Robot Claw

A quick update as to what I’ve been gaming recently.

First and foremost, I’ve hung up my World Of Warcraft hat for another semester. I will play again in late December or early January, especially if the expansion has been released by then.

Given that I have an awesome amount of other, mostly unplayed, games waiting for me, I can now turn my attention to them!

As usual I prefer handhelds to console games, although I do have a few PS2 RPGs I will start soon (and I am eagerly awaiting Final Fantasy XII in October). Right now I am enjoying Gradius Collection and Monster Hunter for PSP.

Gradius Collection is a port of the first five Gradius games to the PSP. This includes Gradius I, II, III, IX and Gaiden. It is an excellent port, and one of the very best compilations I have seen for any system. It does help though that the Gradius games are not as reliant on diagonal movement as other games, and the analogue nub implementation is excellent (in other words, the limitations of the PSP controls are not as evident in this game):

The shots above were taken in ‘zoom mode’, but I play exclusively in pixel-pixel mode, which means the game image is less than the PSP dimensions (but not by much). Gradius III, IV and Gaiden are magnificent shooters, featuring enhancements like the ability to edit the upgrade menu.

All things considered I find this to be one of the very best PSP games, with some of the inclusions almost up to par with the ultimate gradius version, Gradius Galaxies (for the Gameboy Advance).

Monster Hunter is more a lifestyle than a game, and I am returning to it after a few month absence (it fills the void Warcraft occupied). It is essentially an offline MMRPG, where the gameplay consists of hunting dinosaurs/dragons to remove their ‘parts’ and use them to upgrade your equipment, allowing you to down larger and more fearsome foes. Hundreds upon hundreds of hours are assured if you wish to accomplish everything (Capcom claims 700 hours). My save is well over a hundred hours and I estimate I have seen perhaps 15% of the game:

I’m also concurrently playing a slew of DS games, including Deep Labyrinth, Oenden (featured in a previous entry), Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and I’ve just started on Bleach DS:

Bleach is a 2D fighter developed by Treasure (a name synonomous with quality). The graphics are top-notch, and the gameplay is frenetic and full of combos, counters, guard reversals and all other elements expected in a high-end fighting game. In addition, points are earned like currency and used to purchase powerups that affect gameplay (see the card-like things on the lower screen). I’m only scratching the surface of this obviously very deep game, but it already has me hooked!

In addition, I have a few Gameboy Advance games I am working on. I just beat Summon Night (which was great) and have just started Super Robot Wars. I fear it may be pushed aside for a while in favour of Yu-Gi-Oh World Championship 2006 edition, which is about as hardcore as a game gets these days. If you are new to Yu-Gi-Oh this game will be too much for you. But if you’ve played the CCG, or are curious as to why/how it ever toppped MTG as the ‘technique’ CCG, then this GBA game (which is the official engine for real-world tournaments) is a must-play!

About a year ago Nintendo released a game for the DS in Japan only called Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan. It is a rythym/music game, where you tap targets on the screen in time to the beats of a selection of groovy J-Pop songs. At the same time, a story is being told in the background of a group of ‘motivators’ helping people get better at something.

For instance, in one song you help a chef prepare better food to save his ailing restaurant. In another you motivate an old horse to win a race. The better you do at the song, the better they do at their chosen task.

In short the game is a masterpiece. It’s simultaneously wacky, charming and very, very addictive. And despite not being much of a fan of rythym games, I find myself really enjoying this one (which I picked up in Japan). It’s easily one of the most impressive DS games released so far, and has found itself a very large fanbase even outside of Japan.

This website is a good example, and gives you some screenshots of what the game is like to play. And here is a video (worth watching, believe me) of one of the songs being played in hard mode.

Later this year an English version of the game will release under the title ‘Elite Beat Agents’. It will be very different, with new songs, characters and stories. I’ll probably buy it, but I can’t see it being as good as the original. Hopefully the spirit of the gameplay survives intact!

The difference between someone that likes playing videogames and someone who has almost dedicated his life to videogames is illustrated by the following shot:

< Bonus!

That’s a shot I just took of my Neo-Geo Pocket Color handheld system, which I was using to try out the four new games I got today in the mail. Yes, this is the system that failed seven years ago, and yes, one of the games I got is the near-legendary finished-but-never-released Faselei by quirky (but great) Japanese developer Sacnoth.