When you start the game, you’re first treated to an opening movie showing your hero battling it out with a bunch of guys and a nasty cyclops-resembling monster. This was very impressive, but a little misleading as the high-quality animation made me believe that all of the cutscenes would be like that. Cutscenes are, of course, the chocolate-chips in every gamer’s dream cookie. The rest of the game had cutscenes that were impressive in showing you the scope and breadth of where you are in the game, but nothing approaching that cinema quality.

The menu is very straightforward and I had very little problems navigating it and learning what everything does. The options menu has settings for game hints (on/off), music and sound effects level sliders and has localization of several common languages. The new game option has standard difficulty options: easy, normal and a “heroic” mode which is unlockable after beating the game on either difficulty.

Gameplay is a real treat, especially for someone like me that has tried his fair share of most game genres on the iPhone platform. Keep in mind that the iPhone has only one physical button on the front. The game designers give you a virtual control stick with which to move the hero and three action “buttons”: one to swing your weapon, another to shield and use special abilities, and one that appears under certain battle conditions. There’s also life and magic meters on the top part of the screen, along with a menu escape. This game interface surprisingly doesn’t interfere with the rest of the game on screen. The virtual controls worked very well, only being a problem when my thumbs weren’t aligned properly! One thing I should mention about this game: it’s very graphic-intensive; I would recommend installing MemoryInfo and using it to kill all non-essential iPhone memory processes before starting the game.

The goals of the game itself are very straightforward and on-screen game hints will let you know if you’re going wayward. There’s a couple of neat surprises to this seemingly mindless brawler. First, you can search for powerups for your health and magic meters. Most of these are obvoius to find, but some aren’t that easy. Second, there are some puzzle elements to later levels that, while being simple puzzles, still add some needed depth to the gameplay. You can also upgrade weapons that you acquire throughout, and the decisions to upgrade which abilities of each weapon can also make your warrior’s life easy or a living hell.

The game itself is engaging, with a storyline and cutscenes that immerse you into your character. I found myself eagerly looking forward to the next chapter, the next challenge, even the next bigger sub-boss. The designers put some thought into making the game challenging, but not extravagantly difficult for newbies like myself. I got killed a few times, but it wasn’t too hard to figure out what I was doing wrong and adapt.

All in all, I had to give this game a 4 out of 5… whatever symbol you care to think of. I can’t give it my highest rating because, while the entire storyline was bordering on epic grandeur… the ending was just pure anticlimactic crap! If it weren’t for how great the rest of the game is, I would have felt completely bilked instead of merely cheated of a good ending. Still, I would recommend this game to anyone who wants a good adventure. Sans the ending, I really enjoyed being the Hero of Sparta!

Well, so far I’ve gone through about maybe 15% of the game and I have to say that SMG is really living up to the hype. First, the control scheme for the Wii is pleasantly intuitive (Warning: it requires the Wii nunchuck controller attachment!). Mario is very easy to control, even in an environment that makes your perspective go upside-down and sideways on a regular basis. It seems that Nintendo learned their lesson from the game camera perspective problems in Mario Sunshine. That was one of the reasons why I stopped playing Sunshine. Another thing that they seem to have omitted (so far!) is the crazy obstacle course levels that Sunshine had. Some of those weren’t bad, but others seemed so hard as to make you rely on pure luck (the Pachinko level, anyone? I went through tons of Mario lives trying to get through that one!). Galaxy is easy at first, but I can tell that isn’t going to last very long, seeing as I lost a few lives due to figuring out what to do on some of the later levels. The cinematics are a joy to behold! Visually, as well as in gameplay, this game is a real treat to dive into. Even the physics of the game, namely the gravity effects, are way cool.

I can’t wait to go through the rest of this game so that I can give a more in-depth review. Be on the lookout for this, and more, on The Esoterik Blog! Cheers!

Side Note: I’ll be posting some video of my gameplay on the Wii during various games. These will be separate posts from reviews or anything else, unless I deem it necessary.

Nintendo Wii

In one of my postings before last Christmas, I was pining for this system. I was also being realistic; I didn’t expect to get one as long as retailers kept jacking the price up because of near-unavailability. Well, since Nintendo boosted production on the Wii, the store I work at finally got them in at the regular price. I just had to buy one that day, especially since one guy earlier in the day was trying to buy all of them!

If you’ve read anything about this console, I don’t need to tell you how cool this thing is. However, for those who haven’t paid much attention to tech matters like this, I’ll fill in the gaps here. This is probably the very first console to have an emphasis on actual physical movement while playing some of its games. Wii Sports, the game disk that it comes with, has five games on it that make full use of this functionality. The bowling, golf and tennis games were rather low impact, but the boxing and baseball games actually made me break a small sweat! There’s virtually no lag time between swinging the wireless controllers and movement on screen, showing just how far this kind of technology has come for home use. Thus the reason why I haven’t been blogging lately… I’ve been on my feet playing video games and being somewhat active at the same time. (speaking of which, I started rollerblading again… but I digress!)

There’s more to the Wii than just its own games. There’s built-in online functionality, with access to Nintendo’s Wii Shop Channel… a place that, admittedly, had me asking my wife to chain down my credit/debit card! You can buy points there, which enable you to get applications and games for download into the Wii console. The games are part of Wii’s Virtual Console, and the shop has access to lots of older games from classic systems, with more being added every week. That leads to another feature; the Wii is backwards-compatible with my GameCube games! Add those things to the Wii’s main home screen, which has other channels such as news, weather and social interaction channels (all free use!), and you’ve got a great diversion from everyday life.

Games And (even more!) New Cubes

In addition to going a bit crazy on Wii’s Virtual Console, buying three classic games, I got two new games for it (ow… my aching wallet!). The first one is The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Yes, I know I already have it for the GameCube, but the Wii version is somewhat different. First, the entire game is right/left inverse and, second, the game makes full use of user movement with the wireless controllers. The first time I swung the sword around with Link, I broke into the biggest grin my face has ever endured! The second game is Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It’s a game where famous video game characters (mainly from Nintendo), duke it out in arena-style combat. It’s a very enjoyable game, with an immense challenge factor. Also, it makes use of the Wii’s online capability, enabling you to play against other players from around the world.

I also finally got the new cubes I had talked about in my last post! These are different than the 4×4x4 and 5×5x5 cubes I have with the Rubik’s name. They’re made by a Far East company called Eastsheen. I’ve worked with them for the past three days and I have to say that they are made better than their Rubik’s counterparts; they turn much smoother and tighter, due to different internal mechanisms. Because of this, my times have improved to around 5 minutes on the 4×4x4 and 11 minutes on the 5×5x5. So what’s going on with my shattered Rubik’s 5×5x5? Well, I’ll probably put that back together and just have it for display, with minimal use.

I won’t be getting any more puzzles or games for some time now; I want to save for better things. However, if I can find a Pyraminx at a good price, that will be the next puzzle. Rumor has it that, in September, a company in Greece is going to be mass-producing their new Rubik’s-style cubes. These will go by the name of V-Cubes, and they have had working prototypes of 6×6x6 and 7×7x7 configurations. Look them up on YouTube; I already featured the video of internationally-known cuber Frank Morris solving their 7×7x7 prototype in an earlier blog entry. If and when these become available, you know I’m going to be in line itching to get my hands on one!

Before I leave, I have one tidbit of useless trivia for you, garnered from Wikipedia and the original paper on the subject. Did you know that a 5×5x5 puzzle cube has approximately 283 trevigintillion combinations in it? Just to give you an idea of the size of the number we’re talking about, that’s 283 followed by 72 zeroes. A research paper stated that the number is also a very rough estimate of the number of hydrogen atoms in the known universe!!

With that thought, I bid you all a good day. Cheers!

Now that I’ve said that, it’s time to bring up the gift bag so I can talk about the cool stuff I received! Just to let you all know, the order that I’m going in does not dictate most favorite or anything like that.

First, I got a neat little toy called a Rubik’s Revolution. I say “toy”, instead of “puzzle”, because that’s really what it is. At first glance, it looks like a super-sized Rubik’s Cube, but the centers are hollowed out and have lights in them. Plus, the layers really don’t move. What is cool about it is that it is an electronic game device with six games built-in. Most of these games are themed on turning off multicolored lights within a time limit. However one game, “Pattern Panic” is fashioned like the classic Simon game where you repeat a growing pattern from memory. Another game, “Code Cracker”, has the player figure out a hidden pattern in the fewest turns possible. While this is a fun little thing, I only have two small caveats about it. One, you can reduce the volume, but there’s no way to mute it. For that reason, it stays downstairs per the wife. Two, I don’t like the fact that Rubik’s name is being used for a mere toy when that name has been synonymous with brain-busting puzzles. Still, I’ll be enjoying it for a long while.

Next, I was given an awesome box set of the second season of Doctor Who . I can’t tell you how pleased I am to have this, and it’s also a gift for both me and Christine because she loves the show, too. We have seen some of the episodes on it, but not all of them, so we’re going to have a fun time watching the unknown ones. The extras on some of the discs, I can tell, are going to be awesome. I’ve already watched the out-takes, because I really love blooper reels. There’s just something about watching your favorite actors flubbing up lines or breaking out in lunacy. Maybe after we watch all the episodes, I’ll make some episode reviews.

Also of note, I was given a CD of Lunatica’s “Fables & Dreams”. I just recently heard a few songs of theirs and I got hooked on their smoother form of Symphonic Metal. So far, the whole CD is just great and I’ll do a review of it on this site soon. Speaking of new music, we just received a late-arrival gift today for Christine: Din Fiv’s “Escape To Reality”.

We also got the usual assortment of clothing and gift cards, which are equally appreciated. However, I figured that the above mentioned items were most interesting and worth talking about in detail. I will say that the only bad thing about the DVD box set is that I’ll be tempted to get the other two season box sets later this coming year!

Cheers!

However, looking at Amazon today (their wishlist implementation is unmatched!), I decided to leave one thing out: a Nintendo Wii system. Even though it’s technically the lowest-priced system out of the Big Three of Gaming Consoles (at $249), it’s in such high demand that Amazon is quoting prices starting from $549 on up! I can’t realistically ask anyone to spend that much on me!

A big part of the reason for the high price nowadays:

FOXNews.com – One Year Later, Wii Still Hard to Find in Stock

I knew I should just have gotten it six months ago! Before anyone else asks, no I don’t want the Playstation 3 nor Microsoft’s X-Box 360. There’s some good reasons why I’m a Nintendo fan!

So, I’m going to lower my sights a bit and use my Amazon list for the little things we’d like. Click here for the list, but it may not be completed just yet.

Cheers!

(However, if anyone would like to get the Wii system for me, I’d also like the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess game for the Wii… wink, wink, nudge, nudge… kthanxbai!!))

Here’s me looking at the selection of ships at my disposal while docked at my home station. At this time, I had acquired enough money to have a fighting ship and a ship that I had designated for strictly asteroid mining. At the top of the screen is the IRC chat window, where you can talk to other players around the world.

This pic is a first-person view from the cockpit of the ship. I’m cruising through open space, steering clear of the asteroids, and making good distance from the gravity center of this space to make a hyperspace jump. You can see the ship I settled on using in the tactical diagram on the right side of the screen.

Mining asteroids is a decent way to make money in Vendetta. There are other ways, but this is the safest bet, especially when you’re building yourself up to better ships and weapons.

This in-flight screen is showing me just what kinds of ores I got out of mining that asteroid.

Ion storms can happen randomly during a jump, pulling you out of the jump into affected space. These are very dangerous to be in, especially since rogue ‘bots hide in the storm. Being ambushed by these ships can be worse than dealing with “pirates”, the rogue players in the game.

Here, I’m on an approach vector to dock at this station. I turned off the HUD just to have a unobstructed shot of the station itself.

Here, I’m selecting another ship. This time, it’s not for mining rocks… hehe! I felt the itch to do some ‘bot hunting.

In-flight, you can see the front and back sensory indicators on the left and right bottom screen. The one on the left shows enemy AI’s dead ahead… ‘Bots!

Here, you can see that the targeting reticule is active and tracking the targeted ‘bot which is framed in a red target box. The more advanced assault ‘bots in the game are good practice for eventual human-based dogfighting later on, if you’re so daring.

Well, I hope this post helps anyone who may be interested in playing this kind of space-based MMORPG. Like I said in an earlier posting, it will be interesting to see how Eve Online compares to Vendetta Online. This game is very easy to get addicted to, and you can easily spend hours exploring every sector and interacting with the other players. Time will just whiz by… and it’ll be an afterthought by late-night into morning!

Well, that later is now. I got the Vendetta itch recently and wondered how it was doing on improvements. Then I came upon this review of the game, written in January of 2005. I think the game has improved a lot since then…

Another problem we had with Vendetta Online was the fact that there was so much down time involved. You spend literally 15 minutes or so trying to turbo your way through space just so you can get enough clearance to do a jump to another sector… We found ourselves spending about 20 minutes to a half hour just flying endlessly.

That’s the beauty of this kind of space sim! I personally feel that “down time” adds to the realism of being in a spacecraft, trying to traverse the incomprehensible distance of space. I don’t think a sim is very fun if you can get to your exact destination, every single time, in the blink of an eye!

You can read the rest of the review if you want. I tried finding more up-to-date views, but to no avail. Today, I just took the plunge and coughed up a month’s fee (which was much less than what it was during the above review) to get back into the Vendetta universe. Not much has changed on the surface, as far as the graphics. However, the designers have updated the UI and added a lot more usable information in each display for the game. Also from what I read, they have added more ships, missions and such to keep someone like me busy for a good long while. Oh, click here for the screenshots page, taken from actual gameplay.

Another reason why I came back to this is because today I checked out a similar MMORPG called Eve Online. Eve is simply dazzling with a good storyline, kickin’ ships, and great graphics. However, the fee is almost twice the amount for Vendetta. I still at least want to try E.O. out and see how it compares to V.O., but I’ll have to wait at least one more week until they make their upcoming Mac client available. Well, I’m a patient gamer. I’m the gamer that still hasn’t gotten the Nintendo Wii yet, even though he was salivating over it for almost a year now. Not that I couldn’t get it earlier, or even now, if I wanted to… but I just had better things to do with my money at the time. All I want to do with it is play the Wii version of Twilight Princess, just for the pleasure of swinging the Master Sword around like a maniac! But I digress….

I’ll post more on my findings on a later date. Cheers!

[ Sphere ]

This is the scenario. You’re in a room and there’s seemingly no way out. Most “room escape” puzzles are like this. Most I’ve seen today have a locked door leading to the exit. Sphere is different in that there is only one door, and that is to the bathroom. Also, most of these scenarios rely on you acquiring items for clues to uncover the secret of escape. Sphere is so named because, in addition to other items and clues, you have to collect little spheres that are integral to solving the final riddle to acquire freedom.

This was a hard puzzle for me to solve! After an hour of “Now what do I do with all these items!!?”, I ended up searching the ‘net for hints. I must’ve gotten rusty from not playing around with my copies of Myst III and IV. That’s what these “room escapes” really resemble, in theory and feel and application. All in all, this was a satistfying puzzle!

I did some searches for more like this and there are some really good online games like this one. One I came across, Il Destino, is much easier than Sphere; I solved it with no hints or walkthroughs. It’s also got a hot looking car in it!

A great place to try these puzzle games is at Freegamesnews.com. If you like exploring strange surroundings and exercising your noodle, these puzzles are for you!

Have fun, and cheers!

Technorati Tags: Room Escape, Puzzles, Myst, Brainteasers, Flash Games, djstelios

A-hem…

In order to not get sidetracked, I’m going to do this ala “GameFaqs” reviews; sectioned off by quality categories.

Story and Setting: The story is a different take on the Zelda games I have played. Where Link was a young child in the other games (or, in Ocarina Of Time, started out as a young’un), here Link is a grown young man, around 17 to 18 years old and lives and works in a farm village community. This was a welcome difference and sets up the “more mature” feel to the game. The mature feel is even greater when one realizes that Link just might be casually dating the Mayor’s daughter, also introduced early in the game as Epona’s caregiver (Link’s noble steed). The storyline itself seems to be set sometime between Ocarina Of Time and The Wind Waker and indeed, throughout the game, you’ll end up visiting many of the same places as in OOT. It makes for good continuity, but my only caveat against it is that some of the locations feel like an alternate reality, due to the massive overhauls on design and location. Nonetheless, the setting of Hyrule this time is very realistic and huge! A ride on horseback across its expanse, even at full-tilt speed, can easily take several minutes!

The story is the standard Zelda fare. Boy sees things around him are slipping into chaos, meets princess, princess goes missing, boy learns of the evil plaguing the land, boy sets off to destroy the evil and find the princess. What I like about the story is that throws a few twists in the classic Zelda story that may throw off longtime Zelda fans. I like the addition of Midna as guide and helper to Link during times of uncertainty. The idea of her Twilight realm slowly intruding into Hyrule’s realm of light, due to the evil machinations of a being from her realm, is novel indeed. What I didn’t like about the story is that, as interesting as Midna was, it seemed in some parts that it was all about her and not about Link’s adventure. Link, at times, seemed to become second banana to Midna and her feelings and actions. However, the idea it seems is that Link is ultimately supposed to be helping the Twilight beings in general, and specifically Midna, defeat the oppression of their new ruler, so as to get Hyrule back in order as well. If that means Link is reduced to “bodyguard” status then so be it, I guess. Link is ultimately doing all the actions, with a little help from Midna in fights and reaching high places, so I can’t really complain. The story is also, in part, about her and her relationship to Zelda and this whole mess Hyrule’s in. The cutscenes supporting the story are done wonderfully, with some shocking moments done at the right times to keep the interest going. The story ends on a bittersweet note, with no room for a sequel with the Midna character, which is a good thing. Midna is an engaging character, but a sequel after that ending would only be about her, I fear.

Gameplay: Here’s where the game shines, in my opinion. This game is just a pleasure to play. Everything in the game is carefully scripted with regard to the feel the designers were going for; at times, one can really feel as if they are Link! One of the best additions is that, while on horseback or even when running, Link can swing his sword around without having to stop. This opens up new possibilities in battles, such as running and hacking through a gauntlet of enemies or taking out enemies on horseback in close quarters. The controller provides force-feedback on even the most minute of sensations in the game. Possibly due to the moves introduced in Wind Waker and Super Smash Bro’s: Melee, there are now side quests where Link can be taught new sword moves. When these new sword techniques are combined, they bring his fighting skills to a level of badass-edry previously unheard of in the Zelda series! The shapeshift of Link to wolf form is cool, and using his wolf form introduces an extra dimension to the gameplay. Link can utilize heightened senses to find hidden things, track someone’s scent and defeat enemies that Link in human form cannot. He can also talk to animals while in wolf form, giving the game a eco-friendly feel.

Items that Link finds in the dungeons are, of course, instrumental to beating the bosses at the end of each dungeon. Also, these items are needed to reach certain areas out in the field that Link can’t get to early in the game. There are the classic items most Zelda fans know and love, and there are some new, very interesting, items as well. My only complaint (also voiced by many others) is that the bosses were TOO easy. Strange, considering some of these bosses were eye-poppingly huge and very fearsome in appearance! They either didn’t knock enough life out of Link when a blow successfully connects, or their moves were too predictable. Even though I wasn’t striving for heart pieces early on and throughout the game, and thus hardly any extra hearts, not once did I have my game ended by a boss other than the last one. In fact, the last two bosses presented some interesting challenges and were very tough to keep at bay; even the number of hits that I had to land seemed staggering. The last boss (I’m not giving the name here… look somewhere else!) was a true challenge worthy of the Zelda series and the only boss that ended my game prematurely.

During gameplay, there are lots of little touches, especially during cutscenes and automatic actions, that will make any Zelda fan gasp, yelp and smile. The sword-flourish Link makes when you put away the sword at specific times is a perfect example!

Graphics: The graphics in this game are a little sub-par with what one would expect out of today’s games. Even for the GameCube, The Wind Waker in some respects had better graphics than this game (I’m imagining a lot of Zelda fans trying to strangle me!). Some of the graphics during close-ups had a jagged look to them, as if the texturing was unfinished. Still, during gameplay, you hardly notice except during certain times which are few and far between. The particle effects in the Twilight realm-infected areas are especially impressive; the only thing bad about them is that it makes the GameCube work extremely hard, slowing things down during times when Link is fighting several enemies at once. The water effects and also the far-away atmosphere effects are awesome. Textures in some areas seem very deep and rich, adding realism to outdoor areas and dungeons. Not the best graphics but, for the series, it’s the gameplay that matters.

Sound and Music: I have to agree with everyone else here. Nintendo could, and should, have gone with genuine orchestral music. Instead, they went the cheap MIDI route, which was very noticeable. I’m NOT saying the music was bad, by any means. However, they had the potential to wow everyone in one more area like this and chose not to. Plus, most if not all of the music was rehashed from OOT and other games in the series. Granted, a few of the themes are indicative of the series, but I didn’t want musical deja-vu every thirty minutes. The sounds of everything in the game were very realistic and they did a good job here. There were a couple of bosses that screamed… and those screams literally gave me goose-bumps!

Controls and UI: The controls are what one would expect of any Zelda game since OOT, since that game pioneered the 3-button item layout. Most adventure games since have copied off of this; it just works well. The menu has been made even more simpler than in the other later games in the series. It took some getting used to. The D-pad now accesses your useable items and your map, while the Start button calls up your upgrades and logs, along with the Options and Save choices. Way cool.

Replayability: I didn’t bother even trying the sidequests, so for gamers like me, that alone will get me to play again. The adventurous storyline and the visual treats of some of the cutscenes also warrant a few replays. Finding all the hidden nuggets in a huge virtual world like this will definitely take time without benefit of walkthroughs! I’d give this a medium-to-high replay factor.

All in all, the gameplay and storyline is worthy enough to make Twilight Princess a contender for the vaunted Ocarina of Time’s top spot. It has its problems, to be sure, but there are so many good things in this game… enough that the bad things seem minor and overshadowed. My wife has watched me play this game and it impressed her enough that she wants to play it sometime. That is not an easy feat, since games like this are a challenge to her short attention span. When I finished it the first time, all I could say is WOW! Thinking back to the ending, even now, I’m still saying wow! If anyone reading this review loves adventure games, you owe it to yourself to borrow someone’s GameCube or Wii, rent a copy of this and give it a whirl. You’ll love it!

Cheers!

Technorati Tags: Nintendo, Twilight Princess, GameCube, Zelda, Link, Game Reviews

I will write up a more comprehensive review soon. I just beat the game today and the ending is still buzzing in my brain. Ever since the legendary “Ocarina Of Time”, fans were salivating at the prospect of Nintendo’s GameCube, when it was new and comparatively powerful, getting a Zelda game that was darker and more cinematic. Fans wanted an adult Link going toe-to-toe with a badass-looking Ganondorf. They even got a taste of this treatment at a gaming expo. A year or so later, the fans instead got Zelda’s “Wind Waker”.

“Wind Waker”, while still being an excellent game, was just short of the initial fan expectations. Instead of a realistic adult Link in a realistic world, we got a cel-shaded child Link in a cartoony world. Fans were accepting, but still a little cranky about the choice. Then, when “Twilight Princess” was being developed, Nintendo saw the chance to give the fans what they’ve been begging for.

I’ll definitely give a more complete review very soon. Right now, I have to get ready for bed and dream the dreams of Hyrulean warriors.

Cheers!

Technorati Tags: Nintendo, Twilight Princess, GameCube, Zelda, Link, Ocarina