Cave Story

Cave Story is a freeware game available for download developed by some guy over several years. It is sort of similar to the 2D Metroid/Castlevania games but more linear and story driven. The main character awakens in a cave with amnesia and the story unfolds as he explores. The plot is pretty good for being an independent game developed by one person, it isn't spectacular though.

The gameplay is good, some pretty solid 2D platforming and shooting. There are a total of 9 weapons available, and you can carry up to 5 at a time, though finding them all can be difficult. The difficulty is always reasonable, there are plenty of save points and the learning curve isn't too steep. The last series of bosses can be pretty tough; it took me a few tries but not so many that I got frustrated. There is a secret area which is much more difficult for those looking for a challenge, it took me many tries to beat it.

Anyway, I'd recommend anyone that likes 2D platformers to give this game a try. It doesn't have the polish of a professionally developed game, but it is truly excellent for being made by one person, and it many ways it has the feeling that someone really put their heart into it unlike many other games.

Kanon

My friend recommended this to me and at the time I had nothing else to entertain myself with so I gave it a shot. It turned out pretty good! This anime is based off of one of those Japanese dating games (zzz) like Fate/Stay Night. Let me just say it contains practically no action or fighting of any kind so if that is your interest you won't like this. The premise is the main character (same voice actor and general archetype as Kyon from Haruhi) goes to finish High School at his cousin's High School in another city. He hasn't been to his cousin's in 7 years. I can't really say much else without spoiling things, but there are a lot of girls. The beginning starts off relatively slowly (it sets the foundation for the rest of the story) but things get interesting from there. This anime has its share of happy moments, and also its share of tragic moments; it is neither overtly depressing or bubbly. The ending was very well done, I can't say anything about it though without spoiling things! Anyway, definitely the best of the "harem" anime, though it only loosely fits that definition; I'd give it a watch if you have any interest in that sort of thing at all.

Metroid Prime Corruption

I was looking forward to this game a bit (more than the other Metroid Prime's at least). New system, new controls, hopefully Retro would be able to fix the problems of Metroid Prime 2 and maybe even make a better game than Metroid Prime! Heck, if we were lucky it might even match some of the 2D Metroids...

Sad to say I was pretty disappointed. The game was alright, definitely worth a play. Basically I feel like it tried too hard to be Halo. Metroid games have always emphasized that you are alone exploring a vast interconnected area. This game turned that around, introducing far too many characters (yet not fleshing them out at all) while letting you explore a number of small unconnected areas. On top of this the game was too linear. There were times when you could choose which order to do your next set of objectives in, but thats all there was to do: finish the objectives. In previous Metroids when you enter a new area you are presented with a number of paths, many of which would contain power ups and other interesting stuff. Instead, in this game there is one path which might have a power up or two along the way. This linearness along with the lack of connection between the areas (you could still fly between them with your ship, so it was easy to get around) made the game feel very small.

The items were pretty boring in this game. Although new areas were frequently unlocked by finding new items, at least half the time new areas were opened through story events. This is a step backwards; the great part about finding new items is that not only can you move on to the next area, you can go backwards to old areas and find new stuff. The only new item were the grappling upgrades which were interesting but nothing special. A lot of items that were even in the other Prime games (which already cut out a lot of items) were missing. Corruption only had 2 beams and 2 suits to be gained; even the original Metroid on NES had 3 beams.

The environments were somewhat dull as well. The first large planet is pretty diverse with a number of interesting areas. However, the rest of the environments are too mechanical just like Prime 2. The second large planet in particular was very dull with many of the rooms and areas being almost exactly the same.

As for the last area...

*SPOILERS*

This place was alright I guess. Large amounts of Phazon everywhere was at least more interesting than large amounts of machines everywhere. The thing that irked me about this place the most though was that you lose all of your energy tanks and missiles are useless. So basically all the items you found are pointless. Great. The ending was boring and instead of giving answers just raised more confusion. Why was Metroid Prime...a Metroid and not just a being of Phaaze? What is the connection between Aurora Units and the Mother Brain (who first appeared in Metroid...well before Aurora Units first appeared in Corruption)? ...

*END SPOILERS*

Anyway...if you've played the other Prime's you should play this one just to finish the trilogy. Otherwise...play it if you are interested. Having an FPS on the Wii was nice, but I liked RE4 more. Super Paper Mario, RE4, and Twilight Princess remain my top 3 favorite games on the Wii.

Super Metroid: Dependance

For those that don't know, Super Metroid has a large number of "hacks" which are remakes of the original Super Metroid by fans using an editor to change the game (sometimes drastically). I've played a couple before and always enjoyed them so when I heard there was a new one out I picked it up right away.

Finding the right rom which works with the patch file can be a real pain (yes I own the original cartridge) but it is definitely worth it. Anyway, on to the game. Dependence isn't as drastically changed as some of the hacks I've played (Redesign had new items and other big differences) but it was definitely great. The creator used a lot of tiles that were pretty rare in the original so many of the areas have a very different feel, which I didn't always like but it was good over all.

The difficulty was a notch above the Super Metroid but easier than most of the hacks. None of the sequence breaking skills from the original are required (except maybe wall jumping) but I definitely found one sided wall jumping and being able to turn into a ball mid jump very useful. I'd say that save states are a must for playing it without being overly frustrated.

Speaking of frustration, sometimes figuring out how to proceed is very difficult. I'm used to Metroid/Castlevania gameplay and I got stuck several times. Information on the net is scarce because it is only a hack so I was generally on my own. In the end I managed to get through with some difficulty.

In the end, I think that if you loved the original Super Metroid you will definitely want to play this hack (and several others). If you never played the original but you are interested you will want to try the original first. Playing this game without sufficient mastery of the original would be very frustrating.

Hellsing Ultimate

I've always liked the original Hellsing, so I was excited when I heard that it would be remade. The original definitely had style, but the storyline was butchered and the pacing was questionable. I've only seen 3 episodes (each about 45 minutes) of the new Hellsing Ultimate, but so far it trumps the original in every way. More violence, more plot, more character development, better animation, and even some comedy! So far this series has been great, and many things that were confusing or didn't make sense in the original fit in perfectly. I highly recommend anyone who liked the original give it a try, and even if you didn't like the original or never saw it...give it a shot!

Claymore

So I had heard good things about this manga and I decided to try it out the other day. I had watched an episode of the anime and I didn't really like it. The choreography was poorly done (basically just still frames from the manga) and the gray outfits were boring. However, I was pretty bored so I gave the manga a shot.

It started out rather slow, the first few arcs were rather bland. However after a bit it picked up and I began to enjoy it. I ended up reading all 73~ chapters that night. The story is fairly dark and there is no humor. The fights are interesting, and the general concept is as well. Basically, Claymores are women who fight yoma (monsters) with giant claymores. The Claymores are part yoma themselves (which gives them the power to fight and sense yoma). Any Claymore that releases too much yoma power will cross the line and become an Awakened One, unable to return to their human form.

One of the downsides is that almost all of the characters are Claymores - blonde haired, silver eyed women who all have claymores and the same outfit. Telling the characters apart can sometimes be difficult or down right daunting.

Code Geas Episodes 24 and 25

I've been waiting all summer for these episodes and frankly it was worth the wait. The action started immediately and proceeded quickly. Events took place at a dizzying pace which perfectly matched the atmosphere of the show. Instead of feeling rushed the pace really sets the tone for the action and how desperate the characters are.

Rather than try to go through things as I happened, I'll just look at how they ended up. First and foremost, the biggest question is who fired that gunshot?! Both Suzaku and Lelouch were extremely angry. However, Lelouch already ordered Suzaku to live with the Geas, will this prevent him from shooting Lelouch and activating the sakuradite? Lelouch seems the least handy with a gun of the three, nor does it seem likely he would shoot his best friend even in such a situation. He probably does not have the accuracy to shoot the gun out of Suzaku's hand either. Karen on the other hand seems decent with guns and would have the accuracy to disarm Suzaku (or shoot Lelouch!) so my bet is on her.

Seems like Orange got some strange new powers, but CC is taking him to the bottom of the ocean...presumably to keep him out of Lelouch's hair. VV kidnapped Nunnaly, but she doesn't seem particularly evil, nor particularly good! We also have "chigusa" running around with knowledge of Lelouch's power and identity. Shirley and Cornelia (not sure what happened to her either!) also know of his identity. Things are falling apart quickly!

Anyway, I know I've been writing more about what happened and less about how good the episode was. Frankly, I think it was great. I can't wait until Season 2 starts up! I heard a rumor that it is going to be called "Suzaku of the Counter Attack".