Video Games

Review – Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (NDS)

If you’d have suggested to me twenty years ago I’d be a Castlevania fan I’d have laughed in your face. I have zero interest in the whole Gothic Horror genre, I dislike the soul crushing difficulty of the NES games, and frankly, the whole Dracula thing is kind of derivative.

Then I played Symphony of the Night on the recommendation of pretty much everyone in alt.games.final-fantasy. Ok, I purchased it at the Greatest Hits price then it sat on me game shelf until halfway through college. Eventually I needed something to play so I picked it up.

Now I’ve purchased the latest Castlevania game on a pre-order that I placed the day they announced it (and it’s 20^th Anniversary bundle). Frustratingly I still have not gotten my bonus pack. I’m planning on bitching to Gamestop corporate, for what it’s worth to try and get one. You see, the store claims their shipment was damaged by UPS. I came in the day the game was released to ensure I’d get my game and bonus, and here I am, weeks later, without. I already hate Gamestop in general, this doesn’t help.

But this is not a complaint on Gamestop nor a praise on Symphony of the Night. This is a review of Castlevania Portrait of Ruin for the Nintendo DS. I’ve played the three Game Boy Advance Castlevanias but I’ve not had the chance to play Dawn of Sorrow.

Because I like giving the punch line before the joke, I’ll tell you Portrait of Ruin is an excellent game. You can go away now if you’d like unless you’d like to hear me rattle on about why.

The gimmick of Portrait of Ruin is coupling. You get two different playable character in the main monde and two of the three bonus modes. This isn’t your straight “pick a player” set up though, you get control of both characters at once. If you prefer (I do) you can sent the other person away and tag team in and out at will. If you’re especially skilled the second player can be controlled via the touch screen. Good luck at that one however unless you’re some sort of three armed mutant. Let’s see, Portrait of Ruin, N64 Controller, I see a trend. Maybe there is something we don’t know about the Japanese.

Each pairing features a physical based character and a magic based character. For the main game you play as Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin. You may recognize the name John Morris from the Genesis Castlevania: Bloodlines. This game is essentially a direct sequel to Bloodlines, but you don’t play as John, you play as Jonathan, John’s son. There are however ties to Castlevania X (to which Symphony of the Night was a direct sequel to) through the Vampire Killer Whip. You must fight to restore the Whip’s power late in the game and face the “Last Belmont to Wield the Whip”. Confused yet? I’m pretty sure there were a few references to the plot of the Dawn/Aria of Sorrow combo in there was well but I’m not certain. Basically this whole timeline is actually a bit more coherent than it would appear to be.

Charlotte on the other hand has no real relation to anyone. Truthfully the two characters just act as an arbitrary separation of magic and physical attacks. It does help add a few interesting story bits. My style of gameplay had me using Jonathan more than Charlotte however. Mostly I used her for the combo “Dual Crush” super attacks. I’ve heard other people report opposite styles of gameplay however. The transition is well done between the two characters and the computer AI controlling Player two when on screen is decent enough.

My chief complain with this game are the bosses. The game in general is fairly easy until you get to a boss. Almost all of them have attacks that will wipe you right out before you even realize what’s happening. This can be quite frustrating. However the End Boss actually doesn’t have this problem. In most Castlevania games I’ve actually had trouble defeating Dracula and his final form but this game was definitely the easiest Dracula ever. You even face off against Dracula plus a partner enemy. The irony is that the enemy Dracula teams up with is probably the hardest boss in the game when you fight him alone.

Oh right, in case you didn’t know, Dracula is at the end of pretty much every Castlevania game. Often in current games he’s hidden behind one or two “bad endings”. This game is no exception though considering that you’re map isn’t complete in the bad ending and there is a huge “mystery barrier” it should be pretty obvious to anyone that you’re not done if you think killing the Sisters is the end of the game.

Speaking of completing the game, after doing so you’ll unlock bonus modes. You can play through with a “New Game +” feature using Jonathan and Charlotte, or play through as the Sisters. Or, if you’ve unlocked the Vampire Killer, you can play as Richter and Maria. Richter mode is especially fun. His ability to crush enemies easily makes it extremely quick. I spent roughly 15 hours my first play through getting 100% on everything (I’m still not quite done yet). I’ve played MAYBE an hour on Richter mode and I’m already nearly halfway through.

There is also the touch screen heavy “Sisters Mode”. This mode actually serves as a bit of a prologue sequence where you play through as the game’s two Sister characters. However gameplay is drastically different and almost entirely touch screen based. The only buttons you use are the control pad and the L button to switch characters. The Magic based sister constantly attacks anywhere you touch on the screen, the physical based sister allows you to slash enemies with your stylus. It’s pretty neat and is a good use of the touch screen. It’s also different enough to give incentive to play through it and the prologue story is a nice bonus.

These bonus modes are great and really go to increase the replay value. What also helps a bit with replay value are the Boss Rush and Multiplayer Modes. Boss Rush isn’t anything new to the series though I find this game’s version of it more entertaining than previous games for some unknown reason. The Multiplayer is essentially a two player version of the Boss Rush. This can be good and bad depending on who you get matched with. Nintendo’s WiFi Multiplayer has not been it’s strong suit so far.

The Multiplayer also includes a shop mode. Essentially you can buy things from other players. It’s neat because it can allow you to get quest drops early and more easily, but annoying in overall interface. The WiFi takes forever to connect and you can only make one connection before having to reconnect. The reconnect is especially annoying when selling. It would be great if you could leave your shop open say, while charging the DS. Wake up and become instantly rich. I have noticed however that more than one person can connect to a shop at a time. At least once I met another player, though the game allows zero interaction.

My other complaint is the bonus “Nest of Evil” zone. It’s essentially the “Area of really hard enemies that have to be beat before leaving the area”. Sort of like Circle of the Moon’s Coliseum only easier. You can use teleport stones after every level and the enemies actually get really easy near the end. Especially the final sets of bosses. The pay off is a really cool throwback to previous games in the series Dual Crush, but it’s not overly strong. In fact the strongest Dual Crush is 1000 Blades which is received fairly early in the game.

The biggest plus for this game is variety of areas. The game of course features Dracula’s castle with it’s relatively standard design and areas. However there are numerous portraits that you must enter which transport the player to several unique zones. The neatest of which are the two “wheel” areas in which the environments slowly turn on their side then upside down as you traverse the area. They don’t actually move, and you always go “down” but the map itself is circular and everything on top is upside down. If that makes sense. I will have to nitpick the areas though, late in the game you unlock a second set of paintings each of which is a flat out revamp of the previous 4 paintings.

Portrait of Ruin is an absolute blast to play. It’s really sad that side scrolling games are slowly going by the wayside. This and previous side scrolling Adventure style Castlevania games show that the genre has a lot to offer. The only real competitor in style, Metroid moved to the third dimension a while back which was a huge loss for the genre. Anyway, I highly recommend this game for anyone with a DS.

Review – Metroid Prime: Hunters (NDS)

Nov 14th, 2006

by Ramen Junkie.

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Oh my dear Metroid, where did you go wrong?

Ok, technically I’m not a Metroid fan in any sense of the word. I’ve barely played Metroid on the NES. Metroid 2 was a decent distraction for a while but I’ve since sold my copy. Metroid 3 is an outstanding piece of gaming, but one game does not a series make. I’ve pretty much skipped anything recent on the portable scene other than half an emulated game of Fusion. I don’t have a GameCube.

Enter Metroid Prime: Hunters. I was leery of a FPS style Metroid game but people had good things to say about the Game Cube version. Still, I was also leery of a portable FPS game. How will I aim? Oh right, the DS has a touch pad! It can double as a mouse. Sort of. Barely. Kind of.

The controls on this game make my hands hurt every time I play. I’ve tried different positions, I’ve tried laying the DS on a table. Nothing works. I don’t like using the L button to fire but there wasn’t much other choice considering your right hand will be devoted solely to using the stylus to aim and look around. And to occasionally make an awkward jump. Jumping on this game is accomplished by hitting any of the other buttons on the non control pad side. Essentially, you push your stylus holding right fist into the DS and hope it registers correctly. Meanwhile you’ve often got to maneuver the controls while mashing the jump like this. Controls means moving the stylus to look and pushing forward on the joy pad while looking at a tiny portable game screen (in 3D!).

Needless to say, I do no like the controls on this game. They suck a lot. But the controls aren’t the only bad part of this title.

The level designs are horrid as well!

Imagine if you will, gripping your DS in the most awkward fashion trying to explore an immersive detailed 3D world. Now replace immersive with “repetitive” and “detailed” with “ugly shades of brown and gray”. Now you’re getting closer to the Metroid Prime experience. I’ve only managed to bring myself to complete the intro level but I must have done the same corridor to spiral jumping platforms to round corridor area to large inner chamber control room path a dozen times. I felt like I was running in circles.

But wait! There’s more!

Now, while exploring these repetitive brown and gray corridors and warding off hand cramps, you also get to fight hundreds of random spawning floating enemy things. Occasionally there’s a dog sort of creature or another bounty hunter “boss” to fight but mostly you’ll occasionally fight these little floaty glowing enemies that are killed by standing in place and shooting wildly until they are gone. They spawn out of thin air for a minute or two.

Also those bosses I mentioned. I’ve faced a couple of them. They seem to use the same attack pattern. Shoot a few times, roll about randomly anytime the player gets too close. This is a problem related to the multiplayer aspect of this game. All of the characters are designed to be balanced and equal and this all have more or less the exact same abilities.

Multiplayer is even worse. I will admit hat I’m not a superstar FPS player online. I like to screw around more while playing TFC than I do trying to capture the flag. However I am not horrible and can generally hold my own pretty well when needed. I’m not a huge fan of death match either. That doesn’t change that the multiplayer on this game sucks. The maps are horribly small and the graphics are even tinier on the little screen. While you’re fighting with the controls you’ll be crushed ten times over by the guy you’re against that has enough time to master everything. Even when you get the controls down, good luck finding your opponent in the tiny view screen.

What it comes down to is a crappy idea put forth with crappy implementation. I don’t know who decided to make Metroid 3D, I don’t know who though it would be a good idea to put an FPS on a portable system, I don’t know who thought these controls were good; when I meet them I will however be forced to punch them, assuming of course my hand hasn’t become a crippled mess from trying to play this game.

Review – Final Fantasy II (Dawn of Souls) (GBA)

Nov 7th, 2006

by Ramen Junkie.

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SquareEnix – GBA – 1 Player

It’s fairly common knowledge these days among gamers that the Final Fantasy II we got on the SNES in the US wasn’t actually the second game in the series. It was actually the fourth. The true second game was released on the NES. It eventually and finally made it to US shores in the Playstation “Final Fantasy Origins” collection along side the classic Final Fantasy I.

This wasn’t a straight port however, it was an updated version featuring updated 16 bit graphics. These two games would be released together again in essentially the same design on the Game Boy Advance in a pack called Final Fantasy: Dawn of Souls.

In addition to an updated 16 bit version of the game, these Dawn of Souls compilations featured additional dungeons and updated game play style. This review only covers the core game. I honestly don’t have the time or care to play through the added content.

The most impressive part of this game compared to it’s single predecessor is how modern it feels. Ok, by “modern” I mean “16 bit”. It’s hard to believe this level of presentation was ever on the 8bit NES but the game is a faithful translation. There are cut scenes and player controlled interaction in conversation all over. If I didn’t know that this was an 8-bit game with 16 bit graphics I’d swear it was originally available on the SNES and not the NES.

The plot itself is considerably more story driven as well. Final Fantasy I has a plot but it doesn’t move forward unless you talk to someone or do something, and often you only get a single cryptic sentence to guide you. Final Fantasy II changes that considerably. Also since the party consists of real characters and not generic classes, they actually get some development along the way. While you can name 4 of the party members at the beginning of this quest, one of them doesn’t make an appearance until very close to the end of the game.

That brings up another interesting aspect of this game, once again, considering it’s NES origins. The party changes over time. You get 3 constant members of the party but the 4^th slot is constantly being switched around as the plot drives it. Characters also develop skills in a useful manner, by using them. The game lacks traditional level mechanics and instead players gain stats by using weapons and doing actions. Want a quick sword fighter? Wield a sword and wear light weight armors. Need a strong magic user? Carry a staff and cast lots of spells. They will start out weak but over time they will get stronger. On that note, this game also lacks the traditional “Cure 1, Cure 2, Fire 3, naming convention. There is only one Cure spell, it gets stronger the more you use it. As a nice touch, they get have different animations in battle as they evolve.

There was one aspect of this port I didn’t care for, the sound. Generally I’m not too opinionated on music and sound effects but in this installment they are particularly annoying and generic.

Overall, this game plays somewhat like Final Fantasy I only better. When you put the two together for Dawn of Souls, you get a sure winning combination. Just a warning though, these are RPGs, and while these revamps play more briskly than their NES counterparts, they are somewhat old school in style. Personally, I’m kind of sick of the new style myself however.

Review – Final Fantasy I (Dawn of Souls) (GBA)

Oct 31st, 2006

by Ramen Junkie.

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SquareEnix – GBA – 1 Player

I has been brought to my attention that December 18^th was the 19 year anniversay of the original Final Fantasy. I suppose a review for Final Fantasy, even if it is the Game Boy Advance remake, should start with the story of the Origin of the Final Fantasy Title. You see, 19 years ago, Square was a failing game company. Previous hits such as “King’s Knight” and “Rad Racer” just weren’t cutting it so Square put all of it’s development power into an RPG. A Fantasy RPG. If this game failed, which they apparently expected it to, it would be the Final game that they would produce.

Hence Final Fantasy.

The game was a hit. At the time it was a revolutionary was of doing a console RPG. Games such as Dragon Quest had players controlling a single character. The had few “Boss” type enemies and little story. Final Fantasy changed all of that. While it still had little real story, it jumped ahead of Dragon Quest’s game play by leaps and bounds. Players could choose classes for their party of 4 playable characters, pick names, outfit them with a slew of weapons, magic, and armor. Each of these classes was highly distinct in nature with limitations on each.

There have since been 12 games released in the main-line Final Fantasy Series with a 13^th on its way. Each one has kept with the same basic principles of its predecessors while still innovating on the concept. Up until FFXI, the battles were always the same basic “Line up on one side against a line of enemies”. The menu commands in these battles have always been the same basic commands, Fight, Magic, Items, Flee. Other commands have popped up over time but players can almost always use these basics. On top of these 12 core games, there have been numerous spin off games such as Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy Legend, one shots like FF: Crystal Chronicles and FF: Mystic Quest, movies such as Advent Children and that Legend of the Crystals Anime, even direct sequels to several of the main line games.

Not to mention influence on pretty much every RPG following and remakes of every game before FFVII. Basically, Final Fantasy turned into Square’s cash cow. In fact they pretty much don’t make anything that isn’t directly related to Final Fantasy in some way.

Of all the games in the series, the first has been remade the most. Other than the initial release for the NES, a game I played many years ago way more than one should, it’s been remade for Cell Phones, the Wonderswan, the Playstation and now the Game Boy Advance. This latest revamp features updated graphics and sound as well. Gone are the old 8 Bit Sprites, replaced with beefy updated 16 bit graphics. Ok, yeah, 16 Bit is only one step up an it’s pretty paltry by today’s 3D standards, but it still looks really nice.

While the plot remains identical, find the four elemental crystals to unlock the gate to defeat Chaos 2000 years in the past thus creating the series’ first time paradox, the gameplay is altered quite a bit. In addition to updated 16bit style graphics comes updated 16bit style game play. Inventory is no longer limited to potions and tents and key items all on one screen, they are separated like later games. Weapons and armor are carried by everyone instead of just 4 items per character. This helps a LOT in keeping specialized weapons such as the Ruin Blade or Ogre Sword. Each character only equips items they need in the appropriate slots (Head, Armor, Accessory, Weapons.)

The most drastic change comes with the magic system. While spells are still purchased at shops, they now consume MP instead of the limited Spell Point system. This means you’re able to cast more powerful spells more frequently and sooner in the game. You no longer have to wait on that one level 9 Spell Point to pop up before casting Nuke, simple consume the necessary MP whenever you want. This actually tends to make things a lot easier. Previously you would have to carefully ration out magic points as you traveled through the various dungeons, now you can just suck down a few Ethers when needed.

These two changes not only make the game easier, they make it pass a lot faster. The game in general seems toned down a bit with less flat out enemy grinding needed in order to gain the necessary levels to traverse the next area. This makes the game less “pure” but actually helps make it more enjoyable.

Overall, this sort of RPG is still not for everyone. There is a severe lack of story and “purty movies”. Still, it’s a good classic that old school fans of the series should enjoy. The Dawn of Souls game pack also includes a copy of Final Fantasy II, which is a much better game that has seen very little light on US shores.

The game also includes several elemental themed bonus dungeons. Traveling through these dungeons will net you additional powerful weapons and armors. I do not however have the time or will to travel these dungeons as they are very long and randomly presented. If I do embark on this quest I’ll cover it in a separate review coupled with Final Fantasy II’s bonus content.

Review – Metal Gear Solid 2 (PS2)

Aug 7th, 2006

by Ramen Junkie.

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Metal Gear Solid 2

Konami – PS2 – 1 Player

I’ll just start by being courteous. There may be evil story spoilers in this article, though at the same times things that seem like evil story spoilers may just be exaggerations or even just made up to confuse you. With that said, It seems a recent trend in video games anymore is to simply rehash some old classic. 90% of games today are remakes or sequels to sequels. Sometimes a game comes along and tries something new and fresh though. A game with such neat innovative features the moment you play it you realize that one day this will be the stuff 2nr rate cash in remakes are made of. Then there are games like MGS2. Which go to great lengths to create “Perfectly Re-orchestrated” rehashes of their predecessors and make sure to point out in the plot itself that the game is nothing more then a cheap knockoff of it’s own brand name.

Actually there is a pretty nice point behind the game, “Anyone can be Solid Snake given the right circumstances”. It’s such an appropriate quote given the great lengths that Konami seems to have gone to in concealing the fact that you don’t really play as Solid Snake. Isn’t Konami really clever?

I mean how many people have really watched Escape From New York much less know the meaning of the word ‘Iroquois’. Anyway, other than all the blatant plot rip offs from it’s predecessor this is a really fun game. Its a bit short though I’d say. I mean I’ve played FFX for probably 120 hours counting both my save games (100 of those in one) and GTA3, Last I checked on my main save file, It was at about 120, but that was probably 80 or so hours ago. MGS2 just doesn’t have quite the same staying power I guess. Probably a good thing though, after a while I was really wondering when it would end.

Putting Seagulls to sleep is only fun for just so long you know.

The plot isn’t the only thing that makes this game similar to MGS1. For the most part if plays the same in game play. There are a few nice changes. The most subtle but possibly the hardest to get used to is that this game takes place mostly during the day. MGS1 was so dark it sometimes seems strange to be able to see for so far off to the horizon. The most useful change is the addition of first person aiming. Making shots to various parts of the body or even at certain things in the environment is a sinch with this new aiming system. Then there is the hang over the edge grip move. Which is pretty much just as useless as it sounds. Half the time the guards will see you hanging there and shoot you anyway, except instead of being in a position that allows you to act you are hanging there like a goon waiting for the bullets to hit your body.

But enough about gameplay. The gameplay is just repetetive boring filler for the even more boring hour long cut scenes. The meat of this game’s entertainment value is in the underlying comedy. I honestly think there is some huge massive parody going on here about video games. I can’t be sure though.

Anyway, first we have the lovely posters strewn pretty much everywhere in the game. You can’t stuff a dead body in a locker without finding a poster of some half naked Japanese chick hanging nearby. Or if you prefer you can always join the Russian Soldiers and look up internet porn.

Also the designers seemed to have decided Meryl was a little to butch and a bit old so they replaced her with a 12 year old girl who has no business being anywhere near this setting of this game.

Although, I’ll give her this, she is a hell of a lot more fun to fuck with than Meryl ever was. Or you can call snake pretty much anytime for lots of hilariously hokey information about the horrible twisted pasts of the villains. Let’s not forget the hours of fun you can spend listening to the CODEC near the end of the game. You people know what I’m talking about. Ohhh yeah, that’s some good stuff there. If all else fails you can see how many crazy or immature laughs you can get by fucking with the dog tags.

Oh right, Dog Tags. The game’s replay element. I suppose I’ll close with that point. Instead of just finishing the game repeatedly for bonuses like stealth and infinite ammo as per MGS1. You get to spend even MORE time holding up guards for Dog Tags. Now let me explain this a bit as before I played the game I had no idea what this entailed exactly. Basically, you walk up behind a guy enter FPS mode, and aim your gun at him. Then he stops and holds up his arms in terror. Then you circle around and jab your gun to his head (or crotch) and the guy will drop his dog tags for you to take. This is a really neat idea actually, and it’s a lot of fun…. the first several hundred times you do it.

By the time you start working on getting anything useful like Stealth, you’ll be so sick of hold ups you’ll want to toss the game in the trash and never play it again. The worst part is missing say, one guard in a certain dificulty and having to completely replay that mission to get ONE TAG. But for now I’m out of screen shots, so I’ll just say, this is indeed a pretty decent game, it was certainly hyped out the ass, so it should be at least worth a rental to even the most die hard MGS hater.