Nintendo announce 3DS XL

During tonight's Nintendo Direct event, Nintendo unsurprisingly announced the next iteration of the 3DS, the 3DS XL. Much like the DSi XL before it, the only real differences between this new system and the old one are the battery and screen size. While no statement has been made on how much better the battery life is, the screens are a whopping 90% larger than those of the original 3DS. The retail price was announced at $199.99 and the launch date set at August 19th.

So, what do you think? I know many out there have voiced frustration over the fact that a superior system is retailing for less at launch than the original 3DS, despite the fact that no one can really claim that they couldn't have seen this coming. It certainly proves to be good timing for me, as I have yet to get a 3DS.

Game Review - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3: Defiance

Each year Activision releases a new installment in the Call of Duty series, and this year we're graced with the latest Modern Warfare. And as has come to be expected over the past couple of years, a handheld version of the game with an alternate storyline accompanies the console offering. Some are puzzled and outraged that Activision opted to contract n-Space to develop for the DS rather than the 3DS, other reviewers seemingly blaming n-Space for something entirely out of their control. n-space simply do not deserve to take the blame for a decision that was completely out of their hands. With that said, I'll first delve into the single player experience.

The campaign is quite short, but what little there is offers a decent amount of variety and overall is is quite fun. The player goes from defending a pipeline in Alaska, battling through a suburban neighborhood in Nevada and subsequently fighting to reclaim the Hoover Dam, assaulting an airport both in the air and on foot, to battling through battle-scared city streets in a Russian tank. Along with the tank mission, on multiple occasions the player assumes the role of a gunship providing cover fire for a team making it's way through the landscape down below. These levels go a long way towards fostering variety, and preventing the action from getting too stale or repetitive. There are some issues with these levels, however. Most notably the tank level. When there is a lull in the action, the level can feel really dead and lifeless, as you're driving through portions of the city with absolutely nothing going on. Not only that, the level of challenge in that level is a little suspect. At no point did I feel particularly threatened or near death.

That then brings up the issues of the AI's utter lack of any real intelligence, which can tend to be very frustrating at times. The enemy AI makes itself a sitting duck, simply crouching in the wide open and firing at you, allowing you to easily mow them down one by one. While you can get away with that on the lower difficulties, it isn't that simple on Hardened. While the AI remains astoundingly stupid, the increased amount of damage that you take with each shot requires a little bit of patience and strategy to take down the enemy/s standing between you and the next area.

Technically speaking, past the AI issues, the game is absolutely impressive. Animations look nicer for some returning guns (M40), the scenery is fantastic, and the amount of activity that goes on during battle such as jets or helicopters flying by overhead is a nice touch. To further emulate the console experience and add further production value and quality, n-Space made the addition of of bullet time events that can be found interspersed throughout the campaign. These events are where, after a door gets blasted open with a charge, you and your team enter the following room or area in slow motion. As has become an expectation, the game is impressive aurally as well. Oodles of voice work accentuate and add to the action, and the music is suitably dramatic when in tense and close-call situations.

With Black Ops last year, n-Space made great strides towards improving the multiplayer experience with the addition of features such as perks, join in progress, and the ability to freely select your secondary weapon (confined just to a pistol in previous installments). Defiance continues improving the multiplayer experience, adding a couple key new features and refining a couple others. The two primary new features introduced by Defiance are macros and load outs, allowing you to preset your preferred match set-ups and weapon and perk configurations. Another notable change is the ability to customize availability of certain weapons and perks, rather than simply having to choose general match parameters like "Pistols-Only" or "No Explosives" the host now has complete control over what weapons the players in the match use. This proves to be a significant change, as if there is a specific weapon that particularly bothers the host (shotguns immediately comes to mind), they can disallow that weapon. Further refinements can be found in a new tier system for both weapons and perks. Previously in Black Ops, a player could assign any weapon and any perk to either slot, which would often lead to incredibly overpowered set-ups (such as dual assault rifle and the perks Stopping Power and Body Armor). The tier system lends much needed balance, limiting the player to carrying around only one powerful primary weapon and preventing the exploitation of multiple high-powered perks. Not only does this give much needed balance, it forces the player to really strategize and put more consideration into their set-up.

Along with those general improvements some newly introduced modes (Gun Game, One in the Chamber, Sharpshooter) provide a fun twist on the typical run-of-the-mill deathmatch. The real highlight proves to be Gun Game, a race through twenty levels, each level represented by a weapon and a kill with each weapon progressing you on to the next level. The inclusion of the ability to decrease your opponents level by knifing them adds a layer of strategy on top the mayhem.

Overall, Defiance can be seen as a step forward in one regard (multiplayer) and as a step back in another (single player). Clearly to make way for the multiplayer improvements, n-Space really cut down on the variety of single player modes. Where Defiance has only campaign, Quick Play, and Challenge Mode, Black Ops on the other hand had Arcade Mode, the Killhouse, and Zombie Mode in addition to those three. It is understandable why those modes/features don't make a return in Defiance, but that doesn't mean that it isn't frustrating. When it's all said and done, though, the multiplayer and the replay value that it grants the game is what truly matters.

PETA Pulls Back On Mario

Recently PETA launched a campaign against the latest Mario game Super Mario 3D Land, citing the fact that Mario wearing a Tanooki suit encourages the wearing of fur and the skinning alive of the real-life animal that the suit was inspired by. They even went so far as creating disturbing images showing Mario wearing an actual Tanooki skin covered and surrounded in blood. It didn't stop there, though. They took their insanity further still by creating a minigame in which you play a skinned Tanooki chasing Mario to reclaim it's removed skin.

This campaign sparked outrage throughout the gaming community and had fans up in arms over the disgraceful depiction of one of gaming's most beloved icons. Well, just yesterday PETA confessed that the campaign wasn't serious. In a statement to Eurogamer they told fans to relax and confessed that the campaign was simply a ploy to call attention to a serious issue. PETA even expressed surprise at the reaction and how literally the campaign was regarded.

It's plenty clear how disgraceful and how completely insane the organization PETA is. They've been known for being outrageous in their protests in the past, but this has to take the cake. This time they took the dissemination of their views and opinions too far. What are your thoughts on the matter?

Iwata Stands Strong

After the announcements that Nintendo made for the 3DS Monday night, their stocks perplexingly fell five percent, investors citing lack of faith that the new announcements will further re-invigorate sales of the system. It's been no secret that investors have been pushing for Nintendo to begin development for mobile phones, and I discussed that in an earlier post (which you can find here). Well, after the conference  Japanese newspaper Nikkei asked Iwata about that very possibility, to which his response was "Absolutely not". His response in full is below:

"This is absolutely not under consideration. If we did this, Nintendo would cease to be Nintendo. Having a hardware development team in-house is a major strength. It's the duty of management to make use of those strengths. It's probably the correct decision in the sense that the moment we started to release games on smartphones we'd make profits. However, I believe my responsibility is not to short term profits, but to Nintendo's mid and long term competitive strength."


Iwata is certainly a breath of fresh air, and a reason to stand by the company even if you aren't a fan of Nintendo and their products. His complete and unwavering conviction in the 3DS and what Nintendo stands for shows he knows what he is doing, and that he is without a doubt the right man to be Nintendo's CEO in these trying times. In fact, he even took a fifty percent pay cut in support of the system. With all the greedy CEOs these days, if that doesn't give you his support I honestly don't know what will.

Of course, the system's success is still in doubt. The two main issues that really held back sales after launch were lacks of games and too high of a price, and with one (price) of those already fixed and the other (lack of games) soon to be fixed, we'll soon find out if the 3DS can be as successful as Nintendo has been hoping that it would be.

3DS Analogue Stick Peripheral Revealed

This morning through Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu it was revealed that Nintendo will indeed be releasing a peripheral to add a second circle pad onto the 3DS. This was later strengthened and verified as true by a Nintendo UK official in the following statement: 

We can confirm that Nintendo does plan to release the attachment but that any further announcements on the attachment will be made at some later time by Nintendo. 

Looks incredibly ugly doesn't it? Adding a couple centimeters in overall thickness to the system, this thing certainly seems like it's stripping the 3DS of being a portable. Apparently the device is supposed to tie in with a release of the popular Monster Hunter series on the 3DS. With that knowledge it certainly seems that Nintendo is desperately catering to third party developers, I certainly couldn't imagine any other games utilizing this abomination. What are your thoughts?

Nintendo Under Fire

It's no secret that Nintendo hasn't been doing very well as of late. The 3DS hasn't been selling at all at the pace that Nintendo had anticipated that it would, though they shoulder most of the blame with the system's lackluster selection of launch titles. They've even gone so far as to drop the price of the system a full eighty dollars ($169.99 down from 249.99) in an attempt to raise more interest. Now it seems that Nintendo's investors are urging them to begin developing titles for competing consoles and platforms. There are some out there that predict that Nintendo is on the verge of transitioning into a strictly software business and completely drop the hardware side of it.

As a friend of mine says, if this is the future of gaming then I simply will no longer be a gamer. A future in which Nintendo doesn't offer a dedicated handheld and develops only for other consoles like (god forbid) iOS and Android is one that I hope never comes to fruition. A completely touch screen oriented platform like iOS simply isn't viable when it comes to more than just casual gaming, developers attempts at imitating physical controls like analog sticks on a touch screen is just laughable. That would essentially kill off gaming as we know it.

According to this article Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, shares those sentiments. Stating that Nintendo would only produce titles for their owns platforms as long as he's the one in charge. While many may think that it is, the 3DS certainly isn't out of it yet.

What are your thoughts on the subject? Will the recent 3DS price drop encourage an increase in sales and cast aside these thoughts? Answer in the poll below:

Game Review - Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

Story
Inside Story carries on the tradition of the Mario and Luigi franchise's hilarious writing, the likes of Fawful and his minion Midbus really standing out. In terms of the overall story, however, it's pretty much the same old same old. The Mushroom Kingdom is under attack, Princess peach gets abducted, and it's up to the brothers (and Bowser, the one exception this time around, as he's usual the villain) to fight back and put everything straight. While Fawful took the role as the lead villain's minion in Superstar Saga, and made only a small cameo in Partners in Time, with Inside Story he finally gets the limelight as the lead villain. The game begins with the spreading of an ailment called the blorbs, which balloons the Mushroom Kingdom's citizens to immense sizes and it's up to the brothers to set out and locate a cure. At this point Bowser steps in in an attempt to abduct the princess once again, but the brothers will have none of it and soundly defeat the Koopa King. Angry from the defeat, Bowser comes across a rather shady merchant deep in the woods and without much thought as to any possible negative side effects gobbles up a supposedly "Lucky" mushroom. What ensues is Bowser uncontrollably inhaling anything that comes in his path, and that unfortunately includes the brothers along with most of the castle staff. At this point the adventure kicks off, and finding out the rest is up to you.

Presentation
Inside Story is without a doubt the best looking installment in the series to date, making full utilization of the DS's graphics capabilities. While the game is still strictly two dimensional smoothly animated pixel art, there are nice and flashy transitional effects when entering major battles as well as some nice visuals when you perform and execute special attacks.

Gameplay
This isn't the first installment of the series on the DS, it made the jump six years ago with Partners in Time, but Inside Story is definitely the first one to truly utilize everything that the system has to offer. In Partners in Time, there was only one interactive element throughout the entire game. Inside Story, however, has too many for me to count of of the top of my head. The interactivity ranges from controlling bowser with the touch screen and the microphone in the occasional gargantuan battle between him and some structure, to performing little mini games with the brothers to assist Bowser in his quest to reclaim the kingdom as his (including initiating the aforementioned gargantuan battles). Past this interactivity, the gameplay remains true to the series' past installments. You explore the field, solve various puzzles, and engage enemies in timing-oriented turn-based combat. As usual the bros have their share of complex and timing oriented special attacks to perform, which can definitely take some time to perfect (if you've played the game, I'm sure that you're well aware of that). While some are easy to perfect right of the bat, others take quite a bit of practice, and even some luck, to perform well. While to brothers continue using the face buttons for these attacks, the newly playable Bowser utilizes the touch screen. His attacks vary from lining up and directing Bob-Ombs to tracing a line of Magikoopas to unleash their magic, and each attack is very well executed and really easy to control.

Replay Value
Previously in the series, there was very little reason to return to the game once you made a complete play through. Granted Superstar Saga had mini-games sprinkled here and there throughout the Bean Bean Kingdom, but that offered very little in terms of staying power and creating that urge to pick up the game once again. Inside Story reverses that trend, which saw essentially no real replay value past playing through the game once again in Partners in Time. Now the special moves that Mario, Luigi, and Bowser use in combat are turned into mini-games with lucrative rewards if you reach certain score. And these special moves are no piece of cake either, demanding quick reactions and a quick eye to succeed further on as the pace gets increasingly quick and frantic as you play longer and longer. Also of note, while it may seem odd and a little out of place, located somewhere in the kingdom is a character that offers a puzzle challenge to Mario and Luigi. You get rewarded for initially completing all of the puzzles, but you can come back later on and race against the clock to complete the puzzles as fast as you can.

Overall Score - 9/10
Overall, Bowser's Inside Story is without a doubt the best installment in the Mario and Luigi series. Not only does it bring far more innovation through it's excellent utilization of the DS's features, it brings an good amount of replay value and reason to come back to the game time and time again.

Nintendo Continues the Innovation

At last years E3 Nintendo revealed the 3DS, revolutionizing 3D gaming by allowing for glasses free 3D. This year Nintendo continues their trend of innovation with the next iteration of the Wii console, the Wii U. The controller is the main focus of this new console, it is far from the typical game console controller. Now in addition to the typical buttons, analog pads, and triggers a 6.2 inch touch screen and front facing camera are now added into the mix. Now if you are playing a game on the television and a family member walks in wanting to watch something, you can transition to the controller's screen and continue playing from there. Not only that, but the second screen is also being implemented in fantastic ways within the games themselves. In a couple Mii-related games, one player plays through the controller either running and finding a place to hide or controlling a space craft while the other player use the television screen and Wii remote and try to find or attack that other player. The possibilities with this new controller are game-changing and endless, it's absolutely fantastic.

The 3DS wasn't completely left out of the presentation, though, seeing several new game announcements from Nintendo. Those new games include: Super Mario, MarioKart, and a new Luigi's Mansion.

A Taste for Competition

In the past I have dipped into competitive training and battling, but never all that seriously or successfully. I built up a team to face the Battle Frontier in Emerald Version and I trained a handful of competitive Pokemon in Diamond Version but I was really lazy about it and ultimately my heart really wasn't in it. I think when it comes down to it, the primary issue was a distinct lack of ability to easily find and face competition. To do so, you were required to head online into forums such as Neoseeker and Gamespot/Gamefaqs and actively seek an opponent which is something I never really quite took to. With the arrival of Black Version, it's cast of new and interesting Pokemon and Random Match I have new found motivation to enter the competitive arena.

While ease of locating competition is a contributing factor, I believe what really spurred me back into working on and building a competitive team was the fresh selection of Pokemon provided by Black and White. While Diamond and Pearl without a doubt brought several more competitive options to the table (some of which can be found among the candidates for my team), for some reason I have found more appeal in this latest generation. There are a couple main things that I feel contribute to that, but the one that really sticks out to me is the charm factor that most of the fifth generation brings to the table. I know that there are several people out there whining and complaining about the Pokemon designs each successive generation, saying that with each generation the designs are simply getting worse. I honestly couldn't disagree more. When it comes to that charm, there are several Pokemon that I can pick out, but the ones that really stick out to me are Stunfisk, Jellicent, Bouffalant, Alomomola, and Sigiliyph. There's just something about a muddy flat fish with a goofy smile, a jelly fish seemingly designed after the pringles man, a bull with an afro, a pink sunfish, and a just plain awesome looking thing (for lack of anything specific to reference in it's design) that just gets me excited and really interested in using them in competition even though they may not exactly be the highest of performers. Another area worthy of noting is unique typing. Previously mentioned Stunfisk and Jellicent bring two completely new type combinations to the table, electric-ground and ghost-water respectively, and I'm intrigued in exploring the possibilities that they provide (especially with Jellicent's eight resistances).

The Gaming Clash: Mobile vs. Console

Lately the developer of the well-known and highly popular Angry Birds Rovio, specifically Peter Vesterbacka, has been firing off rather brash and bold comments about the place and impact of mobile games of the gaming industry. Here is his latest quote:

"It’s interesting to see people like Nintendo saying smartphones are destroying the games industry. Of course, if I was trying to sell $49 pieces of plastic to people then yes, I’d be worried too."

Does this guy have any real understanding of what gaming truly is? It's an absolute embarrassment that tripe like Angry Birds are considered legitimate games, and thus a part of the gaming industry. There is a reason why mobile games are so cheap and real games are so expensive in comparison: the level of substance held by the game and the amount of time and effort put into the development of the game. There will always be this key difference, and if the casual side gradually kills off the serious side of the industry...that will be the end of gaming. I'll give an example of the level of content, say between Angry Birds and Pokemon Black Version. What do you get out of one or the other? Angry Birds gets you several levels where you launch birds into precariously built structures to eliminate pigs and thats it. How long will it be until you move on to something else? Now considering Black Version, you can get hundreds of hours worth of enjoyment out of it. From the main story, to the post-story content to the depth and sheer amount of multiplayer options there is plenty to keep the player coming back. That is how gaming should truly be, but casual gaming is putting that in jeopardy.

Not only does casual gaming put the serious side of the industry at risk through lowering value of the content of a game, it's also steadily bringing along the death of the industry through the creation of unrealistic pricing expectations. As I stated before, mobile games are so cheap because they take very little time and effort to create. When you seriously take that into consideration, you get what you pay for. The exact same thing can be said of legitimate games. Sure you pay a pretty high premium but you get what you pay for, which means a lot more game and a lot more enjoyment.

Game Review - Pokemon Black Version

Despite how fantastic each installment is, as time has worn on the series' tried and true formula has begun to get more than a little tired and predictable. While Black and White aren't nearly as groundbreaking on the story front as they should be, the progression that is made in terms of the story and the overall points towards a brighter, more engaging future for the series.

Many things are pretty much guaranteed when it comes to a Pokemon game: you get set on an adventure with one of three starter Pokemon, the objective of which is to challenge the region's eight Gym Leaders and then the Elite Four and the Champion. Black and White, without surprise, follow suit. The major changes that have been made relate to the villainous team that proves to be a constant thorn in your side throughout the game and character establishment and growth throughout the game. If you're at all familiar with Pokemon then you're certainly familiar with Team Rocket, the villains of the first generation and the anime series. From generation to generation, though there is a new team with a new name and seemingly new ambitions togo with it, little has changed. Their objective always falls down to one desire: to rule the world. Team Plasma of Black and White prove to be a refreshing departure from this series cliche. Their motives are not to take over the world, but a PETA-inspired desire to free Pokemon from their trainers. This brings deeper and darker moral dilemma to series, definitely making it more grown up than any of it's predecessors. To tie in with the exploration of more mature issues and themes is a newfound focus on character development and growth. In previous games you had a rival who showed up every now and then to challenge you, and they all had the same attitude and outlook towards Pokemon and being a trainer. Thus their characters were relatively flat and two dimensional. Black and White more or less throws out the idea of having a rival, in favor of two long time friends by the names of Bianca and Cheren. To begin with, the fact that they are friends establishes a much stronger relationship between them and the player but it goes farther beyond that. As you delve further and further into the story, both of their characters get fleshed out as they interact with you and deal with other characters and make discoveries about themselves. Not only does Gamefreak make great strives with developing the companion characters, they make strives with the Gym Leaders as well. No longer do they simply sit in their Gym doing nothing but waiting for you to challenge them. They now take an active role in the story. Though this isn't one hundred percent, the first Gym Leaders really make no appearance and the Icirrus Leader makes very little impact, the fact that the Gym Leaders have significance beyond simply handing you a badge on your way to the Elite Four is a large step forward.

Not only do Black and White take giant steps forward in terms of story and character development, they also make an exhaustive effort to instill a sense of awe and discovery in the player that has largely been absent in since the start of the series. Gamefreak primarily pulls this off through two factors: the Pokemon that inhabit the region and the region itself. Since the original games, there have always been those certain Pokemon that kept popping up throughout the series. Most notable among these Pokemon, and I'm certain that you'll recognize these names, Machop, Zubat, and Geodude. Every cave that you entered, you were one hundred percent guaranteed to run into at least one of those guys. Black and White really shake things up by doing away with those mainstays and introduces an all new cast of 156 Pokemon, the most ever to be introduced in a generation. Every Pokemon that you encounter is new, and the sense of discovery that this provides totally enthralled me during my play-through. The games are always released about six months prior to their North American launch in Japan, so I was familiar with the designs of the Pokemon but I was by no means familiar with the names. So even though I recognized them when I saw them, when their name was announced before they appeared I delighted when the thought of "Who the hell is that?"crossed me mind. Though there are Pokemon that assume the roles of those mainstays mentioned earlier, Timburr and Woobat I'm looking at you, the simple fact that there are new ones is something to get excited about.

Then there is the region of Unova to consider. I can safely say that no other region that I've travelled through in the Pokemon series has instilled as much awe in me as Unova. Two things really stick out at me when considering the region: how comparatively urban and technologically advanced it is to past regions and how jaw-droppingly impressive many of the sight are. Sure there has been technology in past regions, but can you actually say you've ever caught sight of any sort of transportation beyond a cruise ship or the occasional train? Travelling through Unova, not only do you come across the occasional campers on the occasional route but crossing the Sky Arrow bridge and travelling through the desert of Route 4 you encounter actual highways with semis travelling them. It doesn't end there either, Mistralton City home of the region's sixth Gym Leader features an airfield. In fact the Gym itself is housed in an airplane hanger. The urbanity and technology certainly lend a lot to that wow factor, but it's so much more than that. The region features several bridges, the most jaw-dropping of which is the Sky Arrow bridge leading to the even more jaw-dropping Castelia City. The Sky Arrow gets the nod for the sheer scale of it, and demonstration of that scale through utilization of the dynamic camera. Another factor in the impressiveness of the Sky Arrow is that it ends in Castelia City, the most amazing sight of the game. For once in the Pokemon series, players get to experience an actual city and it's all thanks to that dynamic camera. As you walk, the camera pans around the city, demonstrating the sheer scale of it. It's pressed upon the player further when the head down one of the streets, with skyscrapers rising up on both sides and the street just bustling with people heading on their way through the city.

An area that the series has always excelled in is connectivity, and Black and White take that to an all new level with the C-Gear and all-new online features. The C-Gear is a truly amazing device, it makes interaction as simple as could be, bringing players together easier than ever before. No longer do you have to head to the nearest Pokemon center to battle and trade your fellow trainers, now you simply tap the infrared section of the C-Gear and the battle and trade options are available right there. In fact, the innovation goes even further when it comes to trading. Prior in the series you had only your party of six when you entered a trade, with Black and White you now have full access to the boxing system. The C-Gear's capabilities go even further than simply battling and trading, one of it's greatest features is it's utilization of Tag Mode. Unlike previous DS games where you set the game into Tag Mode and you could do nothing else while it was in the process, with the C-Gear Tag Mode is always on in the background while you're playing thus being much more forgiving on the player and making interaction through Tag Mode much easier and much more likely. In fact, not counting my friends, I've encountered five other players so far. That has literally never happened with any other game I've attempted Tag Mode with, and I attribute this to the ease of interaction that the C-Gear provides as well as the massive popularity of the series. Other notable features of the C-Gear are the Entralink, the Xtransciever, and Game Sync. Entralink allows you to vist other player's worlds and perform missions to assist them, the Xtransciever allows video and voice chat with other players with range and Game Sync allows you to synchronize with the Global Link and send a Pokemon to the Dream World. While the C-Gear revolutionizes local multiplayer, the Pokemon Center's in a way revolutionizes the Global Terminal. Much in the way the C-Gear disinter-mediates local interaction, the Pokemon Center's disintermediates online interaction through it's assimilation of the Global Terminal. Now you simply head to the nearest Pokemon Center when you want to hop online, and with the addition of random battles and GTS Negotiations the series' online offerings are deeper than ever. GTS Negotiations are an especially intriguing addition, allowing you to connect with a random player from anywhere in the world and offer each other Pokemon while negotiating the selection through the usage of smiley icons.

While further innovation still may need to be made, Black and White prove to be a giant step forward for the series. Whether you're a veteran or a newcomer, you shouldn't deprive yourself by overlooking these titles.

Overall Score: 10/10

Early Impressions - Pokemon Black Version

The day has finally come...today marks the release of Black and White. I'll post my early impressions here later once I pick up my copy of Black and get a chance to play it. Expect a couple pictures as well.

UPDATE:

I have played up until just past the second Gym, and from what I've experienced so far I am very impressed by Black Version. The menu interface is fantastic, definitely preferable to that of HeartGold/SoulSilver and the fact that there is a shortcut menu activated by the Y button in placed of a registered item is just awesome, you can even register shortcuts for menus. The C-Gear and all of the functionality that it brings is just fantastic, though I don't quite take to the fact that it wants to be online all the time. As for the adventure itself, so far it's the pretty typical Pokemon though I do like where the storyline is going with Team Galaxy.

One negative that I encountered, the first gym was incredibly brutal. He would just buff up his Panpour and then proceed in sweeping my entire team. It took an unusual amount of level-grinding at that level of the game, but after five attempts I was finally able to come out on top. I barely made it through the second Gym Leader as well, though thankfully my Herdier was a martyr for my party and took out her Watchog with a Take Down that took the last of it's health.

I've reached Castelia, and I am speechless at how sheerly immense that the city is. The more dynamic camera really shows itself off here, most impressively when you're cross the Sky Arrow bridge to reach the city.

After seeing it in action, the C-Gear and it's utilization of infrared for Tag Mode is absolutely ingenius. Other games with tag mode features use the DS's wireless capabilities which unfortunately means that you can do nothing while the game is in tag mode. With Black's usage of infrared, tag mode is always on and active (unless of course you choose to turn the C-Gear off) while you're playing. In fact when you come across other people you can tap on their sprite and see where they are in the region. Playing into the constant presence of tag mode are surveys, which allows you to see what game other people around you are playing, which starter they chose, and how long they've been playing. It's absolutely fantastic.

I am absolutely loving the fact that the only Pokemon that you will come across in the Unova region are brand new. Not only does that mean no more pesky Geodudes and Zubats in caves, but also a much greater sense of discovery. I love both the feeling of walking out into a route without the knowledge of what will come next and coming across a Pokemon's name in battle right before it's released and thinking to myself "Who the hell is that?".

I just finished playing through the game earlier, and I am thoroughly impressed by the challenge posed by the Elite Four and the final battles (I won't spil anything). They definitely had me cheering, the final battles especially, when I took down one of their Pokemon. I haven't done much in terms of post-game content yet, though I have made brief visits to the now open Black City and towns in the upper right of Unova. I'm a little underwhelmed by Black City, the camera perspective certainly makes it look big, but it sure doesn't feel big in terms of content (though according to Serebii with repeated visits and battles with it's citizens it will grow). I took the opportunity to go on  the cruise ship that can be seen ported at one of the docks in Castelia, and man am I blown away. I completely ignored the fact that there were trainers aboard to battle, my attention was on watching the scenery from the deck. To see the Sky Arrow bridge and the city in all their glory from a distance is an absolute treat.

As I play through the game expect me to keep recording my thoughts here.

Game Review - Kingdom Hearts Re:coded

Re:coded is not the first time that Kingdom Hearts has hit the DS, the phenomenon originally came to the DS in 2009 with 358/2 Days. While an overall great game, the story was deep and filled with emotion and the multiplayer Mission Mode was an absolute blast, it had some pretty hard to miss issues most notably repetition through the mission system, gameplay that seriously dragged down the pacing of combat, a character upgrade system that often felt limiting more than anything else and not much in the way of post-game content beyond playing Mission Mode. Now, Re:coded, while it has it's own issues which I will go into detail about later, improves upon and fixes almost every single issue that detracted from Days.

To start off I'll discuss everything, and that's pretty close to absolutely everything, that is fantastic about Re:coded. Most notable and worthy of discussion is the gameplay. It's an absolute blast. There is an  incredible amount of variety, a level of variety that any game will have difficulty matching. You certainly hack and slash away at Heartless as you typically do in a Kingdom Hearts game, but with Re:coded things change up in the boss stage for each world. Traverse Town becomes an auto-side-scrolling platformer, Wonderland becomes a shooter of sorts, and most impressively Olympus Colosseum takes the form of a turn-based RPG of old. With this shift in gameplay from world to world you're forced to stay on your toes, and it's absolutely fantastic. While this shifts in gameplay from world to world occupy most of the spotlight, you shouldn't overlook the regular gameplay whose improvements over Days make it just as fun and impressive. Where with Days to use magic or items you needed to sift through menus, drastically slowing down the pace and the ultimate enjoyment of the combat, Days is a breath of fresh air with the Deck Commands system lifted straight from PSP title Birth By Sleep. Now all commands, attack, magic, and items are all in one streamlined flow that is navigated via the L trigger and the D-pad. This does take away the L trigger's responsibility from camera control as in Days, but it is a necessary and welcome sacrifice. Also worthy of mention are keyblades and their functionality in the game. Where in Days they had stats tied them, ultimately making earlier keyblades obsolete and useless the further you got in the game, in Re:coded they have no effect on your stats and the overclock ability tree, as you battle a gauge fills up and grants you new abilities, means that each has it's own use in different situations.

Stats and character growth proved to be somewhat frustrating with Days, as previously stated feeling limiting and frustrating more than anything else. Re:coded turns that completely around with the stats matrix. The stats matrix is an inventive and enjoyable new way to manage character growth, taking inspiration from from computers and motherboards allowing players to place stat chips on the board and giving them freedom to choose which direction that trhey want to go and unlock new abilities as they go and in awesome bonus connecting two CPU's activates "Dual Processing" which doubles the benefit of the chips between the two. This effectively makes the placement of chips very strategic and important and if not properly utilized can negatively effect the player later in the game.

Another area that Re:coded excels in is replay-value and post-game content. As stated earlier, the only real source of replay-value that Days presented to the player was Mission Mode and while an absolute blast with friends is limited in value to those playing solo. While Re:coded lacks that multiplayer element, it has numerous post-game activities to occupy the single player. From trophies and the Avatar Menu, there are hours of enjoyment to be had after the credits roll. Trophies encourage the player to complete worlds below certain times, collect and complete different items and tasks and more. There is even incentive to collect trophies, with an unlockable secret ending that sets up the next title in the series, Dream Drop Distance. The Avatar Menu brings a more social element to the game and series, utilizing the tag mode feature where player exchange avatars, system sector layers and scratch cards. With literally hundreds available, collecting avatar parts has become somewhat of an obsession for me. In fact, I am about 134 hours into the game, and there is still plenty left for me to do.

Now onto the slightly problematic elements of the game. The two that really stick out are the re-usage of worlds already visited in the series and the overall story quality and length. While I don't find much issue with either of these seeing as the only other Kingdom Hearts game I've played in 358/2 Days, they are issues large enough in the community to warrant discussion. When considering the worlds used in the game, it needs to be remembered that this is essentially a revisit of the original Kingdom Hearts so it should be no surprise that it uses much of the same worlds from that game. I do understand frustration over the repetition, Re:coded and Days share some of the same worlds in fact, but seeing how relatively new I am to the series I can take no points away for that. The story issues on the other hand I can understand a little more. In relation to the rest of the series it really makes no contribution and does very little to move the story along, and tied in with that lengthwise the story is somewhat lacking, I myself clocking in at about 15 hours by the time the credits rolled. Though insignificant and short, I still found the story incredibly enjoyable and the wealth of post-game content (as discussed earlier) more than makes up for those length issues.

Overall, Kingdom Hearts Re:coded proves to be a fantastic game. Though it has it's own share of small problems, it makes great strides over Days and proves to start of the year for the DS off with a bang.

Overall Score - 9/10

Game Review - Goldeneye 007

Alright, so developer n-Space released two FPSs for the DS recently. The mighty and incredibly beast Black Ops and then a remake of the game that started it all, Goldeneye. I really built up hype and anticipation for Black Ops, and having an idea of what to expect and the massive number of improvements made over the previous installment of the series on the DS I was more than satisfied with it. In fact, I've now played almost twice as much online in the space of a few months than I did over an entire year with the previous game Mobilized. I think that says something. As for Goldeneye, I was aware of it's release and I had every intent on getting it, but my attention was focused solely on Blacks Ops. Christmas has come, and I now own a copy. Having played through the single player and played a couple matches online I'm having pretty mixed feelings. The question here as I go through and review the game is...has Black Ops tainted the experience for me?

With the exception of occasional hiccups when it comes to hit-detection, the single-player campaign of Goldeneye is absolutely fantastic. It's incredibly action packed and filled with variety. You can be sneaking through an enemy compound or launching an all-out assault, in fact one mission has you piloting a tank through the streets of Saint Petersburg. It doesn't get any more satisfying than rolling over cars, trading fire with other tanks and taking out helicopters. This mission brings to mind the tank mission found in last years Modern Warfare: Mobilized. They're both comparable, but in terms of satisfaction I've got to hand it to Goldeneye. The stealth missions other you plenty of variety in terms of how you want to dispatch your enemies. You can sneak up behind them and silently grab them from behind and suffocate them,  you can utilize elements within the environments (like steam valves and fire extinguishers) to take them out, or you could throw caution to the wind and rush them (though thats far from suggested). Also worthy mentioning are the occasional interactive minigames sprinkled here and there through the game, ranging from swiping a key card and quickly entering a code to shooting the lock off of a door. While critics have stated that these are completely pointless (I'm looking at you IGN), I strongly disagree. These provide the player a means to further interact with the game, and thus makes the overall experience all that much more satisfying.

In terms of multiplayer, Goldeneye, despite a few glaring issues, does several things right. To get the problems out of the way, one real issue comes at how user-friendly the online is. In Black Ops, you get online once and you have access to friends and global matches, as well as your friend roster to see if your friends are online and if so what they are doing. Sadly, Goldeneye is incredibly archaic in comparison. Much like the previous Call of Duties you have to get online separately for global and friend matches. A little cumbersome if you ask me. Then there is the issue of exiting matches. It plops right back at the main menu. The frustration there doesn't need explanation. Finally, there is the distinct lack of any sort of stats tracking in the game. I shouldn't have to keep track of my multiplayer record myself, and with the lack of these records comes a feeling of "whats the point?" when playing online. Beyond those major issues, there are only small things that I've been nit-picking at. As stated earlier, much of Goldeneye's multiplayer is done right. Selection of your secondary, though more often that not your primary, gun and spawn points is spot on and essentially mirror that of Black Ops. Goldeneye does allow players to join in an already established game, but painfully and frustratingly only when it is in lobby. There are several modes and game modifiers to choose from, making for a lot of variety and potential for a lot of fun. That fun factor when playing global matches really depends upon who you play against and how many players you can get in a match. So far, I've only been able to play with more than one other player once, and have only found true enjoyment and excitement out of only a few matches. The quality of players is the true concern, though. It seems that about half the players out there are either giant noobs or douchebags (or even perhaps both), relying on the explosive power of the rocket launcher or of the lethal shotgun blast to get on the board. Thankfully there is a no explosives mod, but when that is employed they simply turn to the shotguns. To find true enjoyment out of the multiplayer, you may want to stick to playing with people you know.

Overall, while there may be occasional hiccups and issues, Goldeneye overall is a fantastic game. It took me a couple days to shake off those negative impressions due to senseless comparison to Black Ops (as evidenced in the intro), but I finally have and now I am truly enjoying the game for what it is. In fact, I have really touched Black Ops at all for the past couple days. Consider me pleasantly surprised.

Overall Score: 9/10