Gallery: Clash of the Titans

Here's a batch of screens from the upcoming Namco Bandai licensed movie tie-in action game. I'm intrigued out of sheer curiosity, even though the depth of field in some of these images is a wee bit over the top for my tastes.

Confession: as a kid, I hated the 1981 film (except for Ray Harryhausen's creepy, effective Medusa sequence), but the remake looks slightly more intriguing (at least from a technical perspective). Besides, with ancient Greece in play in a few games (notably God of War III) and a few other recent titles targeting the GOW style of gameplay (Dante's Inferno, anyone?), it'll definitely be interesting to see where this particular game lands on its own merits.

So here you go... more images to come shortly, as NamBan seems to be hyping this somewhat. A bit of quality hands-on time is needed with this to see if it's one for the ages, of course...

Gallery Update: 3D Dot Game Heroes

Lock up your daughters (well, unless they're kidnapped princesses that need rescuing)! Atlus USA is letting loose a few more screens from its upcoming PS3 exclusive 3D Dot Game Heroes. Before you take a peek down there, you need to ask yourself a few important questions.

Do you like HUGE swords? Er, in a non-threatening, but increasingly screen-filling manner, that is? Well, take a gander at these big'uns, read the descriptions and try not to lose an eye in the process...

Yeah, this game is going to be a total blast (er, try not to take that the wrong way, folks).

Ancient Sword: The sword of the legendary hero, left in the Sacred Woods should evil arise again.

Claymore: A massive blade that cuts down your foes!

Excalibur: A sword of legend that will require you to gain favor with King Block to obtain it.

Holy Sword: A sword forged in sacred water.

Katana: A sharp, thin blade from the east!

Rare Fish: ...? Really?

Gallery Update: Splatterhouse

Well, well, well... Namco Bandai's upcoming relaunch of their seminal horror/action franchise is looking mighty tasty lately and very much improved over those screens from a few months back. Look at all that ketchup - yum! Rick is looking beefy, the monsters are meaty and the red stuff most certainly paints the floors, walls and pretty much everything else.

"This time, we didn't forget the gravy..." indeed. Q3 2010 can't come soon enough for me, that's for sure.

Now, if only NamBan remembers the hardcore fans and actually sticks the arcade version on the game disc somewhere as well as make the great Sega Genesis sequels available as DLC (or heck, on the disc... pretty pleeeeeeeeeeeeease?), this one just might be near perfect... or as good as it gets for us Splatterhouse junkies.

Review: Adventures to Go

Platform: PSP

Developer: GAE

Publisher: Natsume

# of Players: 1

Rating: E10+

Official Site

Score: B+

As dungeon hacks go, Natsume's PSP sleeper Adventures to Go is a solid bit of portable gaming JRPG fans should take to like ducks to water. The game also has just enough appeal in its pick up and play mechanics and user-generated random maps that RPG-ers not accustomed to spiky haired, oddly costumed characters and wacky humor may want to take a peek at what's here. If you're in the mood for some sort of benchmark in gaming innovation, you won't find it here. Things start out and stay fairly generic, but there's a nicely done (and pretty funny) twist a few hours in that really freshens up the remainder of the game's running time. Actually, how long you're diving into these dungeons is completely up to you, as clever players will want to experiment with a near endless mixing of level and creature types as they reap in the gold and treasures.

As Finn Courtland, a young would-be treasure hunter extraordinaire, you'll set out more or less down the road from your house to the titular agency, a guild of sorts where adventurers set out for fun and profit in dungeons they create. You're is joined by three other party members as the game continues - Alina, a young witch who forces you into taking her along as your partner, Garron, a burly knight type and "Cat", a shadowy thief with speed and skills that make her a value to the team. Each character is quite useful in battle in a few key areas such as the number of spells they can carry to whether or not they're good at reading magic glyphs or opening trapped chests. Expect to do a lot of stat checking as your adventure goes on, as new gear becomes available as soon as a new plot point opens up.

How and when you run into your teammates is based on how far you've advanced the plot by completing certain fetch or personal quests. This allows players to stretch things out a bit or even greatly by avoiding main quests and simply creating random maps to explore for as long as you like. Creating maps is a cinch - all you do is boogie on up to the ATG counter, select a few terrain and creature options, choose an Event if you have an Event (or other type of) Ticket, pay for your choices and head into the field. Initially, you can play a bunch of free or relatively inexpensive maps, but as the game goes on, new terrain, creature and Ticket types will expand the fun as they lighten your wallet.

If you find yourself advancing the plot too quickly or running low on funds, there's an easy to locate Quest Reset switch in each dungeon. This allows all the previous quests you've completed for the villagers to be reset so you can earn extra money. Redoing most of these missions is fairly easy, as your team is going to be a lot more powerful and you'll know which types of terrain you'll require from your previous attempts. For the most part, it's hard to become stuck in a mission thanks to a few handy hints you'll get in town from the village scholar or one of the handful of NPC's in the game. There are a few later quests that seem vague even with hints, but that's where your memory of previous dungeon and creature types will come in handy.

On the field, combat is all turn-based random battles, taking place on the field using a grid format where faster allies and enemies get to do their thing first. The game swipes and enhances a nice bit from classics such ar Nethack and Rogue, where movement, attacking, using a spell or item counts as an action in combat. In ATG, however, you expend Action Points while fighting, so doing too many moves can leave you defenseless. You quickly learn to streamline your actions early on, saving up at least two points for defense or automatically attacking an enemy that comes into your range. Alina and Cat can use ranged weapons (bows and boomerangs, respectively) and Garron has access to spears and pikes that extend his reach up to three squares. Finn uses swords of differing strengths as well as attack types and each character can equip a main and backup weapon, switching them out in combat with a tap of the L trigger.

Each of the party members is skilled with specific weapons, but everyone can carry and use spell crystals, a good thing against the game's tough mid and main bosses. Obviously, Alina can carry the most spells (eight), so she's going to be the go-to gal and magic heavy hitter, but don't neglect your other members, especially when it comes to healing and status relief. Unlike most JRPGs, you don't have magic points to expend at all. You mix spells by combining crystals and assign the spells to your party members. Up to nine crystals for each spell can be held, but Garron is limited to two spells, Cat can carry five, and Finn makes do with four. As you play, you'll discover new spell recipes, so you;ll need to cook those up and replace older spells as the game continues.

While the no MP thing might tick off some gamers, it's a fun system once you start finding and using recipes. You can make magic crystals any time except during combat, but newly created and equipped crystals aren't charged until you go home and rest for the night You'll generally need all the crystals you can buy or find, but selling off useless or extra gear is as easy as visiting ATG HQ and hitting the four shops there. One slight quirk for those who prefer long, long dungeon dives is once you leave a dungeon, it becomes night and you need to go home and rest. This forces you to come back and set up a new dungeon each time you want to get your treasure hunting thing on. It's not that bad, as killing lots of monsters rewards you with stat-boosting medals every so often, sometimes while you're in a map, other times when you return home from an adventure.

Visually, things are really nice looking overall, with excellent character art and some cool looking bosses. Some of the normal creatures you'll come across are pretty comical-looking and yes, there are the occasional palette swapped monsters here and there. While you never see your team in new armor, the weapons each have a different look, a very nice touch. The game has fun with enemy and item descriptions, making ATG more lighthearted than much of today's JRPG fare. The music is really nicely done, with the different terrain types getting their own themes. The battle music is fine, which is a good thing as you'll be hearing it quite frequently. Don't expect any voice acting here, but you'll get a few chuckles from the writing, particularly Finn's and Alina's jabs at each other and a bit of humorous stuff when the plot twist pops in later on.

The game constantly pokes fun at itself every chance it gets. A few Event Ticket events are boss battles dramatically set up at times before Finn or someone off camera makes a joke about the pre or post-battle elements. Finn's meetings with the Scholar start off with the old guy saying how long it's been since he's dropped by and Finn commenting on his just being their not too long ago. And in case you're trying to fit your mind around the rationale for a guild that makes adventures to go with monsters, treasure and other goodies that can be called up at will, the game even pokes fun at that. You'll have to see where this particular part goes as the game progresses, but trust me, it's a pretty darn amusing take on random dungeon diving and its effects on just where all those things come from..

In terms of longevity, if you barrel straight through, stopping only to level up accordingly (most of the bosses past the third hour or so are pretty brutal if you're under prepared), the game can be completed in about 15-20 hours or so. On the other hand, between the myriad of level types, "rare" monsters to track down the occasional Poker game in the random Casino that pops up as an event and other diversions, you can easily double or triple the time spent. For a game with one town and a paltry for locations, ATG has a way of keeping you grinding 'til the wee hours and then some. While I'm fine with this being a solely single-player experience, it would have been nice to see some sort of multiplayer option or the ability to trade items and/or magic crystals with fellow ATG'ers.

On the other hand, as this game is only a GameStop exclusive and currently not available as a PSN Store download, it would be a bit tricky to track down someone else who has a copy of this game to trade with. Nevertheless, if you can dig up a copy, Adventures to Go is a great little game with no epic delusions about it at all. It's just pure fun, breezy dungeon-scented goodness from start to finish.

Now Playing (Well, Sort Of...)

I actually completed a bunch of games while toiling away on that Neo Nectaris: Military Madness strategy guide for Hudson Soft (I had to do something to break up the all ZOC, all the time craziness) as well as started a few others I'm just getting around to completing, so reviews are coming...

... As if you need MY opinion to tell you to buy some of these titles:

Mass Effect 2 (360)
Risen (360)
Might & Magic - Clash of Heroes (DS)
The Sky Crawlers: innocent Aces (Wii)
Bayonetta (PS3)
Fighting Fantasy - The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (DS)

Plus a few others...

Preview: 3D Dot Game Heroes

Thanks to the power of WebEx (craaaak-BOOM!) and the ridiculously fun folks at Atlus USA, 3D Dot Game Heroes has jumped to the front of my must-play list for early 2010 releases. I've been interested in this PlayStation 3 exclusive ever since seeing screens from Japan last year and upon hearing Atlus wisely snapped up the US publishing rights, I was more than a little ecstatic at the localization possibilities. Based on the hour-long web demo/presentation, the guys and gals out in sunny Irvine, California have done another super job of bringing US gamers one more surefire hit. From the excellently stylized 3D "block art" to the head-boppingly nostalgic soundtrack and simple yet challenging Action/RPG gameplay, this could be one of those cool "sleepers" that hopefully wakes up a few jaded gamers from their usual purchasing patterns.

There's a nicely kooky story here that uses plenty of pages from a few well-worn handbooks, but it's all done with a neat sense of fun and love for the games the dev team obviously cut their teeth on back in the day. You've got an intrepid (and customizable) hero, a missing princess and a kingdom to save along with magic orbs to collect and so forth and so on. What's here is definitely one of those games that just needs to be played, as screen shots don't quite do what's here justice. As soon as I joined the presentation, I had a smile on my face that lasted throughout and a few hours afterward. What's here nails that nostalgic vibe without going overboard and wearing out its welcome.

The main game is a tightly focused single-player homage to classic 8-bit gaming and yes, more than a few Legend of Zelda influences abound (as do references to many other 8-bit classics). We got to see Atlus' PR Manager Aram Jabbari play a few portions of the game, guiding his created hero (which happened to be Domo-kun, the lovable NHK TV mascot and part-time Internet meme) through a few early sections in the kingdom of Dotnia that included a town, nicely sized dungeon, boss battle and a few other areas. Those looking for a direct Zelda pastiche will find more than a few similarities, no doubt. Yet the game isn't some sort of constant poke in Nintendo's eyeball for not giving Wii owners a new Link adventure in a more timely fashion. Rather, the experience is a well-made often humorous take on a particular era that will put a massive ear to ear grin on the faces of older gamers who grew up spending TV time with the original NES and a stack of carts in front of the TV.

Those under 30 lacking a sense of irony, humor or who take modern games too seriously to appreciate what's here might be scratching their scalps bloody at all this, but it's their loss. On the other hand, while you're waiting for that new Zelda game (and yes, if you happen to own a PS3), you may as well play something that's as close as you're going to get with a more wicked sense of humor, to boot. The game's huge overworld and seven dungeons should take most gamers about a dozen or so hours to complete, but that's IF you know where to go what to do and can do it as quickly as possible. 3DDGH has tons of secrets to track down, plenty of in-jokes and three mini-games to whittle away at your spare time. We were shown two of the three games, Block Defense (a Tower Defense riff) and Blockout (a Breakout-style block-buster). The final mini-game, Dash Circuit, is a racing game of sorts. If my notes are correct, expect at least two tracks and possibly some kart-style action.

In terms of the main game's play style, expect a simple pick up and play control scheme, with some of the block pushing puzzles and later bosses to be tricky in a nicely old-school manner. You'll come across a few handy (and amusingly familiar) weapons and items such as a boomerang, bombs, hook shooter and the like. I'm sure a few die-hard Nintendites will be champing at the bit and screaming while shaking their balled up fists in the general direction of Atlus' offices, but remember - Atlus didn't MAKE the game. They're just responsible for the translation, improvements and localization efforts. These efforts include a few very cool additions to the US version such as an improved user interface, bonus Block Defense maps (originally DLC from the Japanese version), the ability to use your sword in Blockout, new loading screen art for the North American version and more fun stuff. Speaking of loading, one of the main issues with the import, lengthy load times, has been addressed by allowing US gamers to load the contents of that shiny disc onto their PS3 hard drives.

Developer Silicon Studio (turn those letters sideways and it spells From Software, I think) has done a wonderful job in bringing 2D pixel art into glorious 3D block art, using some cool modern effects such as depth of field, lovely water and magic spells. That giant sword you may have seen elsewhere may be intentionally humorous (Smilin' Bob jokes were rampant during the press event), but the game isn't a one joke show at all if you know your 8-bit hits and misses. I know I'll be poring over my Famicom collection between now and the time a review copy arrives so I can crack up a bit more at the references. Still, I can see some critics and players going off the deep end to overly criticize this one for not being "innovative" in this day and age (*yawn!*). However, they'd be missing the point of the experience entirely. What's here is a fantastic little chunk of retro game bliss wrapped in a shiny PS3 candy coating and at $40, it's an absolute steal if Memory Lane is a favorite destination. Even better, you don't need to blow on the game disc to get it to run!

Speaking of Memory Lane, Jarabbi ended the presentation by showing off some hilarious loading screen art from the US version. We saw 3D pixel versions of scenes from quite a few 8-bit and PC classics and everyone was invited to guess which games the art came from. I was laughing so hard by now at the great images flashing by that I think I only typed in two or three guesses. On a related front, users will get to play around with the game's deep character editor to create their own blocky avatars (right down to the walking animations) if they desire. You can also expect a nice selection of other playable characters to choose from along with a nicer selection of in-game weapons, shields and other cool gear to discover in your travels. From Software fans will want to keep an eye peeled for a few Easter Eggs and the Atlus Faithful isn't left out of the loop either. Still, I can see a load of images of custom created characters filling up message boards all over the Internet once the game hits retail.

Overall, things are looking quite fun in the land of Dotnia and its surrounding areas, so mark down May 11, 2010 and definitely pre-order a copy of 3D Dot Game Heroes even if you've only a passing interest in diving into "classic" games. Hmmmm... I'm wondering if Atlus will drop by this year's Classic Gaming Expo in Vegas, as 3DDGH is pretty much something quite a few CGE attendees might be more than a little intrigued by... Anyway, here are a few cool screens to peek at while you're waiting. Looking good, huh? Well, don't just sit there drooling... go get your pre-order in and absolutely set your sights on exploring a bit of wistful nostalgia, controller in hand. Back with more in a bit - stay tuned...

Review: Ragnarok DS

Developer: Gravity Co./GungHo Works

Publisher: Xseed Games

# of Players: 1-3 (Wi-Fi)

Rating: E10+

Official Site

Score: B

Squeezing a MMORPG down onto a handheld system is a pretty dangerous thing to do when you think about it. For starters, if the game is too condensed from the original PC iteration, longtime fans will want the scalps of the programmers and publishers for ruining their favorite game. On the other hand, if the game goes completely away from what's expected and tries to innovate too much, unless it does everything new right, it may alienate fans while it tries to please new players. Gravity and GungHo Works have managed to make Ragnarok DS an excellent example of bringing old and new elements together in a supremely addictive dungeon crawler geared towards new and old fans of their online classic. The game pulls you into its world with a nice combination of action and humor, plenty of quests to keep you busy and a fun, challenging multiplayer tower that allows up to three players to explore and battle monsters via Wi-Fi.

As this is a smaller scale version of a much larger online experience, there have been a few necessary changes. Rather than create a completely custom male or female avatar, you're thrust into the shoes of Ales, a young adventurer with dreams of riches and power who sets out to earn enough loot and respect to start his own guild. He meets up with Sierra, a partial amnesiac magic user who's shown escaping from some evil types in the game's opening section. Ales comes across her in a forest she's passed out in after a narrow escape and she tags along, allowing for a running plot element when the baddies chasing her pick up on her trail once again. The plot is pretty standard stuff, so don't come into this expecting a groundbreaking plot. Ales is an orphan, Sierra has amnesia, there's a cute mage with a sassy attitude and the usual masked teleporting evil meanie that pops in to make life miserable for the team at certain points.

While you're limited to Ales, Sierra and one other party member (from a small pool of characters you'll come across during your travels), the game has 17 job classes you can choose from as Ales gains levels. You can be a fighter, archer, a few types of magic user, hand to hand fighter and so forth and so on. Choosing a job gives you access to special skills linked to the job and each class has its strengths and weaknesses. For example, Archers have some great long range attacks, but suffer against up close melee fighters. Fighter types can dish out major damage against enemies up close and personal, but may be weaker to certain types of ranged or magic attacks ans so forth and so on. If you're well-versed in the RO world, you'll probably have a good idea of which class to play. However, no matter your previous experience with the online game, it's just pure fun to pick a class and discover what it can do once you get a few levels under your belt.

Leveling up your party members and their job skills makes things easier as you grind away, however, there's an interesting Catch-22 that pops up as the game continues. If you decide to play a "weaker" job, there will be a few times where you're stuck with a new party member who's under-leveled, which has your poor party getting beat up for a bit until everyone gets stronger. In actuality, there are no "useless" jobs here - it's up to you to unlock your chosen job's full powers as the game progresses. By the way, the game uses the Touch Screen exclusively for most of the controls and menus, but you can move around and access the inventory using the D-pad and buttons if you like. I ended up using the D-pad for the most part as I'd occasionally run into enemies too quickly with the stylus method.

Other than the occasional cinematic break before a boss fight, combat happens right on the lower screen. You can choose automatic or manual battles, the difference being how much you'll be tapping, dragging and slashing with your stylus. With automatic combat, regular attacks require a single tap on an enemy while special attacks are done with different stylus motions. Manual combat will give your fingers more of a workout as you need to tap and tap some more along with do all your specials as noted above. You can set your allies to a few different tactics, but you may want to keep Sierra as a healer for as much of the game as possible. As long as you keep her gear current and make sure she's not trapped by a strong enemy or enemies, she's a lifesaver that can keep you going during the toughest fights.

In a nifty touch, you can set "hotkeys" in order to use potions and skills on the fly, although the skill bar sometimes blocks your view of enemies approaching from the top right of the screen. You can close the bar with a quick tap of the stylus, but given that you're always going to be using one of the three switchable skill tabs, you'll find yourself keeping it open more often than not. Combat is fast paced and exciting with no shortage of respawning beasties. You can pretty much stay in one area early on and grind away at lesser foes, gaining levels and job skill points until your fingers go numb. When you level up, you gain multiple points to distribute among your main attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Agility, etc.) while a single Job Points is doled out once per job level up.

At Job level 30, you're allowed to take on an advanced job (an Archer will become a Hunter, for example) that has even more useful skills. The one caveat here is your Job Level drops back to 1, but you keep all your older skills. You'll breeze through the first 15 to 20 new Job levels fairly quickly, but by this time, you'll most likely be facing off against some pretty darn powerful monsters. If you're finding yourself getting whomped quickly, you can warp back to a previous town and beat up on some easier creatures until you get stronger. There are a bunch of side missions where you're gathering monster parts for certain folks and most of these quests will reward you with cash or decent items. One of the cool things about the game are the Cards you net from killing monsters that can be placed into weapon, armor or items with slots to boost your team's stats, sometimes dramatically.

Visually, the game looks very much like the PC original or a mid-level PSOne game with cute-looking anime-style 2D sprites and some sparsely detailed 3D maps. Equipped gear shows up on your party members and the emoticons that appear over almost everyone's heads during dialog sections are brilliantly implemented. You'll see some lovely ladies (presented as gorgeous painted portraits) as guides in each town and the different monster cards are quite amusing to look at. Speaking of amusing, the game uses a lot of humor throughout and if you're in the right mood, there are a few laugh out loud funny moments during some conversations. Yes, these are the requisite melodramatic RPG moments here and there, but the generally light tone of the game works quite well. While there's not a wisp of voice acting here, the musical score is simply outstanding. You've got light, bouncy tunes, dramatic battle themes, comical cut scene stuff and a lot more. From a presentation standpoint, this is one of those games that clicks on all cylinders.

My main complaint with the game is the camera zoom function. there are three settings and only the farthest one is any good for combat. Playing zoomed in or at medium view will only get your party wiped out, especially in areas with fast-moving or ranged enemies. The far view is near perfect, but you lose a bit of detail in the characters, making the game not quite as good looking as it is when zoomed in. Fortunately, cut scenes are presented as scaled in, so you'll catch every bit of emotion on screen. It would have been interesting to see what Gravity and GungHo could do with the PSP's higher resolution and wider screen, but I guess we'll have to see if the game sells well enough as a DS exclusive in order to find out.

As for multiplayer, players looking for a challenge will find the Mirage Tower waiting for them. Unlocked at level 25, this deadly dungeon packs 50 floors of high challenge, super powerful enemies and some excellent rewards for beating them. You can grab up to two other friends with a copy of the game and climb a few floors for fun and profit or go it alone for a true test of skill. I personally haven't cleared past the 20th floor, but I wanted to get this review in before I got sucked back into that deadly treasure-packed hell. In the end, your enjoyment of Ragnarok DS will depend on your appreciation of what's here plus a love for classic 16 and 32-bit era RPG's. Sure, what's here doesn't do much that hasn't been done before, but if you're a fan of the "daily grind" style of chase 'n chop RPG, you can't go wrong for a few dozen (or more) hours of monster-bashing, treasure grabbing fun.

"What To Do When Booth Gets Back..."

SO, I've been debating a few things over the past couple of months about this blog and NO, I'm not going to drop off the planet with another project (well, not just yet). While I was writing up all 95 pages (or 57,522 words) of that Neo Nectaris: Military Madness strategy guide for Hudson Entertainment, I was also streamlining my games collection. Selling off some titles while expanding others. I think my tastes are changing or revolving back towards strategy, role-playing and quality adventure games across different platforms more than other genres, but I'm certainly not giving up on everything else I like.

Now, I COULD just shift focus and make DAF more of a site geared towards the above mentioned genres, however, there are already a few older (and better) places on the Internet for this. Of course, i don't want to limit what's covered here at all, as I'm in no way going to miss all the stellar first and third party releases falling out of the sky in what's looking like an even better year than 2009 in terms of great games. Decisions, decisions...

Anyway, I'll let you guys know what's what - in the meantime, I've a bunch of stuff to finish up - after I finally get some sleep, that is...

The Madness is OVER (But Boy, Was It Fun While It Lasted)!

Yes, I FINALLY completed my strategy guide for Neo Nectaris: Military Madness for the iPod Touch and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I'll be reviewing the game later this week, so keep a  eye peeled. How is it? Let's just say if you're a fan of Nectaris, you'll love what's here. The game is pretty tough and definitely not a "casual" experience and it's definitely not one of those cutesy Japanese strategy games with spiky-haired characters and cranky, demonic end bosses.

But I'm getting ahead of myself - back in a few with a couple of updates. I'm going to be catching up on a lot of stuff, that's for sure...

Yakety Yak, Plus A New Place to Visit...

OK, Comments are back, so fire away. Pirate Captain C, this probably means you (and what's up with my Nutella supply?)

Also, if you're at all intereted in a really cool RPG project that's coming along quite niecely, check out the jClassicRPG developer blog! This Java-based homage to great classic RPG's such as Wizardry and The Bard's Tale is being cooked up by a small team guided by Pal Z. Illes (call him Paul), a Hungarian software programmer with a huge passion for the genre.

Anyway, click on over and check out the game (you can download the current version and yes, feedback is more than welcome, as it'll help the team make a better final version). If you like what you're seeing and playing, you can even donate to the cause and get your name in lights. Well, not in lights exactly, but if you like, Paul will give you a shout out on his blog!

That's my good deed for the day done, so it's back to finishing up a certain strategy guide I've been toiling away on for a few months - back soon with a more wordy update...

Open Season (or Thanks, USPS!)

Hmmmm... This paranoid anti-terror stuff is going too damn far AND invading my privacy to boot. So far, every game I've gotten addressed to me at Destroy All Fanboys! has arrived OPENED and very badly resealed or in at least two cases, not sealed well at all. I'm gathering that those postal inspectors out there have been screening my DAF mail to make sure I'm not some home-grown terrorist or something like that.

Hell, if they keep opening my mail and sending it to me in the condition it arrives in, I might go postal after all (but for a totally non-terrorist manner).

Idiots.

Review: Zaku

Platform: Atari Lynx

Developer: PenguiNet

Publisher: SuperFighter Team

Players: 1

Rating: E (Everyone)

Official Site

Score: A+


Dust off that Atari Lynx* and get ready for some hardcore shmup action – Zaku is finally here and it's an instant classic that you don't want to miss. SuperFighter Team and developer PengiNet have cooked up a solid and spectacularly tough 4 Meg chunk of horizontal arcade shooting set in 16 stages set over five worlds packed with big-eyed cartoon enemies and wacky screen-filling bosses that will give you candy-colored nightmares on each of its difficulty levels. The game is a near-perfect throwback to the days of classic 8 and 16-bit shooters and every level, every second of the game oozes quality, if not sheer programming genius. How this is running on the Lynx and looking as great as it does is a wonder, but it truly shows just how powerful (and under appreciated) the hardware was (and is).

Freelan¢ing for $ony (Slight Return, Once More with Feeling!)

This article has appeared in at least two places, once in print (in my fanzine, Continue? back around 1999 and a second time a few years later over at Digital Press in my "Did You Know?" column). I figure I'd expand it slightly and give you folks who miss my usual postings something to read as I try and get my Sony PR contacts back after too long.

(Heh, like THIS is going to help?)

Anyway, it's a fine and funny story, and yes, it's all true (well, except for the parts about my head popping off or being otherwise damaged).

No Comment (Well, For Now...)

Yes, I get mail and yes, I actually respond on occasion - case in point:

"Hey, why'd ya disable comments?"

Well dear readers, I was getting some very annoying porn spam and Asian porn spam at that! I've nothing against Asian gals, porn or SPAM (although it's too salty for my diet, sorry Hawaii - love the islands, but SPAM will kill me if I ever go back there and have it every day - as Fred Flintstone once said, "Pass the poi")

Anyway, I'll add comments back to the blog once I can sort this Hello Cutey Honey Kitty nonsense out.

Besides, those of you who know how to reach me by other means can do so, so there!

Back in a bit - busy week still in progress...

Review: Divinity II: Ego Draconis

Platform: Xbox 360

Developer: Larian Studios

Publisher: CDV

# of Players: 1

Rating: M (Mature)

Official Site

Score: B+

Featuring a vast game world fun to explore,
many quests to take (or perhaps ignore),
Divinity II, that new Larian lore
more than deserves the posted score

It's got some quirks (but don't games all?)
mayhaps a patch will raise things tall
Still, for adventure, heed well my call
What's here is tops from wall to wall!

Plain old good to flat out great RPG's make me wax poetic from time to time and as it deftly straddles the fence between those two poles, Divinity II: Ego Draconis gets 2010 off to a fine start in grand style for genre fans. Sure, it wears some of its PC origins on it sleeve a bit too proudly, yet the game is quite addictive and indeed, very highly playable for hours on end. Despite some pesky technical issues that rear their ugly heads, the game is also often quite good to look at provided you aren't wistfully recalling something else while playing. Warts and all, you can't knock developer Larian Studios for bringing this sequel to the stellar 2001 PC RPG Divine Divinity to the 360. The first game was an instant classic (it's been an automatic install on the three PC's I've had since 2001) and what's here comes very close to being equally as fun an experience. If you're looking for depth and a flat out huge and fun world to explore, Div II delivers and lets you keep the change.

My personal key to getting the maximum enjoyment out of games is to NOT lump them together "by today's standards" (*yawn*) or try to judge them based on how similar the game world are to completely different games made by different developers. To me, each and every game world is a separate entity that lives or dies by the characters that inhabit it and should be judged as such, period. It's all about appreciating different game worlds on their own merits and whether or not the developer has managed to pull me in to the experience by creating a place I don't want to leave despite half-falling off the couch with droopy eyelids. Div II does that and does it well and often enough that some of its more familiar genre moments are easily forgiven. Sure, you'll be killing scores of lesser enemies to level up, tackle a bunch of quests involve fetching and returning some oddball items and there are plenty of NPC's you'll have no use for once you take care of a few jobs for them.

On the other hand, you get a metric ton of laughs here thanks to a killer bunny, a goblin named Charlie and the ability to change your character's sex after a certain point in the game. You can read minds at the cost of a bit of experience points, another fun touch that nets some fine side missions or leads to the occasional dead end conversation. On the surface, the game might seem a bit too “classical” for its own good, but once you're absorbed into the richly detailed game world Larian has crafted, you'll find yourself liking what you're playing more and more. "Innovation" is a highly overused (and overrated) buzzword in gaming these day. I'd much rather have pure FUN while playing a game than have to sit through yet another gimmick that's going to be overshadowed by the next gaming trend two months down the road. Div II might not reinvent the wheel, but it sure as heck gets great mileage.

If you played Divine Divinity, you'll absolutely appreciate what's here right from the beginning. If you're new to the series and happen to love open world RPG's with lots to do and many secrets to discover, you'll be grinning from ear to ear once you start exploring. Then again, the game has a way of making you grin (in a good way) at much of its content. Questing feels extremely satisfying (despite the occasional not so hot reward) and combat is nicely visceral indoors and out. Monsters have the tendency to run off and regain health (an VERY welcome touch), so some of the tougher battles become a matter of dealing with the horde as quickly as possible. Things get even trickier when enemy spell casters spritz out health to their fellow travelers like cute sales gals in Macy*s during the holiday shopping season (or any time of the year, actually).

After a chunk of challenges, you'll eventually capture and make your home a huge battle tower, a structure that lets you store loot, send out hirelings on side missions and even change your sex. I bring this up again because it's an unusual thing for some US gamers to deal with. Your stereotypical guy gamer is more used to playing the square-jawed heroic type and ogling the sexy polygon babes in their games and most gal gamers (who refuse to be stereotyped) are used to ogling the guys and complaining loudly that the babes are too under dressed. Here, the gender bending is an amusing extra that should keep both sides happy.

Also happy-making is the game's well done level of challenge. The game's difficulty is balanced out enough that you'll know quite well when you're wandering into trouble. On the other hand, you can also get stomped royally by a mid to high level baddie in the midst of a pack of weaklings. There are plenty of risk vs. reward spots to discover and if you're properly prepared, it's always great to uncover a hidden cave or well-guarded treasure. You'll have plenty of great skills to use and when you get that killer Dragon form, nothing beats running away from a crowd of goblins (or other creeps) all set on "kill", leaping off a cliff and transforming into a flame spewing winged beast that can roast up those smelly goblins but good. You can also use your dragon form to find hidden caves tucked away in cliff walls and other high places.

It's here that the game reminded me of Surreal Software's underrated, overlooked PS2 game, Drakan: The Ancients' Gates (with an even more open world, of course). Controlling and combat with the dragon is fantastic and the overall sense of flight is very well realized. Unfortunately, just as in Drakan (and Divine Divinity), there are only a set amount of creatures in the game. Should you decide to go on a killing spree and attempt to slay every bad thing in the game to pieces, you'll find yourself many, many hours later with a worn out controller and a very empty collection of indoor and outdoor locales totally free from monsters. This isn't a fatal flaw by any means, by the way. The first game and Beyond Divinity (a fine RPG which wasn't a true sequel) had this feature and I can think of a few other RPG's that allow for this "realistic" population of creatures good and evil.

As gamers reared in the age respawning baddies to reap for rare loot over and again, some players are so used to the modern open game world with endless looping and recycling of monsters, not something so... natural. That games where the population is indeed finite will be quite a reality grasp for a few folks out there. Get used to it, I say. Or please at least admit that, hell, you're having so damn much fun playing the game that yes, you wanted it to go on and on after the final credits have spooled up. In English, this isn't Diablo, a Diablo “clone” or a game where you can exploit one or two areas for a few days and come up for air with an over-powered tank. You have to earn every bit of experience here by hard work, and that's all right by me.

Presentation-wise, Div II is a bit of something old, something new. The nicely sized fantasy environments are impressive, but definitely play the game on a HDTV setup for maximum visual effect. The difference is like night and day if you see the game on a standard-def set and switch over. Yes, there's a bit of screen tearing and slightly weak texture work on an analog set, but at 1080p, stuff practically pops off the screen. Much of the character animation isn't quite as snappy as I'd like it to be, but it's not a game-killer. The sounds and music are great stuff featuring the solid, expressive voice acting mentioned above and a superb soundtrack that features a few memorable tunes.

The ending might be a source of pain for those that crave post-endgame spelunking or some sort of “New Game+” nonsense, but I rather liked the resolution. Not every game needs that stuff, and besides, I'm sure Larian might consider some sort of patch or DLC in the future if the game sells well and the fans ask nicely enough. That, or we'll see another sequel at some point down the road. My money would be on both and I'm hoping the developer has NO crazy multiplayer aspirations. Divine Divinity was a singular single player experience and Div II just about equals that game in terms of immersion and overall “feel”. If you're an open-minded RPG fan, absolutely give this game a shot and support one might fine creative team and their baby.