This summary is a little later than usual, but there are some interesting tidbits regarding Spirit Tracks, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (lack of advertising especially), WayForward talk, and more.
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
– Bozon will be reviewing the game
– Sam likes it
– Also believes it’s one of the more difficult Zelda titles
– Again, don’t need to play previously cleared areas in the Spirit Tower
– Bozon has completed 3 dungeons and is in the third tower of the master dungeon (9-10 hours), so sidequests yet
– Sam says the tower becomes a difficult challenge towards the end of the game
– Seems Nintendo worked hard on the game to make it more complex
– Still have all the intro “tutorial” stuff
– A lot of déjà vu moments
– After the first hour or so, there’s a lot of interesting stuff
– New items
– Still find keys to treasure chests, lighting torches, but you’ll be stumped a lot because previous Zelda knowledge won’t help you
– Many times Bozon didn’t know what to do
– Game teaches you new conventions and are cool
– There are times where you’ll need to go back into rooms
– Whirlwind item can get annoying
– Sam was struggling with the Spirit Pipes since he was using the original DS
– Bozon thinks the Spirit Pipes are better implemented/used than the ocarina in Ocarina of Time
– Can’t change sensitivity of the mic
– Craig received a wooden treasure chest from Nintendo
– Comes out on Monday
– Game opens up in different areas to take the train, not the things you expect on the map
– The more Bozon plays it, the more he likes it
– Dungeons are better than Phantom Hourglass, other things are better as well
– Sam feels the train is more boring than the ship because you can’t draw your own path
– Bozon’s review should be up on Monday
– Definitely a buy game
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
– Matt has been playing it
– Completed the game once
– Playing it again
– It’s a fun game
– Review is up
– No marketing, advertising for the game, people are getting a vibe that’s it’s a junk game because of that – But it’s not
– It’s a well-made game for Wii
– Climax Studios created the game
– Re-imagining of the original game
– Play as Harry Mason, crashes in the middle of a blizzard in Silent Hill, daughter has gone missing
– Different in how it plays/pacing than the original
– Has some bold/fresh design choices
– Wiimote controls flashlight
– Matt says the flashlight is the best flashlight he has ever seen in any game, PS3/360 games included
– Awesome lighting for the flashlight
– Grainy filter is in the game, has been a trademark in Silent Hill games
– Meticulously designed world, lots of cool details
– Two gameplay types: Exploration with flashlight and puzzle-solving
– Cell-phone used for many of the puzzles
– Also run for your life throughout – scared Matt a lot
– Press down on the d-pad to see behind you while running
– Matt’s thinks the game is too short (5 hours if you play straight-through)
– Replay value comes from psych profile (different appearances from characters, dialogue trees, etc.)
– Matt’s other gripe is that you’ll always be fine when there is no ice around
– Still a good game
– No weapons (helps to make the game scary)
– You won’t be scared if you don’t get scared by Resident Evil or Dead Space
– A lot of new gameplay types which break up monotony (ex: You’ll be inside a car as it falls into a lake, water will flood it, need to get out)
– Releasing on Tuesday
DSi LL
– Definitely made for the older crowd
– Can’t imagine how big it is until you hold it in your hands
– It really is big
– Coming out in North America next year
– Pay a little more for the LL in Japan
– Brain Age games built in
– Doesn’t stretch the image, just a bigger picture
– Pixel count exactly the same
– Picture looks sharper
– Shouldn’t import it because of region restrictions
– Just a bigger DSi
Glory of Heracles
– Very popular in Japan
– Nintendo bringing it to North America in January
– Nintendo’s first first-party game for 2010
Intellivision Lives!
– Makes sense for the DS
– Uses touch scree as d-pad
– Can’t say who the publisher is
– Doesn’t have licensed games
– Probably will be around $20
– Tried to shop it on DSiWare first
Top 25 Wii games
– They do it every year
– 2 games from this year made it into the top 10
– Will talk about it more next year
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Reflex Edition
– Bozon played a lot of Call of Duty 4
– Was rating Reflex on a Wii scale
– Bozon had a lot of problems (crash bug, control issues)
– Bozon thinks Reflex controls the worst out of all the Wii Call of Duty titles
– Shakes a lot like Red Steel
– There will be people who like it
– Overall, Bozon feels it’s a 7.0 game
– 2 year-old game, could be played way better on systems intended for originally
– Cool game, has a lot to it
– Other shooters done better on Wii
– Needs to run at 60 FPS
– Matt heard Red Steel 2 team was upping the shooting in the game
Reader questions
– HeartGold/SoulSilver has some changes that gives it a more Japanese feel
– Pay 2 Play has been included in numerous games, has been out for awhile
– Cursed Mountain isn’t bad, but compared to Silent Hill, shouldn’t bother – Matt recommends Cursed Mountain for $19.99
– Ideas for Zelda: Craig would like online functionality to download dungeons, Bozon’s crazy idea would be to see the pedometer in the game, Matt would like a narrative that doesn’t feel like it’s carried over from past games, Bozon also says MotionPlus should be used for Z-targeting
– After Contra 4, Konami checked to see if WayForward would like to make Contra 5…Nothing announced, up to Konami for another Contra game, WayForward would probably like to make a sequel, but Konami has to pull the trigger
– Bozon says Shantae games for DSiWare are looking good, first video will probably be on IGN
– Red Steel 2 should be releasing sometime around February
– Avatar doesn’t use MotionPlus for swordplay
– Nintendo didn’t really start with the old school remakes strategy – Konami was really the first along with a few other companies
