Monthly Archives: December 2006

Best of 2006, Games, GOTY, Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox

Best of 2006

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It’s that time again. There are only ten days of 2006 remaining and, as I did last year, I’ll be running through my top ten of 2006. These are my favourites of the year, with the rule being that they had to be released in one of the three major territories and played by me at some point between 1st January and 31st December 2006, Anno Domini.

This time last year I’d spoken about the unusually high number of hardware launches making it a particularly strong year, but now that 2006 has brought with it the DS Lite, PlayStation 3, and Wii – as well as the 360 really hitting its stride – last year looks almost anaemic by comparison.

There was quite a scuffle for top spot and some debate over whether Street Fighter Alpha Anthology should get a spot (it didn’t: as great as it was, excellent value for money doesn’t hide the fact that the newest of those games is pushing ten), but the best of this year almost picked itself for me, with some great next-gen titles and the old guard looking for a good send off as well. I welcome all feedback as it comes.

Games, Impressions, Nintendo

Zelda: Twilight Princess Impressions

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Link and Epona

That warm feeling that Ocarina of Time gave me almost exactly eight years ago? I’ve got it again. I can’t remember the last time I started up new game and then proceeded to sit there playing it for six beautiful, uninterrupted hours. There’s nothing like a new Zelda.

Lest this turn into a gushing account, let me get the controls out of the way first. These were my main concerns about this game, especially with the GameCube version out now, and at this point I’m about 80% won over. My first concern was that they wouldn’t work but they absolutely do. Movements like a flick of the wrist to draw the sword is natural and satisfying, and aiming with the remote is a quantum leap beyond fiddling with a stick. The ability to move your hands almost completely independently while still controlling things is an unexpected pleasure, neatly avoiding a lot of potential hand cramps.

However, it’s not all roses. Combat can easily degenerate into wild flailing of the nunchuck and remote which, I suppose, isn’t much different to wild hammering of the attack buttons, only this time you’re physically waving like an idiot. It’s something that can be worked through, though. Likewise the loss of the 3D camera on the GameCube’s C-stick can be an annoyance, even if it’s reasonably effective to just tap the Z button to centre the camera behind you.

That’s really the only criticisms I can give. Technically it’s obviously not next-gen – although I’d struggle to name more than a couple of 360 and/or PS3 titles that are so artistically strong – but when it comes with such a long and satisfying quest, perfectly-pitched puzzles, and intriguing storyline. And Nintendo have really raised their game with regard to the storytelling: although voice acting is missed (by all means keep Link as the silent protagonist but your games are on DVD now – use it), an ability to direct in a cinematic fashion has been discovered. It just makes this seem like possibly the most polished Zelda yet.

So I’ve had the game since Friday and have so far clocked up just over 15 hours. The marathon sessions haven’t abated yet, and I swear that they’ve somehow coded a time warp into it. Try to play for a few minutes without it slowly stretching into hours as the game exerts its inexorable pull. It can’t be done. And as good as Okami was, it’s been outdone at the wolf-adventure-with-annoying-sidekick thing by the very game that so patently inspired it.

Games, Impressions, PlayStation

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

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Ever since Subsistence revived my interest in the Metal Gear series, this one has been high up my wishlist. It fulfills both the need to continue the excellent Big Boss saga and the more pressing requirement for something to play on the PSP. I got my US copy this morning and, after a couple of hours spent trying to get the 3.02 firmware emulated so I wouldn’t have to upgrade, I gave it a crack.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

The immediate concern when playing this game is the control system. One of my criticisms of MGS3 was the convoluted controls and although they still take some getting used to here and are overall inferior, Kojima’s team has done some much-needed pruning. The lack of buttons eventually stops feeling limited, and I hope that the lessons learnt here are carried over to MGS4.

The 3D camera obviously doesn’t control as smoothly on a D-pad as on an analogue stick, but is still a welcome transplant from the last game. The frustration of unseen enemies is further alleviated by a permanent radar/sound sensor thingy (no worrying about battery levels) and a full map of each area on the pause menu. I still got spotted by an enemy that I missed in the first room but that was my fault for not realising how the radar worked.

The fundamental change to this game comes with the recruitment system, where each mission can be played out with a squad of four allies. Almost any enemy in the game can be recruited into your little rebellion and then their unique skills can be utilised – uniformed enemies are less conspicuous when infiltrating a base, for example – in your efforts to complete the game. It even uses the wi-fi function of the PSP to generate random recruits, meaning that just stopping in a coffee shop can yield an S-class supersoldier. I’ve taken my PSP out with me a couple of times with the sole intention of visiting a known access point to see what I can get. Continue reading Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops →

Games, Nintendo, PlayStation

Megaton!

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The announcement that Dragon Quest IX would be a DS game, despite the size of its new host platform, could end up being one of the biggest news stories of recent years. It represents a huge shift in development trends right up there with the mass exodus of Nintendo’s oppressed minions to Sony circa 1995.

The movement of Dragon Quest back to Nintendo – for this instalment, at least – comes over a decade since the last ‘proper’ Nintendo Dragon Quest and may not have the impact of Final Fantasy in the West, but in Japan this is, infamously, the game that cannot legally be released on a school day because of the effect it has on productivity. It’s second only to Final Fantasy and, when coupled with the insane popularity of the DS in Japan, has the potential to smash sales records. I was in Japan when the FFIII DS remake came out and the only units I saw on sale were expensive import models from Europe. This should be even bigger.

More than anything this is a slap in the face to Sony. One of their bigs guns has gone portable, and it’s not on theirs. This is going to put even more distance between the DS and PSP, in fact. And if this is as big of a success as it should be I’d bet money that Dragon Quest X turns up on DS or Wii. Low development costs and colossal sales are an irresistible combination for any company, and I’m sure they’re quite aware of how much a game on the scale of DQVIII would cost to develop on the PS3.

I’ve seen the complaints the people expecting this to be a PS3 game and can understand them (although I think the DQIX screenshots look great), but Square Enix won’t be able to hear them. They’re too busy filling up a swimming pool with money.

Games, Impressions, Nintendo

Having a Wii

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My Wii

That’s the last pun, I promise.

New console aside, I haven’t felt this excited about a new game (Zelda, in this case) since Ocarina of Time back in 1998. As much as I love my other consoles nothing gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling more than a new game from Nintendo when they’re on flying form. I think it’s that je ne sais quoi that the GameCube lacked and the DS restored for me.

But alas, although I have my Wii that’ll have to wait for now. Zelda and Trauma Center are in a separate order and left earlier, so they should arrive imminently, but the delay has given me some time to fiddle with the console and included software, which is nice. Every cloud, as they say…

While both the 360 and PS3 try to out-monolith each other, Nintendo deserves credit for making what is really the only one of the three next-gen consoles to have a lot of aesthetic appeal. They know it, as well, packing in a stand to sit it vertically rather than taking the obvious opportunity to leave it out and charge a tenner for it. Add in the nice luminous slot-loading drive – the first one I’ve seen that can handle 8cm discs – and the minimalist fa?ade which beautifully complements the DS Lite and, for the first time in a while, you have a Nintendo who are trying to make their kit look cool and desirable. No Fisher Price jokes this time. Continue reading Having a Wii →

Games, Life

My Drug of Choice

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What can you do nowadays with a computer and no Internet access? Not a lot, as I’ve found out over the last couple of weeks. OK, so I had some Internet access, but this is one of those things where having none at all would be less torturous.

The Tuesday before last our Internet access went to pot. We assumed it was a bad day, as can happen, and only got in touch with BT when it was still going after two days. Then followed the familar pattern of calling and re-calling guys with names like “John” and “Dave” who sounded suspiciously Indian and seem intent on telling me that the reason all of the ten-odd devices connected through our router was slow is because of the firewall settings on one of the PCs. I’m sure I don’t need to go through that horrible process for anyone remotely technologically inclined. We’ve all done it.

And so, after numerous brief engineer visits and failed promises of it being fixed, it’s resolved itself suddenly and without fanfare. A podcast that was taking five hours to download and was being measured in bytes per second is now here in less than three minutes. Thank fuck for that.

What the experience of being all but without the Internet for almost two weeks has taught me is just how reliant I am on it. My Xbox feels empty without Live, my iPod library is staid without daily podcasts (I now have 19 hours of them), and I might as well not have a computer without those magical airborne bits and bytes flying in from the other room. And yet I can’t help but think how sad it is that I’m so completely reliant on one source for entertainment…