet so intruiging.

Feel The Magic XY-XX

Feel The Magic is one of the games that came out right around the same time that the original Nintendo DS came out all those years ago. (It really does seem like it's been a while since the DS first came out.) You've probably seen the game sitting in the used game section of your local video game store and never thought of buying it. But, I'm here to tell you, BUY IT! It's one of the most creative games I've seen for any system. It's a "mini-game" type of game and I know what you're thinking. "But, there are so many mini-game games for the DS and none of them are that fun, why should this one be any different?" Well, this article will tell you why it's different.
I was like you, I didn't think much of the game when I first saw it. But, at the time, there weren't many games out for the DS, so I ended up buying it just so I could have something to play other than Mario 64. After only a few minutes of playing I was hooked.

The story for Feel The Magic is classic. Boy meets girl, they fall in love, boy does crazy things to impress her, boy and girl get stranded on a desert island, girl gets kidnapped by different boy, and boy has to rescue girl. Ok, so maybe that's not a classic story, but it's still a good one.

The story is progressed by completing various mini games all of which are simple, yet complex at the same time. The games utilize all the features of the Original DS and the DS Lite. Sometimes you'll be blowing into the microphone to put out giant candles that are attacking, sometimes you'll be rubbing madly back and forth on the touch pad to fan a fire into life, while other times, you'll be using a more precise touch on the touch pad to guide yourself across a narrow beam between two buildings. All of the mini games are, in my opinion, addicting. You'll be graded on all of them and depending on how well you do, you can unlock things in the game. Mostly you'll be unlocking new outfits and hairstyles for the girl to wear (which sounds lame, but trust me, it's pretty fun), but you can also unlock things like a sound and music menu.

I won't give away the ending of the game, but I'll say this: It's one of the craziest boss fights I've ever been in. Seriously.

If what I've said doesn't strike your fancy, then try the game out just to see the unique art style used in it. It reminds me of iPod commercials. Also, the game is really quite funny. I laughed quite a bit while playing it.

This is honestly one of the Rare Gems in my video game collection. I highly recommend everyone picks it up and gives it a try.

My score: 5 out of 5.

This game is fun, inventive, and addicting and has great replay value. Even after all these years I still find myself pulling it out and playing it over and over again.