You may have noticed that there wasn’t one of these preview features for last month, the reason being that —besides Fluidity and Super Mario All-Stars— absolutely nothing of note came out. January, on the other hand, is full of notable new releases. None of them are really massively hyped up games, but I’ve written a few reasons why they should still be on your radar. Anyway, here are the games that’ll kick off the New Year for Nintendo fans:
Lost in Shadow (Wii)
US: January 4
EU: Out already!
AU: Out already!
Why should you care? Because I care! Given I’ve been playing the game since it released in PAL regions in October as “A Shadow’s Tale” and should have a review up for it shortly, I feel I can write with some authority about this strange Wii title. You control the shadow of a young boy who finds himself torn from his body and has to climb a mysterious tower filled with traps, spiders, and weird multi-armed shadow monsters to get it back. While the actual platforming isn’t fantastic and the sword fighting is a bit sloppy, it’s very atmospheric and there are some incredibly well designed puzzles based around the whole “being-a-shadow” thing. Joining the nameless boy is Spangle, a fairy who acts as a pointer for the Wii remote that can be used to manipulate objects in the foreground and create new paths for your shadow to take. For instance, lights can be moved to change the way shadows are cast, and traps can be activated to get rid monsters. It’s certainly very ambitious and I commend Hudson for bringing such a niche game to the Wii – even if it ends up selling about ten copies.
Kingdom Hearts Re:coded (DS)
US: January 11
EU: January 14
AU: January 13
Why should you care? Because chances are you didn’t play the original Kingdom Hearts coded. Though it was intended to be based on the aforementioned Japanese mobile phone game, Re:coded seems to have taken its own direction, mixing elements of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days on the DS and the more recent Birth by Sleep. It’s a reimagining of the first Kingdom Hearts game (don’t call it a rehash!) that takes place in a virtual representation of Jiminy Cricket’s journal where a “data” Sora has to explore previously-visited words and destroy bugs that seem to be messing with the original story – or something to that effect. I spoiled the entire plot for myself and I still have no idea what it’s about. Despite the overcomplicated plot, re:Coded is being pitched at a more casual audience; as well as the usual action-RPG stuff, there are side-scrolling stages, and turn-based combat. There’s also a “tag mode” like in the World Ends With You or Dragon Quest IX, where you can put your DS in sleep mode and swap things like custom-made levels and avatars. Even though it recycles a lot of old material (did I write “recycled”? I meant to say “re-visits”!) and apparently adds very little to the overarching plot of the series, Kingdom Hearts Re:coded might be worth your while if only for its quirky gameplay and even quirkier title.
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (DS)
US: January 11
EU: January 14
AU: January 20
Why should you care? Does the name “Shu Takumi” mean anything to you? Oh, it doesn’t? Well, he created the critically-acclaimed (I liked them, at least) Ace Attorney series and now he’s in charge of developing Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, a game that plays completely differently but keeps the same sense of mystery and weird supernatural vibe. The titular “Phantom Detective” is Sissel, a man who wakes up in a junkyard with no memory of who he is or why he finds himself to be recently deceased. Sissel has to search for clues relating to his unfortunate fate before dawn comes and his soul disappears. On top of his own race against the clock, Sissel finds himself caught up in a series of murders, and he has to travel to four minutes before each murder occurs to try and prevent others from ending up like him. Being a ghost, Sissel can possess inanimate objects and trigger events or “tricks” that should change the way events pan out and open up new paths to jump between other objects. It’s an interesting mechanic, and hopefully one that won’t get too overused throughout the course of the game. With a cast of eccentric characters and a striking presentation, Ghost Trick is shaping up to be one of the first games of 2011 you should really keep an eye on (even if it was supposed to be released last year). If you’re still on the fence about it, Capcom have released a free flash-based demo of the game you can try out here:
http://www.gamespot.com/misc/presentations/ghost-trick/index.html
Plants vs. Zombies (DS)
US: January 18
EU: TBA
AU: TBA
Why should you care? If you haven’t already played Plants vs. Zombies on the PC, Xbox 360 or any of the other platforms graced with its presence over the last two years, it’s essentially a tower defense game that tasks you with defending your lawn (or roof!) from zombies by planting everything from potato landmines to butter-flinging corncob catapults. Unlike a lot of other tower defense games, it’s absolutely bursting with charm, starring the most endearing brain-eating zombie horde ever (although the Thriller-inspired Michael Jackson zombie won’t be appearing in this version). The DS’s touch screen should be well suited to playing the game, more so than trying to be precise with my massive thumbs on the iPhone’s tiny screen. Like with PopCap’s port of Peggle, Plants vs. Zombies on the DS comes with a bunch of new features. Minigames, which were sadly stripped from the iPhone version of the game, are back, and there should be even more of these weird challenges on the DS. The two-player versus mode that was in the Xbox 360 version is also making a return. And it just wouldn’t be Plants vs. Zombies if Popcap didn’t include Laura Shigihara’s excellent soundtrack:
This had better make it into the DS version.
