When You Don't Succeed....

There's nothing quite like experiencing something for the first time, that exciting feeling of discovery is just not possible to replicate again. Maybe that's why certain people I know never plays the same game again after completing it the first time. 

I have mixed feelings about this game, better than Ace Attorney series? Not Quite

From what I read, developers Naughty Dog always make it a point when crafting a key moment in the Uncharted games to allow the players to clear that segment during the first try. As top notch developers, they are conscious that with each retry the impact of the moment on the player starts to cease - so dropping the player into a quick time event where a single wrong button prompt instantly kills off the player never occurs in their game.

Yes I was talking about Capcom games (RE6) and also Platinum games

Then you have a game like Ghost Trick where the whole theme of the game is dying and resurrection so you know there's bound to be many retries and many events repeat over again. It's a great game for sure, otherwise Capcom wouldn't have bother porting it to smartphones (then again, this is Capcom we are talking about) but these days my tolerance for retries isn't where it used to be. Maybe I will appreciate the game more once I finish it and learn the whole story with the twist in the end, hopefully it will erase the memory of repeating each events several times. To think my friend used to think of highly of this game and he was the guy that never re-play any of his old games !

Anniversary Reflections

Capcom has been guilty of their fair share of cheap port and quick remakes but Deadly Silence should not be counted as one of them. Released to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Resident Evil, Deadly Silence looks and plays like the original except now you are playing the whole thing in the palm of your hands.

The pre-rendered background could be copied over directly from the original but the 3D character and object polygons could not so Capcom had to re-draw everything from scratch. A rebirth mode was added where many of the newer RE moves were implement to the original included the all-important quick turn, knife attack and quick reload. All of these moves could now be performed without going to the item menu just like in Resident Evil 4 and 5. Some of the pre-rendered background were redrawn to accommodate the new costume and puzzles in addition to a handful of new camera views of "background" for the knifing mode.

I wasn't impressed with Deadly Silence back during the tenth anniversary but now I'm beginning to see the effort the team put into the port. It made have been all fans got ob the tenth anniversary but right now it seems a lot better than what we are getting for the 15th anniversary this year.

Another Try

I usually have a very good instinct about what I like and what would make a game great almost to the point where my friends would make fun of me for purchasing games not based on reviews or scores. Though I'm not very fond of first-party games be it Nintendo's or Sony's, the Metroid series was a franchise I knew I would like despite not having played a single game. From the great level design that inspired Symphony of the Night (and ultimately all subsequent Castlevania games) to the John Woo film that never got made, this was a franchise for me. So when i finally had the opportunity to experience the Metroid series for the first time, i didn't hesitate to add Metroid Prime: Hunters to my collection.

Though Prime Hunters was by no means a poor DS game, it certainly didn't showcase the series' best strengths and made me wonder if I was wrong about the Metroid series. Part of the problem was I loathe playing first-person since my PC gaming days and having to perform platform leaps in first-person is an absolute nightmare if you have every played Prime Hunters. Now that the series going to be a third-person game thanks to Tecmo, i decide to give the original Prime series a try. A friend of mine played a big role in this, helping sell to me how great the Prime series is and also how desirable the Metroid Trilogy Collector's Edition is. It's now or never as the Trilogy is no longer being published, I wonder how much of a chance i have in scoring a brand new copy without having to pay an arm and leg at eBay?

November Rain

In the midst of the good news that suda51 is currently working on a follow-up to No More Heroes on the Wii, i discovered that the DS remake to his lost PS2 classic, Flower Sun and Rain has slipped out of the October release window and is currently scheduled to ship in November.

And that only in Europe region mind you as the game has yet to be picked up by any publisher stateside. This creates a problem, not many online stores carry PAL games and those that i know of have no current plans of bringing in this title. I haven't been buying much DS games since getting my new consoles but the upcoming Order of the Ecclesia has revived my interest in DS games. That coupled with the fact i recently stumbled onto a copy of grasshopper manfacture's Contact means that i'm running high for anything suda51 and Nintendo DS. Of course, all this craze is also partly attributed to GHM announcement of No More Heroes 2 during TGS 08.

Perhaps it's not such a bad thing that the game release date has slipped into November, i have way too many orders waiting to be ship out during the month of October and most are not even game-related. Given the current situation, i might just have to download the game to play while i continued my hunt for it. Chances are there might be game stores in singapore that will bring it in since the influx of PAL DS games into the region.

Wii love Suda

and Suda51 loves Nintendo. Sure it's probably a business strategy for Grasshopper Manufacture to develop games for Nintendo given its relatively low development cost and large user base but over the years, Nintendo has played host to some of Suda's finest work.

killer7, Suda's US debut was originally meant to be a Gamecube exclusive before Capcom started with their multiplatform strategy but the Gamecube version remained as arguably the definitive version of Suda's debut. No More Heroes, a sort of spiritual sequel to killer7 is Nintendo Wii exclusive and still reigns as one of the finest third party action games on the platform. Fatal Frame VI, another love child of Suda and Nintendo collaboration was recently released in Japan to favourable reviews.

Now, the Nintendo DS is about to play host to another Suda game, Flower, Sun and Rain, a Playstation2 title originally available only in Japan, completely remade from the ground up for Nintendo's popular handheld.I have seen the demo of the game and frankly, the 3D engine for the DS version looks like an early PSOne game it certainly looks like the developers are taking a lot of constraints in shrinking this Playstion2 title to the Nintendo DS. It still looks mighty enticing and being a Nintendo fan, it looks like i'm going to have to get used to being compromised as the Wii developers at Capcom are apparently facing major hurdles too in bringing Dead Rising to Nintendo Wii.

New Order

I pick this up today while i was at Borders waiting to pick up my Patapon tee from a fellow forumer. It's been a while since i got this excited about a DS title but i always had the problem of buying more than playing when it comes to the Nintendo DS. Part of the reason for this is because there are just too many great titles coming out on the Nintendo DS, especially during it's peak a couple of years ago. That's why i stop buying any new DS games after my last one which i think was Hotel Dusk. Now that the Nintendo DS has peaked and is slowly winding down, the titles are far and fewer but that doesn't mean the quality has diminished too. There is still this Castlevania title in the horizons plus another Ace Attorney spin-off from the minds of Capcom.

It's been a while since my last DS purchase, but i hope i will get to work on this game right away when it comes out unlike what happened with Dawn of Sorrow,Portrait of Ruins and the many other DS games i have picked up. Of course, with the propects of not able to track down a copy of Dawn of Sorrow soon after it went out of print and the pre-order premiums i didn't really have much of a choice then.

Dark Secret

The secret is out....well, it has been speculated for some time now that Castlevania was heading for the Wii console when leaked pictures of the new Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia game menu featured a link-up with the Wii console. During then, Order of Ecclesia wasn't officially announced yet so no one had a chance to grill IGA on this but now that he is currently promoting the new Castlevania DS, he still denies any truth about Castlevania heading to the Wii.

Apparently comic book specialist, Preview were the ones to leak the news in their preview of the upcoming Curse of Darkness comic adaption so i'm not sure how credible this rumour may be. The thought of two Castlevania games been released before the end of 2008 does seem too good to be true but seeing how disappointed i'm over Captivate 08, this certainly is good news rumour or not.

Touch of a Ninja

Ninja Gaiden fans have been taken on a whirlwind ride lately what with Itagaki announcing that he was leaving Tecmo just days before Ninja Gaiden 2 shipped for the XBOX360. Perhaps he felt that he was betrayed when Tecmo failed to honour their end of the deal over work done for Dead or Alive 4, and the only option left was to leave. Itagaki sure is one of the most eccentric game developer you will find in the japanese game industry, he speaks what's on his mind and isn't afraid to talk down on any games he feels is inferior, sometimes at expense of enraging other fans. Now his brash outspoken ways certainly isn't very much part of the often reserved japanese culture but it makes him far more entertaining than most average game developers. I have yet to play any of his games and i'm afraid i may never will seeing his dislike for the Playstation platform, i lost interest in Ninja Gaiden Sigma when he started bashing his own game as well.

Fortunately he was kind enough to grace the Nintendo DS with another one of his labour of love, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword a welcome addition to the DS seeing how few action games are there on the platform. Playing Dragon Sword is unlike any other action game on the Nintendo DS but in essence it's just like any action game which require a quick trigger finger and plenty of button mashing. The button mashing this time, comes in the form of swiping the stylus across the touch screen as an array of moves can be accomplished depending on how the lines are drawn. It's a neat idea i'll give you that but because of how small the DS screen is, most of the subtle moves ends up registering as just mindless slashing across the screen. This is one area where it looks like Team Ninja's ambition are too big for Nintendo's handheld but given how few action games actually manage to succeed on handhelds, this is still an amazing achievement.

The highlight of the game are the artwork depicting the story of the game, in a similar fashion to Konami's Portable Ops minus the voiceovers. It's rare to find artwork in modern games these days let alone good ones.

Hot Coffee

After going through three episodes of Phoenix Wright, it's finally time to bid farewell to Nick and the others. Though they were released over the span of a few years on the GBA in Japan, Capcom had a lot of catching up to do when they decided to localized it for the Western market. As a result, us english-speaking fans got to enjoy the courtroom drama, all the three episodes in the span of less than two years before the newest episode featuring Apollo Justice arrived.

Honestly speaking, the main attraction of the series has always been the characters and the drama so there really was no reason for Capcom to "reboot" the series as they did with introducing Apollo Justice. Perhaps Capcom felt they have taken the previous storyline and cast of characters as far as they could, no one really knows. This final part of the first trilogy is by far, the best one so far every case ties all the earlier loose ends pretty well and the last case has to be seen to believe, as it feature all your favourite phoenix wright characters in one case. The enigmatic Godot is one of Capcom's most memorable character and it's a shame we won't get to see anymore of him.

Perhaps i could have taken a special liking to him because he was voiced by hideki kamiya in the japanese version...i'll sure miss his coffee proverbs

Killer Instinct

A lot of people have been buying new consoles and handhelds lately and it's not due to any price drop either but rather the appearance of several killer app titles. You see, a killer app title is one that is usually so anticipated and hyped that it helps generate hardware sales as well ie. people who don't own console are willing to buy the system just to play that one game. A friend of mine recently got a Sony PSP to play Final Fantasy's Crisis Core, sure he has been contemplating about getting one for some time now, surveying the market and reading up on custom firmware but it took the release of Crisis Core to push him over the edge. More recently I got friends eager to take the PS3 plunge to play the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV, so i guess killer apps are not restricted to console exclusive titles only seeing that GTAIV is multi-platform.

So what are the games that would convince you to part with your hard-earned money to pick up the console to play it? For me, these games are sure to raise a couple of eyebrows but it's not like i'm saying so in order to be different. The game that led me to get a Nintendo DS? Resident Evil Deadly Silence. Sure, it's a port of a ten year-old game which i played to death but the thought of playing such a cherished game in the palm of my hands was so unimaginable for me then that i had to get one just to experience it. Sure enough, i wasn't disappointed as the DS would go on to be the hottest selling handheld of recent years thereby ensuring a healthy supply of quality games. My most recent console is of course, the Nintendo Wii and a large part of it has to do with the phenomenon success of the Nintendo DS as with most Wii users i'm sure. But it was Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles that finally convinced me to get the Wii after watching Nintendo gamers with envy playing exclusive Resident Evil and Metal Gear games over the years. So far, the Wii has not showed it's full potential like the DS but it has sold so many units now it's hard to imagine it being any less of a success than the DS.

The First Time

Remember what's the very first game you bought for your new console? well i do, in fact most of the time the first game i get for my new consoles will probably raise a couple of eyebrows. it's not that i'm trying to be different by buying something else but most of the time, i end up buying a new console in advance before the game i originally got the console for is out and therefore, i end up buying some other game in the meantime to fill up my time. The first game i got for my Nintendo DS? Viewtiful Joe Double Trouble ! Hardly a memorable DS title now, but back then i was really curious what kinda graphics the Nintendo DS could pull off and Clover Studio portable adaption of their hit franchise does seems to stretch the Nintendo DS graphic capabilities and stylus gameplay. When i got my Sony PSP, the first ever UMD i got was Metal Gear Solid: Digital Novel. I know it's not even a game but this quirky idea of reading a graphic novel on a PSP along with Silent Hill Experience was what initially got me interested in the system.

By the time i got around to getting my Nintendo Wii, i had a lot of catching up to do because my goal right from the beginning was to play as many Gamecube games as possible before the Wii catalogue starts to pick up steam, much like what happened with the Nintendo DS after the first launch year. Some may think it's a bit silly to pay so much for a Wii only to play Gamecube games but if it saves me the trouble of having another console around and offers me the same experience as playing it on it's original platform then i'm in. I was lucky enough to find a non-Player's Choice version of the Resident Evil Gamecube Remake and ended up finding most of the Gamecube titles i originally set out to get, save perhaps the Gamecube version of Viewtiful Joe. Of course i eventually started playing Wii games too though i still only have two miserable Wii titles (not including bundled games) despite getting the system more than five months ago. My first real Wii title was Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles which while was fairly entertaining, is a couple of notches below No More Heroes, my second Wii title. I have a feeling the best is yet to come for the Nintendo Wii and i look forward to see what Capcom and Konami will bring to Nintendo system.

Looking back, i guess the first game for your new console is kinda like your first love it may not be the best you have experienced but it's one that you will surely remember for life. Either that or i'm just a sentimental sap even when it comes to games...

Circle of Life

Ever checked out Gamespot's highest rated games of all time? If you scroll to the all-time list for Gameboy Advance you will notice the highest score they ever awarded to a game on the GBA is actually a third-party game, in fact it's a launch game! It's none other than Konami's Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, the first of three Castlevania games to be eventually released on the GBA. Now either Jeff Gerstmann has been deprived too long of his vampire-staking fix or was feeling generous on launch day, i never really found out as Circle of the Moon was the only Castlevania title from the GBA that i have yet to play. In fact, once i got my Nintendo DS, it was one of the first title i sought to hunt down but during that time, most of the Castlevania GBA titles were already long out-of-print. I ended playing both Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow first when Konami re-printed both games as a Castlevania Double Pack. Yesterday when i happened to stumble onto Circle of the Moon lying in the bargain bins of a video game store. Though it was the Japanese edition, it was too good of an opportunity for me to pass up, especially after coming off the rather import-friendly Dracula X Chronicles.

Coming at a not-so bargain bin price, the cart and box looks to be in pretty decent condition save perhaps for a slight tear on the cover from the old original price tag.Though i was like to point out that i'm very impressed with the cover art for the Japanese edition, it's easily the best non-Ayame Kojima Castlevania cover art I have seen in a long time. Can't wait to get cracking on this game, as soon as i achieved 100% completion on Rondo of Blood....