Category: Nintendo

Amish Otaku, DS, Nintendo, Video Games

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

 

I haven’t properly explored any Castlevania games since the second or third was released for the NES. I’ve seen the 3-D iterations come and go and I’ve heard all of the wonderful things said about them, so understand this is coming from a bit of an outdated perception of the franchise.

First off, I wasn’t exactly comfortable hunting Dracula without a proper Belmont by my side. I mean, for me, Simon Belmont was the heart of the story. That feeling quickly faded, however, as the story isn’t the heart of this side-scrolling, whip-cracking platformer. Continue reading “Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin”

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Amish Otaku, DS, Nintendo, Video Games

Elite Beat Agents Are Go!

 

I had heard about how [s]Japanese[/s] odd this game was before I purchased it, but the full force of it doesn’t strike you until you’ve played through a couple of levels.

You’re an Elite Beat Agent. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to find people stuck in sticky situations – like asking the high school quarterback to go steady, or saving the world from an alien invasion – and cheer them on to victory. That’s right, no super weapons or outright ass-kicking, you’re a secret agent/cheerleader.

This is a rhythm game with a unique DS twist: Instead of tapping buttons, you’re tapping the screen and following patterns with your stylus. I was surprised at the number of licensed songs in the game as well. I didn’t think the tiny DS carts could hold nineteen songs plus a game and animations.

While the game play may sound simple, the learning curve on this can be brutal. You may find yourself struggling to complete the easiest difficulty of the game. There’s even a story on the Internet of a disgruntled gamer viciously dashing his DS against the wall and then impaling it with a screwdriver after being unable to complete the last portion of a song. Sounds like a big ol’ crybaby to me! Continue reading “Elite Beat Agents Are Go!”

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Amish Otaku, Nintendo, Video Games, Wii

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

What else can I say about the new Legend of Zelda other than “Wow.” This is director Eiji Aonuma’s third Zelda title to date and with this installment in the series he has truly lived up to the work of Shigeru Miyamoto’s Ocarina of Time.

For the first time in the series we have a very realistic looking Link exploring much more realistic looking world. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always been pleased with the art direction and character design of the Zelda series – I loved the look of Wind Waker – but this game out does the lot of them. In fact, this is the first Zelda title to have a T for Teen rating instead of an E for Everyone due to the animated blood and violence.

It just looks and feels the way it was always meant to be played. The Wii imbues the game with a new sense of verisimilitude both with the Wii remote and the graphics. Continue reading “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess”

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