Posted by Ryan at Friday, October 31, 2008 | 0 comments read on

World of Goo Review



One of my most anticipated WiiWare games came out a few weeks ago, World of Goo. Developer 2D Boy really made a fantastic and unique puzzle game that looks and plays like Nintendo made it themselves.

In World of Goo you act as a sort of "architect" in that you have to figure out the best and most structurally sound way to build a tower or bridge like contraption to manuever your little goo balls to the exit of each level. The challenges can get pretty tough as there is a really good physics system behind the game. Your tower or bridge will sometimes collapse if you don't keep the base of it strong enough, it will lean in certain directions if there is not equal weight distribution, and it will hit obstacles in the level if not built well enough to avoid them. There are many different types of goo balls throughout the game, some can be used more than once, some act as baloons and instead of adding another frame to your bridge, it will raise it up over some spikes. The game controls wonderfully and using the Wii remote to pick up your goo balls and place them on your contraption works flawlessly and is very fun.

Word of Goo is presented in this very Tim Burton, almost story book like world. It reminds of Charlie and the Choclate factory mainly because of the Danny Elfman-esque music. There is a unique and fantastic story unfolding as you move your goo balls from level to level. The style of the game is a perfect fit for Wii, the developer didn't attempt to do anything too fancy and it ends up looking like a really well put together Flash game, which is a perfect fit for WiiWare.

World of Goo: 10/10

I gave Word of Goo a perfect score because it is really the epitome of the WiiWare service. A fantastic, well presented game for a low cost. I would have easily paid 40 bucks for this game in a retail store, it's that good. WiiWare is really proving to be a great showcase for indie talent in the gaming community. Games like Lost Winds, Word of Goo, and the upcoming Animales de la Murete seem tailor made for the Wii, and that's just what I was hoping we'd get with the service.

Labels: ,

Posted by Ryan at Thursday, October 23, 2008 | 0 comments read on

Portal Review



Having just restarted my GameFly subscription I decided I should finally finish playing Portal, so the first game I rented was The Orange Box. Portal looks like a First Person Shooter but is really a puzzle game.

You're given what is called the Portal Gun which allows you to shoot a opening and an exit Portal one colored blue, the other orange. You're placed in various different rooms with obstacles that you must avoid and get around using the gun. For instance, there may be a projectile bouncing off of the walls in a certain pattern, and you need that projectile to hit a certain switch in the room that is not in it's pattern. You simply shoot one Portal on the wall that you know the projectile will hit, and place the other Portal on the wall facing the button. The projectile will go through the first Portal and come out the other heading straight for the button allowing you to continue. There are various other scenarios similar to this and a few of them caused me to scratch my head. But that is where the genius of Portal really starts to shine through. A puzzle may look really complicated and even impossible, but a few well placed Portals, some hops, skips, and jumps, and you're on your way to exit. Like most puzzle games it can be quite rewarding when you finish a particularly hard challenge.

One of the best features and uses of the Portals is momentum. This might be hard to understand through words but I'll give it a shot anyway. Picture a wall in front of you that goes up pretty high, with a small gap at the very top, behind you is a wall that goes straight to the ceiling. On the left and right are walls to the ceiling as well. You have to get out of that room. This is done by shooting a portal at the very top of the wall behind you, another at your feet. Fall through the one at your feet causing you to fall from the top of the wall that is behind you down towards the floor. Right before you hit the floor shoot another Portal, keeping the first one on the wall behind you. This will allow you to build up speed and momentum. Keep falling from the top of the wall behind you to the portal on the floor and you will eventually shoot straight from the back wall over that tiny gap in the wall that was blocking your way. Phew, I hope you got all that, I'm not even sure that I did.

Another great aspect of Portal is the story and commentary that is conveyed through your "captor" GlaDOS. She is a computer that is essentially provoking you and taunting you all throughout each room or puzzle. She can be quite funny and devious at times so pay attention to what she is saying.

Portal: 10/10

I gave Portal a 10/10 because for what is was (a short add on to the Half Life 2 Series that did not need to be included at all) it was perfect. To me it even surpasses the Half Life series as I have never really been into those games. It is a short, addictive, funny, and challenging puzzle game that is disguised as an FPS. There aren't too many games that can fit that mold and Portal seems to have nailed it out of the park. There is an expansion pack that was just released for the XBOX 360 but as the developer Valve is not a the biggest fan of the PS3 I don't see it coming to that big black box anytime soon, if ever.

Labels: ,

Posted by Ryan at Thursday, October 02, 2008 | 0 comments read on

Thoughts on Nintendo's Press Conference Today

Ever since Nintendo blew their E3 showing a few months back people have been complaining about Nintendo not catering to the hardcore audience, me included. Wii Music was the only thing in the front of peoples minds after that. A game that basically puts the controller in your hand and plays music on the screen while you wave it around. That, for a lot of us, was not the major title we were looking for.

Enter Nintendo's Fall Media Summit. It did everything their E3 showing should have done, plus more. The major announcement was for the new DS the DSi. It is a redesign of the current hardware, not a new format. The DSi will have larger screens, a camera on the front and one on the inside for video, and no more GBA slot yielding it 12% (correct me of that's the wrong number) slimmer than the current DS. There is a little person inside me that wants everything new and "techie" but as of now there doesn't seem to be enough new features to warrant an upgrade from my DS lite. The only thing that has peaked my interest is the introduction of a "Virtual Console" like system for the DS, which people have been requesting for a while. If this turns out to be successful, in the sense that you can download past game boy, game boy color, and game boy advance games on it then that might justify the purchase in itself. But again this all depends on how things play out, and the software that is released for it. I'd much rather have a new hand held altogether, with a new format of games. It seems like with this re design Nintendo is just trying to get the DS brand to print more money than the millions it already has.

On a sadder note, this looks like it could be the death of the Game Boy brand. The removal of the GBA slot from the current DS seems like Nintendo is throwing away it's last tie to the Game Boy. People can argue that this may not be the smartest move because of all the prestige that name can bring, but with the amount of money Nintendo is bringing on the DS alone, I think they have a new powerhouse brand on their hands. The DS brand is also trying to attract a much wider audience than the Game Boy ever was, so it makes sense that they should be separated brands.

Now, onto the important things, the games. It seems we have been appeased and can no longer question Nintendo's appeal to the hardcore gamer. Today they announced a slew of games that have me, along with every other Nintendo fan, very excited. Specifically the announcement of a new Punch Out!! game. This is a franchise that many loyal Nintendo fans have enjoyed on the NES and SNES which has been long overdue. The franchise hasn't been seen since the SNES days, and only the NES release of the game is currently available on the Virtual Console.

One last game that has every one's attention is Sin and Punishment 2. The first Sin and Punishment was never released in the US, until it showed up on the US Virtual Console last year. It is an "on rails" shooter that was developed by industry favorite Treasure. When the second game was announced last night in Japan, many American gamers were worried that it would not come to the states. During today's conference NOA (Nintendo of America) confirmed that due to the impressive sales of the first title on the VC they are bringing the second game to America.

There were also a bunch of DS announcements including Mario and Luigi RPG 3 and Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, both of which I am very excited for. Below I have posted a screen shot from the new Punch Out!!, Sin and Punishment 2, and a comparison shot from GoNintendo of the DSi on the left and DSlite on the right.





Labels: