Review: Fable 2 - "See the Future"

The latest DLC for Fable 2 has a few things going for it, and a lot that isn't. First, I really have to point out that I love Fable 2 and its nice that there's been two DLC packs for it in the last six months. Its cool having a reason to revisit Albion and all the weird and wonderful characters it holds. Its also nice seeing a nearly two million gold bump to my character's bank account after not having played since I finished the "Knothole Island" DLC back in January. Of course, that just makes every single treasure my dog sniffs out for me meaningless, but I suppose that's not a big deal.

The gentleman who sold my character the magic music box way back in the day is back with new and interesting items that require my attention. These items lead to quests that are completed very quickly. I would say a straight run through them all would clock in at an hour, if not less. If you're a completionist, you can probably squeeze more life out of the DLC. Even my adventures on Knothole Island lasted longer than that.

What's nice about the DLC is that, when you view the game as a whole, it expands what is available to do in Albion. When I get the urge to play through the entire game once more, perhaps with a different character on the evil side of things, it will hopefully feel bigger than it already is. There will be more stuff to do and more goodies to acquire and outfit my character with earlier on, instead of bringing my angelic queen out of retirement every few months for another romp.

As expected, the visual presentation and sound are amazing, just like the rest of the game. The quests are more varied and feel fresh, although, as mentioned, they are over way too quickly, especially if you have a more advanced character.

The problem is…there's really not a whole lot here. The group at Lionhead rushed to get "Knothole Island" out, and it was more expansive than this new DLC, which they had months to work on. These quests would fit in quite well as part of the overall game - they would be a nifty change of pace - but as a piece of DLC that we're spending our hard earned cash on, it doesn't quite cut it. Although, the potions to change your dog's breed are fun, and probably the biggest selling point of the content. You also get a possible glimpse at the future of the Fable franchise to make of what you will. Its rather vague.

I will give them this - "See the Future" is cheaper than "Knothole Island", but its not enough to justify the lack of content. Perhaps 250 spacebucks would have been a better price? But, developers need to eat too, I suppose. ;)

Score: 4.0 (out of 10)

Review: The Last Remnant

Game: The Last Remnant
Developer: Square-Enix
Publisher: Square-Enix
MSRP: $39.99
NA Release Date: 11/20/2008
Platform Reviewed: Xbox 360
Also Available On: PC

The Last Remnant is, for all intents and purposes, an experiment by Square-Enix to appeal to both the Eastern and Western markets. I don't think that experiment in itself was successful, because the game plays just like a typical JRPG, albeit with some modifications to the standard formula.

The game follows Rush Sykes in a quest to find his sister, Irina. She has unintentionally become mixed up with some bad, power-hungry men because of a hidden power she holds within her. Rush sets off to find her and meets a group of high-ranking people from the country of Athlam - Marquis David Nassau and his four generals. David promises to help Rush find his sister, because there seems to be more at stake here than the life of one person. And, from that point, your adventure begins.

The story, broken down into its basic parts, is fairly cliché, yet manages to feel somewhat fresh and different at the same time. The characters are vastly different from each other - both in design and in personality. Also, they don't follow the typical JRPG archetypes. For example, in the early part of the game, the only female controllable - and I use that term loosely - by the player is Emma, a 41-year-old general. She's fully clothed, has battle scars and is rather stern. Yet through it all, she's endearing in a way that isn't forced on the player by the script or a character cliché. The other generals and David himself are equally as likable, yet all with their little personality quirks. Lastly, Rush himself doesn't act like a typical JRPG hero - he's no Cloud or Edge. He's not emo, he doesn't feel like he's going to fly off the hook at any given moment and his voice acting is downright excellent. In fact, all the voice acting is top notch, which kind of makes you wonder what happened to games like Infinite Undiscovery and Star Ocean: The Last Hope (granted, not developed by Squeenix like this title, but they still should have a lot of pull when it comes to that stuff).

I started with the characters because that initially is what drew me to the game and the story. But the visual presentation is outstanding, as well. The game just looks darn good. The art direction reminds me a bit of both Final Fantasy X and XII, but that's not a bad thing. The environments are varied, although a bit more confined than other recent JRPGs. The presentation during battle is energizing and the ability to control the camera lets you explore every inch of the detailed environments.

What makes or breaks most RPGs is the battle system, and TLR is solid in that department. Once you wrap your head around what the game is trying to do, it isn't really that different from your typical turn-based RPG. In a stretch, you could say it’s a combination of a strategy RPG and a turn-based RPG. It carries some features of a strategy RPG in that you are allowed to build your own groups, put together your own mix of NPCs (and, therefore, abilities), level them up and form a strong fighting force pretty much the way you want it. Yet, during actual battle it handles much like any other turn-based game in the genre.

In fact, I don't think its as innovative as Square-Enix has claimed in the battle system department. However, I've always been a believer that lack of innovation doesn't mean a bad game by any means. You form Unions, which are made up of individual party members. Each Union has a leader and you give each Union its own command instead of issuing commands to each individual member of that Union. What each individual character (including Rush) does with that command is ultimately up to the AI. However, based on your command they do go in a certain direction with their attacks or support. As an example, you can tell one Union to use Combat Arts, and it'll be at the AI's prerogative which particular ones to use based on the weapon each individual in that union has equipped and the skills they have at their disposal. Like I mentioned, this is even true of your main character. You really don't control any individuals, you just give Unions basic attack commands to carry out in whichever way the AI feels will benefit you most.

Its not as complicated as it seems. If you think of each Union as an individual party member, the entire battle system suddenly becomes easier to understand for fans of turn-based RPGs. In that respect, it really isn't that different from those other RPGs, the structure of your attack party is really the only difference. Enemy units are the same way. Each enemy you see on the field screen represents one or more enemy Unions.

What the game fails to do is explain all this in an easy to digest manner, so the learning curve is fairly high. Combine this with the fact that, in the first couple dungeons, you don't get more than a handful of enemy units to attack, and it does take a while to get everything down pat.

There are a myriad of other things that pique my interest about this game, the more I play. As just a couple examples, I love the fact that your party members - even other Union leaders - ask your advice for directing their combat techniques. Should I lean more toward combat or mystic artes? That's your decision, on top of building Unions to suit the situation and your personal tastes. Along these lines, characters also ask for item drops and items from your inventory that you may not be using, and they use these items behind the scenes to improve their gear and performance in battle. A very nice, unique touch to the game.

Now, onto the not so good. Yes, I have to mention that this game is littered with technical troubles - the frame rate drops frequently, texture popping is worse than other games on the 360 and the bit hitter - loading screens. OMG the loading screens that will not end! That is my biggest issue with the game - not the texture or frame rate issues. The loading screens are literally everywhere. You will see a loading screen under all of the following conditions - and more: switching zones within a city, going to/from the city or world map screens, going from exterior to interior locations and vice versa, before each battle, before each boss fight, after each battle, after each boss fight, between cut scenes. They literally never end - you are seeing a lengthy loading screen every time you turn around.

Something else, beyond all this - the achievements aren't that hot. As far as I can tell, there are no progression-based achievements. All the game's achievements rely on repeating actions ("Win XX Battles", "Activate Timeshift XX Times", etc.) or optional content (side quests, optional bosses, etc.). I prefer more progression-based achievements so you know you'll at least get a certain amount of points if you just complete the game, without going through any extra hassle to track down where and when you can trigger them. That being said, its likely many of these achievements will still come naturally during the course of the game.

However, in spite of all the technical issues (most of which I understand are fixed with the PC version - which leads me to wonder why the 360 version hasn't been patched yet), the game is incredibly deep and very satisfying. It would be a shame to pass it up because of its problems, because the battle system and story definitely are a sight to behold.

Score: 8.0 (out of 10)

WoW Review - Children's Week

The eggs of Noblegarden are gone, replaced by the sound of screaming rugrats. It’s the one week each year where busy adventurers have to take time out of their schedules to show these little ankle-biters around Azeroth and Outland. Do we mind? Not at all, because we're rewarded with reputation, achievements and two vanity pets.

Unlike other in-game events in the last year, Children's Week did not receive a revamp. The only new things added to it are the achievements, one of which is probably one of the most painful things you'll go through on your quest for the Violet Proto-Drake. In fact, let's start with that. We might have gotten soft since the achievements for Noblegarden were fairly simple, solo affairs that we could run around and do without a care in the world. However, I do think one of the achievements for Children's Week is a bit too much - School of Hard Knocks.

Not only do you have to PVP (if you want to call it that), you have to perform a task that your class, spec or both may not be in tune with. Good luck being a holy priest or resto druid and capturing a flag in Eye of the Storm or taking a resource node in Arathi Basin. You'll die quicker than you can say "achievement". This isn't to mention those of us who just don't PVP. Ever. We have zero resilience and little experience, so completing that achievement is a lot harder than certain PVP-ers make it out to be.

The better route to go for this would have been allowing the player to be in the vicinity of the flag cap, or the flag return, or whatever, when it occurs. This still requires some effort in the form of joining BGs, but allows the players to focus more on working together instead of working against one another just to get this achievement. That one achievement kills this event for me, especially considering the fact that its required to get the Violet Proto-Drake. What a let down.

Other than that, this event is the same as it has been the last two years. There's a quest chain in old Azeroth and a quest chain in Outland in which you drag an orphan child around to several landmarks - which are mostly different for alliance and horde players. At the end of it all, each quest gives you the opportunity to choose a vanity pet out of three choices. If you've done these quests in past years, you may have most, if not all, of the pets available.

There was some talk about a Northrend quest much like the other two, but there are none implemented in-game right now. Perhaps the possibility remains that Blizzard will activate something tomorrow during maintenance and give us what we want - a continuation of Children's Week in Northrend and another vanity pet. This might - might - make up for the lame achievement I mentioned earlier.

WoW Review: Noblegarden

As with many in-game events over the last year or so, Blizzard has revamped Noblegarden to improve its quality and add achievements. I've got a good handle on the events that are available in-game, having completed nearly all the achievements already. I'll polish off my last two (Chocoholic and Shake Your Bunny Maker) later today, most likely, assuming all the female dwarves aren't in hiding.

The first thing that stands out about this event is the expansion of the egg hunt. In past years, egg hunting has been a painful process because there were too few egg spawns and too many egg hunters. That has all changed this time around. Egg spawns in the starting towns - Razor Hill, Goldshire, Kharanos, Bloodhoof Village, Brill, etc. - are astronomical. Its very hard not to be able to get eggs in a reasonable amount of time. Sure, it might start off slow, but once you start figuring out where the eggs spawn, its easy as pie. There's a daily quest to collect egg shells, which rewards you with gold based on your level and another event item. There's also a one-time quest to collect 10 Noblegarden chocolates. Those chocolates drop out of 90% of the eggs you pick up.

The event vendors deal in chocolates, so that acts as a currency, as well. There's all sorts of fancy things you can buy such as a vanity pet and, for mages, a new polymorph. Many of the items on the vendor, including the pet and clothing, are needed to finish the holiday achievements. However, if you're lucky enough, it is possible to get all these items except for the placeable egg from opening the eggs you find around town. In my case, I got anxious to get the Spring Rabbit, so after about 200 eggs with no pet, I decided to just purchase it for the 100 chocolates. Not surprisingly when I went out to find more eggs the next day I got three pets to drop, all of which I can't use, can't give away and can't sell. If I had it to do over again, I'd farm all the chocolates I need, then take stock of the achievement items I still need and buy them from the vendor - likely that would have saved me a bit of work. But, like I mentioned, the eggs are easy to find, so it takes no time at all - especially during non-peak hours - to farm up the chocolates needed.

Once you get all the event items needed for the achievements, its simply a matter of doing a lot of travel around old Azeroth, preferably with a friend, and sitting around Dalaran trying to toss bunny ears on unsuspecting females of at least 18th level (no jailbait!) from each race.

I praise Blizzard for taking the luck factor out of getting clearing all these achievements to receive the title "the Noble" and adding to the meta achievement to obtain the Violet Proto-Drake. If you don't get the items you need in the eggs, you can buy all the same things from the vendor with chocolates.

The only real down side is the fact that egg hunting can be tedious sometimes, and I'd avoid the more heavily populated starting towns, like Goldshire and Razor Hill, at peak hours. You also might want to bring a partner along for some of the achievements, because they're needed for one and preferable to have around for another.

All in all this is a great event. I think Blizzard is finally starting to understand how to handle these events and create the achievements for them. Children's Week doesn't promise to be quite as easy next week, with both a PVP-based and a dungeon-based achievement required to get the title and work toward the ultimate event meta achievement.

WoW Review: The Argent Tournament

Since I'm back into playing WoW a bit, although much more casually than before, I figured I'd talk a little about one of the major new events they added in the last content patch. A few days down the line and I'll be talking about the revamped Noblegarden and Children's Week events, as well.

The Argent Tournament is a new permanent in-game event in Icecrown, right on Arthas' doorstep. The idea behind it, as far as the lore goes, is to train warriors for combat against the forces of Arthas by having prospective combatants practice on each other. There's also another, one-time-only quest line that deals with "the dark knight", apparently someone who's been tasked by Arthas to infiltrate the tournament and kill off the most powerful fighters of both the horde and alliance.

Beyond that, its basically another daily quest hub that focuses a lot on a new mounted combat idea, which is based off the vehicle mechanics we've seen used all throughout Lich King content. The rewards are excellent - there are quite a few vanity items, some epic weapons (again, geared toward the casual player, not the raider), titles and a lot of reputation gains all around.

Let's talk about the positives first. Its nice that Blizzard is catering toward the role player some more - most, if not all, of the vanity items available through the tournament shout that out loud and clear. (Now if only they would actually enforce their RP server rules, right?) The new daily quests bring in cash and prizes that focus on what most casual players want. For the most part, things are soloable, as they should be for the casual player. Some quests are very short and sweet. For the non-mounted kill quest, all you have to do is fly the distance of a stone's throw away from the tournament and beat up some Scourge minions. There are a few quests which are random each day that have you going and nabbing a long-lost weapon of some sort, somewhere in Northrend. The hardest part about those is the time it takes to fly from Icecrown to either Howling Fjord, northeast Dragonblight or Grizzly Hills and back.

Unfortunately, there are some huge drawbacks to the tournament, as well, and I'm beginning to think even the awesome rewards aren't worth it. For starters, the mounted combat needs some major work. The NPCs can react as soon as an action is technically possible - humans have lag in their reaction time and their connection to the servers. The combat is clunky and the mounts don't function like regular mounts do, which makes the combat annoying and a hassle. If you don't use your abilities just right at just the right time, its likely you will lose versus the NPC opponents. This mounted combat accounts for roughly 75% of the daily quests you're tasked with to obtain the Champion's Marks needed to purchase all the cool stuff.

Sure, you could group up with someone and it would be easier, but that negates the point of casual content - relying on someone else to help you get the job done. Casual players don't always have the right circumstances or enough time to deal with group quests. And that brings me to point number two - one of the daily quests to receive two of your five daily Champion's Marks is an actual group quest. Why? Again, that is contrary to what casual content is supposed to be. Dealing with finding a group every day for this quest is not my idea of fun.

Lastly, the rewards should cost about half as much in terms of Champion's Marks. Sure, if these more "hardcore" players have the time (and they likely do if they're "hardcore"), they will be able to get the maximum amount of marks per day, even on multiple characters, thus allowing them to purchase the vanity items fairly quickly. (A jaunt on over to warcraftpets.com's comment section will show you just how fast some people are getting the vanity items.) Myself, I can swing about one or maybe two of the daily quests per day, and neither of them is the group quest, which means two marks per day. That's twenty days for a pet, fifty days for a mount…you get the idea. This is not even factoring in if I happen to miss a day (I miss at least one day every week). Seems a bit awkward to put casual content in the game that even casual players will never see for weeks or months down the line.

Overall, it’s a nice idea with excellent rewards. I'm just not sure it was executed properly, given the part of the player base its supposed to represent.

Review: Star Ocean: The Last Hope

Game: Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Developer: Tri-Ace
Publisher: Square-Enix
MSRP: $59.99
NA Release Date: 2/24/2009

Star Ocean: The Last Hope is the fourth game in the popular Star Ocean franchise, yet it is a prequel to all the games that came before. In the ruins of an Earth made nearly uninhabitable by nations turning on each other in World War III, a new alliance is formed between those nations to explore the stars and seek out a new home and new hope for humanity. Tasked with humanity's first venture into the stars is a group of five ships, one of which contains our heroes - Edge and Reimi. This game details their journey to explore new planets, meet new friends from alien races and generally secure a future for mankind.

The plot is pretty standard fare for a JRPG, its predictable in many regards, but also light-hearted, sweet, and serious when it needs to be. It feels very raw and adventurous. After scouting their destination planet - Aeos - Edge, Reimi and their new friend Faize are tasked to explore nearby planets. It reminds me a lot of why I liked Star Trek so much at various points, that exhilarating feeling of seeing what the characters are experiencing for the first time - awe, wonder and fear of the unknown. I don't really think the plot suffers much because of its predictability - I don't expect this game to be some literary masterpiece to be held up on a pedestal and bowed down to as something everyone should aspire to recreate.

I've been impressed by the visuals since some of the very first screens surfaced about this title, and that does carry over into the finished game. Environments are heavily detailed and, actually, I believe, made to look familiar, yet alien at the same time. Some colors are heavily saturated: mostly the vegetation and ground textures. Others, such as the sky and horizon in many places, somewhat blend together and bleed into each other. It all creates a very alien look to otherwise familiar types of locations - beaches, forests, highlands, mountains.

While the cut scene character animations are a little rough around the edges, the animations in battle are amazingly scrumptious. It just fills me with a sense of awe watching everything take place on the battlefield, especially blindside animations for the various characters. These smooth, Matrix-style animations just blow my mind and add to the satisfaction of pulling off one of the maneuvers. They don't disrupt the flow of the battles, but rather, they enhance it.

To compliment the visual presentation is the ever-present audio. This is one of the few games where I can turn the background music volume down on the options screen and it actually stays that way. (I don't turn it all the way down, but I find the dialog gets drowned out in the music in many games I've played in the past, including the previous Star Ocean title, and try to avoid that whenever possible.) The music fits the situation and will remind you much of previous games in the series, if you've experienced them. The voice acting isn't the best I've heard, but its far from the worst, either. The voices seem to fit the characters, for the most part. You will likely be annoyed with Welch, the item creation goddess, very early on, as was I. But truth be told, she actually grows on you and has delivered some of the most hilarious lines of dialog I've heard so far.

A big issue among other reviewers and avid fans alike is the bad lip sync problem. To be quite honest, its not that big of deal unless you're actually looking for it. I didn't even think about it until I was reminded just a few minutes ago by something I read. Yes, its that unintrusive to the whole experience. This is a pretty standard issue with JRPGs that get released in Western regions, and it shouldn't even be, considering how common it is.

I'll use this word again to describe the controls - standard. If you've played one action JRPG, you've played them all. The control scheme is very familiar to me having played previous titles in the franchise, as well as Final Fantasy XII and some Tales games. Control of Edge on field screens does seem a bit loose, and this could be slightly problematic in certain situations, such as close quarters or when trying to line yourself up to open a treasure chest. In tight spaces, though, the game defaults you to a slow walk instead of a full-out sprint. You can easily change this with the press of a trigger button, but it does help in those areas.

In some action RPGs you're relegated to a button-mashing fit during battles, but not here. I'm a fan of using Reimi and she is very quick and performs well, especially by avoiding any and all contact with the monsters, while dealing out an insane amount of critical strikes. Sure, you're hitting the "A" button for standard attacks a lot, but also your "hotkeys", the trigger buttons, and the "B" button to jump out of the way and perform blindsides quite frequently.

There are many noticeable improvements over previous installments, most importantly in the battle system. I've mentioned blindside attacks a couple times previous. These are attacks that allow you to, first off, dodge an enemy's incoming attack and, secondly, jump behind it and attack it from the rear with a greatly enhanced critical strike chance. These attacks are extremely satisfying and look great, to boot. Also new is the BEAT (Battle Enhancement Attribute Type) system, which allows even greater depth of customization for your characters by allowing you to choose to level up either attack-related stats or defense-related stats on a character-by-character basis. BEAT levels increase just like normal character levels, and provide various perks. You can change which BEAT each character uses (and levels up unless its at the max level of 20) at will. There's also a type of BEAT that you don't level up but is a combination of the other two, more focused, BEAT options.

Returning is the "Bonus Board" concept, which allows you to get specific bonuses at the end of battle, as well as the freedom to change which character you're controlling at any given time. A couple other improvements are the absence of "MP death" and your Bonus Board shattering when any player gets critically hit (now it only shatters when the player you're controlling gets critically hit, which gives you a huge advantage if you enjoy using ranged characters like Reimi, and you might not even lose all the tiles). I didn't like those mechanics in SO3 and I'm glad they removed them this time around.

Item creation is back, of course. It seems much more streamlined and simpler than in the past. You're directed to the need for IC more than in previous titles, also. Various stores throughout the towns and planets you visit will send you out on mini-quests to retrieve various items for them, most of which are only obtainable through item creation. Private actions also make a comeback, and are more easily accessible. Many times viewing them is required to push the story forward, but you're often given the choice to pick one out of two to view, and the required ones usually don't involve anything but improving the affinity between Edge and whichever character the PA is about. I enjoyed the private actions in SO3 because it seemed to flesh out interpersonal character relationships more than the standard story did, and it’s the same here, as well.

The combination of store orders, regular side-quests and the IC system is bound to keep players busy for hours upon hours in addition to the standard 40-hour story. This isn't to mention the post-story events and dungeons and the two other difficulty levels on top of Earth (easy) and Galaxy (normal), which you start with. There is definitely more than enough to keep anyone busy for a very long time.

I honestly can't find much wrong with this game, besides nitpicky things. Three of them I mentioned earlier - lip sync issues, slightly loose controls on the field and rough-around-the-edges animation during some cut scenes. While I'm at it, there's a couple more minor issues to bring up. I've tried and failed to see any purpose whatsoever from having save points and recovery points be separate entities. On the first planet you explore, you run into a save point, then, right around the corner past one or two enemies is a recovery point. Why not just make these one in the same, similar to the last couple Final Fantasy games? Its an unnecessary aggravation for the player. While I'm on the subject, this is probably the best current generation JRPG I've played, why can we not save anywhere we want like most Western RPGs? (Yes, I realize I'm violating my own principle and am trying to force something that's prevalent in one genre on that of another, but there's always exceptions to the rule.) I feel that pre-defined save points are an archaic mechanic, and its high time it was removed in favor of a "save whenever and wherever you want" system. Granted, JRPG fans, myself included, are used to save points, and they are placed liberally in this title, but I felt the need to point out the fact that the mechanic should be updated.

All these are very minor issues in an otherwise outstanding game. Whether or not you consider it the best JRPG of this generation is up to your own informed opinion, but taking everything into consideration I would venture to say it ranks very high up on the list.

There are a few things I would have liked to see expanded upon or added to this game, but their absence doesn't detract at all from the overall experience. I didn't mention this earlier, but there is a very rudimentary interior customization ability for the Calnus. You can build and find various items such as a status-effect curing pad and a vending machine and place them in the recreation room on board the ship. It would have been awesome if this customization was expanded with many more items and places to put said items. More decor such as furniture, plants and the like would have been welcome, as well. While we're on the subject of customization, different character outfits would have been fun, as well. And, for personalization's sake, I would have also liked to see an option to show the "lead" character - whichever one you are controlling on the battle screen - appear as the character you control on your field screen. Also options to hear the original Japanese language track with English subtitles and the original anime-style portraits and menu screen would have been wonderful, as well.

If you're an action RPG or JRPG fan, you'll definitely want to check this title out, especially if you've played the earlier entries in the series. There are very few games I would pay full price for these days, and I went out on a limb with this one, only having played Star Ocean 3 for the PS2 back in the day. I was not disappointed - this game is worth every penny.

A strong battle system, many extra hours of optional questing and post-game dungeons overshadow the predictable, although still enjoyable, story to make this game a must-have for any JRPG fan.

Score: 9.5 (out of 10)

The Woes of Writing Game Reviews

Over the course of reviewing things (mostly games) for this blog, I've switched up my mindset about the reviews quite a lot. At first, I'd write massive novels about a game. I tend to ramble a lot about things that I don't think people really care about, this seems to me to draw out the review into something I think is a good piece of work but can end up being unbearably long. To put it in WoW forum terms - TL,DR (too long, didn't read).

Several months ago I decided to switch things up and do bullet-point reviews. These presented what I thought of certain aspects of the game in a very clear and easily manageable manner. In those reviews I might talk a little more in depth about a bullet point I'm rather passionate about, but nothing other than that.

So, I end up reading other blogger's reviews - whether they're professional game reviewers or just doing it on their own time - and just about everything I read is better than what I write. So, I'm kind of at a loss about how to go about this game review thing. Maybe I just suck at it and will never be able to actually write a good, informative review.

What I think I need to do is come up with some sort of template or format to use for all my reviews that combines what I like about other reviews I read around the Web and in print publications. I need to have someone (most likely my wife, because she's good at it) proof-read the reviews, because usually I'll post them, then read them over and fix spelling and grammatical errors, but then several days down the line I'll read it again and think something sounds stupid. But, at that point, I don't think its worth changing since its likely anyone who reads my blog will have already read it anyway.

Lastly, I want to throw a spin on my reviews that I don't see much of - something different, something that some people don't think about. I'll ask the question in every game I review - what type of gamer would enjoy this game the most? Perhaps this may be a certain demographic, or someone who has a history of enjoying these types of games, there won't really be any standard and it will likely be different for each game.

For example, there are some very niche JRPGs coming out - quite a few by Atlus. I can review one of these games in general, according to my preferences and what I know about the genre, but what I say can't be said of everyone. Half the time I read reviews for JRPGs by professional reviewers and actually think the things they disliked about the game will make me like it even more, because I love the genre or the way the game is presented or a certain aspect of the game that brings out a feeling of nostalgia. Gamers who like JRPGs and, perhaps, a certain developer's games or a certain sub-genre will like it, but it might not be for many others. I won't discuss this in depth, really, perhaps there will just be a little blurb at the beginning or end of the review that will simply look like this:

If you like these aspects, you will likely enjoy this title:
- Action JRPG
- Anime-inspired character designs
- Typical JRPG dialog

And I'll likely leave it at that.

I enjoy talking in depth about certain aspects of the game, so perhaps I'll try to reach a happy medium between short, to-the-point reviews and an encyclopedia-length review. If I had more readers here, things I don't talk about in great detail could be discussed in the comments, but since I only have a few readers, that will likely not be the case.

In summary, my review format is likely to change once more in the near future. I'll most likely kick it off when I review Star Ocean: The Last Hope.

Auto-Adjusting AI for Player Skill

There are advantages and disadvantages to reviewing a game without playing the majority of it. If I waited until I was completely finished with a game, I'd probably never get around to posting reviews. Half the time I don't actually finish the game. Reviewing the game early on, however, could cause me to miss things that would possibly improve my outlook on it, or conversely, make me dislike it.

One thing I just remembered, after having posted my review of Midnight Club: Los Angeles a couple days ago, is that the Midnight Club franchise usually auto-tunes its difficulty to the player's skill. So, I looked into it and, sure enough, the latest game also has this feature. I very rarely quit a race cold turkey without finishing it, even if I am sucking horribly, but when you do finish races, the game adjusts the difficulty to the player. If you're losing a lot, it'll ease up to match your skill level. If you win a lot, it'll come on stronger to give you more of a challenge. That is one more positive about this game.

That being said, however, I still felt the difficulty is a tad much. I'd lose a string of races in a row and still have a hard time on some of the "story" races. Although, I must say, yesterday I did about five of the races where you wager a certain amount of cash on each race and if you win you double your bet, if you lose, you're out the cash. I did them all on medium difficulty, which seems to usually be right on par with my skill level (and I really mean usually, because sometimes its still incredibly difficult). I seemed to do alright, I won them all and make a load of cash in the process. Even though each race was fairly close, one mistake didn't make me lose all hope of winning (and trust me, I made mistakes).

So, needless to say, I'm still on the fence about how effective this auto-adjusting difficulty feature actually is. In some cases it seems to kick in and work well, while in others it doesn't.

Mini-Review: Tomb Raider Underworld

I remember playing a good portion of Tomb Raider Legend for the PS2 back in the day, but I haven't really been a big fan of the franchise, or action games in general. But, I thought I'd give this one a try to see where I end up, because I did enjoy the demo.

Pros:

• Multiple difficulty settings
• Interesting story that grabs your attention right out of the gate
• Great animation of Lara, as well as the flora and fauna that surrounds her

Cons:

• Controlling Lara is a chore on land, and I won't even get into what a pain it is to swim underwater
• The quality of the voices (the way they sound, not the acting) leaves something to be desired
• Unclear objectives

This game is an exercise in patience. While the puzzles are incredibly fun, the platforming that makes up the bulk of the levels leaves a lot to be desired. A mixture of very loose control and poor direction to the objectives make for a lot of trial and error, or just sitting there and scratching your head trying to figure out where to go next. Especially the ledges you need to interact with much of the time - these need to be more pronounced and consistent, because they are overlooked so easily. I sat around for darn near half an hour trying to figure out how to get past a certain platforming "puzzle", jumping to what looked like ledge after ledge, but Lara wouldn't grab on. Finally, I figured it out, jumped to a ledge that looked exactly like the other ones that I had overlooked constantly because, well, it looked just like everything else that I couldn't grab hold of. It worked just fine, but there was no clear direction on where to go and that that ledge happened to work for a hand-hold while the others around the area would not. That is a bit ridiculous to me.

If you're a fan of the series, it’s a great looking game with some real nifty puzzles that aren't too hard or too easy. However, this isn't another Prince of Persia - the platforming is tedious at best and, unfortunately, that makes up a sizable chunk of the game.

Mini-Review: Midnight Club: Los Angeles

Ahh, Midnight Club, you are one of my favorite arcade racing franchises. Your past was better, but this iteration isn't too bad...for the most part. Here's some points of note:

Pros:

• Pretty visuals and a serene sense of speed
• Awesomely in-depth car customization and a nice variety of vehicles
  
• Plenty to do, you'll always have easy races open if the insanely difficult ones give you a roadblock
• The GPS system - it works well
• Sometimes funny dialog during races

Cons:

• For frak's sake, give us split-screen racing!
• "Story" races are overly difficult
• Traffic borders on obnoxious, even at midnight

I won't go into the fact that, yet again, we have another awesome racer which gets two thumbs down because of no 2-player split-screen play. Let's talk about difficulty, the "story" races are insane, for the most part. One mistake and you're done for. That mistake almost always comes about because of the obscene amount of traffic that fills these streets at all hours of the day and night. Cut the traffic down a tad and it would be fine, allow some room for error and things would be peachy.

Excellent game on most fronts, but I wouldn't pay full price for it without the ability to play in a split-screen mode.

Mini-Review: Persona 4

Now, after having played a good chunk of Persona 4, here's a few things I thought about the game - some are new features, some are tried and true.

Pros:

• Believable characters and setting
• Less imposing dungeons
• The ability to manually control all the characters in your party
• More social link options
• Great, energetic soundtrack
• Engaging story that always keeps you guessing

Cons:

• Sometimes the voice acting is just too melodramatic
• Too much hand-holding
• Persona fusion is still way too confusing with unpredictable results
• Can we get a PS3 Persona title next? Pretty please with a cherry on top?

A little note about the hand-holding that goes on here. I really don't remember it being this overbearing in Persona 3. I'm reminded every day, multiple times per day that "the next fog will come after an extended period of rain". This "fog" is usually when the person you're trying to rescue in the TV world will be killed and it will be "game over" if you don't save them. I understand the importance of doing that, especially if you aren't following a strategy guide, but it is very annoying. Also, they give you multiple confirmations for way too many things, mostly when you choose to spend a block of time doing something or especially when you go into the TV world. Three confirmations? No thanks. Asking me once is enough.

Overall though, my cons above are very minor details in an otherwise awesome game. This game is so much better than most of the drivel that was on current-gen systems last year its not even funny. Its too bad it didn't get recognized on many end-of-the-year lists because its on a "last gen" system.

Post of the Day: 2.1.2009

How Game Scores Can Be Wrong.

Mini-Review: Mass Effect

I know, this game is what, a year and a half old? I finally got around to playing it. In fact, I ended up buying it I enjoyed it so much. There's not much to dislike about this title, but there's a lot to be apprehensive about if you've read about the game play and are a traditional RPG fan.

Back when this game won several RPG of the year awards for 2007, I blew it off because usually when I think about an RPG, I think about traditional, turn-based, Japanese-style RPGs. But, my definition is slowly broadening, thanks in part to games like this. (Note: That isn't to say I don't prefer JRPGs over Western RPGs, but I tend to rate a game on its own merits.)

Pros:
- Excellent sci-fi story, unexpected plot twists and all
- Great character development
- Detailed facial animation
- Large, detailed environments (for main plot worlds)
- Massive, player-driven narrative and great dialog

Cons:
- Many of the side-quest locations are cut-and-paste, repetitive
- Squad AI and pathing could use some work
- Overly complicated inventory/equipment system

In sequels, it would be nice to see streamlined inventory systems and more of a variety of environments - both interior and exterior. Also, some way to keep track of what planets in what systems you've visited and the number of untouched objects or unvisited locations would be quite welcome.

Overall though, Mass Effect is an engaging RPG/shooter hybrid and should definitely be in any 360 owner's game library.

Mini-Review: Fable 2

Until recently, I wasn't able to play this top-seller due to its XBox exclusivity. But, that all changed a week and a half ago when I got one of Microsoft's machines myself. Since then, I can say that I've completed 95% of Fable 2 (including main story, most quests, all the gargoyles, 41/50 silver keys, most real estate, etc.). In fact, the only things I haven't done are finish my real estate collection with a few houses scattered around Bloodstone, find nine out of fifty silver keys and complete the Brightwood Tower quest (I've already purchased the tower). There are a smattering of achievements I haven't received yet, as well.

Anyway, long story short, I feel I now have a pretty good idea of what's going on...at least, enough to give a run-down of pros and cons.

Pros:

• Excellent art direction, pretty visuals
• Your dog
• Great replay value, even being able to continue playing after you've completed the main story
• You're able to make decisions that matter, both about your Hero and the world around you
• Really nice battle animations with both physical and magical attacks
• A main story that focuses on...well...the story and how the decisions you make will change your life instead of focusing on intense, difficult battles

Cons:

• Bugs, bugs, bugs - they're everywhere!
• Why do villagers insist on invading my personal space and my own home? Also, too many of them talking at once.
• The main story felt a bit less than epic, mostly because it was so short

I think most of my problems with Fable 2 revolve around bugs. There are more bugs in this game than I've seen in all the other games I've played over the last 15 years combined. That's not good. It compounds the issue when Lionhead Studios and Microsoft are taking their sweet time getting out a patch to fix these major bugs. That patch should have come very, very soon after game launch. Luckily, I didn't run into any game-breaking bugs (I know they're out there!), but I have seen my fair share of highly annoying bugs that add frustration to the game play where there should be none.

All-in-all, though, Fable 2 was an amazing gaming experience. Having missed out on the original Fable because, well, the original XBox sucked compared to the PS2 of last generation gaming, I'm glad I got the chance to give this second installment its shot and its definitely up there with Oblivion (speaking of bugs, right?) as one of my favorite Western RPGs.

Mini-Review: Prince of Persia

It might not have anything to do with a prince or the region of Persia, but its still a great game!

Pros:

• Incredible visuals and lush, engaging environments
• Simple, fluid movement for both our main characters
• Any and all game play mechanics revolving around Elika
• The bond that's developed between our hero, Elika and the player through cut scenes and other story elements
• Very forgiving game play mechanics

Cons:

• Sometimes the controls are a bit unresponsive (very rarely, but its still there)
• Its sometimes hard to maneuver around pillars and even Elika herself
• Very forgiving game play mechanics

I might touch briefly on the "forgiving game play mechanics" I mentioned above. Many people complained about the incredibly easy difficulty of this game simply because its really hard to die. Elika is always there to catch you if you take a wrong step or jump the wrong way. I listed it on both pros and cons above because I can understand where those critics are coming from. However, I do feel it is more important to actually allow the player to progress through the game and experience the visuals and the story without worrying about difficulty roadblocks that are put in just for the sake of having something hard to do in the game. I'm glad they went the way they did in that regard.

Overall, a very fun platformer-slash-action title. I was quite surprised that I enjoyed it a lot, considering that genre really isn't my thing.

Prince of Persia Releases This Week

Prince of Persia is an action game, I'm not big into action games. I don't like GTA4 and couldn't get into MGS4 or Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Yet, for some reason, I'm actually looking forward to trying out Prince of Persia. Why? A couple reasons.

First off, the reviews are outstanding. Secondly, I love that art style. Too often do games (here's looking at you in the over-saturated FPS genre) stick to realistic graphics to "show off" what a system can do. I say its starting to get boring. Change things up a bit. Look at the reviews for Valkyria Chronicles and see just how much the art style affected the game. Finally, I hear it has a very easy difficulty curve, which I need, because I'm not a big action game player. I think the last action game I played all the way through was Heavenly Sword, and it was great. That's something I could actually get into.

Here's hoping Prince of Persia will be another game in the action genre that I can really get into.

Mini-Review: Eternal Sonata

As we all know, there aren't many RPGs on the PS3 at this point. There are even fewer Japanese RPGs. That being the case, I really want to like Eternal Sonata. It got some decent reviews when it was released for the 360 a year ago. As you'll see, I'm still a bit on the fence with this one.

Pros:
- A colorful world with likable characters, presented with gorgeous visuals.
- Unique story that revolves around a real-world composer - Frédéric François Chopin.
- Cut scenes between chapters that reveal the stories behinds many of Chopin's compositions.

Cons:
- Lackluster tutorials for the battle system.
- Very unforgiving difficulty right from the start.
- During battles, accidentally "activating" your character is a real problem (explained below).
- Pauses in cut scenes make the characters look and sound silly.

Don't get me wrong, the battle system in and of itself is sound. However, many problems plague it, in my opinion. First off, there's two tutorials in the whole game that don't really explain things well. Couple that with insane difficulty right from the start, and I've had more "Game Over" screens pop up in the first couple hours of game play than I ever have in any other RPG I've played in my entire life. If you don't block during battle, you will die. Its as simple as that. While that mechanic alone is questionable, you have a very, very short amount of time to hit the block button when the icon pops up above your characters' heads. I'm talking nano-seconds, or so it seems.

Also, because your characters only get five seconds or less to perform any actions during their turn, and at party level two onward the timer never stops, its incredibly easy to be blocking an enemy's attacks or moving another character the turn before and accidentally start moving the next character before you even realize it, thus starting the timer. If you don't use every second of that timer, you can't do as much damage or healing as you expect, thus the battle is tougher. It makes regular encounters that already seem as difficult as boss fights should be, become even more difficult, through no fault of your own.

I'm starting to get beyond the difficulty curve of the early game. Blocking is becoming fairly natural to me now, and battles aren't so painful, but still feel much more difficult than they should be.

Like I said, I really want to like this game, but so far I'm a bit on the fence because of the rather high difficulty that, to me, really doesn't need to be there. But, then again, some people get their kicks from making attempt after attempt after attempt at a regular enemy group. Personally, I call those people masochists.

Mini-Review: Wipeout HD

I've played enough of Wipeout over the last week to finally feel like I know the game well enough to write a pros/cons mini-review about it. [Side note: In fact, I think I'll stick to smaller, more concise reviews of games - I tend to ramble on and on and on if I write full, detailed reviews, and I'd really like to stay away from that. Although, if anyone wants to know what I feel about something more in-depth, just comment and ask. I may include some closing remarks after the pro/con lists, though.] So, here it is, the pros and cons of Wipeout HD, in my opinion.

Pros:
- Incredibly crisp, clean visuals, full 1080p (most of the time) and constant high frame rate.
- Two-player split-screen!
- The soundtrack is kickin'! Ability to play custom soundtracks (read: any music you have on your PS3).
- Performs well in online multi-player races.
- Wide variety of unlockables and trophies.

Cons:
- Track variation is lacking.
- Steep difficulty curve, especially if this is your first Wipeout experience.
- Some events early on are a bit too unforgiving (this goes along with the steep difficulty curve).

Let's talk about about my main gripe for a minute - the difficulty. When I have to run a track absolutely 100% perfect to make the gold medal time (in the time trial events mostly), things are too difficult. The game loses its fun when you have to memorize exactly where each speed boost is, when to use your free speed boost item and how to turn each corner perfectly to shave off every last hundredth of a second you can. Things really should not be this unforgiving, especially in the earliest events (I ran one speed lap race at least half a dozen times just to get gold - speed lap races give you several laps to reach gold medal time - and that was in the first racing event).

All-in-all a great game and definitely worth the $20, if you don't mind some rather insane difficulty at times.

Review: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3

I feel I've played enough of Persona 3 now to give it a decent once-over in review format, so here goes.

Visual Presentation - 9/10
If you enjoy anime, you'll definitely enjoy the eye-catching action scenes and googly-eyed characters. There's a lot going for Persona 3 in the eye candy department. The graphical look and distinct style of the game goes a long way to making it a memorable experience. The menu and "battle over" screens all remind me a lot of Cowboy Bebop and its "silhouette over solid color" title sequence (or, if you're not an anime fan, think the Apple iPod commercials). In fact, the whole game leans toward the eclectic feel of that particular anime.

The characters are fairly well animated, especially in cut scenes. One of my favorite little sections of graphical "flair" is when you activate an all-out attack. All of your party members jump into the middle of the battlefield where the enemies are and disappear into a cloud of smoke, all the while cartoon-like sounds emit and words such as "POOF!" and "BANG!" pop up on screen. While the game does tackle much deeper and darker topics than most JRPGs, there are many things which add to the fun, this being one of them.

On the downside, sometimes the graphics can get a bit boring and monotonous (not bland, mind you), especially inside Tartarus. It appears that each "block" of that massive dungeon has a different look to it, but you're in each area for quite a while and the seemingly endless hallways can get rather drab after a while. That's really the only criticism I can give the game on the visual side of things.


Sound Quality - 9/10
I'm a fan of JPop music, so the music used in Persona 3 really stands out to me. I believe its the only RPG I've ever played with a mostly lyrical soundtrack. The tunes are constantly shifting as you enter and exit various areas, especially throughout the daytime hours.

While you're in Tartarus, the score shifts to a more eerie, orchestrated piece, which definitely lends itself to the darker nature of those areas of the game. I think what I like most are the tracks they use for battles, which really amp up the excitement of each encounter. What I really like is, after a certain point in the game, you're able to change the background music you hear while romping through Tartarus. That does prove to lesson the monotony that you sometimes feel while making your way through the dungeon's levels.

The only issue I have is the repetitive nature of the background music. In many other RPGs, the music isn't lyrical and thus it fades into the background more, almost to the point that the player seems to ignore it. In Persona 3, the music seems front and center, and gets a bit annoying sometimes, especially when you're spending quite a while inside shops at various times during the game. (My wife felt like clawing her ears out the other day because the same track would play over and over and over again when I would shift from zone to zone, mostly outside the dorm and inside the mall.) Perhaps more variety for these zones, or the random switch between lyrical and non-lyrical tracks, would have helped matters. Needless to say, I think the game's soundtrack is a breath of fresh air.


Game Play & Battle System - 10/10
This is where I really think the game shines - this is where all the fun lies. Its a traditional Japanese RPG (turn-based battles and all) with just enough tweaks and innovations to liven things up a bit.

First off, you play through each and every day in about a 10 month period. The day is split into various sections, such as Morning, After School, Evening, etc. During the day, you usually participate in typical school activities - hanging out with friends, extracurricular activities and the like. You can choose who to hang out with and what to spend your time doing. Also, quite a few story cut scenes and related tidbits happen during this part of the day, as well, some triggered by you, some not.

When it comes to the Evening part of the day, you can choose either to go to Tartarus, where the bulk of the game's battles take place, hang out at the mall, walk the dog or just head to your room and study, then go to bed. If you choose to go to Tartarus (and you'll be required to to level up your characters, but sometimes I find it hard to when I want to level up my social links instead), you enter the Dark Hour. How long you choose to spend there fighting enemies, progressing farther up this immense tower and leveling your characters up depends on you. However, early on in the game your characters will tire easily, so you won't be able to progress very far. Eventually though, you can stay in Tartarus for quite some time.

Who you chose to hang out with during the day is completely up to you. Early in the game you'll be tasked with chosing an after school activity to get involved in. Eventually you'll get several of them. Myself, I chose to be on the swimming team, in the photography club and I managed to get roped into being on the student council. None of them have required attendance, but are available if you choose to attend. There are friends you can make that don't relate to any extracurricular activities, as well, such as other students and even those outside your school. A few "months" into the game, after summer vacation, you also get to choose to begin personal relationships with members of your dorm - the people who fight along with you in Tartarus.

The relationships progress in much the same way they do in real life. You meet someone, establish a connection and, every time you spend time with that person or in that social group, your relationship has the possibility of growing. But be warned, many times your friends will call you during the week to ask if you wish to hang out on Sunday (your only regular day off school). Feel free to decline the invitation initially, but if you accept, then later you decide you don't want to hang out with them, your relationship could be damaged, and you'll have to patch things up with that person before you can progress in that social link.

There will inevitably be people you would rather spend time with than others, whether for dialogue or story-related reasons, or because you enjoy using persona that those social links improve. If you choose to spend quite a bit of time with female friends, expect to get intimate with them. They won't quite like it when your relationship gets intimate with another female. ;)

Beyond the mini dating sim during the day, each night you get the opportunity to go to Tartarus. (I say each night, but there are some nights that you can't go for various story-related reasons.) Inside Tartarus, you explore randomly generated levels and progress up the tower. Its slow going at first, because your characters get tired often. But, eventually, you'll be moving a quite a good clip. You can go up stairs, but can't go down. To get out of the tower, you'll have to find a one-way teleport point that will return you to the ground floor where your other friends will be waiting. Every few levels there's a boss battle and its usually on these floors that you'll be able to activate a large two-way teleporter that allows you to return from the ground floor to that specific level, which helps you progress up the tower.

Early in the game, you'll also be introduced to the characters in the Velvet Room, which is where you can go to fuse personas (into more powerful ones, based on your social links), pick up quests that you can complete inside or outside of Tartarus and record your personas for future use, because the time will come when you'll need to get rid of some when you fuse them together, or for other reasons.

And, I'm happy to say, this is just scratching the surface of the gameplay side of things in Persona 3.


Overall Content - 9/10
There is a lot to do in this game. Initially, I thought the large timer on the entire game might make the entire overall experience feel rushed, but that fear quickly disappeared once I started playing. There is more than enough time during each month (or, rather, between each full moon) to get everything done you need to do, and then some. There are side quests you can pick up in the Velvet Room and dozens and dozens of social links to explore. You won't run out of things to do very quickly, and you will have plenty of time to do them. I'm 40+ hours into the game presently and only in the month of September (the game starts in April). I'd suspect there's at least 30-40 more hours in the game before I come to the end of January.

And, this isn't even talking about the "expansion", titled The Answer, which is exclusive to the FES version of the game that came out last month, which adds another 30-40 hours of gameplay and an entirely new story that picks up where The Journey leaves off.

Conclusion
The overall story is very well executed, but it does cover some more mature content that isn't usually present in RPGs of this nature - suicide, harming onself, bullying, death, life choices and the consequences of your actions. There's also the matter of the evoker your characters use to summon their persona - it looks like a gun. While its explained many times throughout the opening parts of the story that it is not a gun, your characters are still seen during battle shooting themselves in the head with it. That, the more mature subject matter and the language used in various cut scenes is probably what gets Persona 3 its Mature rating. These aren't negatives, just a warning, because things like that can sneak up on you if you're used to a typical JRPG story.

In conclusion, this is the absolute best RPG I've played in quite some time. If you know me, you know I'm a huge fan of the Final Fantasy series, and I think FFXII was about as best as they come. Well, Persona 3 ranks right up there evenly with FFXII - a definite must-play for RPG fans.

Review: Mario Kart Wii

The Wii frightens some people. Almost literally a group of gamers are shaking in their boots. They’re not sure what to think of the motion sensors, the infrared, the nunchuck and, most of all, they’re afraid this new and alien contender will destroy the games they’ve come to know and love over the years. Mario Kart is one such franchise and I’d like to put your mind to rest.

The controls of the series have been left almost entirely unchanged despite the transition to the Wii, so rest assured you’re beloved kart battling is undamaged. In fact, it may be improved. The nunchuck and Wii-mote allow for much more comfortable handling then the previous controllers and our tender thumbs get a well-deserved rest. Now, that particular digit only has to worry about one button and one joystick. All else is left to your index fingers. Everything is smooth and easy. Unless of course, something possess you to use the Wii Wheel packaged with the game. In which case, you insert your Wii mote and tilt the wheel left and right to over steer Toad off the track and plummet him to his death while your index finger gets the top three layers of skin worn off trying to hit the trigger button. Trust me, it’s exactly as fun as it sounds. On the other hand, if Wii-motes and wheels just aren’t you’re thing there’s the option to use a Gamecube or “Classic” controller (SNES controller painted white).

The game play that made the franchise shine so brightly sixteen years ago remains intact. Grand Prix, Versus, Battle, and Time Attack are all there and the A button still makes your kart go forward. Some things have changed however. There are now motorbikes available in addition to karts. Controls for the two remain largely the same, however karts receive a second drift boost and motorbikes can do wheelies by flipping the Wii mote upward. The wheelies increase your speed, but lower your turning capabilities drastically and the second drift boost gives you more of an edge on corners.

New items like pow blocks, bullet bills, and growth hormones (read: giant mushrooms) are now part of your arsenal. Tricks have been added to the game as well. When leaving a ramp or pipe you can perform one by flicking the Wii-mote in any direction. These tricks will give you a short speed boost when you land. These changes are welcome and add extra depth to the game play without making it too annoying, but they’re sour replacements for the elements that have been removed.

In Mario Kart Wii’s predecessor, Double Dash, each kart carried two different characters (Get it? Double Dash? I hope so). Each one could hold an item and switch between driver and artillery at any time. This made things interesting, because each character had a unique (or close to unique - some characters shared) items they could occasionally pick up. Bowser had giant spiked shells, Mario had fireballs, Donkey Kong had massive bananas, and so on. Strategy was needed to know who to have on your team to fit your play style and also who to have on artillery duty and when. All of that is gone now. One character per kart and there are no longer items to match each driver. This is the greatest failing of the game and has dumbed down the game play, thus making it that much less interesting and memorable.

What have become more memorable are the stage designs. Even as early as the mushroom cup you’ll see imaginative new tracks - house-sized mushrooms that send you bouncing when landed on, conveyor belts that change directions, snow embankments, ground that shakes and shatters as you race between falling lava rocks and collapsing pillars, are all in your future if you play the game. That is of course, not to mention the greatest rendition of rainbow road to date and a total of sixteen retro stages from past games and handheld versions. The same sweat and imagination went into the battle arenas. What Double Dash had lost on the battle front is more then made up for in Mario Kart Wii. Granted, it is disappointing that you can’t set the number of players or change the time countdown rule, but the six on six battles with grand courses do a great deal to make up for it. There are also a total of twenty-four characters (not including all of your Miis), but some of them seem tacked on, like Baby Peach for example.

The graphics remain fruity and aren’t a huge improvement over Double Dash, but there is defiantly more flavor in each stage. You can see farther in the distance, the towns are more detailed, and your Miis often shows up in the crowd or on posters selling coffee. Silly Miis and their part time jobs.

What really sets Mario Kart Wii apart is its online capabilities. In fact, I’ve had a hard time unlocking the hidden content (karts, characters, mirror mode), because every time I pick the game up I can’t help but go online with it. The online mode allows either one or two players from your console to battle or race against up to ten other players from around the world. With each game your personal rating goes up or down depending on your performance, which allows the computer to arrange teams as equally as possible. Your opponents can include random strangers or a fight among your friends. Record sharing is also a major component, allowing you to compare your “ghost” (or time attack record) to your friends, your region, or the worldwide records for each track, as well as the option to race against those ghosts. Tournaments are also regularly scheduled events. Bragging rights galore! Mario Kart online is a powerful and addictive thing. Ye be warned.

Its sad that every aspect of the game couldn’t see an improvement, but no game is perfect and this applies to Mario Kart as well. If you’ve loved the franchise before this you’ll undoubtedly love Mario Kart Wii, particularly when you blow some poor sap from across the world to pieces with a pow block. Its weaknesses are there staring you in the face, but its hard to notice them when so many things were done right. I give it a strong eight out of ten.

Reviewed by Aaron.