Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate – A dream come true?

Having never played a Monster Hunter game before I’ve only ever looked onwards at screen shots and thought ‘that looks pretty good’. Seeing images of man vs beast in brutal combat. The reason I’ve never played a title in this series you ask? I’ve never had the right console at the right time. PSP versions came out after I sold the console and like-wise with the Wii game. Luckily for me my 3DS isn’t going anywhere and by the end of this month I shall own a Wii U in preparation.

So why am I so excited for these games you ask? Quite simply because they fulfill my dream of handheld to console connectivity. From the trailer (above) you can see a truely mind blowing feat of cross platform multiplayer between Wii U and 3DS. From what I understand the 3DS version is only local multiplayer, but you can also play locally with someone on the Wii U version. The Wii U version can be played online with friends across the globe. There’s still questions on how online play will work on the Wii U (in general), but I reckon it will still be along the lines of trading friend codes to connect with each other.

The real ‘game-changer’ with this 3DS to Wii U game is in it’s cross platform save transfer. I’ve been imagining for a while now when this ability would appear. I’d had my hopes on PS3 to Vita games trying this, but as of yet there hasn’t been anything (although I guess SONY will try something like this soon). What happens is you play the game in HD on your console at home and then, when you want/have to go out you can just transfer all the data over to the handheld version. When you’re on long journeys/holiday/at work you can level up your character etc and transfer it back for the big screen version on your return. Sadly there doesn’t seem to be a bundle offer for buying both versions yet and, here in the EU we’ll have to wait until March to get our hands on it. I think the wait will be worth it, although it’ll probably be unbearable when other regions start playing it. All I know is that this title should pave the way for some great console to handheld cross overs. Just think maybe a full on HD Pokemon game and the eventual Smash bros title…… Ok I’ll stop drooling now.

LEGO Batman 2 – Review

LEGO games. You’ve probably played one by now. The simple idea of building objects to advance and collecting characters/vehicles themed around a franchise. They are simple and simply fun games to play (for all ages).

LEGO Batman 2 is no different. Building on the ideas from LB1 you’re once again cast into the boots of the Dark Knight to take on the Joker. The difference this time is the clown prince of crime has teamed up with Superman balding baddie Lex Luthor. The evil pair set about on a masterplan to both stop their nemeses (Batman and Superman) and somehow win Lex’s presidential campaign. The plot is easy to follow and leaves a degree of wanting to find out ‘what happens next’, but being aimed at all ages it isn’t the most complex story ever.

Speaking of story (you’ll see where this is going) the characters in the cut-scenes are all fully voiced in this new game. When I first heard about this from previews I was slightly worried that it might ruin the experience. I am happy to report that the voice acting works very well. Everyone has a voice that works well with their character. Lex has (what I believe to be) the same voice as in the animated series and Harley Quinn has a similar sound to other incarnations. I would’ve liked the Joker to be voiced by Mark Hamill, but that’s ‘nit-picking’. The Joker’s voice did grow on me as the game went on.

Basically the game plays the same as other LEGO titles, but for those who haven’t played one I’ll explain. You go through story levels first as Batman & Robin, then later in the story you get your hands on Superman and a few other superheroes. Basically each character has their own skill that’s needed to work out fairly simple puzzles in order to move onto the next area. Batman & Robin are unique in that they get to change suits to give themselves different skills i.e. Batman’s power suit lets him fire explosives to destroy silver objects and super strength to pull certain handles. You and a friend (if you like) can play co-op (on the same screen) and smash up everything on the level to gain the game’s currency STUDS! Then fight it out as to who gets to play as which character to solve the puzzles for you both to move on. Where this game differs from previous titles is the hub. Other games have small(ish) rooms between story levels for the players to walk around and buy extras from a shop. LB2 has a whole open world Gotham City to run around. You have to find computer terminals around the map to show you where the villians (each characters) are to fight and buy as well as cars, planes and boats. You also now find a large amount of gold and red bricks hidden around to. I found that once you’d found the computer terminals in this game the red bricks were really easy to find. In previous games they’re hidden in the story levels, but now you can just follow the red blips on the map (in the open hub) to find them. I found a four times multiplier early in the game which meant buying everything else wasn’t a problem.

To sum up (as is tradition): I found LEGO Batman 2 completely immersive. I haven’t actually been able to play anything else over the last week for the will to see who the last few secret characters actually were. If you love the LEGO games, this is possibly the best one yet. There’s some slow down in split screen during the world hub, but otherwise the game runs extremely smoothly. Everything looks lush and the fighting animations seem even crisper then the previous Batman title. There’s a wealth of extras to unlock and plenty of DC universe themed jokes to be discovered within. A great title for all ages that should keep you and a friend going for a good while. It’s kept my Batman hype in check until the Dark Knight Rises later this month.

My Score 5/5

Ninten-tease

You may be aware by now that a few writers here on the site are big Nintendo fans and have been for many years. You may also be aware that I’ve touched on the topic of Nintendo’s phantom reveals before…

Basically I just don’t see how a company as big as Nintendo still function in such a manner that they constantly push their loyal fanbase. With such big rivals as Microsoft and SONY out there as well as developers making and releasing titles for the Xbox 360 and PS3. Nintendo really need to ‘pull their finger out’ and keep the crowds happy with some more of their quality titles. When you look at the Wii the initial line-up was fairly slow with few titles on the cards for release. Smash Bros Brawl was origianlly teased as a release title (or near release) for the Wii, but instead came out over a year later in Europe. Sadly I sold my Wii about a year ago due to the complete dry up of new titles. I know recently Nintendo have been keen to release and promote new games such as Pandora’s Tower and Zelda Skyward Sword, but for me at least it was ‘too little, too late’ to keep me from seeking another console for my entertainment.

Mid-way through the Wii’s life cycle Nintendo decided to pull of their new tactic of steering people away from the lack of games on the current console. This is done by showing off a new console. Namely the 3DS! Again the console was promised the world including Kid Icarus Uprising on launch, which again came out a year after release. The line-up for the 3DS though seemed solid enough for the first year, but now is in a dangerous zone of trickled releases across the year. The issue that worries me with the 3DS is that Nintendo were keen to pull off their tactic again last year with the announcement of the Wii-U. They seemed to have outdone themselves with this shifting ploy in that the console didn’t even exist past a ‘mock-up’ of the controller and videos displaying ‘what it might look like’. The other piece of news that left E3 from Nintendo’s collective mouth that year was of a new Smash Bros game! WOW! We all thought, but Nintendo were quick to tell everyone that production hadn’t even started yet on either the 3DS or the Wii-U title. It almost seemed as if they were put on the spot and had to quickly form a lie to ‘get out of trouble’. They even stated that there were be connectivity between the two versions. They don’t even know what the Wii-U will be like yet, so how do they know what a game will do? Why not just start the 3DS version now and keep the 3DS owners happy?

Better yet why not use the virtual console on the 3DS to re-release the N64 version of Smash Bros or convert it into a 3DS game to keep the fans happy during the wait? I’m pretty sure the 3DS can handle the N64’s visuals what with a re-vamped Zelda and Star Fox already out on the handheld. Not to mention that Smash Bros is downloadable on the Wii. I really don’t think it’s completely unreasonable to consider.

I love when Nintendo do actually release these titles (eventually). Kid Icarus is great fun and I’m sure at the end of next month Mario Tennis will keep me happy. I just wish there was more urgency within the company to actually release these games within a console’s life-spam and/or before people get bored of waiting. They really need to compete, even if it means opening up their consoles/franchies to third parties to keep the masses happy.

Nontendo Game Review- Mario and Sonic at the Paraolymipics

Never before has a game and a console been more deserving of one another. I think the wii motion plus has finally found its “killer app”.

The story mode is where this game really shines. It starts off with a unique cutscene, of your chosen character, becoming horribly mauled before hazily waking up, lying in bed. I initially chose the character knuckles, after becoming partially trapped underground he is forced to gnaw off his own leg before the haze kicks in. Despite the Wii’s obvious graphical limitations, the first person cutscene is harrowing nontheless. Other cutscenes feature a premature Yoshi dragging himself out of his egg using only his tongue and introduces the new character of Tails’ siamese twin (finally explaining how he ended up with the extra tail).

The tutorial mode is well implemented at this point, as 5 months of physiotherapy  introduce the various waggle motions and flails you’ll have to use for your character in different events. The control system has to be commended. Whilst playing as knuckles you use the wii motion plus to fully control the “good leg”, whilst the random flailings you make with the num-chuck operate his other, feels realistically unintuitive.

Oddly Sega decided not to use the game engine of previous installments in the series. They opted to import, almost the entirety of the game engine from”Zelda Skyward Sword”. When questioned on the decision Sega said “Well Nintendo had already designed some pretty retarded controls, we saw no reason not to employ them in a more appropriate game”.

Although aimed at children the game has got a steep difficulty curve, relating to the severity of your characters cutscene. Knuckles would represent the easy mode, whilst Tail’s malformed siemese brother (No-Tails) would represent the games hard mode. In summary this is a game defined by its controls. The unintuitive random movements your character makes in relation to your input, really immerse you into game with almost no control of movement.

F-zer-Oh?

A topic that has been on my mind for the last few months and therefore plastered over any Nintendo fan gathering site/forum is whatever happened to the F-zero series?

For those of you who don’t know F-zero is Nintendo’s future set high space racer, although high speed doesn’t really do it justice most of the time. It is also the series of games where the Super Smash bros character Captain Falcon comes from. If you haven’t heard of it before I can’t really blame you since the last F-zero games released where the downloadable version of the N64’s F-zero X on the Wii and before that F-zero GX on the Gamecube.

Those of you who played the Gamecube version I hope feel the same as me in that you were treated to one of the most addictive fast paced racers ever made. With a huge number of unlockable courses and drivers/ships as well as some frantic split screen multiplayer action. It was certainly one of the gems of the Gamecube’s roster and upon transition over to the Nintendo Wii was still one of my favourite games to play when friends came over. So this brings me back to the question of why such a classic franchise has not seen the light of day since the Gamecube? Knowing that this week marks the five year anniversary of the Wii’s launch I’d estimate that F-Zero GX is at least eight years old by now.

Is it a question of popularity? My opinion on the matter may be bias, but from feedback I’ve had asking other Nintendo fans it seems I’m not alone in the thirst for more eye ball melting action. Looking back though Nintendo do seem to have generation gaps on some of their biggest name franchises such the Metroid series that completely missed the N64 and then led into a trilogy across the Gamecube and Wii. I’m hoping this isn’t the case as the 3DS is crying out for another great title on the horizon after the recent spell of releases to keep the owners happy and what better then some more handheld racing? Mario Kart 7 is a brilliant game with charm and fun, but that’s not to say there isn’t room for a faster paced racer where speed and skill always win the race.

Come on Nintendo what do you say?