lost in games

The original DS was released in 2004 amid skepticism about the console’s chances to rightfully succeed its predecessor, the mighty Game Boy. Sony’s handheld invsasion with the PSP looked like it would steal Nintendo’s lead in handhelds with its shiny, sleek and powerful console. The DS on the other hand was bulky, ugly, and featured a touch screen. How would that work in games?

5 years later the DS is estimated to have worldwide sales of around 96million units. It has simply become a phenomenon with adults and children alike. Whether it’s Mario Kart, Brain Training or Nintendogs it seems like everyone has fallen in love with it.

Read the entire post on OnThisIsland

This week on OnThisIsland my game of the week is the fantastic FIFA09 expansion pack Ultimate Team where you build your own customized team and play in online and offline tournaments.

Read more here

I don’t know how i missed the launch of this expansion pack for FIFA 09 but it was released on Thursday, 19 March 2009. After reading a short article on this in the Guardian i downloaded it on Saturday.

This is an incredibly ambitious add on from EA and it shows. The EA servers have basically crashed and haven’t be able to do a proper session apart from Sunday morning.

I will be writing a few things about this one so be prepared for regular posts.

Once again it’s Brainy Gamer Vintage Game Club and this time we are playing Chrono Trigger. I started playing it on the DS today. After 1 hour of play i like that it does not have the random battles of Dragon Quest which became quite tiring after a certain point. Also enjoying the story but it’s still early days. More to come soon.

Artoon is a game which can be tried and bought on Xbox Live under the community games section. The game is basically a platformer where you take control of Art (a bouncing ball) and guide it through to the finishing block. But as in most good games, here it’s the journey that counts.

I first unlocked all the levels by doing the bare minimum requested. Now i am going through each level to achieve the grade A+  because it’s here that i get the full enjoyment of the game.You get multipliers for not jumping on the same block twice and also by making the “style bounce”. When you try and do these the game experience changes dramatically and for the best.

There are also some variations to the way the game plays. For example certain levels require you to have the camera at a certain angle so that there is no static interference making it impossible to see where Art is bouncing.

Then it’s the fantastic beat music. It helps you get the proper rythm like crowds clapping to long jump athletes just before that big jump.I feel that the music is part of  the gameplay.

To cap it off this is really a cheap game. At 400MS points (US$5) you really need to buy it or at least give the trial version a go.

Trailer

Gameplay Trailer

This week on Game Releases i have nothing to say about the HD consoles. It’s MadWorld (Wii), GTA: Chinatown Wars (DS) and Resistance: Retribution (PSP). We can’t keep up with these releases and it’s supposed to be the slow part of the year….

Here’s the link to OnThisIsland and the full post.

It was one hell of a weekend gaming wise. It started off with a marathon local multiplayer session of Castle Crashers (XBLA) and was followed by Far Cry 2 and Halo Wars on Saturday and Sunday. I plan to write a few more things in detail about all three games soon.

Finally finished the book last night and it was a truly fascinating read. It’s very long but it is so well written it rarely feels like a dry history book but more like a novel. I can’t recommend this book enough. Amazon - LINK

There is a small room in my heart reserved for point-n-click adventures. While i don’t consider the genre to be one of my favourite at this time in my life, i had great memories when i was a teenager playing games like Future Wars and Monkey Island. After my disappointment with A Vampyre Story due to it’s incredibly annoying puzzles i stumbled upon Samorost.

Samorost is a flash based point-n-click adventure developed by Amanita-Design from the Czech Republic. The first thing you notice is of course is the art work. It has that Eastern European feel to it that reminds me of the cartoons CyBC used to broadcast when i was a kid and hated them at the time. All i wanted to watch was Animaniacs and Duck Tales.

Now this approach to art really appealed to me and gave the game a go. Samorost is free and you can also play Chapter 1 of Samorost 2. Chapter 2 of Samorost 2 costs USD4.99 to download and is definitely worth playing. I like the way you basically not only control the main character’s actions but also influence the environment to solve puzzles. For example, very early on in Samorost you fix the cables of a sort of lift line, usually found in slopes for skiers so that your character can use it. But the interaction is between the player and the environment and not the character. Makes you feel like a god trying to help this little guy and creating a fatherly form of relationship between yourself and the character.

There is some pixel hunting involved in certain puzzles but overall it does a great job in showing you discreetly what it is you need to do next i.e. the puzzles make sense. Not only that, but you don’t need to do any of the boring or frustrating parts usually found in games. An example of this is when you enter a screen and there is a two floor environment linked with a ladder. On the second floor an enemy is obstructing your way and so you go to the 1st floor to create a diversion. When the enemy starts climbing the ladder down to the 1st floor your character will go back the way he came to the 2nd floor on his own. Like i said they have done a great job of giving the character some independence from the player and in a good way.

I liked Samorost and Amanita-Design have a new game coming up called Machinarium. The art design is again fantastic.

This week’s Game Releases post is now live at OnThisIsland - LINK.

It’s dominated by the Resident Evil 5 release (360, PS3) but with nods of approval to Persona 4 (PS2) and Puzzle Quest: Galactrix (PC, DS).