2015 recap: Nintendo 3DS

It's a shame that I played 2 very time-consuming games on the 3DS in the same year. That meant I didn't have enough time to play the many other games that I bought for the system. And trust me, there are a lot of games on my backlog.

Project X Zone and MH4U are games that required a lot of dedication but present very little reward. PXZ felt like it could be a 40 hours game if Monolith Soft had cut back on having to fight the same boss over and over again. MH4U? I can't really complain much expect that this is a grind it out game. Always have been, if you can't stand the grinding then maybe this isn't for you.

Just glad to be done with PXZ because now I'm free to play all the other games I got.

2015 Recap: Don't Look Back in Anger

As 2015 is drawing to an end, I'm going to start recounting the games I finished on each systems. It's safe to say that my two most played systems remains the PS3 and 3DS, which is probably the same as last year's. If this generation were to end today I still think the Nintendo 3DS is the best system of this generation. While it's not really fair to pit a portable handheld against home consoles, the current gen systems are still in a pretty sorry state of affairs.

I remained baffled as to why so many people are buying a PS4 right now. To play what? If this was the PS2 era, exclusive games like Bloodborne and Until Dawn are nothing but B-level games. Instead, they received an enormous amount of attention and hype by simply being exclusive on the best-selling console of this generation.

Looking back, getting a Nintendo Wii U instead of PS4 was a pretty sound decision. Nintendo is doing as much as they can to support the system but still there is only so much you can handle as both the publisher/developer. Of course I might have made a completely different decision if my first PS3 didn't YLOD in the first place. I won't have lose faith in the durability of Sony systems and I probably won't feel burnt to get another Sony machine as I do right now.

Playing the Wii U is a complete different cycle with what I went through on the Wii. I didn't really play any first-party Nintendo games until late in the Wii era. This time on the Wii U, I have playing mostly first-party games with the exception of Bayonetta 2. Nintendo does a great job of rewarding customers on the Club Nintendo program. I got a number of these games free through Club Nintendo and they are full-priced games unlike the crap PSN Plus throws out.

OK, that's enough hating for now.

Going through the Motions (and Minions)

I have been playing PxZ for almost 80 hours now and have yet to finish the game. Now I'm beginning to understand why the Xenosaga games during the ps2 era always shipped on two discs. And to think, I originally intended to go back and play these Xeno games (lol).

As honest paying gamers, we naturally prefer our games to be as long as possible. After all we are paying our hard earned money and games aren't cheap so the longer it is the more value we see in the product. I'm not sure if I agree with that sentiment anymore, the value simply cannot be judged by the length. Vanquish is just a 5-hour game and anyone who played through it are likely be satisfied with the game.

PxZ is just a tediously long game, each chapter lasts close to 2 hours of gameplay with no shortcuts allowed. You fight minions after minions and the same bosses over and over again. Each boss usually have about 10 minions with them and there are more than one boss in each level. The fan service starts to wear thin after a while. I started to skipped the silly banter at the start of the fight because I just want to get the level over with.

The grinding is compulsory as the objective is always destroy every enemy so you can't take a shortcut by just finishing off the boss. Grinding is one of the things I hate most about RPG and here it's forced upon the gamer. The biggest problem with the combat sytem is the enemies display no AI whatsoever. The minions are there to just get beaten up by the super-team. Even the bosses feel the same way albeit with a lot more HP and cool finishing move. It's like a strategy RPG where the gamer has to strategize against a mindless opponent.

I was surprised that a sequel to PxZ was announced as fans weren't exactly demanding one. In fact most have yet to finish the game like myself partly because of how tedious it is. The sequel will feature Kiryu and Majima from the RGG series and that is probably one of the few reasons why I would even bother with the next game. 

Zombie On The Go

Mercenaries 3D gathered quite a bad rap upon release that people barely remember anything else about this game. Bad enough that Capcom decided to charge for what used to be a free mini-game but then they went ahead and locked the save file too. Preventing owners from re-selling the 3DS game which Capcom later acknowledged was a bad move and left Revelations alone.

I purchased the digital copy of this game when it was on sale during Halloween. I wasn't really planning on getting it so I never made any attempt to look for the retail copy. This Mercenaries is more of a greatest hits compilation of all the stages and characters from RE 4 and RE 5. There is barely any new content until very late into the game where you get some nice new stages. 

On the surface, the game looks better than Revelations because of all the re-used assets from old RE games. However play it long enough and you will realise this is certainly not the case. A lot of the character animations have been simplified which becomes apparent when you perform melee attacks. The reused stages are also cut down in size compared with the original. At least the game performance is pretty steady even with the 3D effects on, thanks to all these graphical shortcuts.

As much as I hated RE6, I still had a pretty good time with the game's Mercenaries Mode. Of course, Capcom decided to ruin a good thing by making most of those stages DLC. This prevents most gamers from enjoying the complete Mercenaries Mode on RE6 which is a shame. Looking at the current state, the Mercenaries 3D is still the only way to enjoy the mini-game on the go. Maybe it's not too absurd now to think why Capcom would charge money for this game after all. 

Sexual Awakening

Here's my perspective of the Fire Emblem series as a relative outsider - it only became popular after IS incorporated dating sim elements into the game. This proves that nothing sells a product better than a little sex appeal. Of course, it may not be true but ever since Awakening made the series a mainstream success, every time it make headlines is concerning sexual elements like censored images and gay marriages.

I wanted to play the Fire Emblem series as I developed a fondness for SRPG on handheld systems. I'm still pretty noob when it comes to RPG so real-time combat in RPG is always daunting to me. In SRPG, you take turns to fight and move the players around on the grid a bit like a chess game.

To prepare myself for Awakening, I played the last Fire Emblem game on the Wii system - Radiant Dawn. It's pretty hardcore and old school, I was playing for hours and made little progress since the early chapters as I keep failing to survive. I would love to finish that game but I'm not sure if I can without resorting to Casual mode.

When I downloaded the demo for Awakening, I was immediately  blown away by the production value of the game. Radiant Dawn on the Wii wasn't a very good looking game by any means, in fact it looked like a Gamecube game (Hello Star Fox Zero!). Speaking of the Gamecube, its amazing how games these days still get referred to as Gamecube standards, shows you how ahead of the curve that system was at the time. Anyway back to Awakening, it's hard to believe Radiant Dawn and Awakening were released back to back on two vastly different system.

IS went all out when making Awakening as they realised the series was slowly declining and that this might very well be the last Fire Emblem game. They certainly didn't held back on the production value from what I seen from the demo so far. Now if only I can finish PxZ so I can get started on this now that my copy has arrived.

Crossing That Line

Who can complain of more Valkyria Chronicles 3 on the 3DS?

Project X is one of those guilty pleasure games, it’s not an excellent game by any means but certainly very addictive and fun. The crossover theme seems to be a common fad in Japanese modern games and here it’s demonstrated to great effect as classic characters from mega franchises come together for one big team-up mash. The chemistry between all these different characters is the highlight of the game, never mind the fact the story makes no sense and it’s just an excuse to pile as many characters together as possible.  I was surprised by the level of detail as the amount of voiceover work is extensive and the characters are all voiced by the original voice actors (from what I can tell with the Valkyria Chronicles 3). Each fixed pair of characters can be assisted by a third party member and I often mixed up each pair with a new character just to see what silly banter they throw at each other.

The game is a strategy RPG but there are action elements thrown on that allows you to string together combo attacks. Basically it’s a bit like the first Devil May Cry game where you juggle the enemy in the air but here it’s all about the timing of the buttons to keep the combo going as long as possible. The animation and 3D effects when you unleash the special attack is simply awesome, no matter how many times you seen it. It’s high unlikely to know every character in the game but there is a useful crosspedia to help you catch up to speed with them and the universe. I started playing Sakura Wars on the PS2 after being introduced to the Gemini character and that’s the beauty of the game, you learn more of other game series.

The game has a repetitive and predictable structure but somehow I'm always drawn back by the familiar characters, theme music and before I know it, another hour has passed. I guess that’s what it means by having fun. 

Hello Stranger, What Are You Buying?

The Resident Evil games have been pretty predictable these days when it comes to unlockable features after completing the game -  it's the usual offering of Mercenaries mini-game and bonus costumes. These are some of the series mainstays since the beginning and the theory of why fix something that isn't broken is a logical reasoning why Capcom never bother to come up with something different for each new game.

Jill wonders where The Mercenaries have gone on Revelations?

So naturally I was very intrigued when I unlocked the Raid mode upon completing Resident Evil Revelations as this was the first bonus mini-game that isn't the Mercenaries since RE : Code Veronica. All I knew prior to playing the game is that the story mode doesn't feature co-op but Raid mode does though you still have the option of playing the game solo if you like. 

After playing Raid mode for a bit, I quickly discovered it's nothing more than the same story mode with the cutscene removed and co-op mode tacked on. As the main game is designed for portable play, each chapter were made to be very brief so these chapters are now individual missions that you can play separately on Raid mode. The objective of each mission remains largely the same but now there are no cutscenes or loading time to interupt the game-play, thereby allowing co-op play. It's almost as if the main game was meant to have co-op play as there are always a NPC character in each stage but yet it was strangely omitted.

So in the end, it turns out Raid mode wasn't a brand new mini-game as I would expect and the Mercenaries isn't featured in this game probably because Capcom expects you to buy the standalone Mercenaries 3D game also  released on the Nintendo 3DS. Nicely played Capcom, you always know what your fans want (or don't want) and give it to them. At a price, of course.

You wanna play Mercenaries on the 3DS? Be prepared to pony up the cash

Fear The Camera

As hard as it is to make a good horror game, it's probably even harder to make a decent one on a handheld system. Many of this generation more established handheld horror games consist of taking what works on the console and shrinking it down to fit on a handheld system  like Silent Hill Origins. While it's not necessarily a wrong approach, it doesn't set the game apart from the console games with the exception of poorer graphics.

Spirit Camera, the 3DS game from the Fatal Frame series is the exception to the rule: it's a game that honor the series legacy but can only be played on the 3DS. Basically it puts the camera obscura onto the palm of your hands by transforming the handheld to the infamous camera. It isn't very scary (then again most of these games tend not to be) but it sure feels fun swinging the handheld around trying to locate the supernatural. It also deploys Nintendo AR scanning feature where you can basically scan a printed image with the camera and create some sort of a 3D image on screen. 

Finally captured Maya with my own hands

Some fans might have been disappointed that this wasn't a traditional Frame Frame game but it hard to fault the makers for trying to ultilized every unique feature of the 3DS handheld. Hopefully the newly announced Fatal Frame set for the Wii U will be something truly special for the series and the platform, seeing the lack of such horror games on the system.