Mostly.

Without Ellen Ripley to save the day, the task of investigating and once again attempting to exterminate the alien menace falls on a new squad of marines – four to be exact. The initial lineup of characters offers the typical bravado, and includes an obligatory “Vasquez” character. And that initial tip of the hat is only one of the many ways Infestation illustrates a profound love for the James Cameron film. From an early cat cameo to an additional mini-game that challenges players to stab the DS stylus like a knife between on-screen fingers, this is the Aliens game that never arrived when 2D was the norm and not the occasional throwback treat.

As much of some of us suffered the absence of a decent Aliens game back then, it was probably worth the wait, with WayForward’s familiar 2D signature visible in all the deliciously subtle details that continue to make the 2D genre relevant for so often doing more with less. The familiar sounds of machine gun fire and the blips of the motion sensor picking up alien movement make for an immediately inviting atmosphere, but the lifeblood of this release is the xenomorph menace, which often blends into the background, suddenly stirring to life to howl, twist, and swing those deadly dagger tails with lethal efficiency.

And while I have zero hesitation at throwing the usual praise toward WayForward’s design abilities, it’s important to stress that Infestation is a far more linear affair than some gamers might be expecting. Since its initial announcement, the game has carried the “Metroidvania” label, which puts a heavy expectation on deep exploration to uncover ample secrets to furnish numerous revisits beyond the initial completion.

Though Infestation possesses some minor tendencies toward that tradition, the flow of the game is much more linear, with a natural progression through the story that will leave any player close to 100% completion without much need for curiosity.

I feel like I focus on replay quite a bit with reviews, and nailing down what makes for good Metroidvania can be a difficult endeavor – one could easily discover most of what Metroid: Zero Mission offers on a single playthrough, and yet I still replay that game plenty. My ideal would likely be Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, a game which seems to still offer a few surprises each time I return to it, particularly aided by random enemy weapon drops.

As for Infestation, there simply aren’t any real secrets to discover while unraveling Weyland Yutani’s latest attempt to harness aliens for their weapons program. Players begin the game with the requisite machine gun and a backup pistol, and will additionally pickup a flamethrower, shotgun, and turret gun, but these are impossible to miss the first time through. Only one of these heavy weapons can be equipped at a time, chosen by players while in one of the many save rooms scattered throughout the game – where players also determine which of their four marines will wander the atmospheric hallways.

Along the way there are plenty of hatches that lead through tight tunnels, where aliens tend to build nests and weapon upgrade crates exist. These single-serve upgrades can only be applied to the weapon armed when picked up, and each weapon only gets so powerful.

The game’s more unique feature is that marines are subject to permanent death. When the player’s marine falls in battle, communication is lost and another marine must be selected – dispatched to the place where the previous marine died. In order to keep the squad stocked, marines are the primary item waiting to be discovered. As such, extra marines who have been separated from their squads are found hanging out, waiting and willing to join the player’s team so long as an open spot in the roster exists. Since spots won’t always exist, flares come in handy here for marking their locations on the map. Each marine has a generic yet distinct personality, but never differ in control or ability.

Recruiting marines suffers a bit for the game’s linear nature, really stressing the primary frustration of design choice here. The entire game doesn’t take place just on the Sulaco. Players will also investigate LV-426, including a brief stop at the original derelict spaceship that started it all, as well as a Weyland-Yutani research facility. Marines that are discovered at these locations are left behind if space in the player’s roster isn’t available at the time, forever unavailable when the game returns to a final investigation and showdown on the Sulaco. The inability to return to previous locations is Infestation’s primary deviation from the Metroidvania tradition. And while this doesn’t represent a deal breaker, it remains an important mark of distinction for fans of the well worn formula to be aware of.

The game will help ease the guilt of leaving marines behind by offering boss battles that eat them for breakfast. Boss encounters pit players against large enemies that are made slightly tougher given the movement available to marines – you can evade and shoot while moving backwards, but it was often the case that I finished with a single marine given the limited space and controls that make marines slightly less nimble than my favorite intergalactic bounty hunter.

The backtracking that does take place aboard the Sulaco leads players toward large sections of the ship that are reserved for certain spots in the narrative, and by the end I had reached 98% completion without breaking a sweat. That’s not such a bad thing given how well the game mixes 2D gameplay with Aliens’ aesthetic, but it does lessen immediate replay value. Marines might have different personalities, but nothing to really shine through and make it worth putting together different teams or the like.

The real charm here is that the straightforward nature of the game walks players through a gorgeous 2D depiction of the franchise’s blockbuster entry. The mix of isolative moments, where the familiar blip of the motion sensor warns of swarming aliens ahead, and the more panicked areas that leave players contending with the creatures as they drop from overhead and face huggers leap from eggs simply shifts the emphasis solely to survival over exploration. While the result may differ from initial expectations, it perhaps better suits the franchise, and certainly offers a game worth enlisting with for at least one tour of duty.

Aliens: Infestation

Developer
WayForward, Gearbox Software

Publisher
Sega

System
Nintendo DS

Modes
Singleplayer

Release Date
October 11, 2011

*A copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review

Canvas Curse skillfully demonstrated that the DS’s touch screen could be used for more than gimmicky mini-games, while also taking the Kirby series in an interesting new direction. I still play it on a regular basis all these years later – it is fabulous, and if you haven’t played it, do yourself a favor and track it down immediately.

Now we find ourselves in the twilight of the Nintendo DS’s reign, and HAL returns once again with an absolute knockout release. Kirby Mass Attack, like its cousin Canvas Curse, does away with a traditional control scheme and opts instead for stylus-driven control. Thankfully, the wizards at HAL superbly integrated this type of control scheme into engaging and intelligent level design and aesthetics, and the end result is one of the most interesting, innovative, and fun games to hit the Nintendo DS in quite some time.

The standout feature of Mass Attack is that you don’t just control one Kirby, but you can take charge of up to ten of the cute little pink guys at once. The game opens with a mercifully-short story sequence that explains all this – Kirby was maxin’ and relaxin’ one fine afternoon, when out of nowhere some bad guy shows up and blasts Kirby with a lightning bolt, causing him to split into ten little versions of himself. Not willing to sit idly by, the Kirbys embark on a mission to clean that villain’s clock before he can wreak havoc upon the land.

If you’re worried that controlling up to ten Kirbys at a time sounds like a nightmare, you can relax. As HAL already demonstrated with Canvas Curse, they are quite capable of creating a full-fledged Kirby game with stylus-only control, and the development team is on par once again with Mass Attack. The game’s first few stages do an outstanding job of easing players into the action, too, helping to ensure control becomes intuitive and second-nature. Just a few stages into the game and you’ll be a master at controlling your little Kirby army.

Just in case you want the full scoop on how the controls work, here are the details. Hold the stylus near the sides of the screen and your horde of Kirbys will move toward it. Double tap anywhere on the screen and they’ll sprint to that location and stay there. Tap an enemy and your Kirby team will group up and begin to pummel your foe. Hold the stylus over your gang of Kirbys and they’ll cling together, allowing you to guide them along for a limited period of time. Flick the stylus to send individual Kirbys soaring in the direction you want so they can attack an adversary or crush an obstacle. All things considered, the controls work beautifully and there was nary a moment during my playthrough where any of my inputs felt imprecise or unresponsive.

You begin the game (as well as each of the game’s major areas) with only one Kirby, though you can add another member to your team for each 100 pieces of fruit you eat. Fruit is abundant around the stages, so it doesn’t take too long to fill out your squad. This is good news, because each stage has a requirement for the number of Kirbys required to enter it. With that in mind, trying to keep ten members in your group at all times is recommended. Thankfully this isn’t too difficult to do, and you can even revive fallen Kirbys if you’re quick enough. If a Kirby gets hit once, its color changes from pink to blue. If it gets hit a second time, it turns into the most adorable angel you’ve ever seen and begins its ascent to the heavens. Fling one of your living Kirbys at its fallen brother and it will pull it to earth and turn it back into a blue Kirby. So heartwarming!

As with the other Kirby games, picking up a piece of candy gives you invincibility. In Mass Attack, the Kirbys become two to three times as large as they normally are, and you can smash blocks and other obstacles that were previously impenetrable. It’s a little reminiscent of getting the Super Star in Super Paper Mario, though not quite as chaotic. Rather, if you see a piece of candy in Mass Attack, you can make a safe bet that there is some hidden goody nearby that is otherwise inaccessible without that invincible status.

The excellent stylus-driven control would be worthless if the game itself wasn’t fun to play. But, my friends, I am pleased to report that HAL did not disappoint. Mass Attack is an absolute blast and is stuffed with content. HAL were on a creative high when they developed Mass Attack, it seems, and the game is bursting with fresh ideas. Just as Nintendo’s EAD Tokyo team took the idea of Mario in space and ran with it for the outstanding Mario Galaxy games, HAL thought long and hard about what they could do with Mass Attack’s concept and control scheme, and then built incredible levels that present new experiences at every turn. In that sense, I would argue Mass Attack is to the Kirby franchise what Galaxy is to Mario.

The game’s dozens of stages are lengthy and worth replaying in order to find all of their secrets. On top of that, the level design is extremely diverse and I anxiously kept playing just to see what came next. I was particularly fond of one stage that takes place in a giant hot air balloon. Moving your Kirby crew from one side of the carriage to the other steers the balloon as it drifts upward. The DS’s top screen displays a zoomed-out view of the action in order to help you plot your course, while the bottom screen is where the action takes place. During your ascent, unwelcome enemies board your craft, and your Kirbys will need to take them out while still maneuvering around so as to guide the balloon out of the path of dangerous obstacles. This type of clever level design is present throughout the entirety of the game, and it kept me engaged from beginning to end.

Boss battles in Mass Attack are exceptional. As with the level design, the thought and creativity that went into the boss sequences is admirable. One of the game’s early bosses, Whispy Woods, is a familiar foe in every Kirby game, though for possibly the first time ever he’s not a pushover, and he’s got some tricks up his sleeve that had a longtime fan of the series such as myself grinning from ear to ear. There is an abundance of bosses to face in Mass Attack—more than I can remember from any previous Kirby game—and they’re all pretty neat. You’ll want to face them more than once.

Mass Attack also shines in its presentation. HAL obviously put a lot of care and effort into crafting the aesthetics, and though at first glance Mass Attack may not blow you away, it is filled with subtle details in both the visual and sound departments. The game world is vivid, detailed, and diverse, and both the Kirbys and their foes all animate smoothly and with a great deal of emotion and expression. When one of your Kirbys gets shocked by an electric fish, for example, his eyes bulge and you can almost feel the extreme discomfort the poor little guy is experiencing. The game’s music is also a breath of fresh air, and while some of the series’ long-standing tunes are present, much of the game’s soundtrack is new. I loved the choir arrangements on one of the desert-inspired songs. Quite often I found myself using the game’s unlockable Music Player to enjoy some of my favorite tracks.

I definitely need to take a moment to expand upon Mass Attack’s unlockables as well. In this era of publishers finding ways to nickel and dime gamers at every instance, being provided with so much bonus content seems unreal. There are a handful of smaller mini-games, such as an addictive whack-a-mole clone, but the stars of the show are the meatier bonus games. Three bonus games in particular stood out, and I could imagine them easily being released as standalone eShop content.

One is a pinball game that should make fans of Kirby’s Pinball Land squeal with delight. Another is a series of RPG-like battles featuring timing-based attacks, reminiscent of the types of power meters usually found in golf videogames. And finally, there’s my personal favorite, which is a six-stage top-down shooter. It’s actually better than some recent standalone shooters gamers have paid big bucks to import from Japan. For some players, the bonus content alone may be more than worth the price of admission.

I’m sure some snooty gamers will find fault with Mass Attack though. I can just hear someone whining about the fact that Kirby can’t copy enemies’ attack abilities like he can in most other games in the series. Or I can imagine people complaining about the atypical control scheme and lamenting that they’d rather just use a d-pad and buttons. Oh well. You can’t please everyone, I suppose. But in my opinion, Kirby Mass Attack is an absolute masterpiece. Just as Canvas Curse served as the Nintendo DS’s ideal kickstarter, Mass Attack is the ultimate swansong. The game is practically perfect in every respect, and therefore deserves a score that echoes the number of Kirbys in the game. Thank you, HAL Laboratory, for ensuring the Nintendo DS goes out with a bang.

Kirby Mass Attack

Developer
HAL Laboratory

Publisher
Nintendo

System
Nintendo DS

Modes
Singleplayer

Release Date
September 19, 2011

*A copy of this title was purchased by Gamesugar for review

Capable of switching between these two spheres, Sissel is able to possess and manipulate inanimate objects, a skill key toward solving the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death – though this ability results in him helping plenty of others along the way, like a phantom littlest hobo.

Using the stylus to draw a physical connection between points, Sissel’s spirit can inhabit objects over short distances, meaning that random assortments of the everyday are essential in forming pathways that allow Sissel to move without feet. A tap of the stylus shows the ghost world that causes objects Sissel can inhabit to glow and allows him to move. While many of these objects provide stepping stones for short-range travel, others can be thrown into varying degrees of action by switching back into the living world to perform a ghost trick.

Electronic devices can be activated, objects can be swiveled, opened or rolled, switches can be thrown to activate larger devices – all of these options grant Sissel the ability to grab the attention of the living, and more importantly play a role in changing or preventing their actions to affect events.

These ghost tricks are immediately interesting in theory, and rather wondrous in practice. The constant role objects play within the game evolves my favorite element from point and click adventure games, specifically the small joys many of those games offer in collecting and using random objects to further the story – herein giving the player a more direct role in putting those objects to use and unleashing moments of wonder discovering the various actions one can play a direct role in causing.

Sissel’s other ghostly skill relates to helping characters encountered throughout his investigation, specifically those that have a habit of dying along the way as Sissel discovers the ability to save the recently deceased by contacting their spirit and traveling back four minutes prior to their death. This gives the player a view of the events leading to that death and a chance to change their fate. The sands of time are ever present throughout the story, but thankfully the player is never really working against the clock.

Rewinding time to change the fate of characters that die can be done as many times as necessary while solving the puzzle created by the objects present – smaller changes of fate during these scenarios even create checkpoints the player can restart from.

Saving characters involves getting objects to them, getting objects away from them, or even guiding them to safety – it’s a busy ghost life that has Sissel running around town all night long and at times saving multiple characters at once. Because getting around town via objects would form an immediate hassle, phone lines become spiritual taxis that allow Sissel to reach the different environments the game offers – reaching out to touch characters and change events via phones plays an increasingly large role as the story unfolds.

Puzzles vary on difficulty based on the amount of objects present – the less objects there are, the more obvious the solution is – and sometimes simply causing objects to move guides the player toward a solution. And still sometimes the game will amplify the challenge via more complex puzzles formed from objects that work in a specific order to solve a problem, or create one Sissel needs to stop. One sequence at the heart of the story uses objects to create a sequence working to rival the breakfast making machine from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure – perhaps the greatest sequence in cinematic history.

The only time the game really offers sincere difficulty is when timing is involved – situations requiring Sissel to move objects at certain times based on events occurring in the living world as characters act. And while logic and the predictability of game design suggest performing ghost tricks should get old fast, the game does an admirable job of stretching these tricks thin and then layering in new options and situations that stay off tedium, such as a surprising twist when another character learns a different ghost trick that later helps Sissel alter a more complex fate.

The same wonder that comes from manipulating objects drives delightfully eccentric character designs, with personalities that strut with ridiculous enthusiasm against still backdrops that help every action pop like an interactive comic – in a word the animation is half part simplistic, half part explosive, and marvelously effective at seducing the eyes.

An engrossing story offering a page-turner also presents a linear game – though the game teases with multiple solutions to problems at times, there’s a very fixed path throughout the game and the player’s role is to simply follow it. But like any good book, it’s a marvel to move through it, to watch an absolutely ludicrous cast of characters intertwine and affect one another, endearing themselves along the way. This doesn’t create a very replayable game when all is said and done, but it does offer an adventure that stole plenty of time from me over four consecutive late nights, tying together seemingly random threads of humor and maturity to weave a memorable story successful in making a connection.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

Developer
Capcom

Publisher
Capcom

System
Nintendo DS

Modes
Singleplayer

Release Date
January 11, 2011

*A copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review

Did Eggman have a lucrative career thanks to his status as a doctor? Is he independently wealthy? Is he shoulder-deep in credit card debt?

Regardless of his mysteriously renewable sources of capital, Eggman is up to his old tricks – the latest scheme involving the use of said amusement park as a cover in order to capture aliens called Wisps, and utilizing their power to create a mind control beam. In other words, the not-so-good Doctor’s amusement park isn’t quite the family-friendly vacation destination it appears to be. But never one to pass up an opportunity to cause millions of dollars in property damage where Eggman is concerned, Sonic speeds to the rescue yet again to save the Wisps and foil Eggman’s plans.

And so we have the premise of Sonic Colors, which is one of Sonic’s most creative outings in years. Okay, admittedly Sega has dropped Sonic into all kinds of crazy situations via the past few games in the franchise – be it traveling to the era of King Arthur in Sonic and the Black Knight or flirting with lycanthropy in Sonic Unleashed. The difference here, however, is that much like Nintendo showed with Super Mario Galaxy, putting a protagonist into a space setting seems to be a recipe for shaking up ideas.

From that it seems like Sega might as well have called the game “Sonic in Space,” since that pretty much sums up the experience, but Sonic Colors happens to be a perfect title because the game is bursting at the seams with bright, neon visuals.

Furthermore, the game’s stages are some of the wackiest locales Sonic has sped through in quite some time. Whether Sonic is zooming past giant hamburgers, a massive space armada, or submerged temples, Sonic Colors shows no shortage of creativity in the imagination department. The soundtrack is equally vivid, featuring wonderful compositions that tie in nicely with the game’s happy atmosphere and speedy pace. I suppose one could say that Sonic Colors is, indeed, colorful in all respects.

Yet for the praise I can swing toward the nifty backdrops and catchy music, all that color also represent a problem, namely that the DS title was developed in concordance with the Wii game of the same name. And I can’t help feeling that Sonic Colors DS might have been an even better game had it been allowed to develop as its own animal. Now to be fair, Sonic Colors DS is a completely different game in most respects, as the levels in the DS and Wii versions are unique from one another even while sharing elements.

Still I’ve spent the majority of my time wondering what could have been had the latest DS outing of the Hedgehog not been resigned to simply mirroring the console release. Sonic Colors DS is essentially Sonic Rush 3, but with the Sonic Colors theme worked into it. And for the most part this works, and thankfully Sonic Colors DS refrains from including aspects such as the superfluous and boring boating sections from the previous Rush game.

But the core element, the Wisp transformations, doesn’t really meld well with the Rush formula. Sonic Colors features a number of different Wisp aliens that are happy to lend their powers to Sonic, allowing him to transform and take on new abilities. These forms include a laser, a drill, and a rocket, all permitting Sonic to progress past obstacles that prove beyond his normal repertoire of moves. But the Wisp transformations seem wholly unnecessary here, only serving to complicate the gameplay rather than enhance it, and in some instances bring the rush to a grinding halt. The Wisps aren’t deal-breakers like Unleashed’s Werehog fiasco, but it’s clear that Sonic Colors DS would be a better game for focusing on the speed over force that makes the Rush series work on the DS.

The boss battles are also worth a disappointing mention – none of them offer up much of a challenge, and these sections feature some of the clunkiest controls in the entire game. Sonic is designed to speed forward through loops, dips, and dives, and slowing him down to fight bosses never feels quite right.

The only real threat the boss stages ever dish out comes in the form of trying to wrangle control over Sonic, and even then Eggman’s creations don’t pose much of a threat.

One element of the Wii release I do wish Sonic Colors would’ve borrowed more heavily from is the length of the adventure. The worlds in Sonic Colors DS all feature two main stages and a boss battle, which is significantly less when compared to the Wii version. To be fair, the stages in the DS version offer a sizable length of quality-over-quantity, but the game is over far too quickly. There are bonus missions that can be played in each area of the amusement park, but they don’t do much to add to the overall experience.

Between the paltry number of levels and undercooked boss battles, I wonder if more development time could have helped Sonic Colors achieve more than sidekick status to the Wii release.

Despite the shortcomings though, Sonic Colors isn’t a complete misstep, and I hope Sega continues to refine the formula they’ve come up with here. Just like Mario, Sonic seems to excel in a space setting, and it allows for some amazingly imaginative level designs, unlike anything in the series’ previous titles. If Sega were to expand upon the many positive elements within Sonic Colors, they could very well craft the perfect Sonic game. That said, I won’t be surprised if Sonic returns as a vampire in the next outing, but in the meantime I can at least enjoy Sonic Colors for what it is and appreciate how close Sega came to finally getting the series on track.

Sonic Colors

Developer
Sonic Team, Dimps

Publisher
Sega

System
Nintendo DS

Modes
Singleplayer, Multiplayer

Release Date
November 16, 2010

*A copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review

Perhaps the largest and scariest threat of all in any survival scenario comes in the form of other survivors. With zombies, for instance, at least you have an idea of what to expect. They may be relentless, but they all follow similar patterns of behavior. Not so with humans. You never know when your so-called allies might turn on you in order to get a leg up and boost their own chances of living to see another day.

With this in mind, I think it’s safe to say that should I find myself in the situation of protagonist Junpei from 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, I probably wouldn’t even make it through the first challenge he faces.

I’m on a Boat.

Junpei mysteriously awakens in an unfamiliar room on a massive ocean liner. He barely has a moment to get his bearings and figure out how he wound up in such a strange place before water comes bursting through a portal window. To make matters worse, Junpei can’t simply waltz over to the door and open it to escape from what would otherwise be a watery grave. Instead, he is required to solve a series of puzzles in order to trigger a mechanism and unlatch the door’s lock. I’d be a goner for sure.

Junpei soon discovers he’s not alone on the ship, as there are eight other individuals who have found themselves in the same situation. It turns out they were all abducted and brought aboard to participate in something called the Nonary Game. Essentially, the “players” must work together to solve puzzles so as to hopefully find an exit and escape within nine hours. Of course, this is easier said than done, and it doesn’t take long before the first loss of life occurs. 999 demonstrates that in any situation where lives are on the line, the most unstable factor is the human one.

999 is the first true “visual novel” I have ever played. Even though the genre has longstanding popularly in Japan and developer Chunsoft has built up a respectable reputation for developing such titles, I have never had the opportunity to play through a visual novel until 999. For those who are as in the dark to visual novels as I was, think of 999 as something akin to an interactive storybook. Most of the game’s narrative unfolds via text, with visual and audio elements acting more to supplement and enhance the experience than drive it. In other words, you’ll spend a lot of time reading.

Eight is Enough.

Yes, I know that in theory that might sound absolutely boring to some people, but in practice 999 is thoroughly engaging. It held my attention to the point that I stayed up into the wee hours of the night just so I could see what happened next. 

Also, every now and then you’ll have a chance to “Choose Your Own Adventure” by making a decision that affects the storyline. Your choices will have a major impact upon the conclusion you reach, but thankfully you can replay 999 with information gained from your previous playthrough.

But don’t worry, people that hate to read, because 999 also has “Escape” segments peppered in at regular intervals that play out similarly to classic point and click adventure games. In each of these scenarios, players will need to solve puzzles in order to find an exit to a room they are trapped in.  These sections remind me a lot of the investigation scenes from the Phoenix Wright series mixed with the creepy exploration elements from the early Resident Evil games.

You’ll search strange locations for unusual items, discover doors with weird insignias above their keyholes, and even push crates around to create a pathway.

I enjoyed each of the Escape scenes, but I have to admit I think they are actually the weakest part of 999. The puzzles are fun to unravel but never seem all that challenging, though I suppose one could argue that making the Escape scenes more difficult would stall the narrative and derail the “novel” part of the experience.

Investigation Time With Mister Junpei.

In fact, the solutions to the game’s puzzles seem more like they are designed to flow along with the rest of the storyline than anything else. I’m glad Chunsoft incorporated the Escape sections since they do an excellent job of balancing the overall experience, but a few times they caused me to become just a little impatient because I wanted the story to move forward.

One of the things that stood out to me as I played through 999 is how perfectly suited the game is for the Nintendo DS. It seems odd to point out that a game makes excellent use of the system’s unique features this far into the DS’s lifespan, yet 999 excels in this respect in a subtle but intelligent way. The game makes great use of the system’s dual screens, for example, with all character dialogue taking place on the top screen and narrative unfolding on the bottom screen. In addition, 999 lends itself well to the portability of the DS. That is, just like a book, 999 can be brought with players anywhere and can be enjoyed in short doses thanks to the ability to save at any point.

Lastly, the Escape segments make nice use of the touch screen interface in a manner that adds to the overall enjoyment. In other words, 999 works very well as a Nintendo DS game.

Dialogue on Top, Narrative on the Bottom.

Some words of advice for anyone planning to dive into 999.

First, use headphones. A special nod goes to the individuals on the development team responsible for the music and sound effects, as they are outstanding and positively add to the mood of the story without being the least bit distracting. Second, take your time and enjoy 999 at your own pace. Too often players race through videogames just so they can say they’ve finished it and move on to another game. 999 is not like that. Savor and enjoy the ambiance. Finally, don’t stop at one playthrough. 999 has a number of endings, and you will notice new plot elements as you venture back through the narrative additional times.

All things considered, I found 999 to be intriguing and inviting, making me wish more publishers were as brave as Aksys by localizing these types of niche games for Western audiences. Aksys should be commended for giving the game such a high degree of love and attention, and hopefully their efforts are not all for naught.

Unfortunately, I know that games such as 999 don’t necessarily light the sales charts ablaze and too often get lost in the shadow of bloated blockbusters, and it will likely fly under the radar of the majority of videogame players. What a shame! 999 not only provides a gripping and rewarding experience, but demonstrates that there is still a great deal of room for creativity and artistic expression when it comes to storytelling via videogames.

999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

Developer
Chunsoft

Publisher
Aksys Games

System
Nintendo DS

Modes
Singleplayer

Release Date
November 16, 2010

*A copy of this title was purchased by Gamesugar for review

A good story runs a close second however, and the latest dose of Professor Layton to hit the North American DS brings the familiar and balanced mix of mystery narrative and puzzles that has helped make Level-5 a little more known to those not quite as consumed by the RPG genre.

Layton uses an easy style of animation, the stuff of cartoons and storybooks, allowing for humorously exaggerated characters and the occasional talking animal against a rather finely detailed London backdrop that still allows space for drama, offering up something marketing dreams are made of – a title that legitimately has a very natural and open appeal.

From the moment the story begins, it feels like the type of game you could recommend to anyone. And what seems entirely important about this feeling is that the game conveys that broad appeal while still delighting in eccentricities and details, where conventional wisdom seems to so often recommend stripping a product down to increase the sales potential.

The variety of puzzles within The Unwound Future seem to serve that same open pursuit without dipping into the vanilla, ranging from challenges that demand deductive logic, offer light mathematical trickery, or ask gamers to slide blocks or even chart a path through mazes.

There are times where simply counting objects will do the trick, with the memo feature always at the ready to overlay the puzzle and put the stylus to work as sketch paper – though there are occasions where a scrap of real paper still comes in handy.

More than anything, the puzzles players encounter demand that they slow down and read what is being asked a little more carefully.

Given my tendency to rush through games at times, or get a tad lazy when it comes to any challenge that requires more than a few moments of thought, getting back into the groove of Layton made me feel like a dolt at first.

The Unwound Future isn’t for rushing, even when the drama of the narrative seems to be climbing to a peak, and I had to force myself to relax and take time out to smell the roses. The game really is about taking a more scenic route, with a casual progression that encourages taking the time to meet the inhabitants of London, which affords chances to find even more puzzles.

That balance between puzzle-solving and narrative is continually impressive. Certainly characters loiter about with the simple objective of handing over another puzzle when given the opportunity, but there are many little stories along the way continually making Layton more than just a puzzle index.

Of course stopping to scratch around with the stylus for hidden hint coins and secret puzzles adds incentive to stroll around London at a more leisurely pace, and the game puts the space on screen to good use, always finding another nook or cranny waiting for a curious hand to uncover another secret.

As the title suggests, the Professor and his apprentice Luke have time on their hands in this release, though not very much in the way of free time while trying to unravel a mystery between the London they know and a ruined future state ten years ahead of them.

Without unraveling it here and saving you the discovery, the key note for me was a story still built on animated Sherlock charms and very open to newcomers, but one that also offers visits from fan familiar characters.

The Professor is still very much able to drive villains mad with his infallible logic and constant preparedness – I sympathize with Layton’s foes, at times the man deals out logical solutions like Adam West with that damn all purpose utility belt.

Having enjoyed the series to date, there’s a temptation to just rubber-stamp this latest installment with the Layton seal of approval. But it seems worth mentioning that the attention to detail stood out more significantly this time around.

Perhaps a growing frustration with modern RPGs and narrative heavy titles has given me a greater appreciation of the story recap the game provides each time you continue from a save point, or the way the mini-games within the Professor’s trunk weave out of the main narrative to provide an added value reflective of the series, while also offering distractions that actually manage to steal my time.

Luke’s toy car and newly befriended Parrot are fine, but I’m earnestly surprised how much I started craving stickers found throughout the game to help fill in the ad-lib storybook also kept in the Professor’s ever-present trunk.

While the focus on always moving the player forward keeps the game to task and fitted for portable sessions, there are times where this can feel constrictive. For instance, when taking a shortcut and presented by a puzzle blocking the way, quitting the challenge and taking the longer route isn’t an option the game is willing to allow for.

Small occurrences such as this pop up from time to time, the apparent sacrifice of keeping a tighter narrative on course, but in earnest is the only complaint that comes to mind, and certainly doesn’t derail an easily recommended addition to the series.

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
Developer – Level-5
Publisher – Nintendo
System – Nintendo DS
Release Date – September 12, 2010

*A copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review

Prope Studio founder Yuji Naka’s life after Sega is easy to typecast as one focused on the control side of gaming – the way we interact with the medium, not simply via the use of new peripherals but in exploring the way tactile actions and video output work together to create new experiences. Last year that focus had me tapping on a cereal box to vibrate a WiiMote with the release of Let’s Tap, but where that release came across more as an interesting technical demonstration, Ivy the Kiwi? is less on the esoteric and more about playtime with straight-forward appeal.

More over, Ivy feels like a return to form, a game of crafted levels designed for an instantly iconic character that is unavoidably as cute as a box of puppies, and finds a welcome place alongside other Naka creations such as Sonic the Hedgehog or Nights into Dreams

Focusing on the Wii release first and foremost, Ivy is a compelling example of simple controls allowing for one of the most natural uses of the WiiMote I’ve yet encountered.

Searching for her mother through a series of contained stages, Ivy runs like a turbo-charged lemming, dependent on the player to manipulate the environment to help her reach the three-tiered platform at the end of each stage. That simple agenda asks that the player use only vines to aid her, via two buttons – the A button to pull a vine into creation, and the B button to stretch and pull it back like a slingshot.

The result leaves me feeling a bit like Spider-man, creating vines anywhere on the screen I please, up to three at a time, and using them to build ramps or create bridges over spiked pits and other hazards standing between Ivy and the finish line.

The magic is in the manipulation of the vines, even in the simple way the player can stretch them out to the point of snapping – and they do snap if you get greedy with the distance. When thinking of fluidity, I’ll often mention a game like PixelJunk Shooter, and yet everything within that release is accomplished via analog sticks and button taps, with Ivy’s WiiMote controls leaving me plenty to reconsider about how I use that word.

Ivy’s world is stiff, built of blocks and squares that make a programmer’s life easier, with Ivy herself an animated but not particularly springy creature. She’ll certainly jump with enthusiasm at the end of each stage, her egg shell dressings bouncing as she does – but during a stage run she is a bullet, simply running the path forward until redirected by obstacles.

And yet the player can consistently and organically create a sense of life with those vines, opening new pathways yes, but also sweeping her up while pulling vines into creation, flinging her higher, confining her to areas, or spinning her in any direction they please.

Pulling on vines invites her into the net, which when released, fires her from the sling-shot and causes her spinning screw attack to take out any villainous birds or mice as well as bash through blocks. Occasionally she needs a boulder to break through tougher spots, and even there the player can sweep the rock into a vine and fling it wherever they please.

And sitting on the couch with an outstretched arm barely moving to bring this chaotic jungle gym to life, it’s earnestly surprising just how much life sparks and crackles from the screen, as much from the color palette as the action I’m directing – when I curse and lean forward with my serious game face after dying repeatedly, some old school memories come flooding back to join the new but familiar dance Ivy offers.

Along the way I shed the major concern nagging at me from the outset – Ivy’s stages could quickly blur into a repetitious chore. The game is tightly knit, with five stages per level and 100 stages in total.

I won’t suggest that the changing environments of each level dramatically keep tedium at bay on their own. Rather, the openness of the stages continually feels fresh, with the core simplicity of the design creating pathways up down and all around, and the vine manipulation necessary to explore these areas keeping the game from every reaching the tedium that seems so unavoidable in the pitch. Ivy also layers the obstacles, slowly bringing together nuisance predators and environmental hazards that increasingly call on faster reflexes still capable of moving Ivy forward while keeping her safe.

There’s a straight-forward two prong offering that allows for gamers simply wanting to reach the end, and those willing and eager to track down every last feather or stay alive longer to top the scoreboard. If the latter sounds more like your agenda, than Ivy’s levels are a playground, offering pathways that loop around the end goal and create a very natural progression despite the effort sometimes required to run the full course.

The game also offers a multiplayer versus mode where players race toward the goal, nurturing my tendency for being a jerk by allowing up to four to race while creating vines on each others’ screens to slow down the competition. That ability also extends into the story mode, with a second player able to add some co-op assistance via quick vine saves.

The DS release doesn’t allow for the co-op, instead offering two versus modes – racing to the finish line is complimented by medal finding as a consolation. Focusing so much on the Wii release, it’s hard not to see the DS version as more of a portable consolation prize – not necessarily less of a game, but one that doesn’t shine with the same vibrancy of the Wii release. The dividing line is in the controls, where the stylus is plenty capable but more constricting to a hand given bias from the free and easy impression made by the WiiMote.

My long term affection belongs to the Wii release, though I don’t believe more mobile gamers would be under-served by the DS version.

I’m still going to tell you to go with the Wii release, but the important idea here is that you don’t let this treat of a title pass you by.

Ivy the Kiwi?
Developer – Prope
Publisher – Xseed Games
System – Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS (Reviewed on both platforms)
Release Date – August 24, 2010

*A copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review on both platforms

Flametail begins with the aesthetic layout of a shmup, player’s hold the DSi like a book and use the dpad to move the tiny incinerator podship across the screen in a square by square routine. As the ship is moved, a flame trail of fiery squares follow behind the player, the path forward creating new ones while the end pieces dissipate and vanish.

Ahead of the player waits trash in the form of brightly colored blocks, presumably left over from an intergalactic game of Tetris. These blocks are stuck together in various shapes and sizes, and the player’s job is to touch the larger forms at any point in order to mark them for incineration as the flame trail catches up with each new move forward. Groups of blocks directly touching one another burn from any one being touched, while diagonally placed and stray blocks need to be reached separately.

It all sounds very easy, but a few instant deaths taught me otherwise – and by a few I mean many.

The key ingredient in blaming myself for repeated failure is the fact that the player is responsible for the pacing of the game – nothing happens unless the player moves the ship. As the ship is moved however, a solid bar from the bottom of the screen also moves in turn, and the game ends when that bar touches any garbage not yet burned or the flame trail of the ship.

This means that the player must ensure that objects burn up before the line reaches them, and make sure that their own trail is gone in time. And this is the tricky bit that saw me replaying even the first level more times than I care to admit. The additional complication is that the player can’t see the road ahead of the screen in most cases, meaning that there’s many times where the ship can become trapped by its own flame trail in a square prison of doom – not unlike taking the wrong turn on a Tron light cycle.

Power-ups provide some occasional aids to the player, gained from collecting letters on the screen that actually spell out the bonus Wheel of Fortune style. The five words to watch for are RADAR, which provides a much needed glimpse ahead of the player’s position – PUSH, which allows the player to move a single block around – ZAPALL, which destroys all blocks on screen – MISSILE, which fires a blast in the direction the ship is facing – and IGNITE, which ignites all blocks on screen. These latter two power-ups require the player to trigger them manually.

After only one night I’m just getting started with the planetary tour Flametail has to offer, but its deceptively simple and leisurely pace along with the shmup fancied visual style have already made it an easy puzzler to sink into, even if I spent a good chunk of time cursing it last night.

Touring the DSiWare store for the first time in a very long time yesterday, the game certainly stands out as a title that offers a challenge just fresh enough to not warrant the “not another puzzle game” cry I’ve been known to utter in the past.

Flametail
Developer – Mindware
Publisher – Nintendo
System – Nintendo DSi
Release Date – June 7, 2010
Price – 500 DSi Points

*A copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review

It was also an inadequate word to describe the way Nintendo is altering the legacy earned by The Legend of Zelda to date, which isn’t changing simply because new installments involve different modes of transportation in Hyrule, but because the emphasis on that concern shifts the entirety of the experience along with the significance of one of the industry’s most treasured franchises.

But let’s start out on a more solid footing by restating the obvious and acknowledge that The Legend of Zelda is the industry’s example of the oldest story in our possession. For the most part, each new entry to the series is a retelling of the hero’s story, told to new generations with subtle variations regarding the how and why to represent evolving sensibilities and ideas, but always anchored by a idealized image of human development. Though Spirit Tracks deviates with a more specific attempt at placing itself within a timeline, the game still takes advantage of the formula that furnishes the series with this reputation, failing to recognize the burden of responsibility and expectation the brand carries.

The act of stepping into the larger role of a hero is intimately tied to also recognizing one’s self as part of a larger world where those first footsteps are to be placed. Subsequently, the Zelda narrative formula necessitates a large cast of characters, spread across Hyrule to meet Link along his quest, representing any number of ideas and themes as the storyteller at the time pleases. These characters expand the scope of Hyrule’s narrative by their place within it, which affects Link’s connection to that world and thus his motivation toward personal growth and development in saving it.

How Link went about traversing this landscape was always an interesting consideration, but certainly not the primary focus. And yet within Spirit Tracks it clearly is, having found a formula within Windwaker that mutates to function as a primary narrative device. Nintendo has weaved these tracks into the stitching that holds the big book of Zelda together with skill, but left more than a few loose threads in the greater legacy of the series for the effort.

The Spirit Tracks are quickly revealed as the chains used to confine an ancient evil beneath the ground, which is admittedly a clever route. And the very idea of the train is a romantic one, which would seem fit for the themes that run through the series even if it changes our ideas of Hyrule’s pastoral setting. My ideal image of the train involves writing novels and drinking excessively, which are absent here.

Instead the game asks players to ride the rails from one end of Hyrule to the other, blowing the whistle to frighten away monsters, and using the cannon to fend off more determined creatures. To stem any chance of the trip becoming monotonous, players will also take deviations from their planed routes in order to avoid demon trains that travel fixed paths in certain areas. There’s even the ability to trace the route of travel before departing, allowing the train to handle rail-switches and providing plenty of time to let the mind drift and perhaps write that novel after all.

But let’s step back for a moment and return to Windwaker, that finest example of carrying the series beyond the blocky but well-executed N64 legacy. It’s a nostalgia trip that requires me to talk about the bond I formed with that boat during key moments where I felt lost or frustrated, finding it my only constant companion while left floating on the open sea. My remembrance of Windwaker is one of initial frustrations in trying to learn a changed landscape, finally resorting to making my own map – something I’d not done since childhood. I did this because in feeling challenged, I felt a greater desire to search every inch of Hyrule out, something that once again feels like the lost habits of childhood. Above all else, Windwaker is about capitalizing on an idea of the trip as part of the experience and an essential building block in the development of Link’s character, and mine as well.

The rewards of meeting and surpassing Windwaker’s challenges made me a better player.

Yet this isn’t about swapping a boat for a train because of my candy colored memories. Rather, this is about what a train represents in comparison, which involves connecting distant locations and building a nation through that connection. I’m not entirely sure how this concept can be properly applied to a videogame, and neither is Nintendo.

What emerges is a game that exploits the device in ways that violate the nobility of the series, offering an easier path toward player gratification by simplifying the spaces between larger conflicts, viewing that separation of space between points as obligatory and tedious rather than as a key area of focus. It’s entirely odd that the trip itself is made so much more exhausting with the landscape reduced to bland repeating patterns of blocky scenery. Again the answer to our boredom is the cannon, which serves as Nintendo’s answer to the mechanized suit of modern games, complete with unlimited ammunition.

The stops along the way spread out like the map from a Final Fantasy title, attempting to uphold an idea of the series with a monotonous rhythm method that sends the player to all points of the map for typical reasons. Let me know if you recognize the equation,

Point X requires Player to travel to Point Y to solve puzzle that sends Player to Point Z to finally learn how to meet the challenge of Point X.

These design deviations run underneath a title that very much possesses Nintendo’s perfected aesthetic of sound and color. Both Zelda and Link are still possessed of more expression and emotion in the simplest facial shift than any 3D uber-budget game to hit the shelves alongside Spirit Tracks. And yet the very reason I’ve appreciated two separate development goals across two systems also adds to the mutation of direction here.

The cell-shaded style takes a strange turn that follows the narrative toward moments of buddy comedy in the amplification of the exaggerated humor those visuals are capable of. Rather than subtle charms found in smaller smiles and wide-eyed surprise, Zelda in particular is given to repeated bouts of drama that sacrifice something precious in her character for the humor of seeing her bust out of a traditional role in a very predictable way.

This approach undermines what Windwaker accomplished in proving that the cell-shaded style could accentuate both classic and mature themes in ways we perhaps hadn’t considered, sinking back into something Nintendo had fiercely resisted with that original deviation from form.

The ease of picking up and playing the game with a few control refinements can’t carry the weight of complaints, particularly when the challenge of battles is more about the player carrying out two contrary acts in the physical world – dear Nintendo, I am starting to resent your microphone obsession.

Spirit Tracks is a sweetly polished train that has no destination, with stopovers that revel in cell-shaded antics more than the legacy inherent in the title. Even if you’re desperate for another trip to Hyrule, consider this candy rather than a full and proper meal. Call it candy-Zelda or even Zelda-lite if you want, not because of the system it appears on, but rather because of how light this release is on the fulfilling substance the series is cherished for.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Developer – Nintendo EAD
Publisher – Nintendo
System – Nintendo DS
Release Date – December 7, 2009

*A copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review

Despite the low profile release, and a name only someone with a shirt reading Dungeon Master could love, Capybara’s DS entry into the strategy genre stuffs more game up my stocking than I’d anticipated this season.

Sitting alongside recognizable brands on the store shelf, you’d be forgiven for going a tad cross-eyed reading the title Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes. The game is filled with the knights, elves, talking trees and evil hell spawn the title brings to mind. And while I don’t intend to undermine the effort but probably will anyway, such elements are just window dressing for a game more focused on proving Capybara an undisputed leader in creating addictive gaming experiences.

It’s not like I’d accuse Capy of having a shtick or suggest that the game repeats an established formula. But there’s definitely an emerging sense of familiar sensations attached to their work, and fortunately for us this is a good thing.

There is a campaign to give Clash of Heroes a more fitting name, the dominant choice being to refer to the game as one of the best DS titles you’ll likely miss in 2009. As much as I prefer to write my own music, it’s hard not to join the choir on that note. It only took one battle to verify that Clash of Heroes is a desert island game, offering a formula that I could endlessly gorge myself on – in short, a game that would make a hermit out of many if not for the included local multiplayer.

I have this recurring urge to compare the title to the best game people missed in 2008, Sega’s Valkyria Chronicles. That doesn’t mean to suggest that Clash of Heroes has the same level of sweeping dramatic tones or character design, though the game is not without its charms in that department. Beyond the fact that this is another sleeper hit waiting to be discovered, the real similarity is the way in which the strategy nature of the game causes me to stress and squirm in the same way Valkyria did last year. It’s a gut-wrenching affair having to end my turn and watch the enemy AI position units, locking in and questioning my decisions while waiting to see if my best laid plans will be ruined.

Explaining the situation may prove nearly as difficult as learning adaptive strategies, but let’s give it a go.

Clash of Heroes is laid out a bit like Connect Four, except you can’t score diagonally and the basic units only require you to connect three – still, I rather like the comparison. The lower DS screen displays your units on the battlefield, which are randomly dropped into rows that create columns across the screen and bring you face-to-face with the enemy deployment via the upper screen of the DS.

Each turn allots a few moves – never nearly as many as I need – in which to create offensive and defensive chains by linking three units of the same type in rows. Linking three in a vertical line creates an attack chain that moves those units to the edge in order to face the enemy, while connecting three or more in a horizontal line creates a barrier to absorb enemy attacks. Either move will push units still waiting for a chain toward the back for their chance to join the fight.

More powerful units are collected along the way, such as dragons and deer in the beginning. Each special unit has its own abilities and rules, for instance a deer requires two standard units of the same color and can jump enemy barriers, while a dragon requires four same colored units and spews poisonous acid.

Each attack takes a varying amount of turns, providing time to prepare as enemy attacks count down. Units that have completed an attack or have been destroyed are collected in a tab the player can tap with the stylus to redeploy them in a random order, though special units are lost if defeated and the player must purchase more while traveling the land.

Players can also remove standard units at anytime, and herein is where the game gets more interesting. Moving a unit from one column to another costs the player a move, but removing a unit that allows others to create a chain does not, with multiple chain occurrences giving the player an extra move within that turn. Layered over this is the ability to increase the strength of chained attacks by creating more of the same type.

This sets the stage for the element that keeps me coming back, because the way the game merges strategy with chance, with units starting at random positions and reinforcements falling into place anywhere they please taps into the charms of the puzzle genre. Clash of Heroes becomes a game as much about developing a strategy as it is about discovering accident advantages and potential bonuses provided by chance, giving us a game that requires a truly adaptive sense of strategy. The game even offers a special last-ditch attack based on the amount of damage dealt and taken, making several of my victories as much about pure luck as skill.

Being able to develop strategy as I go and having plans consistently change on-the-fly has kept the game reliably nestled in my DS. I’m continually surprised by how often an accident can play to my advantage, and sometimes I just outright reset the battle to see if I can get a better set of odds in my favor. There’s also a constant shake-up to keep battles evolving, at times asking the player to attack a specific unit or to defend one. When boss encounters offer up enemies that can move positions with little warning, the ability to adapt attack plans quickly becomes even more vital.

This all sounds a tad complicated, and there are additional elements continually introduced as the player progresses via an overhead map where the narrative unfolds and players move by tapping stones on the ground that form various paths – ensuring the stylus is the only tool needed to play the entire game. Additionally, players need to decide which special units to take into battle, and which special items to equip – standard perks such as the ability to rise from the dead for a second chance in battle or increasing the strength of certain units. Moving through the world of Might & Magic also offers various side-quests and challenges, my favorite proving to be the puzzle battles that offer scenarios asking players to work within a limited set of moves.

I could on for pages, but what seems most important to squeeze in here is the way in which everything fits the tiny screen of the DS so perfectly. The touchscreen is all players need to drop replacements, move units, build chains, and traverse the map, all without the myriad of management screens that normally bog a strategy title down.

There’s been no shortage of quality strategy titles where I simply forget how to manage it all if I leave it for too long. But everything here is so straightforward and streamlined that it’s easy to come back to it after any span of time so far. Beyond Capy’s knack for creating new addictions, the real magic at work is the creation of a game with deep layers of complexity and challenge that remains simplistic and inviting to both the player’s touch and comprehension.


Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes
Developer – Capybara Games
Publisher – Ubisoft
System – Nintendo DS
Release Date – December 1, 2009

*A copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review