So, when Siri came out on the iPhone 4 I thought it was a sign of the Robot Apocalypse. Hey, it's 2012. I gots Doomsday on the brain. It's more realistic than my fear of Escarmageddon, when we're all going to be destroyed by snails.
You laugh now...
Anyconspiracy, I have taken the time to test out this "Siri" and I have come to the conclusion that it is not yet intelligent enough to be able to conquer the world. Heck, it doesn't even know that the first Mega Man game came out in 1887.
The nerve of some things.
Anyways, a bit less hypercritical, I assume some of you are wondering what my opinion of Siri is, while the others are simply expecting since it seems that's where this segue is leading.
I guess I need to start out by saying that I'm not really much of an Apple Fanboy. I don't have any particular qualms with the company, I do have an iPod and iTunes and all that iJazz. But in terms of gaming I just can't really get behind it. The elements like the touchscreen and tilt controls aren't unheard of in popular console games, but like everything with video games I prefer it to act as a supplement to the basic "push buttons to win" feel of a game rather than a replacement. It's cool I can select an item from the bottom screen with a touch in the various DS Mario games, but when all I'm doing is tapping the screen as if I were using a button or dragging my finger around as if I were using a mouse without the physical feelings of the true actions, it feels like I'm getting a hampered experience.
It doesn't help that most games, at least most popular ones, seem to be those with no definitive goal. Get the little cannon guy to get as far up the screen as possible, slash the fruit repeatedly and simply hope you get about 50 watermelons at once or something, just doesn't give me the satisfying feeling that comes from reaching the end credits of a game you've been working on for days, weeks, months, or even years. All I feel like I'm doing with these App games is wasting time for the sake of wasting time, with only a rather arbitrary number to show for my efforts.
So yeah, that's my opinion on game apps. But as for Siri? I git it a heartening "Eeh." It certainly isn't bad, there are good uses for it. But it really isn't the whole "amazing do everything for you" it led us to believe, even if that's a fairly unrealistic expectation. But it can set dates! That comes up... sometimes. But honestly, whenever I tell it things it usually just asks he to do a web search for it. I guess all that really does is save typing on those teeny-tine spaces that are supposed to be "keys." Also, any time I mention video games at all it just tells me about places that sell video games that are fairly close to me.
So helpful? Yes. Life changing? No. My two cents, it doesn't buy me an iPhone.
Showing posts with label Video Games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Video Games. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Skill Level: Unknown
If any of you read my "yes I totally know it's a social network craze" Twitter account, then you are most likely aware of my current forays into Mega Man 5, my all time favorite Mega Man game.
While my analysis of Mega Man 5 will surely come at some later date (or dates, I've got quite a lot to say when that time rolls around), today I'd like to share with you a small secret: I think I'm getting good at this game.
You may ask why I only think that I'm good at the game and that's a completely legitmate question. Now allow me to give you the answer even if you don't care. Cause you came to my blog, and you must pay the penalty.
You see, when I made my first attempt to display my talent to the interwebz in my now unfinished Let's Play of Mega Man 5, I thought I was good at MM5. But the reason I'm not giving you a hyper-link to these videos is because I have come under the realization that I was not, in fact, good at MM5 yet. (P.S. MM5= Mega Man 5). I had made very few ventures into the castle stages due to my nasty habit of playing the intial 8 over and over and over and come tumbling over...
Needless to say, once I hit the castle stages in my MM5 Let's Play things took a turn for the bitter as the failure became so immense that I gave up on Let's Plays for quite some time.
So what makes me even consider I am actually good now? Have I played through the castle stages more? (Yes) Am I more familiar with the weapons? (Yes and yes) Have I played the Robot Master stages more? (Yerp-a-derp). But the main reason, I got two words for you: Perfect Buster Runs.
Wait, that statement had two words when I thought it. Dang fickle brain, why do you torment me so?
Now, before you go singing my praises let me be clear: I can not perfect run MM5. I can only do individual runs of individual stages without getting hit, usually after some trial and error. I find this impressive, but MM5 is slightly notorious for being easy. Right now, I can beat Gravity, Gyro, and Star Man's stages without getting hit and using only the Mega Buster.
So what do you think? Am I skilled, or just full of myself?
While my analysis of Mega Man 5 will surely come at some later date (or dates, I've got quite a lot to say when that time rolls around), today I'd like to share with you a small secret: I think I'm getting good at this game.
You may ask why I only think that I'm good at the game and that's a completely legitmate question. Now allow me to give you the answer even if you don't care. Cause you came to my blog, and you must pay the penalty.
You see, when I made my first attempt to display my talent to the interwebz in my now unfinished Let's Play of Mega Man 5, I thought I was good at MM5. But the reason I'm not giving you a hyper-link to these videos is because I have come under the realization that I was not, in fact, good at MM5 yet. (P.S. MM5= Mega Man 5). I had made very few ventures into the castle stages due to my nasty habit of playing the intial 8 over and over and over and come tumbling over...
Needless to say, once I hit the castle stages in my MM5 Let's Play things took a turn for the bitter as the failure became so immense that I gave up on Let's Plays for quite some time.
So what makes me even consider I am actually good now? Have I played through the castle stages more? (Yes) Am I more familiar with the weapons? (Yes and yes) Have I played the Robot Master stages more? (Yerp-a-derp). But the main reason, I got two words for you: Perfect Buster Runs.
Wait, that statement had two words when I thought it. Dang fickle brain, why do you torment me so?
Now, before you go singing my praises let me be clear: I can not perfect run MM5. I can only do individual runs of individual stages without getting hit, usually after some trial and error. I find this impressive, but MM5 is slightly notorious for being easy. Right now, I can beat Gravity, Gyro, and Star Man's stages without getting hit and using only the Mega Buster.
So what do you think? Am I skilled, or just full of myself?
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Not Giving Up, Just Resting
Ack, out of the loop again with my posts. Lemme think something up.
Ahh, yes. Time away from a game.
It's a simple principal. When playing a game though the first time, one often comes up against obstacle that will puzzle the gamer on how to complete. The solution I often find useful is that if such a situation happens, to leave the game alone for a while, usually at least overnight, before returning to it.
Now at first this seems silly. Wouldn't removing yourself from the game cause you to lose the skill and precision that you had been developing over the course of this challenge? Well, if you remove yourself from it for a very long time, like I did with Ratchet and Clank recently, then yes, it can. However, removing yourself from it a day, or even a week, probably won't really cause you to lose the general feel of the game.
This strategy works best on games that heavily use puzzle elements, as it's main result is a fresh take on a situation. One of the problems you may be facing is a poor strategy, one that maybe works in theory or maybe even in game-play, but is to slow or ineffective to solve the problem before, well, it solves you. By taking a fresh look, you may be able to notice a pattern that you hadn't before, a much easier one or faster one. This worked wonders on a Metroid:Fusion boss battle recently, and hopefully it helps with this next one...
Another thing to augment this is you may actually lose a tad bit of skill during your 24 hour prohibition of your challenge, which seems like a bad thing. But it can make you feel more like you're encountering the challenge for the first time, and allow you to see things that you didn't focus on the first time. In Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap, I would often focus on recently acquired items to try and solve puzzles, but the game does a great job of incorporating all of the acquired items into its puzzles. A break or two later, I discovered my issue and proceeded to have a blast finishing the game.
So, if a game is frustrating you to no end, take a break. Play something else. Come back to it later. You may find it was for the best.
Ahh, yes. Time away from a game.
It's a simple principal. When playing a game though the first time, one often comes up against obstacle that will puzzle the gamer on how to complete. The solution I often find useful is that if such a situation happens, to leave the game alone for a while, usually at least overnight, before returning to it.
Now at first this seems silly. Wouldn't removing yourself from the game cause you to lose the skill and precision that you had been developing over the course of this challenge? Well, if you remove yourself from it for a very long time, like I did with Ratchet and Clank recently, then yes, it can. However, removing yourself from it a day, or even a week, probably won't really cause you to lose the general feel of the game.
This strategy works best on games that heavily use puzzle elements, as it's main result is a fresh take on a situation. One of the problems you may be facing is a poor strategy, one that maybe works in theory or maybe even in game-play, but is to slow or ineffective to solve the problem before, well, it solves you. By taking a fresh look, you may be able to notice a pattern that you hadn't before, a much easier one or faster one. This worked wonders on a Metroid:Fusion boss battle recently, and hopefully it helps with this next one...
Another thing to augment this is you may actually lose a tad bit of skill during your 24 hour prohibition of your challenge, which seems like a bad thing. But it can make you feel more like you're encountering the challenge for the first time, and allow you to see things that you didn't focus on the first time. In Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap, I would often focus on recently acquired items to try and solve puzzles, but the game does a great job of incorporating all of the acquired items into its puzzles. A break or two later, I discovered my issue and proceeded to have a blast finishing the game.
So, if a game is frustrating you to no end, take a break. Play something else. Come back to it later. You may find it was for the best.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
SUPER AWESOME SHAMELESS PLUG FILLER POST GO!
The first two episodes of my new Let's Plays. There'll probably be a post about the making/my experience with these series, but for now they are for your entertainment.
Mega Man 6
Pokemon Blue
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Lemurs, Hedghogs, Barrel Rolls, and Insurance Salesmen
In reference to the Sonic/Progressive, some might worry that video game companies are selling out. But I don't necessarily see it that way. I wouldn't think it would take this long for companies to try this approach, and I am in fact more happy due to the realization that companies are allowing these kinds of advertising. It shows that large corporations, even insurance ones, value the cultural impact video games. It makes me cofindient in the emergence of games as less of a negatively viewed phenomenon in today's culture.
Phenomenon doot-doo-do-do-do
Phenmomenon doot-do-do-doo
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Fortune Cookie #2: Ice Climbers (3DS Virtual Console)
Ah, this should be quick. A nice and simple Fortune Cookie, I like it.
I guess I should start by saying that before I played this game, the only real background on the Ice Climbers I had for a long time was that they were in the later two Super Smash Bros. Series. I later saw a small blip here and there of the actual game, but I finally got to try it out when it was released for free by way of the 3DS Ambassador Program.
Ice Climbers is a game where you attempt to climb to the top of maybe infinite stages by way of icy platforms in a straight-fowardly vertical platforming. You have to break the ice blocks above you in order to reach the next floor of the stage while having to deal with enimies that will fill in your holes as well as send you tumbling to the bottom if the get the chance to give you a good shove. Armed with your hammer, smashing ice and polar bears is your only way to proceed.
Sounds pretty good right? And it would be except for one thing.
The controls. They are pretty bad.
You see, you make these really awkward jumps and which send you forward next to nothing. Now the platforming is vertical, so that shouldn't be a problem, right? Well the problem is that you do have to move sideways once you get up there, and it's much harder to do that without a running start. Another problem is the moving clouds, which you can't jump through, that go pretty fast and are necessary for your progression.
Another problem is the bounding boxes vs. the sprites. Either the Ice Climber or the platform's sprites do not accurately portray where you can actually land. You will find yourself endlessly going through platforms that look as if half of your body is on top of. This is especially tricky on small platforms and small moving clouds.
Even with those major faults, that doesn't keep this game for being an adequate time waster. I'm not sure of its current price point, but if it's around 1 or 2 dollars, it'd probably be worth that.
I guess I should start by saying that before I played this game, the only real background on the Ice Climbers I had for a long time was that they were in the later two Super Smash Bros. Series. I later saw a small blip here and there of the actual game, but I finally got to try it out when it was released for free by way of the 3DS Ambassador Program.
Ice Climbers is a game where you attempt to climb to the top of maybe infinite stages by way of icy platforms in a straight-fowardly vertical platforming. You have to break the ice blocks above you in order to reach the next floor of the stage while having to deal with enimies that will fill in your holes as well as send you tumbling to the bottom if the get the chance to give you a good shove. Armed with your hammer, smashing ice and polar bears is your only way to proceed.
Sounds pretty good right? And it would be except for one thing.
The controls. They are pretty bad.
You see, you make these really awkward jumps and which send you forward next to nothing. Now the platforming is vertical, so that shouldn't be a problem, right? Well the problem is that you do have to move sideways once you get up there, and it's much harder to do that without a running start. Another problem is the moving clouds, which you can't jump through, that go pretty fast and are necessary for your progression.
Another problem is the bounding boxes vs. the sprites. Either the Ice Climber or the platform's sprites do not accurately portray where you can actually land. You will find yourself endlessly going through platforms that look as if half of your body is on top of. This is especially tricky on small platforms and small moving clouds.
Even with those major faults, that doesn't keep this game for being an adequate time waster. I'm not sure of its current price point, but if it's around 1 or 2 dollars, it'd probably be worth that.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Resolution to a Problem
Okay, so yeah I've been gone for a while. Turns out that school started again. And yes that is an incredibly generic excuse and I should be thoroughly punished as a result.
Mainly cause there's a lot of other reasons too.
You see, my New Year's Resolution, aside from the standard "Be a Nice Person," was to do my hobby more than learn about it. What I mean is, for a while all I did was learn about video games and their culture, history, tid bits, and all that. But I was forgetting a key point. Playing games.
If you look at my track record, you'll see some very startling things. I feel like the equivalent of the guy who's never seen a Star Wars or a Star Trek move (for the record I have). Some of the major titles missing from my list seem to be Super Metriod, Chrono Trigger, either of the Super Mario Bros. 2's, Star Fox 64, the first half of Kirby's library, the list goes on.
Yet how do I go on and on about things like this? I've played 4 Zelda games and have beaten one (Hint: not the ones that are impressive to beat), yet I can go on and on about Zelda lore, themes, heck, I can even simply explain the basic design of a Zelda dungeon and how it's evolved.
In fact, I own next to none of the orginal copies of my favorite games. Not piracy or anything, but ports. Mario 3 on Game-Boy Advance SP (Oh yeah, I was hip at 7) was the first game I ever owned, aside from Tetris and Chess on a regular Game-Boy. Next game? Yoshi's Island on the Game-Boy, which is my all time favorite game ever.
And that's basically how it works for me. I get tons of classic games, but they're all ports, be it strict console ports, compilations, Virtual Console downloads, or even an app, those classic games aren't what they were, and sometimes it feels like I'm missing something.
The oldest system I ever played... heck the oldest system I've ever seen in person is a Nintendo 64.
But that's not a problem that will be fixed unless I find hundreds of dollars and get a good look around ebay. I do, however, plan to do more with my hobby. I'm going out, buying games, beating games. I've started really trying to play games to completion. I'm trying not to spoil story based games so I don't skip out on them. (Which basically seems to solely keep me from watching hundreds of Paper Mario Let's Plays). Needless to say, it'll be an adventure. Perhaps as grand as Pikachu's.
Oh yeah... working copy of Red/Blue. Gotta write that on the list.
Mainly cause there's a lot of other reasons too.
You see, my New Year's Resolution, aside from the standard "Be a Nice Person," was to do my hobby more than learn about it. What I mean is, for a while all I did was learn about video games and their culture, history, tid bits, and all that. But I was forgetting a key point. Playing games.
If you look at my track record, you'll see some very startling things. I feel like the equivalent of the guy who's never seen a Star Wars or a Star Trek move (for the record I have). Some of the major titles missing from my list seem to be Super Metriod, Chrono Trigger, either of the Super Mario Bros. 2's, Star Fox 64, the first half of Kirby's library, the list goes on.
Yet how do I go on and on about things like this? I've played 4 Zelda games and have beaten one (Hint: not the ones that are impressive to beat), yet I can go on and on about Zelda lore, themes, heck, I can even simply explain the basic design of a Zelda dungeon and how it's evolved.
In fact, I own next to none of the orginal copies of my favorite games. Not piracy or anything, but ports. Mario 3 on Game-Boy Advance SP (Oh yeah, I was hip at 7) was the first game I ever owned, aside from Tetris and Chess on a regular Game-Boy. Next game? Yoshi's Island on the Game-Boy, which is my all time favorite game ever.
And that's basically how it works for me. I get tons of classic games, but they're all ports, be it strict console ports, compilations, Virtual Console downloads, or even an app, those classic games aren't what they were, and sometimes it feels like I'm missing something.
The oldest system I ever played... heck the oldest system I've ever seen in person is a Nintendo 64.
But that's not a problem that will be fixed unless I find hundreds of dollars and get a good look around ebay. I do, however, plan to do more with my hobby. I'm going out, buying games, beating games. I've started really trying to play games to completion. I'm trying not to spoil story based games so I don't skip out on them. (Which basically seems to solely keep me from watching hundreds of Paper Mario Let's Plays). Needless to say, it'll be an adventure. Perhaps as grand as Pikachu's.
Oh yeah... working copy of Red/Blue. Gotta write that on the list.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Metroid and the Not So A-MAZE-ing Mirror
I get it now.
So, due to the 3DS Ambassador Program I played Kirby
and the Amazing Mirror and Metroid Fuison in succession, though have not finished
either, and now I understand two things. Why I didn’t like games with mazes in
the past, and why those games are liked by so many. That many now includes
myself.
So here’s the prologue. I didn’t like the Metriod
series. After seeing a Let’s Play done by NintendoCapriSun (NCS) and
subsequently having no idea what I was doing after trying in from my ambassador
program, I didn’t think these games were going to be for me. Now, by no means
did NCS do a bad job with his Let’s Play. But after seeing the entire game and
then still having no idea what I was doing, I was a bit discouraged. I tried
going around, I think I got an energy tank and a missile upgrade, maybe, but I
wasn’t getting anywhere fast and decided to stop.
Next came Kirby and the Amazing Mirror. Now, before
I get into this, let me say that contrary to these two posts, I really, really
like the Kirby series. Seriously. It’s one of my favorite. We just happen to be discussing some of my not-so-favorite
titles. Here’s a quick rundown to show you what I mean.
Kirby Games in order of Favoriteness (1=Best)
1. Kirby
and the Crystal Shards
2. Kirby
Squeak Squad
3. Kirby’s
Epic Yarn
4. Kirby
Super Star Ultra
Now, those are just the ones I’ve beaten. Kirby
Returns to Dreamland seems to feel like it’s going to go somewhere above 3, but
I’m not quite sure yet. Amazing Mirror however…
Amazing Mirror didn’t really live up to my
expectations. First I accidentally missed a tutorial level. I just went back
and checked and no, it doesn’t really explain anything. So, back when I started
the first time, I went into the little mirror and to my surprise I found myself
in an expansive maze. After walking straight to the same boss twice, I found I
was underwhelmed.
After giving it another go a few days ago and the today
I decided on a different game to take me though my 4 hour ride home from family
Christmas stuff. I chose Metroid Fusion.
And no joke, I had a Paragoomba Shift.
Today.
You see, Metroid Fusion is now my favorite Metroid
game. More impressively than being my favorite of two, it got me to understand
how a game with a maze layout should be designed. Let me explain.
As per usual for me, I’ll start my example with Mega
Man. This kinda design is right up my alley. Using the smallest sections of the
games in question that you can give a property to, in the case of Mega Man a
Robot Master level, let’s see how the game gets you from point A to point B. In
Mega Man it goes like this. “Here’s point A, point B is to the right. Go that
way and you’ll get there.” In Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, it goes “Here’s
point A. There are 8 point B’s out there. After you find one we’ll bring you
back here” In Metriod it goes “Here’s point A. Beat the game.”
However in Metroid Fusion, the game gives you a very
clear idea of what your doing. Like this “Here’s point A, here’s point B. There’s
a bunch of stuff between point A and point B, but here’s a rough idea of it so
you know what you’re doing. Oh and by the way, here’s why you’re going to point B.”
Strawman argument? Perhaps. But it’s how I feel. Now
there’s certainly nothing wrong with the Mega Man example. In fact, in general I
prefer that kind. However, that’s simply not how the Metroid series is
designed, and I respect that. And I think the way Metriod Fusion presented it
was the best I’ve seen so far.
Whatever the case, Metroid Fusion has restored my interest
in the Metriod series. I’ll be trying out the 2nd and 3rd
installments eventually, but now, I have a gigantic spider to blow up for robot
parts.
I’ll show you the spoils some other time.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Yessiree The Backloggery
The Backloggery. I’ve mentioned it in almost every
post so far, so I might as well tell you what it is.
The Backloggery is a website designed to help gamers
work on diminishing their backlog, the long list of games you bought but never
finished. By putting in all of your games, you begin to realize what you’ve
been skipping out on and can see just what needs to be done.
Now obviously, this is definitely a website for
completionists, those who must collect every single minikit even though you
never look at the 10 piece creation it unlocks. The Backloggery allows you to
see your progress and show it off to friends or even just passers-by, a quality
one doesn’t always have within the sanctuary of an apartment, college dorm room,
basement, bedroom, or Starbucks. Well, maybe a Starbucks.
Now, this is what the Backloggery is basically
designed for, the “primary function” if you will. Now let’s look at what you can do with your very own Backloggery
account.
1. A
Go-to for a list of games you have.
You see, some people have a lot of video games. A
lot. Sometimes, it’s hard to keep track of what you have, what you rented one
time, what you used to have, and what you beat at a friend’s house. However, after
one time of plugging in your video game collection into the Backloggery, your
entire game collection is easily categorized based on platform and completion
status, and you can search for them using other qualities such as region,
ownership status, and your personal rating of the game. This brings me to my
next point.
2. Mini-Review
Site
For each game you can put in a little blurb on your
progress. While you’re supposed to
just use it to tell people how far you are in a game, a lot of people use it to
express their opinion on their games. You can use this to refer people to your
opinions on games without having to restate your opinions, or you can use it
simply to get your point of view out
there.
3. Watch
people play video games.
The people who run the Backloggery often host
livestream sessions of them playing video games. Unfortunately for me, their schedule
is a little out of my loop, so I don’t check in very often. But if
livestreaming is your kinda thing, then by all means give it a shot.
4. Social
Networking
Using the Multi-tap function, you can receive
messages when your friends do things on their Backloggery. Then you can talk
about it. Cool Beans.
And that’s the gist of it. I hope one day to make a
video tutorial on the basics of the Backloggery, but for now you’ll just have
to settle for my vague description of it. But give it a check out, you probably
won’t regret it.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Fourtune Cookie #1: Kirby Super Star Ultra
Ah yes, welcome to Foutune Cookie, where fate decides a game for me to talk to you about. Why is it called Foutune Cookie you ask? Because I use the Backloggery's Fourtune Cookie option, a progam that picks one of my games at random, to pick a game for me to talk about. I'll talk about the Backloggery in a day or two, but now, Kirby Super Star Ultra.
Before we discuss Kirby Super Star Ultra, henforth to be refered to as KSSU, it must be noted that I have never played the original game, Kirby Super Star. I had no attatchment to the game, which I belive many people do. I say this because out of all of the handheld Kirby games I've played enough to form an opninion on, this is my least favorite.
Now, I use the term "Least Favorite" lightly, because by no means is this a bad game. I just feel it's a little lackluster is all. Perhaps my viewpoint is afflicted by expecting too much from it, because it is a remake of a game, and if I had to judge the original based soley of this game, I'd have to give it major credit for how much variety and magnitude was put into the game. But nowadays, well, the sheer size of the game isn't as impressive. And much of the additional content added looks larger than it is.
Okay, let me explain how the game works. KSSU gives you modes to play, early one you're given a few and as you complete them you get more modes until you eventually unlock them all. One of the problems with these modes is that a lot of them "based" off each other. Revenge of the King is a harder version of Spring Breeze, Meta Kightmare Ultra is basically the main games with Meta Knight instead of Kirby, meaning your playing the entire game with a beefed up sword ability. Begining to see a pattern here?
But there's certainly much more to this game than these negitive points I have with it. Many of the main features of the game are creative ideas that are fun to try out. The Great Cave Offense is a pretty fun twist on Kirby with a Metriod/Zelda-esque them of finding treausers using certain abilities in what's basically a maze, though the maze is sort of funneled in a large circle to keep you from getting hopelessly lost. There's also Milky Way wishes which has you collect powerups throughout the course of the title and once you collect them you can use them at your leasure, the challenge being that you can't take powers from the enemies around you and are stuck with what you have collected. Unfortunatly, once you get about half of the abilities and the sense of being nearly indestructable since you'll never lose a power because it can be resommoed at will, things get a little dull as you try to find those last powers that really wouldn't be that helpful compared to the aresenal you have now.
The Areana is a fun place to battle all the bosses with limited health refills. This is probably the most challenging part of the game because, let's face it, platforming is pretty negligable when you can fly infinatly. Then you get to the True Arena where you fight stronger versions of the bosses, which I have yet to beat. There's also the Helper to Hero mode where you do The Arena but instead you fight with one ability throughout the entire thing. However, this mode is indentical to The Arena outside of this and after about one or two playthoughs you'll probably feel a sense of repeditaveness and may give up unless you're the competionist type.
Have I failed to mention the Helpers yet? Well I should, because they are absouletly without a doubt... kinda cool. The AI on these guys is about as good as you'd expect, and they can be helpful. They'll do extra damage to that boss and you can use them as a backup abilty in case you lost the one you were using. But be wary, cause if you want to snag an ability from an enemy you'll have to work fast or your helper will destory them in a beserk fit of rage! Or at least fight as he's programed too.
What is more than kinda cool is the multiplayer. Oh yes, it's been around before Yarn and Return to Dreanland. However, unlike those you're going to want to play with someone who has their own copy of the game. I say "want" instead of "need" because technically you can play multiplayer without two copies of the game, but you can only play on one DS, which means your friend is going to have to look at your screen while pushing buttons on their own DS, and you can only play on Spring Breeze, which is basically the KSSU's tutorial mode, which is really short.
However, if you DO have two copies of the game, well, things get interesting. You can now play any part of the game with a freind standing in as a helper. ANY. PART. There is no limit to this whatsoever. The partner plays as a helper, so you'll have to summon them yourself, but after that? Smooth sailing. There is nothing more fun to do with this game then boot it up with a freind and wail on enemies with your newfound co-op skillz. It also helps you with harder sections of the game and is really, just a great time.
Anthing else I have to say about the game is pretty small. I like the new boss in Milky Way Wishes for Meta Knight, but I'm still confused why he blew up the Haleberd. Gourment Race is fun but really short. I like some of the continuity established within the game, like the return of one of Dynablade after you help her. The cutscenes are pretty cool and can be epic. I love the Masked Dedede theme. I think Kirby's a little to big and bulky and he controls a little clunky compared to the other handeld games I've played.
All in all, that's pretty much Kirby Super Star Ultra. If you were a fan of the original, then you'd probably love this one too. It's definatly a good starting point for a newer Kirby fan as well, as this shows you the basics while still providing newance within the title. If you have a freind with the game you'll definatly have a blast playing it with them. To me, the test of time has weared on this game a bit, but it's still good and worthy of the Kirby name.
Now if you'll excuse me, it has become tommorow as I wrote this, so I'll put hyperlinks in here at a later date.
Before we discuss Kirby Super Star Ultra, henforth to be refered to as KSSU, it must be noted that I have never played the original game, Kirby Super Star. I had no attatchment to the game, which I belive many people do. I say this because out of all of the handheld Kirby games I've played enough to form an opninion on, this is my least favorite.
Now, I use the term "Least Favorite" lightly, because by no means is this a bad game. I just feel it's a little lackluster is all. Perhaps my viewpoint is afflicted by expecting too much from it, because it is a remake of a game, and if I had to judge the original based soley of this game, I'd have to give it major credit for how much variety and magnitude was put into the game. But nowadays, well, the sheer size of the game isn't as impressive. And much of the additional content added looks larger than it is.
Okay, let me explain how the game works. KSSU gives you modes to play, early one you're given a few and as you complete them you get more modes until you eventually unlock them all. One of the problems with these modes is that a lot of them "based" off each other. Revenge of the King is a harder version of Spring Breeze, Meta Kightmare Ultra is basically the main games with Meta Knight instead of Kirby, meaning your playing the entire game with a beefed up sword ability. Begining to see a pattern here?
But there's certainly much more to this game than these negitive points I have with it. Many of the main features of the game are creative ideas that are fun to try out. The Great Cave Offense is a pretty fun twist on Kirby with a Metriod/Zelda-esque them of finding treausers using certain abilities in what's basically a maze, though the maze is sort of funneled in a large circle to keep you from getting hopelessly lost. There's also Milky Way wishes which has you collect powerups throughout the course of the title and once you collect them you can use them at your leasure, the challenge being that you can't take powers from the enemies around you and are stuck with what you have collected. Unfortunatly, once you get about half of the abilities and the sense of being nearly indestructable since you'll never lose a power because it can be resommoed at will, things get a little dull as you try to find those last powers that really wouldn't be that helpful compared to the aresenal you have now.
The Areana is a fun place to battle all the bosses with limited health refills. This is probably the most challenging part of the game because, let's face it, platforming is pretty negligable when you can fly infinatly. Then you get to the True Arena where you fight stronger versions of the bosses, which I have yet to beat. There's also the Helper to Hero mode where you do The Arena but instead you fight with one ability throughout the entire thing. However, this mode is indentical to The Arena outside of this and after about one or two playthoughs you'll probably feel a sense of repeditaveness and may give up unless you're the competionist type.
Have I failed to mention the Helpers yet? Well I should, because they are absouletly without a doubt... kinda cool. The AI on these guys is about as good as you'd expect, and they can be helpful. They'll do extra damage to that boss and you can use them as a backup abilty in case you lost the one you were using. But be wary, cause if you want to snag an ability from an enemy you'll have to work fast or your helper will destory them in a beserk fit of rage! Or at least fight as he's programed too.
What is more than kinda cool is the multiplayer. Oh yes, it's been around before Yarn and Return to Dreanland. However, unlike those you're going to want to play with someone who has their own copy of the game. I say "want" instead of "need" because technically you can play multiplayer without two copies of the game, but you can only play on one DS, which means your friend is going to have to look at your screen while pushing buttons on their own DS, and you can only play on Spring Breeze, which is basically the KSSU's tutorial mode, which is really short.
However, if you DO have two copies of the game, well, things get interesting. You can now play any part of the game with a freind standing in as a helper. ANY. PART. There is no limit to this whatsoever. The partner plays as a helper, so you'll have to summon them yourself, but after that? Smooth sailing. There is nothing more fun to do with this game then boot it up with a freind and wail on enemies with your newfound co-op skillz. It also helps you with harder sections of the game and is really, just a great time.
Anthing else I have to say about the game is pretty small. I like the new boss in Milky Way Wishes for Meta Knight, but I'm still confused why he blew up the Haleberd. Gourment Race is fun but really short. I like some of the continuity established within the game, like the return of one of Dynablade after you help her. The cutscenes are pretty cool and can be epic. I love the Masked Dedede theme. I think Kirby's a little to big and bulky and he controls a little clunky compared to the other handeld games I've played.
All in all, that's pretty much Kirby Super Star Ultra. If you were a fan of the original, then you'd probably love this one too. It's definatly a good starting point for a newer Kirby fan as well, as this shows you the basics while still providing newance within the title. If you have a freind with the game you'll definatly have a blast playing it with them. To me, the test of time has weared on this game a bit, but it's still good and worthy of the Kirby name.
Now if you'll excuse me, it has become tommorow as I wrote this, so I'll put hyperlinks in here at a later date.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Welcome to Paragoomba Shift
A Paradigm Shift, most simply defined as a change of perspective, or a change from a universally held viewpoint to an new one. Though the term is mostly used to describe abstract scientific views, we laypeople can simply use it to describe a change in perspective.
And the keyword there is change. There are many interesting things to say about what was before, as well as many things to say about the end result, but the most interesting things to be said lie with the change. Think of it this way: The beginning of a video game, you're introduced to the concepts, your limitations, what's expected of you. It can be fun viewing all those things for the first time, and it can be hard to deal with it too. However, at the end of the game, you get to use all those powers to your fullest to finnally conquer.
But the real magic happens in the middle. Your journey is what makes the game, and what makes it fun. You go into the depths of what the game has to offer, find out just how much can be done, and improve yourself as the game gets harder. You didn't beat the game because you saw the end credits, you beat the game because you went through the whole thing.
And I just lost the game, but that's beside the point.
But yes, here at Paragoomba Shift I hope to look in the middle along with what has come before and what has come after. Put much less flowery than I seem to have taken to describing throughout this, looking at old games/consoles/anything else that could be interesting in conjunction with newer versions of that / list and not favoring one over the other. It also includes looking at what actually made that change happen, cause not much really happens by chance.
I guess that's the gist of what we've got here. I don't necessarily intend on sticking verbatim to the themes here for every single post, but rest assured they will always be kept in mind. I hope this blog will help others to look at things from a new perspective, including ourselves.
Read the much less philosophical and more self indulgent description of myself tomorrow.
And the keyword there is change. There are many interesting things to say about what was before, as well as many things to say about the end result, but the most interesting things to be said lie with the change. Think of it this way: The beginning of a video game, you're introduced to the concepts, your limitations, what's expected of you. It can be fun viewing all those things for the first time, and it can be hard to deal with it too. However, at the end of the game, you get to use all those powers to your fullest to finnally conquer.
But the real magic happens in the middle. Your journey is what makes the game, and what makes it fun. You go into the depths of what the game has to offer, find out just how much can be done, and improve yourself as the game gets harder. You didn't beat the game because you saw the end credits, you beat the game because you went through the whole thing.
And I just lost the game, but that's beside the point.
But yes, here at Paragoomba Shift I hope to look in the middle along with what has come before and what has come after. Put much less flowery than I seem to have taken to describing throughout this, looking at old games/consoles/anything else that could be interesting in conjunction with newer versions of that / list and not favoring one over the other. It also includes looking at what actually made that change happen, cause not much really happens by chance.
I guess that's the gist of what we've got here. I don't necessarily intend on sticking verbatim to the themes here for every single post, but rest assured they will always be kept in mind. I hope this blog will help others to look at things from a new perspective, including ourselves.
Read the much less philosophical and more self indulgent description of myself tomorrow.
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