I spent much a lot of last couple of weeks playing random N64 games with one of my friends. We really enjoyed it. It got me to thinking, and after I think, I tend to ramble! What do I think are the best N64 games? Hmm... it's like I'm kid in a retro gaming candy store, or perhaps just a kid in a retro gaming store. Keep in mind that this list is just off the top of my head. I'm probably forgetting a few games that I think are worthy of being on here.
20: WCW vs. NWO Revenge
I remember getting this for Christmas a decade or so ago. It's pretty sweet. It's a sequel to World Tour, which kind of sucks in comparison. The simple control scheme is what makes Revenge so much fun. It's pretty fun on single player, but you could spend days playing it on multiplayer. Also, the game has some knowledge of wrestling rivalries as they were at the time, and allied wrestlers will run in and help their buddies if they're losing too badly.
19: Doom 64
I love the way N64 FPS games conduct themselves. There's no online mode, so the campaigns are seldom linear. People would boo that stuff back in the day. From what I understand, Doom 64 is actually not the same game as the original Doom on PC. It's a sort of side story game that's made by Midway. Whatever the case, I like the way you have to explore the corridors and how enemies will pop up whenever you find something.
18: Snowboarder Kids
I don't have as much experience with this game as I'd like to, but I rented it several times back in the day. It's kind of like a kart racing game, except that it's on snowboards. I only recall that I really enjoyed it.
17: Gex 64
Gex is a one-liner delivering lizard. What's not like about that? I like all of the Gex games for N64 and PS1.
16: NFL Blitz
It's one of those games that's fun to play with friends. It's a shame that Midway couldn't get the NFL license for several of the later entries.
15: Starfox 64
Starfox is pretty nifty. The controls are nice and loose. I think Star Wars: Rogue Squadron is a much better game, but that's not to say Starfox is bad.
14: BattleTanx: Global Assault
Finally, you can blow up a buildings with tanks!
13: Mario 64
I have a confession: Aside from Gex, this is the only 3D platformer for N64 that I like (unless you could Zelda). I'm not big on Banjo Kazooie, and I hate Donkey Kong 64, so...
12: Wrestlemania 2000
This game is much better than the very-good WCW vs. NWO: Revenge. From what little I've played of No Mercy, I can safely say that I think it sucks when compared to this game. This has a Create-A-Wrestler mode, the ability to create little factions comparable to DX or whoever, a story mode, theme music for every wrestler, and is all around a fantastic game.
11: Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon
It's kind of like Zelda meets Mario 64. I'm always eager for games that are sort of like Zelda. I like the other N64 Goemon game too, but not as much.
10: Duke Nukem 64
Like Doom 64, it's fairly non-linear. But Duke Nukem 64 has humor, and also a nice multiplayer mode.
9: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
I'm a big fan of the movies. In some ways, I think of Rogue Squadron as a sort of sequel to Starfox 64. It's like not-on-rails version of that game, with better graphics, better sound, and generally better everything. It could have used a multiplayer mode, though.
8: Mario Golf
There are lots of unlockables in Mario Golf. You could spend a good bit of time just unlocking all of the courses and characters. The multiplayer is what's so fun about Mario Golf, though. I'm told you can actually create your own golfer if you have a GBC, a transfer pak, and Mario Golf for GBC, but that's a lot to hunt down. Heh.
7: Pokemon Stadium
Speaking of transfer paks, here's the only game I ever used that thing on. Pokemon Stadium is another good multiplayer game. Of course you can battle your Pokemon via Gameboys and Link Cables, but it's much more fun to do it in 3D. The graphics on this game are in 3D, it has commentary, and you can also play Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow from the transfer pak (with the games running four times as fast!).
6: Pokemon Puzzle League
I forgot how much I liked Pokemon when I was a kid. This game is basically Tetris Attack, but it uses the license of the Pokemon cartoon. There's lots of soundbytes, good midi renditions of the cartoon's music, and so forth. I honestly think that Tetris Attack is more fun in this form.
5: Goldeneye
I prefer Perfect Dark, but I like the Golden Gun mode.
4: Majora's Mask
Majora's Mask is a really impressive game, mostly due to its sidequests. There are many of them. Termina's society is far more realistic than Skylofts. Given that 12 years have passed in-between these games, that's kind of sad.
3: Diddy Kong Racing
The game that led to this list. The actual game is fantastic, but it's better when you use cheat codes. You can actually unlock co-op campaign. How badass is that?
2: Perfect Dark
It's the perfection of the already-near-perfect Goldeneye. The campaign mode is intense, has heavily non-linear progression through the levels, there are a variety of guns (all of which have dual firing modes). There's a Combat Simulator mode with bots that you can play against. There are Challenges that can be completed by yourself or with friends. Perfect Dark is better than many newer console FPS games that I've played, and that's taking into account their online modes.
1: Ocarina of Time
What could be better than Ocarina of Time? Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time are both phenomenal for their own reasons. I like OoT more because of the actual quest, though.
There you have it, gentlemen. Sounds about right. 10-1 are all pretty close.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
(Rumor) Nintendo is Buying Rare Back
Check this out. It's a rumor which briefly raises the hopes and dreams of countless Rareware fans. If you believe the anonymous email (and alas, you probably shouldn't), Nintendo is currently in the process of attempting to purchase Rare and its various Intellectual Properties.
It goes on to say that Retro Studios is already developing a Banjo Kazooie game. That strikes me as a tad odd. It would be unusual for them to develop a game that they don't even own. Heck, it would be copyright infringment! The only way I can rationalize that is that Retro Studios is making a generic 3D platformer on which they will tack Banjo and Kazooie in the event that the purchase is successful. To me, that seems rather unlikely.
But as the initial publisher of the rumor Zelda Informer did, I'm inclined to humor the speculation. With the Wii-U coming up, Nintendo is trying to target the 'hardcore' gamer types. Producing types of games Rare used to make would do just that. Hypothetical games like Killer Instinct 3 (which need not be developed by Rare if Nintendo owns the whole thing) and Perfect Dark 2 would do wonders for their effort to regain their traditional market. I would buy a Wii-U to play a new entry into the Perfect Dark franchise or even some of Rare's more off the wall games like BlastCorps.
Of course, the people who made Rare great are no longer there. If it's happening (and it's not), the move is just to gain those Rare game IPs which aren't doing anything for Microsoft right now. If Microsoft would just have Rare try and make a few traditional Rareware games, this rumor wouldn't have any traction.
At any rate, a google search for "nintendo buying rare back" revealed this petition. A noble endeavor, even if it will probably never happen. Sign it if you're so inclined.
http://www.petitiononline.com/petitions/f42f5ved/signatures
It goes on to say that Retro Studios is already developing a Banjo Kazooie game. That strikes me as a tad odd. It would be unusual for them to develop a game that they don't even own. Heck, it would be copyright infringment! The only way I can rationalize that is that Retro Studios is making a generic 3D platformer on which they will tack Banjo and Kazooie in the event that the purchase is successful. To me, that seems rather unlikely.
But as the initial publisher of the rumor Zelda Informer did, I'm inclined to humor the speculation. With the Wii-U coming up, Nintendo is trying to target the 'hardcore' gamer types. Producing types of games Rare used to make would do just that. Hypothetical games like Killer Instinct 3 (which need not be developed by Rare if Nintendo owns the whole thing) and Perfect Dark 2 would do wonders for their effort to regain their traditional market. I would buy a Wii-U to play a new entry into the Perfect Dark franchise or even some of Rare's more off the wall games like BlastCorps.
Of course, the people who made Rare great are no longer there. If it's happening (and it's not), the move is just to gain those Rare game IPs which aren't doing anything for Microsoft right now. If Microsoft would just have Rare try and make a few traditional Rareware games, this rumor wouldn't have any traction.
At any rate, a google search for "nintendo buying rare back" revealed this petition. A noble endeavor, even if it will probably never happen. Sign it if you're so inclined.
http://www.petitiononline.com/petitions/f42f5ved/signatures
Thursday, July 5, 2012
The Top Five Things I Hate About Skyward Sword
Skyward Sword has some redeeming elements... just not many. Anyway, one my friend's kids was playing SS, and he said to me, "This game sucks. There's too much text, Fi is annoying, and how anyone could possibly think this is better than Ocarina of Time 3D is beyond me." with OoT 3D being the only other Zelda game he'd ever played.
I'd thought that maybe I was just being a nostalgic blowhard by thinking it sucks when compared to previous Zeldas, but if a youngster who didn't grow up in the N64 era thinks so... well maybe I wasn't. Without a further ado, I'd like to rant about the top five things that bother me about Skyward Sword. Now of course, in contests like these, readers might be able to think of literally hundreds of things worth mention that suck about SS, but one would have to write a book to list everything wrong with this game.
5: Unnecessary Reminders
The first time you find a green, red, or orange Rupee, the game will notify you of its value. This is fine. Now, reset your Wii, then and find another Rupee. The game will notify you again. Why!? This is not only condescending, but flat out unnecessary. The amount of Rupees is shown on-screen, and anyone first grader can do the math. Really: If I was able to out Rupee values playing ALttP when I was five, kids today should be able to do it, too. Perhaps Nintendo (understandably) doesn't have any faith in our education system.
That's inexcusable, but it gets worse. How would like to have Skyward Sword notify you about what kind of bug you catch every time you turn your Wii on? And what about crafting materials? Would you like routinely hear about those? Well, no worries my friend. They've got you covered with unnecessary notifications.
And it gets worse: Fi is an unnecessary notification system that's built into the storyline. Like all Zelda games, this game has a heart meter that beeps when you're dying. However, it also Fi to explain to you that your hearts are low. A second beep will start when you have less than three hearts, that beep being Fi wanting to talk to you. She'll also talk to you when your batteries or low. I won't even touch on how she patronizes you at every turn.
4: Lazy Man's Collision Detection
Beedle's Airshop is a shop that floats above Skyloft. To get Beedle to lower a rope for you to climb up, you need to ring his bell. But how? Well, you need the slingshot for that. Can you throw a pot at the bell? No. Tell me why a pot could not hit a bell? Give me one good reason! If you throw a pot at the bell, it would go right through. You could also try using a Skyward Strike on the bell, which also go right through. You could even successfully jump off a cliff and unsuccessfully strike the thing with your sword.
The unnecessary notifications are annoying, but this is just poor design. It even continues into the regular gameplay. Why can't you shoot something with a bow that can be shot with a slingshot? Because Hylia is kind of lazy when it comes designing her civilizations? That's all I can figure.
3: It's the text, stupid.
The first problem: There is too much text in this game. The second (and worst) problem: There is no text speed option. I don't support the idea of voiceacting in Zelda, but the lack of text speed in this game makes a compelling case for it. Final Fantasy 1 had a text speed modifier in the options. For a text-based game made in 2011 not have this is just... worse than magical can-only-be-hit-three-things bells.
To make matters worse, the text is unskippable on a new file. Twilight Princess, to its credit, allowed you to skip cutscenes all day long. But in SKyward Sword, you need to play Hero Mode to be able to skip cutscenes. What if someone wants to play the regular mode with heart spawns, but doesn't want to sit through the three hour intro?
2: An A to Z Journey
It seems like I wrote an entry about this. I'm certain I complained about it on ZU or somewhere, if not. Skyward Sword is the most painfully linear Zelda game ever made. It's worse than Twilight Princess in this area, and that's saying something! Gone is the excitement of open-world exploration. It's replaced with storyline. You can't go to a later dungeon because you'd see a cutscene at the wrong time. And when story is, at best, B-movie material, it all seems very -- what's the word? -- sucky.
1: Fi. Fuck Fi!
Fi makes bad things in SS worse. The game would be so much better if Fi had been left out, or at least replaced with someone more interesting. Midna was a good guide that contributed to the story. Navi was at least helpful and not overly intrusive. Fi just constantly notifies you of things, and spits out probabilities in a manner that would make the cast of Quantum Leap shout, "STFU Ziggy! We're not retarded!" How many times in this game does a character tell you something, after which Fi tells you the same thing again? How many times does she explain dowsing to you? How many times does she abruptly stop you to state the obvious?
Really, fuck Fi!
It's good to have this off my chest.
I'd thought that maybe I was just being a nostalgic blowhard by thinking it sucks when compared to previous Zeldas, but if a youngster who didn't grow up in the N64 era thinks so... well maybe I wasn't. Without a further ado, I'd like to rant about the top five things that bother me about Skyward Sword. Now of course, in contests like these, readers might be able to think of literally hundreds of things worth mention that suck about SS, but one would have to write a book to list everything wrong with this game.
5: Unnecessary Reminders
The first time you find a green, red, or orange Rupee, the game will notify you of its value. This is fine. Now, reset your Wii, then and find another Rupee. The game will notify you again. Why!? This is not only condescending, but flat out unnecessary. The amount of Rupees is shown on-screen, and anyone first grader can do the math. Really: If I was able to out Rupee values playing ALttP when I was five, kids today should be able to do it, too. Perhaps Nintendo (understandably) doesn't have any faith in our education system.
That's inexcusable, but it gets worse. How would like to have Skyward Sword notify you about what kind of bug you catch every time you turn your Wii on? And what about crafting materials? Would you like routinely hear about those? Well, no worries my friend. They've got you covered with unnecessary notifications.
And it gets worse: Fi is an unnecessary notification system that's built into the storyline. Like all Zelda games, this game has a heart meter that beeps when you're dying. However, it also Fi to explain to you that your hearts are low. A second beep will start when you have less than three hearts, that beep being Fi wanting to talk to you. She'll also talk to you when your batteries or low. I won't even touch on how she patronizes you at every turn.
4: Lazy Man's Collision Detection
Beedle's Airshop is a shop that floats above Skyloft. To get Beedle to lower a rope for you to climb up, you need to ring his bell. But how? Well, you need the slingshot for that. Can you throw a pot at the bell? No. Tell me why a pot could not hit a bell? Give me one good reason! If you throw a pot at the bell, it would go right through. You could also try using a Skyward Strike on the bell, which also go right through. You could even successfully jump off a cliff and unsuccessfully strike the thing with your sword.
The unnecessary notifications are annoying, but this is just poor design. It even continues into the regular gameplay. Why can't you shoot something with a bow that can be shot with a slingshot? Because Hylia is kind of lazy when it comes designing her civilizations? That's all I can figure.
3: It's the text, stupid.
The first problem: There is too much text in this game. The second (and worst) problem: There is no text speed option. I don't support the idea of voiceacting in Zelda, but the lack of text speed in this game makes a compelling case for it. Final Fantasy 1 had a text speed modifier in the options. For a text-based game made in 2011 not have this is just... worse than magical can-only-be-hit-three-things bells.
To make matters worse, the text is unskippable on a new file. Twilight Princess, to its credit, allowed you to skip cutscenes all day long. But in SKyward Sword, you need to play Hero Mode to be able to skip cutscenes. What if someone wants to play the regular mode with heart spawns, but doesn't want to sit through the three hour intro?
2: An A to Z Journey
It seems like I wrote an entry about this. I'm certain I complained about it on ZU or somewhere, if not. Skyward Sword is the most painfully linear Zelda game ever made. It's worse than Twilight Princess in this area, and that's saying something! Gone is the excitement of open-world exploration. It's replaced with storyline. You can't go to a later dungeon because you'd see a cutscene at the wrong time. And when story is, at best, B-movie material, it all seems very -- what's the word? -- sucky.
1: Fi. Fuck Fi!
Fi makes bad things in SS worse. The game would be so much better if Fi had been left out, or at least replaced with someone more interesting. Midna was a good guide that contributed to the story. Navi was at least helpful and not overly intrusive. Fi just constantly notifies you of things, and spits out probabilities in a manner that would make the cast of Quantum Leap shout, "STFU Ziggy! We're not retarded!" How many times in this game does a character tell you something, after which Fi tells you the same thing again? How many times does she explain dowsing to you? How many times does she abruptly stop you to state the obvious?
Really, fuck Fi!
It's good to have this off my chest.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Goldeneye Vs. Black Ops Vs. The Conduit (Wii)
The battle of the ages! Yeah, so these games have been out for a while, but the retro gamer in me says that a title must be so old before I'm willing to consider it. Hehe.. in all seriousness, I've had Black Ops for a while and have enjoyed its online mode, and recently got around to getting The Conduit and Goldeneye because the price drop allowed me to do so with little expense. And now, I want to ramble about them.
Storytelling/Single-Player Campaign:
Oh, kids these days! The lot of you probably don't even know who Pierce Brosnan is any more than I know who Sean Connery is! Goldeneye follows the exploits of James Bond, the Hero of British Secret Agents, on his quest to save England from the dark lord Alec Trevelyan. It was an awesome movie, and a pretty fine N64 game. This Wii game is the same (albeit with updated technology and a few twists for variety), although Pierce Brosnan has been replaced by some gentleman named Daniel Craig. So, kids, tell me: Who the hell is this guy standing where Pierce Brosnan should be? Well.. whoever he is, he sneaks around killing Russians and uses stealth to avoid battles.
The Conduit isn't based on a movie, but it's got Kevin friggin' Sorbo (from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys) doing voice-acting. With all due respect to Mr. Brosnan, Hercules would annihilate James Bond. Bond would start shooting his PK7 (or P99 in this Wii version) and Herc would just keep coming. He has the power of a god, and a sidekick that's a pretty good fighter by human standards. Unfortunately, Kevin Sorbo isn't Herc in this specific instance. He's a member of the resistance against a shadow government called The Trust, which is trying to take over the world via alien invasion or something. His character is named Prometheus, which is probably a subtle nod to Mr. Sorbo's eternal association with Greek mythology. The narration by this good actor really makes the single player campaign feel like a gem (much as Daniel Craig's voice-acting does in Goldeneye).
Black Ops' story is told through a series of flashbacks. Alex Mason did some stuff in the 60s and he wants you to hear about it. Well, he doesn't want you to hear about it, but the dude torturing him does. He tried to kill Castro, but failed and got sent to a Russian prison. But he broke out, then JFK wanted him to kill more commies. There's a shocking plot twist at the end which is quite surprising, but Black Ops' storyline isn't exactly up there with either the The Conduit or Goldeneye. I'd say Goldeneye is the best in terms of story, followed by The Conduit, then Black Ops is significantly behind.
When it comes to actually playing the single-player campaigns, I'd say Goldeneye is the best... if you play it right. Every difficulty mode except 007 Classic makes for a shameless Call of Duty clone, which the world could do without. On 007 Classic Mode, you pretty much have to play this game like you're a secret agent. Blasting through like Mason or Reznov will get you killed.. much as it would in real life if you tried to gun down an entire army. You have to watch your health and even your ammo to an extent. When coupled with the fact that this mode makes you accomplish all the objectives, the experience feels truly awesome.
The Conduit has some elements that aren't exactly miles away from what I've described in Goldeneye. You use your All Seeing Eye device to accomplish objectives and find secret areas. None of that is really all that great. The best thing about The Conduit is that it reminds me of another game: Gauntlet. It's not enough to kill the bad guys; you need to kill the objects that are spawning bad guys. Killing spawn spots is awesome to the max, yo! I also like the fact that the health regeneration isn't as overt as it is in CoD.
Black Ops has an annoying single player campaign. You could shoot six thousand NVA soldiers in some places and they'll just keep spawning. The developers want you to use your skills to advance and take position from the enemy, but that sucks! (on Veteran anyway. It's too easy to do on the lower difficulties, and it's nearly impossible on Veteran.) Like in Goldeneye and The Conduit, there are objectives, but those objectives primarily consist of getting to the end of the level.
Graphics:
Black Ops Wii really impresses me by just how good it looks. It's not in the same ballpark with the other platforms' versions, but the fact remains that not many Wii games that look as good as this one does. It's a pleasure to look at, and Goldeneye actually looks sort of bad when compared to it. The Conduit doesn't really strike me as real per se, and I certainly hope that's not what they were going for. It looks like a comic book world, to me, and the graphics are very easy on the eyes. I'd rather look at The Conduit than either of those other two.
Online/Multiplayer Modes:
I haven't played The Conduit's online mode yet, so I can't speak about it just yet. I'm sure it's pretty ok. Haha.
Fuck you, Activision! Why do I have to go to a PS3 owning friend's house to play Black Ops map packs? And why doesn't this game have a local multiplayer? Because Wii sucks, you say? Ah, right. I forgot about that. Outside of those two little things, Black Ops' online mode is awesome. There is so much depth to the combat, and there are any number of ways to play this game.
Goldeneye has a local multiplayer, which I'm sure means a lot to anyone who plays these sorts of games with friends. (My brother seems to like this game, but doesn't really want to play the multiplayer with me.. likely because he knows I'd destroy him. heh). However, there are problems. The framerate can get pretty low at points, particularly on the Outpost level. Secondly,I haven't counted them, but I'd wager that Goldeneye has fewer customization options than Black Ops. Finally, it takes entirely too long to level up in Goldeneye (which lets you get access to better weapons that the level 56 people are using to obliterate you).
In summation, I think Goldeneye has a better single-player and Black Ops has a better multiplayer. The Conduit is also good, mostly because of spawn destruction and the fact that Kevin Sorbo is god. Thank you for your time. :)
Storytelling/Single-Player Campaign:
Oh, kids these days! The lot of you probably don't even know who Pierce Brosnan is any more than I know who Sean Connery is! Goldeneye follows the exploits of James Bond, the Hero of British Secret Agents, on his quest to save England from the dark lord Alec Trevelyan. It was an awesome movie, and a pretty fine N64 game. This Wii game is the same (albeit with updated technology and a few twists for variety), although Pierce Brosnan has been replaced by some gentleman named Daniel Craig. So, kids, tell me: Who the hell is this guy standing where Pierce Brosnan should be? Well.. whoever he is, he sneaks around killing Russians and uses stealth to avoid battles.
The Conduit isn't based on a movie, but it's got Kevin friggin' Sorbo (from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys) doing voice-acting. With all due respect to Mr. Brosnan, Hercules would annihilate James Bond. Bond would start shooting his PK7 (or P99 in this Wii version) and Herc would just keep coming. He has the power of a god, and a sidekick that's a pretty good fighter by human standards. Unfortunately, Kevin Sorbo isn't Herc in this specific instance. He's a member of the resistance against a shadow government called The Trust, which is trying to take over the world via alien invasion or something. His character is named Prometheus, which is probably a subtle nod to Mr. Sorbo's eternal association with Greek mythology. The narration by this good actor really makes the single player campaign feel like a gem (much as Daniel Craig's voice-acting does in Goldeneye).
Black Ops' story is told through a series of flashbacks. Alex Mason did some stuff in the 60s and he wants you to hear about it. Well, he doesn't want you to hear about it, but the dude torturing him does. He tried to kill Castro, but failed and got sent to a Russian prison. But he broke out, then JFK wanted him to kill more commies. There's a shocking plot twist at the end which is quite surprising, but Black Ops' storyline isn't exactly up there with either the The Conduit or Goldeneye. I'd say Goldeneye is the best in terms of story, followed by The Conduit, then Black Ops is significantly behind.
When it comes to actually playing the single-player campaigns, I'd say Goldeneye is the best... if you play it right. Every difficulty mode except 007 Classic makes for a shameless Call of Duty clone, which the world could do without. On 007 Classic Mode, you pretty much have to play this game like you're a secret agent. Blasting through like Mason or Reznov will get you killed.. much as it would in real life if you tried to gun down an entire army. You have to watch your health and even your ammo to an extent. When coupled with the fact that this mode makes you accomplish all the objectives, the experience feels truly awesome.
The Conduit has some elements that aren't exactly miles away from what I've described in Goldeneye. You use your All Seeing Eye device to accomplish objectives and find secret areas. None of that is really all that great. The best thing about The Conduit is that it reminds me of another game: Gauntlet. It's not enough to kill the bad guys; you need to kill the objects that are spawning bad guys. Killing spawn spots is awesome to the max, yo! I also like the fact that the health regeneration isn't as overt as it is in CoD.
Black Ops has an annoying single player campaign. You could shoot six thousand NVA soldiers in some places and they'll just keep spawning. The developers want you to use your skills to advance and take position from the enemy, but that sucks! (on Veteran anyway. It's too easy to do on the lower difficulties, and it's nearly impossible on Veteran.) Like in Goldeneye and The Conduit, there are objectives, but those objectives primarily consist of getting to the end of the level.
Graphics:
Black Ops Wii really impresses me by just how good it looks. It's not in the same ballpark with the other platforms' versions, but the fact remains that not many Wii games that look as good as this one does. It's a pleasure to look at, and Goldeneye actually looks sort of bad when compared to it. The Conduit doesn't really strike me as real per se, and I certainly hope that's not what they were going for. It looks like a comic book world, to me, and the graphics are very easy on the eyes. I'd rather look at The Conduit than either of those other two.
Online/Multiplayer Modes:
I haven't played The Conduit's online mode yet, so I can't speak about it just yet. I'm sure it's pretty ok. Haha.
Fuck you, Activision! Why do I have to go to a PS3 owning friend's house to play Black Ops map packs? And why doesn't this game have a local multiplayer? Because Wii sucks, you say? Ah, right. I forgot about that. Outside of those two little things, Black Ops' online mode is awesome. There is so much depth to the combat, and there are any number of ways to play this game.
Goldeneye has a local multiplayer, which I'm sure means a lot to anyone who plays these sorts of games with friends. (My brother seems to like this game, but doesn't really want to play the multiplayer with me.. likely because he knows I'd destroy him. heh). However, there are problems. The framerate can get pretty low at points, particularly on the Outpost level. Secondly,I haven't counted them, but I'd wager that Goldeneye has fewer customization options than Black Ops. Finally, it takes entirely too long to level up in Goldeneye (which lets you get access to better weapons that the level 56 people are using to obliterate you).
In summation, I think Goldeneye has a better single-player and Black Ops has a better multiplayer. The Conduit is also good, mostly because of spawn destruction and the fact that Kevin Sorbo is god. Thank you for your time. :)
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Speculation on Skyward Sword Recalibration Issues
Note the first word there: Speculation. I'm still waiting on Skyward Sword to arrive in the mail, and meanwhile, I hear these complaints about people having to recalibrate every thirty minutes or so. And on the other hand, I've heard from folks who played SS the whole way through and only had to calibrate the Remote at startup.
My totally uninformed theory is this: Some players.. well, a lot of folks, are playing SS incorrectly. I know that the standard Wii Remote games aren't immediately intuitive. For example, instead of wildly moving your arm around as your first instinct might have you do, you usually just need to move your wrist. I know that I had problems playing some games until I figured out how to use the Wii Remote right. For a "casual" console, the Wii can often be quite hard to play occasionally.
I find some evidence for my speculation in this video. Note how the player makes subtle wrist movements, which work just like standard Wii Remote usage, except with far more accuracy:
(video from Zelda Informer's Youtube Channel).
My totally uninformed theory is this: Some players.. well, a lot of folks, are playing SS incorrectly. I know that the standard Wii Remote games aren't immediately intuitive. For example, instead of wildly moving your arm around as your first instinct might have you do, you usually just need to move your wrist. I know that I had problems playing some games until I figured out how to use the Wii Remote right. For a "casual" console, the Wii can often be quite hard to play occasionally.
I find some evidence for my speculation in this video. Note how the player makes subtle wrist movements, which work just like standard Wii Remote usage, except with far more accuracy:
(video from Zelda Informer's Youtube Channel).
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Skyward Sword: Robots?
The world is not exploding.
Ocarina of Time was an awesome game, and it still is an awesome game. I've moved on from Neutopia to playing a 3 heart run of OoT in my spare time. Ganon's Tower (on the N64 version) looks like total shit running up the stairway now, but aside from that, it's held up pretty well, you know. The remake helped us Zelda nerds solve the mystery of TP-Ganondorf's ears, but I don't think it was all that necessary, honestly.
I digressed from the subject on Ocarina of Time because of the influence Ocarina of Time had on the canon. Most of its storyline was present in A Link to the Past (albeit mistranslated in a few spots), but Ocarina of Time brought A Link to the Past's manual into the game. We were able to see the creation of Hyrule by the Goddesses pictured in that manual. We were able to see inside of the Temple of Light and observe a building Nintendo modeled with Sacred Geometry in mind. And the themes of Ocarina of Time were very mystical, as the game's text continually referred to the prophecies of Zelda, and the ancient legends regarding a Hero that would come. All of these things gave a very magical feel to Hyrule. One that A Link to the Past gave as well, but there's a difference.
A Link to the Past talked at length about the ancient civilization of the Hylia. Sahasralah talked about the "Great War Against Evil" that took place generations ago and how all of the knights of the Hylia were wiped out. Ocarina of Time, as best I can recall, doesn't mention that ancient civilization that often. This has caused some to think that maybe Ocarina of Time's civilization was that civilization, but the text of Old Woman causes me to disagree. She was clearly referring to a civilization along the lines of how Atlantis is depicted in the movies (as a great civilization with powerful technology). The point I'm trying to get at here is that Ocarina of Time's magic may well be supplanted by the technology implied in A Link to the Past. Time will tell.
Even though when I first played Alttp, I'd thought that the advanced civilzation she was talking about was pretty cool. But, having said that, I'm not 100% on wanting to see it, especially if it involves adding robots into Hyrule's PAST. I would have preferred A Link to the Future.
But the good news is that Skyward Sword looks like it's going to be a pretty decent game, and at least the robots don't look like robots. I guess I'll get the bundle since I need a Wii Remote Plus. Ack.. friggin' add ons these companies want you to buy. *grumbles*
Ocarina of Time was an awesome game, and it still is an awesome game. I've moved on from Neutopia to playing a 3 heart run of OoT in my spare time. Ganon's Tower (on the N64 version) looks like total shit running up the stairway now, but aside from that, it's held up pretty well, you know. The remake helped us Zelda nerds solve the mystery of TP-Ganondorf's ears, but I don't think it was all that necessary, honestly.
I digressed from the subject on Ocarina of Time because of the influence Ocarina of Time had on the canon. Most of its storyline was present in A Link to the Past (albeit mistranslated in a few spots), but Ocarina of Time brought A Link to the Past's manual into the game. We were able to see the creation of Hyrule by the Goddesses pictured in that manual. We were able to see inside of the Temple of Light and observe a building Nintendo modeled with Sacred Geometry in mind. And the themes of Ocarina of Time were very mystical, as the game's text continually referred to the prophecies of Zelda, and the ancient legends regarding a Hero that would come. All of these things gave a very magical feel to Hyrule. One that A Link to the Past gave as well, but there's a difference.
A Link to the Past talked at length about the ancient civilization of the Hylia. Sahasralah talked about the "Great War Against Evil" that took place generations ago and how all of the knights of the Hylia were wiped out. Ocarina of Time, as best I can recall, doesn't mention that ancient civilization that often. This has caused some to think that maybe Ocarina of Time's civilization was that civilization, but the text of Old Woman causes me to disagree. She was clearly referring to a civilization along the lines of how Atlantis is depicted in the movies (as a great civilization with powerful technology). The point I'm trying to get at here is that Ocarina of Time's magic may well be supplanted by the technology implied in A Link to the Past. Time will tell.
Even though when I first played Alttp, I'd thought that the advanced civilzation she was talking about was pretty cool. But, having said that, I'm not 100% on wanting to see it, especially if it involves adding robots into Hyrule's PAST. I would have preferred A Link to the Future.
But the good news is that Skyward Sword looks like it's going to be a pretty decent game, and at least the robots don't look like robots. I guess I'll get the bundle since I need a Wii Remote Plus. Ack.. friggin' add ons these companies want you to buy. *grumbles*
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Neutopia Vs. Zelda (Or Much Ado About Nothing)
So, I finished up Neutopia a moment ago and wanted to ramble about it. First, I'll say that it's pretty friggin' sweet no matter how you look at it. Some negative things have been said about Neutopia and its relationship to Zelda. Well, as with most Zelda related topics, I'll rant an opinion about it here.
If we're comparing Neutopia to the original Legend of Zelda, Neutopia is a better game in a few ways. But it also loses a few steps here and there by virtue of its not being a complete clone.
Firstly, these bosses are more reminiscent of A Link to the Past than they are LoZ. And I'm sure there's an almost unanimous consensus of Zelda players would agree that LttP has better bosses than LoZ. You can't just manhandle a boss with a single bomb: You have to fight them all with your sword or with the rod. This is something they could have employed in the original Zelda game, but they simply opted not to.
Secondly, (and this is just through the merits of superior hardware): Neutopia has more and better music. Most of it's pretty fitting, although that dungeon theme gets tiresome after a while.
Of course the graphics are better, but 8-bit Hyrule has its charms. Finally, I would add that the text LoZ might have had if translation ability and game space allowed is in Neutopia. "BURN THE TREE AT THE DEAD END." has been replaced with something along the lines of "Your fire rod can burn down trees. Try it out in various places to find secrets." Since I played LoZ first.. I had to figure that shit out the hard way (and by the hard way, I mean look up the location of a dungeon, at which point I found out that candles burn trees. doh!).
One area that Neutopia sort of loses completely to LoZ in is the way the original Zelda game was conducted. It's a very unique game that hasn't been followed up on (at least by another Zelda game). There is no help in Zelda. They don't tell you what to do. They just say, "Hey! Ganon kidnapped Zelda. Go find some triangles!" And that's it. Who knows which way to go? In fact, there are numerous ways you could go. You could play Level-2 first if you were so inclined. You don't have to get all of the items. You don't even have to get the sword until it's time to fight Ganon.
Oh yeah, LoZ has a Second Quest. Can't forget that. But in fairness to Neutopia, I'd submit that the bad collision detection and infinitely more challenging bosses make some parts of Neutopia as hard as Quest 2 of Zelda. So it's almost equal, but LoZ wins by a nose for having more content.
A more interesting comparison would be Neutopia and A Link to the Past. A Link to the Past was made later, and they're very similar. One has to wonder if Neutopia had a little influence on Zelda too.
But anyway, I think that the flack that Neutopia gets for being a clone is mostly unmerited. Nintendo doesn't have a monopoly on a damsel in distress stories. Medieval Europe has that. Nor does it have a monopoly on collecting mystical items to save a given land. The hero myths that preceded Zelda have that. But Neutopia should have came up with some new items aside from the few that they did. You burn down trees and you bomb walls in the center of the room. Those mechanics are just blatant copying.
If we're comparing Neutopia to the original Legend of Zelda, Neutopia is a better game in a few ways. But it also loses a few steps here and there by virtue of its not being a complete clone.
Firstly, these bosses are more reminiscent of A Link to the Past than they are LoZ. And I'm sure there's an almost unanimous consensus of Zelda players would agree that LttP has better bosses than LoZ. You can't just manhandle a boss with a single bomb: You have to fight them all with your sword or with the rod. This is something they could have employed in the original Zelda game, but they simply opted not to.
Secondly, (and this is just through the merits of superior hardware): Neutopia has more and better music. Most of it's pretty fitting, although that dungeon theme gets tiresome after a while.
Of course the graphics are better, but 8-bit Hyrule has its charms. Finally, I would add that the text LoZ might have had if translation ability and game space allowed is in Neutopia. "BURN THE TREE AT THE DEAD END." has been replaced with something along the lines of "Your fire rod can burn down trees. Try it out in various places to find secrets." Since I played LoZ first.. I had to figure that shit out the hard way (and by the hard way, I mean look up the location of a dungeon, at which point I found out that candles burn trees. doh!).
One area that Neutopia sort of loses completely to LoZ in is the way the original Zelda game was conducted. It's a very unique game that hasn't been followed up on (at least by another Zelda game). There is no help in Zelda. They don't tell you what to do. They just say, "Hey! Ganon kidnapped Zelda. Go find some triangles!" And that's it. Who knows which way to go? In fact, there are numerous ways you could go. You could play Level-2 first if you were so inclined. You don't have to get all of the items. You don't even have to get the sword until it's time to fight Ganon.
Oh yeah, LoZ has a Second Quest. Can't forget that. But in fairness to Neutopia, I'd submit that the bad collision detection and infinitely more challenging bosses make some parts of Neutopia as hard as Quest 2 of Zelda. So it's almost equal, but LoZ wins by a nose for having more content.
A more interesting comparison would be Neutopia and A Link to the Past. A Link to the Past was made later, and they're very similar. One has to wonder if Neutopia had a little influence on Zelda too.
But anyway, I think that the flack that Neutopia gets for being a clone is mostly unmerited. Nintendo doesn't have a monopoly on a damsel in distress stories. Medieval Europe has that. Nor does it have a monopoly on collecting mystical items to save a given land. The hero myths that preceded Zelda have that. But Neutopia should have came up with some new items aside from the few that they did. You burn down trees and you bomb walls in the center of the room. Those mechanics are just blatant copying.
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