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Jan 15th, 2007 at 14:09:54 - Final Fantasy (PSP) |
Well apparently the gaming gods saw fit to destroy my save file, and needless to say that threw me into a bit of a rage. So I ditched the liveblogging thing and just went through and beat the damn game. At least it only took a couple hours.
My final verdict is that although the game does grow on you, it is still, at its core, not an especially good game in my opinion. The Warriors of Light story just doesn't hold up over time, and the storylines are what have made Final Fantasy games standouts in the genre since FFIV.
Probably my least favorite thing about the game was how easy it was to just get lost and have no idea where you're supposed to be going; it was a little too reminiscent of FFVII (in my opinion, the single most overrated game ever). I hate that lost feeling in games: I'm a pretty blunt person in life and I kind of like my games to match that nature.
The trick to this game is to learn resource management or, if you're like me and you have no problem wandering around a field and being OCD about levelling up for a couple hours, amassing as much gil as possible (was it called gil in this game? I wasn't really paying attention) and buying about a million potions and all the best gear and then just having at it. I think that's what overall made my endgame experience a positive one. When I can beat the crap out of everything in the game, it makes me feel good.
Anyway, I guess at the end of the day I feel like I have a respect for the game because of the fact that it laid the foundations for a series that would wind up changing the whole industry, but overall it is most certainly not my favorite game of all time.
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Jan 11th, 2007 at 20:47:57 - Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz (Wii) |
I think that if any game were begging to be made into a Wii title, it was the Monkey Ball series. I had no prior experience actually playing the games before this one, but I'd seen them played quite a few times before and it always seemed like something destined for a higher degree of interactivity.
The controls for this game are probably the most intuitive for any game out on the Wii or, for that matter, any platform. There isn't much to the main game; just move your controller to tilt the levels and get your monkey of choice to the end goal. It becomes apparent fairly early on though that the phrase "easy to learn, hard to master" is most definitely applicable to this game. It can be frustrating, but I consistently find it difficult to blame anyone but myself because this game is actually super well put together.
Just about the only thing that kept me from throwing my Wiimote against the wall is the cheery little music that plays in all the levels. It feels perfect for what you're doing and can be very soothing. I'm big on having good music in games. I find that good music actually makes or breaks a given game for me and love some games just because of how great the soundtrack was.
I'm stuck on one of the pirate levels right now, so I'm going to take a break, but I'll get back to it in awhile.
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Jan 11th, 2007 at 20:37:34 - Trauma Center: Second Opinion (Wii) |
I know I meant to come back and write a log the other day but then I beat that one operation and got myself caught up in a couple more. . . as in, all of them. I went and beat the game, and in retrospect I must say that for the most part it was pretty great. You mostly know what you should be doing so it comes down to skill nine times out of ten. Unfortunately, sometimes it also comes down to whether or not the Wii controls will actually listen to you. The most frustrating instance of this for me came while trying to dismantle the bomb, and for some reason nothing wanted to go my way. Sometimes the game thought I was rotating the screws the opposite direction I was really going, sometimes the pins didn't want to come out or go in (though this was remedied when I just stood up and literally walked back and forth to get the motion detection to pick up my distance), and so on.
The one other instance I can think of where you don't know what you're actually supposed to be doing and it is basically impossible to figure out by yourself is the last part of the final operation, where apparently you have to slow down time twice to be able to do the objective. That was intensely stupid and soured what was otherwise an excellent game. It was a shame it had to end on something so ridiculously frustrating.
The story also ends kind of awkwardly. It's built extremely well and actually incorporates quite a few twists and turns and very interesting plot points. The ending, though, feels rushed; not unlike big movies where they realize they made it too long and then just go "Uh, well, damn. Guess we've gotta lop off the ending."
In short, though, if you're just in it for the gameplay, this title most definitely does not disappoint. I think I'm actually going to go back through now and try to get higher scores on some of the operations I didn't do so well on. I wish I could do that in real life!
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Jan 9th, 2007 at 16:37:58 - Elebits (Wii) |
The premise of this game is basically like a game of hide and seek on steroids. You're awarded a certain number of watts for capturing the different kinds of Elebits, and once you have enough of them you clear the stage. That's not the only point of gather watts, though. You can also use them to turn on appliances and electronics and make more Elebits pop out, except the ones that appear as a result are used for powering up the game's main weapon, the Capture Gun, so you can lift up heavier objects in a Katamari Damacy-esque manner.
This game, however, is much bigger than Katamari Damacy. Although you never wind up picking up islands and clouds to try to shake out Elebits, you do get to pick up your house and toss it around to dislodge any of the hidden creatures. It's a ton of fun and levels like the one I just got to (the Kitchen) offer a surprising amount of challenge. I'm having a tough time not making all kinds of noise (since my normal strategy is "yank everything off the shelves as quickly and haphazardly as possible to make Elebits pop out"), but I think in another try or two I'll have it down.
More later!
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schaver has been with GameLog for 17 years, 10 months, and 15 days |
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