Well. The polls are closed, and we had a 33% increase in voter turnout (thank you, mystery 4th person). That means this blog is slowly growing into something slightly less puny than before. Yay. Berserker was a clear W1NN4R here and we can all see why. Who doesn't love a guy who charges into battle with nothing but an axe, a bad attitude, and a 15% bonus to critical hits? Ranger and Warrior were a close second. The sword and bow combo of a horsed ranger is quite something to behold, but the size of the axe-toting, bow-blitzing warrior is nothing to sneeze at. Well that's all for that poll. Good to know that the reading population is enlarged (or some one just voted again from a different computer...). The next poll should be interesting.
So, a little while back, I got through Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. It's an excellent addition to the Fire Emblem family, but the real reason I finished it was my wanting improved stats in the sequel, Radiant Dawn. I received Radiant Dawn for Christmas and haven't played it yet. I'm waiting for a Zapper so I can beat Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles first. That way, I'll only have Guitar Hero 3 and DDR: Hottest Party to get in my way.
Path of Radiance was quite a bit different from the previous Fire Emblem games (other than being on the TV screen instead of a Gameboy) in that it had time in a base that you could use to assign skills, award bonus experience, talk to people, and listen to support conversations - which are based on chapters spent together, not turns adjacent to each other as usual. I found the improved graphics refreshing...for about the first 10 battles, then it just became annoying until I got to see everyone's critical hits. I didn't mind the Laguz characters that you fought, but I never used any of the ones that I got myself. I just can't get attached to a tiger-thing like I do with the beorcs, except for Reyson of course. My favorite character throughout the whole thing is tight between Keiran and Nephenee. They both always did exactly what I wanted them to, which was usually standing in a crowd of enemies alone and clearing the area (or at least getting damaged and letting Wrath and Resolve take effect). That's saying something, considering I usually hate Paladins in the FE series. The Halberdier a fun addition to the classes, but far underpowered compared to the bonuses that Berserkers, Snipers, and Swordsmasters get with their single weapon mastery. All in all, if you like Advanced Wars or the other Fire Emblem games, you'll be satisfied with this one.
Rating: B
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Dementium: The Ward
Another gift I received for Christmas was Dementium, a FPS/mystery game for the Nintendo DS. Brain Age ² was the other DS game I got, so I decided to get Dementium over with to get on with my Sudoku and Brain Aging skills. I was impressed with the N64 -like graphics, and the sound effects and music were great. It turned out to be rather addicting and kinda fun. However, the entire game was a little repetitive, and it just became a chore to get all the way through it...rather than a fulfilling, joyous experience.
You start out with a nifty cut scene of being thrust in a wheelchair down a hall with all kinds of disturbing images like zombies, giant critters, and creepy little girls. You awaken in your room, with the lights off, and it's dark and stormy outside. You find a legal pad on the floor with "Why did you do it?" written on it, and there is a newspaper with a story of a man killing his wife outside the room. Lovely. You find that your name is listed as "John Doe" on the outside of your room and there is a woman's room (empty) next door with "Jane Doe" on the room. Sounds like you killed your wife, and they put you in the hospital for psychotherapy, but the game is young and there is much to discover. Very quickly, you get your most useful weapon: the flashlight (queue the Zelda item-acquiring music)! Now, this does no damage to any enemy, but you can only see about 4 feet in front of you without it. However, you can only use the flashlight if you aren't holding a weapon. Apparently, you only have one working hand. You then get the first real weapon: the nightstick! You can beat those zombies pretty good with this bad boy, but you almost always take damage (which is shown and heard through your heart rate) before you can kill one. Good thing this is a hospital, and there is medicine in just about every supply closet throughout the game.
You eventually get a 9mm, a shotgun, a revolver, and the electric bone saw, as you progress through the game (don't worry about me spoiling it for you, I played it so you don't have to). There are maps spread about all the floors and wings of the hospital and you'll need them all, or you'll be wandering in circles for hours, and the monsters respawn...your ammo and medicine don't. The game's favorite thing to say? "It is locked." I'd say about 80% of all doors say that when you try to open them. And there ain't a way to open a locked door; you gotta go around. You go through the 16 chapters of the game across 9 floors of the east and west wings of the facility. When you die...you go back to the beginning of the chapter. When you die at the end of a chapter frequently, that feature gets very frustrating. I found that going through the chapter to learn which direction to go, dying somewhere around the end, screaming and pulverizing your DS, then running through the chapter without fighting anything (except the bosses), is the best method of playing. The bosses are as follows: An abomination ripoff from WarCraft III (fat pink thing with a cleaver for a hand), a Gatling gunner in a wheelchair, possessed walls that spit out worms, and the final boss is a guy in a black trenchcoat/wetsuit with magic white gloves.
Here's the real spoilers: you didn't really kill your wife, leaving a creepy girl running about the hospital laughing and crying at you as the evidence in the entire game leads you to believe, you weren't even doing anything throughout this game. You beat the final boss, a cut scene pops up (they look pretty good actually), and you wake up in a nice, clean, lighted ward room. Your unmaimed wife and pretty little daughter await you right outside the door. Yay! It was all a dream. Then it fades out and it turns out that the Black Trenchwetcoatsuit man is operating on you with a large cleaver and saying that the first stage is a success. The following credits are actually the best part of the game. All the jobs that they listed the people doing were hilarious. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.
As much as I love beating, shooting, and sawing zombies, worms, acid-spitting-thingies, floating heads, and guys in wheelchairs, this was definitely not the best game ever. The puzzles were annoying, and running away was more effective than killing anything. I'm just glad it was short enough to hold my interest long enough to beat it. Well, with all the getting lost, dying, and cursing the skies involved, it took 2 days or 15 hours to beat. Although, the actual successful playing time was about 4 hours. But who's counting?
Rating: C+
You start out with a nifty cut scene of being thrust in a wheelchair down a hall with all kinds of disturbing images like zombies, giant critters, and creepy little girls. You awaken in your room, with the lights off, and it's dark and stormy outside. You find a legal pad on the floor with "Why did you do it?" written on it, and there is a newspaper with a story of a man killing his wife outside the room. Lovely. You find that your name is listed as "John Doe" on the outside of your room and there is a woman's room (empty) next door with "Jane Doe" on the room. Sounds like you killed your wife, and they put you in the hospital for psychotherapy, but the game is young and there is much to discover. Very quickly, you get your most useful weapon: the flashlight (queue the Zelda item-acquiring music)! Now, this does no damage to any enemy, but you can only see about 4 feet in front of you without it. However, you can only use the flashlight if you aren't holding a weapon. Apparently, you only have one working hand. You then get the first real weapon: the nightstick! You can beat those zombies pretty good with this bad boy, but you almost always take damage (which is shown and heard through your heart rate) before you can kill one. Good thing this is a hospital, and there is medicine in just about every supply closet throughout the game.
You eventually get a 9mm, a shotgun, a revolver, and the electric bone saw, as you progress through the game (don't worry about me spoiling it for you, I played it so you don't have to). There are maps spread about all the floors and wings of the hospital and you'll need them all, or you'll be wandering in circles for hours, and the monsters respawn...your ammo and medicine don't. The game's favorite thing to say? "It is locked." I'd say about 80% of all doors say that when you try to open them. And there ain't a way to open a locked door; you gotta go around. You go through the 16 chapters of the game across 9 floors of the east and west wings of the facility. When you die...you go back to the beginning of the chapter. When you die at the end of a chapter frequently, that feature gets very frustrating. I found that going through the chapter to learn which direction to go, dying somewhere around the end, screaming and pulverizing your DS, then running through the chapter without fighting anything (except the bosses), is the best method of playing. The bosses are as follows: An abomination ripoff from WarCraft III (fat pink thing with a cleaver for a hand), a Gatling gunner in a wheelchair, possessed walls that spit out worms, and the final boss is a guy in a black trenchcoat/wetsuit with magic white gloves.
Here's the real spoilers: you didn't really kill your wife, leaving a creepy girl running about the hospital laughing and crying at you as the evidence in the entire game leads you to believe, you weren't even doing anything throughout this game. You beat the final boss, a cut scene pops up (they look pretty good actually), and you wake up in a nice, clean, lighted ward room. Your unmaimed wife and pretty little daughter await you right outside the door. Yay! It was all a dream. Then it fades out and it turns out that the Black Trenchwetcoatsuit man is operating on you with a large cleaver and saying that the first stage is a success. The following credits are actually the best part of the game. All the jobs that they listed the people doing were hilarious. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.
As much as I love beating, shooting, and sawing zombies, worms, acid-spitting-thingies, floating heads, and guys in wheelchairs, this was definitely not the best game ever. The puzzles were annoying, and running away was more effective than killing anything. I'm just glad it was short enough to hold my interest long enough to beat it. Well, with all the getting lost, dying, and cursing the skies involved, it took 2 days or 15 hours to beat. Although, the actual successful playing time was about 4 hours. But who's counting?
Rating: C+
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