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Rezensionen (3)
01. Jun 2006
Age of Empires DS
21 von 22 finden das hilfreich When I first heard of Age of Empires (AOE) for the DS, I was both optimistic and concerned. The concern came from how well a successful PC RTS could translate into a handheld game. The optimism came from the Nintendo DS's unique control set up: the stylus could offer pinpoint control more akin to a mouse and alleviate control issues we've had to deal with on the DS's bigger Console brethren. Majesco managed to qualm my fears by doing something that initially turned me off about the game all together: they changed the genre of the game itself.
But, before you AOE hardcore scoff at the fact that our precious RTS series is now a TURN-BASED strategy game, let me assure you this, surprisingly, has done nothing to hurt the core gameplay of AOE. You still have to build farms, perform research, train units, and do battle, and it all works surprsingly well, turning what could have been a disaster of a port into a very deep and engaging handheld interpretation of a classic PC series.
As mentioned earlier, the purpose of the game is to take one of five available Empires (it's possible to play the Empires in any order, but there's a natural difficulty progression that comes with each), through the course of their rise, conquering opponents and capturing resources. Turns are taken per day, with each side issuing build orders, unit movement, and attack orders, and then ending their day when they're through with their turn. Computer AI is simple, yet competent, and provides a decent challenge, comparative to the Advance War games.
The game is controlled via the stylus or the D-Pad and face buttons. Either way functions fairly well, the exception being that when a large group of units are bunched in together, it becomes difficult to tell what unit is selected, and is difficult to pinpoint a unit without selecting a different nearby unit with the stylus.
Graphically, the game is simple, yet serviceable, with the menus taking on the appearence of an old English manuscript. The music is period-y stuff, which stays unobtrusively in the background. The sounds are actually quite well done, with the expected clinks and clanks of swords clashing and the cries of foes dying.
Overall, if you're a fan of strategy games (turn-based, or otherwise), and you've got a hankering for a little more depth than your average side-scrolling platformer, you're going to find something to love about AOE DS. 4 out of 5.
01. Jun 2006
Pac-Pix Nintendo DS
5 von 5 finden das hilfreich Pac-Pix for the Nintendo DS branches Pac-Man once again into unfamiliar territory. While the gameplay is initially appealing, due to it's unique use of the Stylus as its sole control scheme, it is this very unique quality that ultimately leads to the games downfall.
Like Kirby's Canvas Curse, Pac-Pix is controlled entirely with the stylus. Unlike Pac-Pix, you actually draw Pac-Man into the game itself. The game takes your (usually embarrasingly shoddy) Pac-Man drawing and animates it, sending it across a blank page, munching up various monsters and ghosts. Again, like Kirby, you do not control Pac-Man directly, but instead draw lines on the screen that send him off in what ever direction you drew the line. Pac-Man can be drawn just about any size on the screen, but he moves much slower the larger he is, faster the smaller he is. You can draw as many Pac-Men on the screen as you want at any time, though you're limited on how many Pac-Men you can draw total. So, each time you die, you have to draw another Pac-Man, which basically takes one "life" away.
Other moves are added to mix up gameplay. Flying ghosts have to be taken down by drawing an arrow, certain obstructions have to be blown up by drawing a bomb with a fuse. Here's where the game shows its most glaring issue. While the game allows you to draw a horrendous, barely recognizable Pac-Man to awkwardly gobble its way across the screen, it's very particular when it comes to drawing the arrows and bombs you must use to take down certain enemies. Often, the game requires you to draw, re-draw, then draw an arrow again before it finally fires off, which is severely costly in levels where you only have a few seconds to accomplish a challenge. Add this in to the fact that if you fail a mission, you start the entire "world" (each world is a series of several short levels) over from the beginning.
The graphics are cartoony (mimicking a sketchbook with crayoned in ghosts on the page), but mostly pretty bland, as every environment is meant to look like, well, a blank piece of paper. Not very exciting stuff, but not offensive either. Sound and music are light and fluffy, pretty what you'd expect from a modern Pac-Man game.
I really wanted to enjoy this game. I loved being able to draw an abomination of a Pac-Man, watching it come to life and proceed to eat everything on the screen. It's unfortunate that the controls when it came to drawing the weapons, the game became so unforgiving and frustrating. I'm not saying that there's no one out there that would enjoy this game. Maybe my reaction times are just too slow, or maybe I just really suck at drawing, but even when I seemed to draw it perfectly, it would rarely take on less than three or four tries, and would inevitably force me to replay the entire world. Repeat that a few times, and well, you have a unique but frustrating game that gets a 2 out of 5 from me.
01. Jun 2006
Resident Evil: Deadly Silence Nintendo DS
4 von 5 finden das hilfreich The Resident Evil series has taken many different forms over the last several years. Some have made drastic changes to the set up, with varying degrees of success. In Resident Evil: Deadly Silence (RE:DS), we're taken back to the series' roots. And by taken back to the roots, I mean way back.
RE:DS is a simple remake of the very very original PS1 title (not the stellar GameCube remake titled, uhm, Resident Evil). Everything you love (and hate) about the classic PS1 frightener is kept very much intact for the DS outing, from the devious puzzles, the scary dogs jumping through the windows, and the even scarier FMV sequences and horrific voice acting. The Master of Unlocking? Yeah, it's still in there in all of it's B-Movie cheese glory.
A few new things have been added. A new mode has been added which keeps the same basic gameplay intact, but beefing up the ammo and health scattered throughout the game, plus a sexy new combat knife activated with the L trigger. It makes it feel somewhat more akin to Resident Evil 4 than the slower paced, puzzlier versions of the series. Also new to this version is the "Master of Knifing" mode, a first person knifing mini-game in which you... well, stand in one place and knife things, which basically consists of you tapping the DS touch screen as fast as humanly possible with out punching a hole through the screen.
All of these new features are definitely a welcome addition to the original, but, do they bring the game up to date with current gen titles? No, not by a long shot. As I mentioned earlier, the shoddy presentation is still perfectly intact from years ago. The crappy controls are still here, as well as the muddy graphics, and the aforementioned horrible acting (which I actually kind of enjoy in that Ed Wood kind of way). The Master of Knifing mode is mostly just annoying, as in some sequences you'll have to replay it any time you exit or enter the area in which it's triggered, which'll cost you some valuable health late in the game.
If you've played through the original many times, and the thought of slogging through it again with a slightly tinged RE4 feel makes you giddy, pick it up. If you're a fan of the series but never made it through (or played) the original, it's worth a look. If you simply want a portable version of RE to take along with you on the subway, it's a good choice. And, even if you're a casual observer (and pretty forgiving when it comes to production values) you'll find something to like here. No matter which category you fall under, don't go into it with any great expectations or you'll be disappointed. This is a 10 year old game with only minor changes, but it's still a fun game to run through after all these years. 3 out of 5.