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".

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

If you haven't read the book, stop reading now - spoilers ahead!




I haven't had time to read this until now, but I finished it in a night! Pretty decent. The beginning was very exciting but the excitement slackened off slowly. The wedding bit and surrounding parts were slow...Grimauld place was slow...the long, long, long period of wandering around forests hiding was incredibly slow. The real problem here is that Harry Potter usually has a wide array of characters and subplots running simultaneously at Hogwarts. The much more limited cast of Harry, Ron and Hermione (and for a short bit, just Harry and Hermione) was very different than setting of the other books. Harry, Hermione and Ron had their usual minor fights, but without anything else to serve as a backdrop or distraction, it was pretty dull.

The ending was decent. I have to admit I feel a large part of Harry's development at the end was practically exactly the same as what happened in Tales of the Abyss, but I doubt the author knowingly ripped it off. It was still good however. Dumbledore's shift from the perfect idol to a fallible human was also quite interesting. It was somewhat undermined by the fact that everything ended up following his plan anyway.

Anyway, a good book. I still haven't thought everything through about it, but my general feeling is that it was very different from the other books, and much simpler due to the lack of subplots.

Prince of Persia: Rival Swords

So my friend got me interested in Tomb Raider Anniversary (mostly just to see how my computer would run it). After playing for an hour or so I was pretty frustrated with the controls especially in comparison to Prince of Persia on the xbox. So, I happened to see PoP: Rival Swords the other day and I picked it up to see how the Wii controls were.

I was honestly expecting them to be pretty bad but actually the controls are quite good, an improvement over the xbox version and definitely better than TRA. Despite the number of different actions available in PoP, all of them were easy to perform. The Prince's two handed fighting style was perfect with the wiimote controlling his right hand and the nunchuk controlling his left for attacking. The only problem I had was jumping and rolling; both are controlled with the same button. There were a number of places where I rolled off a platform instead of jumping or jumped in place instead of rolling away from an enemy.

The graphics and story are pretty much the same as the xbox version; nothing special but not bad either. The thing that always impressed me about this game was how it is so linear yet never seems so. You are constantly high above the streets manuevering from balcony to balcony. It seems there are many ways to go at the open intersections of streets yet you are always subtly guided down one by the positioning of the various poles and shutters you jump off of.

The one downside to this game is there is no replayability. Most games at least throw in an unlocked mode and some bonus activities once you finish the game. This had nothing at all; once you beat the game it is over. There are different difficulties but frankly the fighting is flat out easy and not a big part of the game anyway.

All in all I liked it but strictly fun for the great platforming. The fighting is easy; despite the large number of available moves there is no reason to use them. The storyline is good but does not carry the game. A nice throwback and improvement on an older style of gaming.

Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition

I was really looking forward to this and it is everything I had dreamed of. I played and beat the crap out of the gamecube version of RE4 and I was pleased when it was announced it would be rereleased on the Wii - especially with the PS2 extras that were added for that port. Let me just say this game is a flat out steal for 30 bucks.

So, the wiimote controls....are brilliant. I was worried they would be shaky or skippy or bad in some way but they are frankly perfect. I don't have a very steady hand and I have no problem aiming whatsoever. The game is a bit easier because the old GC and PS2 versions were limited in how fast you could move the aiming, where as you can flit around easily with the wiimote. The developers countered this by reducing the amount of ammo available and increasing the aggressiveness of enemies. This leans the game even further towards action rather than the survival horror of older RE's.

All of the old controls are also available, you can use a gamecube controller instead of a wiimote and there is a knifing button instead of swinging the wiimote. The old versions required button presses for actions during cutscenes (for example, monster is swinging an axe at you, hit A to dodge) now you must swing or shake the wiimote which is an improvement. The only thing I don't really like is sometimes you can accidentally swing the knife by swinging the remote, especially after actions that require swinging of the wiimote.

The graphics are the best yet, using the GC version's superior graphics on the Wii's superior hardware. Some of the extra stuff from the PS2 version still looks kind of bad because it was ported over from that instead of the GC, but nothing major, and nothing you would be able to witness on your first play through. They are still 2 years old though, so don't expect anything amazing. Of course they were amazing when the game was first released so they are still pleasant on the eyes.

Basically, this would be game of the year if it were just being released. This is the ultimate version of RE4 and its worth 30 bucks whether you have played the previous releases or not.

Super Paper Mario

I picked this up the other day because I was bored, I didn't expect anything spectacular but nothing bad either. I was in for a surprise, this game is quite good. I had read some reviews on line saying the controllers were finicky and the game play was to simple...

I disagree. The controls are just fine. Holding the wiimote sideways is surprisingly natural (if you've never done it before, you'll be surprised) and controls just great. Kind of a classic Mario feel to it. Even the 3D controls were great, I mean they suffered from the usual 3D platforming problems....but since the 3D "depth" dimension is the same as the 2D left and right dimension theres really no problem at all.

I also read that the game play was to simple like earlier Mario's (this didn't make sense to me - weren't the older Mario's great?) but its not. Almost everything is puzzle based. You pick up new skills and characters as you go (kind of like Zelda, new abilities to solve new puzzles). The characters have different abilities (Peach can float, Bowser can breath fire, etc) which you can use in different situations. Character switching is incredibly easy with no load time so no worries there. So far I have 8 abilities and 3 characters and I'm still only on the fourth world.

The RPG aspects are pretty faint in this one. You level up as your score increases (you get points for doing just about anything, its pretty much just exp) and when you level up you either get 5 hp or 1 attack power. There are ways to increase your score (if you wave the controller after jumping on an enemy you will do a pose, and you can land on an enemy again to do another pose, racking up points).

There are also items but the system is kind of like Super Mario 3's, but there is a wider variety of items (many healing items and some to attack enemies) and you can use items at any time. An interesting item is the "catch card" which allows you to capture enemies as cards. If you have the card for an enemy type you can do double damage (or more if you have more cards). So...gotta catch 'em all.

Also there is the ability to switch from 2D to 3D. This is a great dimension (ahahha...haa) to add to the game. Somethings can only be seen in 3D and in general it just makes for a cool aspect especially with puzzles and secrets. You can also use this to dodge enemy attacks among other things. This was really well done and implemented just great.

The dialog is sparse for an RPG but heavy for a Mario game. The localization team put a lot of effort into it - every character has a pretty distinct and noticeable (and some, hilarious) personality. I found myself chuckling frequently during the dialog sections. Mario doesn't speak but he has some gestures that get his meaning across.

The graphics are pretty sharp (yes I just said that a 2D game with paper characters). No seriously, the animation is smooth and crisp and everything has a nice style. Even though it was 2D I could definitely tell I was playing a next gen game. The sound effects and music fit quite well, although the music is nothing special. I didn't really expect epic music in a Mario game anyway.

Overall quite good so far. I haven't finished yet, the game is pretty long. I'll update if my opinion changes!

Tsubasa Chronicle

Ok, so I actually watched the first season of this anime as it aired two years ago. The premise is, the heroes have to go from dimension to dimension finding this Princess's feathers (which represent her memories) because they were scattered throughout the different worlds. Kind of reminds me of Inu Yasha, endless hunt for an unknown number of objects. The strange thing is CLAMP used many characters from all of their previous works instead of making new ones. These characters are from different "worlds" so they have no involvement with the originals from CLAMP's other work. Two of the main characters (along with many other characters) are from Card Captor Sakura.

So anyway, the show was decent, lots of interesting plot lines. However, the season just kind of ended without much of a resolution. Nothing was really explained and they were just like...we'll be back next season! So I didn't bother picking up season 2, as season 1 had been your pretty standard adventure anime.

However, recently I went back and read the manga and it certainly got a lot better. Lots of developments with the characters and plot. As usual CLAMP's characters designs are interesting, and the style of the manga is very cool (it doesn't really show through in the anime). From the first season of the anime I got the impression that we were never really going to learn about the character's pasts until the end, but I was shown to be wrong. The manga has shown more detail about each character's past, some of them extensively. There have also been other major changes but I can't really say anything without ruining it.

I haven't been able to get my hands on season 2 of the anime yet, but given how much better the manga got I am going to give it a try when I can. Interestingly enough, there is a cross over manga (and anime) xxxHolic also by CLAMP which features many of the same characters (most notably The Dimension Witch) which is currently running. The two works frequently reference events in eachother as they run parallel in time.

I've taken to reading xxxHolic since I have run out of Tsubasa Chronicle, but I don't enjoy it as much as TC. I don't think I would read it if it weren't for the references to TC, it is about Kimihiro Watanuki, a high school student in Japan (of course) who always happens to have weird things happen to him (of course). He accidentally stumbles upon the Dimension Witch's house one day (of course) and things get weirder from there. I can't really recommend checking it out unless you are already interesting in Tsubasa Chronicle.

Code Geas (Season One?)

I recently finished (and started) this anime. It is pretty addicting - I watched the first 15 episodes straight. Anyway, it is a mecha type with some Death Note-esque undertones of trickery and mind games. The pacing was excellent, nothing was drawn out - a fatal flaw of many anime. The characters were interesting and human and the fight scenes were good. I'll try to give some thoughts on it without spoiling anything.

Unfortunately, very little was resolved and it ended up a huge cliff hanger. More episodes are supposed to air this summer and there are rumors that a whole season two is in the works. There is certainly room for another season; there are tons of unresolved plot lines.

The plot was very interesting and always kept moving. The cast is quite large - although Lelouch (the main character) is clearly..well..the main character, many other characters are involved and fleshed out as well. It felt like quite a bit of the story was taken from Gundam SEED, but that is what you expect in anime I guess... However, the story is different enough to still be its own story and well done as well.

Left: Kira and Lacus from Gundam SEED
Right: Euphie and Suzaku from Code Geas

The character designs by CLAMP definitely call to mind their previous work. Sometimes I felt almost like I was watching Tsubasa Chronicle again. Suzaku (pictured above, right most) is a dead ringer for Tsubasa's Syaoron (who is himself taken from Card Captor Sakura). Code Geas stands out though with its darker characters and violent storyline.

I can't really say much more without spoiling anything (yes there are that many twists), but I really enjoyed this anime and I am looking forward to the new episodes. Anyone who liked Gundam SEED or Death Note will probably like Code Geas.

Heroes Season Finale

As you may have guessed, massive spoilers ahead.

I felt this season finale was a let down. So Nathan decided to sacrifice his life to save New York. Why couldn't Peter just fly away on his own? Did his inability to control Ted's ability extend to all of his abilities at that moment? Also, what a bad moment for Hiro to lose control of his powers AGAIN. I thought he had just worked out the whole thing with the sword. I'm still not sure why they didn't just shoot Peter - "There has to be another way!" - who cares! This way no one dies, but instead you opted for the method that kills Nathan. If you shoot Peter he can just regenerate. This whole thing seemed like a very contrived way for Nathan to throw away his life, when there were multiple other choices right there.

Of course the whole thing could have been prevented if Peter hadn't stuck around in New York. I can see the thought process in his head now "Oh no! I'm going to meet this guy Ted in New York then explode! Time to go look for him around the city." I mean, come on, how dumb can you get.

Sylar seems to have escaped into the sewers. This makes me wonder if they have even changed the future at all. If Sylar is still alive with Ted's power he can explode at any time...kill Ando at any time...and still bring about that future which Hiro saw. I also thought it was pretty lame how he got stabbed. He just forgot to use his telekinesis or something? He was so shocked that Hiro showed up to kill him for the millionth time that he was helpless?

The scene with Simone's father was very interesting; not only the content but what it was. Did Charles have some kind of power involving dreams with the future/past? Or did he have a power similar to Sanjog Iyer's (the Indian kid who visited Mohinder's dreams). Were Peter's early visions simply a power he unwittingly absorbed from Charles?

The cliff hanger was interesting too. Hiro in Japan a few hundred years ago. Maybe he will shape up to be more like the Future Hiro we saw, but less cold because he saved Ando. Unfortunately I don't think this adventure into historical Japan will last very long. Heroes is built on the character interaction of normal people with extraordinary abilities. Where Hiro is now has a lot of unnormal (by viewer standards) people with ordinary abilities. I imagine Hiro will learn some stuff from the Kensei and be on his way back to the present in short order.

In any case, I hope next season ends a bit better. Season one ended with little resolution: Sylar gets away, Nathan needlessly sacrifices himself, Hiro ends up in a strange time/place yet again. Basically the only interesting thing that happened is all the heroes finally ended up in the same place at the same time in a friendly manner. We'll see how long that lasts of course...

Tales of the Abyss

So recently I've been playing a great deal of Tales of the Abyss. I know it came out quite a few months ago but I've just recently found the time to play it. So far I'm pretty impressed (I'm on my second playthrough on the hardest difficulty), Namco has improved on many of the problems from Tales of Symphonia. My main problem with ToS are the characters. They are flat and static, barely growing as the story unfolds. Sure, we learn some interesting things about their pasts and origins, but does that act as a catalyst for character growth? Nope. They just continue in the same vein.

ToA definitely addresses this problem. Along the epic story (which is full of the usual Tales problems; mainly it goes on so long the beginning no longer even makes sense as far as character motives go) we have the development of the main character Luke. While I won't spoil anything, I really enjoyed his complete transformation as a person.

A lot of other problems from ToS are fixed as well. The battle camera now works with more than 1 player; in ToS anyone besides first player was almost constantly off camera making game play impossible. Overlimit now has a purpose which makes things interesting and the cel shading isn't as rough and jagged as it was on ToS. The free run feature in battle is also nice, making it quite easy to dodge many spells (not that the AI is smart enough to use it..).

Many of the new additions are great too. The AD Skills/Capacity Cores system is far more interesting and useful than the EX Skills system from ToS. As mentioned above, overlimits now have a use; mystic arts. This is your standard Limit Break/Overdrive/ougi/super move type deal, but it can be interesting working them into combos.

There is also some more replayability. Some arts/dungeons/titles/treasures can only be accessed on the 2nd play through of the game. To go with this, 2 new difficulties are unlocked for the second play through as well so you can challenge yourself. Right now I am playing on "unknown" difficulty and it's pretty tough. The first boss had around 40k hp and I only hit for 1 on every attack....

Of course, some problems remained. The overworld, although slightly better looking, is still awful. The ToS overworld looked like it was on the SNES. The ToA overworld is more like PSX. The camera in the overworld rotates very slowly and even stutters constantly. Vehicles also turn very slowly; pulling a 180 degree turn around is a lengthy endeavor full of camera stuttering. The autopilot feature is gained later in the game which makes the world map more bearable, but it has its own problems as well. When you autopilot somewhere the game gives you a loading screen just for moving positions on the world map - it doesn't even put you inside the place. So, you end up loading (just to change positions in the world map), then landing and entering the place, which takes more loading.

New problems also arose. Saving and loading take a good chunk of time. Saving especially; expect to spend at least 10 seconds whenever you want to save, I recommend a bathroom break. This is a major disappointment from ToS's near instant saving and loading, I guess its an issue with gamecube vs PS2.

Anyway, I am very pleased with ToA. I expected a rehash of ToS or worse (Tales of Legendia anyone?), but instead found ToA to be an improvement in almost every area, especially character development.