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For a season that is notoriously known for its bare release schedule this all seems very suspicious to my wallet. This gamer, in particular, has an agenda with so many games penciled in that meals have taken a back seat over game time. Some are right out of the gates and others are lingering gems from 2003. All of which are engaging enough to have fellow enthusiasts and myself talking wildly over. My first objective is to infiltrate the facility and rescueno wait, thats tomorrow. What I meant to say was that I plan on talking to you about the games Im playing. Im sure Dean wants to talk about Janet Jacksons exposed mammary but I put my foot down. Instead were also going to cover that old chestnut E3 and what we can expect to see.
Fire Emblem
This game has been out for a number of months now, but I still havent completed it. Here is the low-down for those who havent played through already: The game, upon first impressions, seems to resemble Advance Wars (for those who have played it.) You move your units on a battlefield in a strategic way in order to achieve your goal. But thats where the similarities end really. Part of the charm from this game is the fact that you actually care about the characters. If you carelessly send a character into battle and they are slain, they will be permanently removed from you party. Every warrior, every magician, every archer has a name and story. What makes this setup work is that your characters will level up like an RPG. Unlike some RPGs though, the stats are much more potent in their usage. Each statistic affects strategy in a big way and will lead some characters to being truly unique by excelling in a particular part of the grand strategic plan. Here is an example: One stat, speed, determines things like how well you can dodge. Now in other games, the stat upgrades are very subtle and in some cases you might not even notice any difference. Not here though. A character that looks almost useless in everything else might even be your front-man with high speed. After all, if you cant be hit, you cant die (not to mention you inadvertently draw fire away from other units that are nearby).
One of the most surprising things about the game though is its story. I was genuinely taken aback when I saw how well written and thought out it was. Hats off to both Nintendo of America and Intelligent Systems for a truly mature and well-written script. And although I havent played the game to completion, Im close enough to the end to know that the games story is rich in its delivery. There are many characters that are followed through some moving plot developments, helped mostly by the clever writing that leaves you forgetting that this game was originally in Japanese. Depending on your actions you will even meet different characters along the way and face-off in different scenarios. Lets also not forget the near-genius idea of auto-saving suspend data. Forget about saving just before a fight so that you can reload if it doesnt work. This game saves any time something happens on the map. This means if you mess up you have to restart the entire level (sometimes leading to an hour or more of replaying.) As frustrating as this sounds, it is actually an intriguing design choice that leaves you biting your nails and ultimately forces you to leave no stone unturned. You will get sucked into the strategy since your survival now depends on clever tactics and a keen sense of pre-planning. One interesting side-effect of this is that you will find some people who are normally not good at mainstream games sitting there helping you out since they have a strength in planning. I, for one, find myself relating to the in-game character Hector. He just kind of rushes into battle and tears everyone apart without thinking. My strength is knowing how to destroy my foe efficiently. My weakness is falling into traps because of blood-lust. While playing with friends and loved ones there was an interesting mechanic whereby everyone would think of a certain, probably overlooked, crucial detail. Maybe somebody might scream Wait! He has low magical resistance so send in the mage.
The real winner here is not the story or the gameplay on their own, but rather the entire package. A huge game with enough charming characters to keep you going and game design that is cream of the crop. Youll enjoy the characters enough that you will not want any of them to die even if it means restarting levels over and over to ensure their safety. Intelligent Systems seem to be batting a hundred and I expect all GBA owners out there to go check what all the fuss is about first-hand. Especially considering that a GameCube edition was just announced and is probably on its way.
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life
Try as I may, it would be almost impossible for me to talk about this title without bringing up comparisons with Nintendos own Animal Crossing. But I dont feel anything else must be said other than the fact that this is another lazy Sunday game. If you like games that are relaxing in their setting then look no further. I really dont want to spoil that much about the title though, since half the fun is just finding things out as you go. You essentially live 30 years of your life on a farm, getting married, having a child, raising livestock, etc.
There are problems that Ive noticed with some game mechanics (such as the digital re-centering of the camera when using the L button) but for the most part these problems can be ignored. Tending to your crops uses an interesting little bounding box that highlights what square you are about to work on. This is a nice remedy to some of the problems we once had in other games while trying to eyeball the target square. Go pick this game up if you need a break from Ninja and gun-slinging action type games. You will no-doubt enjoy your life in Forget-me-not Valley.
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
Wow. What a ride this game is. I honestly sometimes dont know if I should be happier with how the gameplay turned out or the fact that the cinemas completely knocked my socks off. Like Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, the gameplay itself feels really free, even more so than the original PSX release. But Im sure you have heard the spiel many times over about having MGS2 gameplay in an MGS setting. So Ill steer clear of that. However, two things really astounded me while playing the game. The biggest one, that is even more impressive than the cinema quality, is the sheer amount of production value to be found. I made a list of elements in our forum that Im constantly finding new elements for. The game world created just feels so complete and free that I cant help but enjoy every moment interacting in it. If you wish to see an incomplete list of little details I found just follow the link above. Be warned, however, that the list does contain some major spoilers as it is intended for those who have gone through the game at least once.
The cinemas are the absolute best this industry has ever seen. I can say that with the utmost confidence. I cant believe Im saying it but the cinematography (lighting, composition in visual frame) is excellent. Each scene is composed with the utmost care. Animation is spot on with excellent use of motion capturing, save for the lip-synching, which seems to be running on a modified MGS2 backbone instead of an Eternal Darkness: Sanitys Requiem one. As you probably have also heard, the new approach to the story is more comic-book like in that its more over the top as many say. This new approach to the cut-scenes will either leave a very positive or negative lasting impression on the player. Since I already considered a story with telekinesis using freaks and cyborg ninjas over the top it only helped to heighten the experience. In some cases, especially the glorious finale, I was so impressed I had chills down every inch of my body. Way to go SK and team-Kojima. This game is an instant classic from a gamers point of view.
Phantasy Star Online: Episode 3
Take a helping of strategy, a pinch of management, and a hint of luck and you have PSO:Episode 3. The first couple of hours were a very confusing experience as I suddenly had to learn what cards were and how they worked in a strategic aspect. Once I read the manual and took time to look over all cards at my disposal I finally realized just how flexible and balanced the gameplay is. At its core it is tightly knit like a board game. A player can have 8 points of weapons or monsters on the field at any given time. This instantly begins to balance the fear of advanced users dominating with insanely powerful weapons or monsters. Not only those, most weapons/monsters have special abilities that counter balance high or low stats. For instance, one sword that looks particularly weak at face value might have a Double Strike ability that allows it to strike twice with the same damage in each attack. Or how about an item that blocks any damage that is 3 or under? Suddenly an opponent who thinks hes clever by sending out armies of low-cost units is in trouble. Even powerful items are hindered sometimes by elements that, say, make them cost more to move (on top of them already costing a lot to just put out on the field). In fact, the game so heavily relies on strategic thinking and planning that my friend and I have defeated players more than 120 levels higher than us on various occasions. No doubt the opponents almost fell out of their chairs when we proved that a well-managed team could win, even with far less of a card library at our disposal.
As a Nintendo gamer, the biggest appeal for me is the online tournaments. Tournaments are a fun way to have friendly competition. The ultimate though are the team tournaments. You and a friend face off against another team. In team matches your entire strategy is even more important. Everything from pre-battle deck construction down to the turn-by-turn battle tactics must be planned co-operatively between team members. For instance, say you feel like playing a deck that is comprised of swords. Perhaps a wise idea would be to get your buddy to put one or two Sword Guard cards in his deck just in case you are in a fix without defense. Decks that compliment each other end up becoming more powerful than just the sum of their individual elements.
The price tag may be high for those without broadband/modem adapters and the sort, but I personally feel the online tournaments and human competition is worth the investment. Unfortunately renting is not an option here since the game registers itself to your GameCube. Taking this plunge is expensive but if you yearn for human opponents then this is your best bet. Perhaps we might see each-other online sometime soon!
E3 Or Bust
This time of the year is always exciting. Spring has always been a time of change and E3 is really no exception. Nintendo is setting the stage to show off its new projects and ones that have been in the pipeline for a long while.
N-Sider will be on hand once again to soak it all in and ultimately relay as much as we can to you. As per usual, we will be concentrating the majority of our time getting every minute detail out of the demos. We will do our best to get news to you throughout the show, but most of our strike team will be set on making sure we deliver the most comprehensive descriptions of the game demos in the world. Those who have enjoyed our E3 N-Depth features in previous years know that when it comes to detail we mean serious business.
Our task force is set to arrive the night before the Nintendo Show, which will take place on the 11th of May. The group will be spearheaded by many editors, but make no mistake, we also have a home team that will be keeping you covered throughout the duration of the show. If there is something out there of note, you will find it here. All in all, we are confident that this show will be one of best ever, and we want to make sure you have the next best thing to being with us in Los Angeles. We will also be keeping in contact with our home team throughout the event so that we may answer some pressing questions you might have, so feel free to contact us at any time. Saddle up, lock and load.
So whats on the agenda this year for Nintendo? We might finally see the elusive project from Zoonami for starters. The company has been at work on a project (reportedly two are in the works now) for years now without a single public showing or even confirmation of genre. If the company is indeed working on two GameCube projects then it can be assumed that they have expanded significantly from their initial eight members. The recent announcement of a Kuju-developed GameCube game could also lead to a showing at next months show. What kind of title this will be is anybodys guess at this point, but this is really just icing on the cake. Even if Zoonami or Kuju projects are no-shows we will have enough to drool over both at the pre-show and on the show floor. Nintendo is poised to unleash a mass of titles that has my N64 standing on the ledge outside the window threatening to jump. Such titles as Pikmin 2, Geist, Starfox, Resident Evil 4, and Paper Mario 2 are just some of the gems we expect in the Nintendo booth. Also, its safe to say that if the next installment of Zelda shows, our local Zelda aficionado Cory Faller will go into a state of absolute of bliss matched only by those who have reached true spiritual enlightenment. Like I should talk though. If Silicon Knights show off a Too Human or Eternal Darkness 2 I can forget about leaving the Nintendo booth.
This is going to be one hell of a show so I suggest doing what I suggest every year: Get to your grocery store and buy a weeks supply of soda. Youll need it for all those late-night reading sessions. As for us? Well probably find ourselves dining at Chez Dennys within a months time.