Perfection 3 de Metroid : Premières impressions

J'ai combattu par une bonne jambe endolorie et un mauvais de nouveau à marchent presque deux milles à mes jouets locaux R' nous l'autre jour. Pourquoi ? Bien, pour reprendre Perfection 3 de Metroid pour le Wii naturellement ! Il a été de deux jours depuis que j'ai commencé à jouer la dernière promenade 3D de Samus Aran et j'ai pensé que je partagerais mes pensées initiales sur ceci acompte « final » haut-prévu dans Perfection de Metroid série.

Graphiques

D'abord au loin, Perfection 3 de Metroid regarde beau. Les graphiques ont a venu long le chemin dès le début a dévoilé des screenshots du jeu, qui arrière alors fait lui presque indistinguible de la perfection 2 de Metroid. Il n'aurait pas tué rétro pour tordre le HUD de Samus, mais les milieux et les lieux sont riches, animés et facilement comparable à Xbox de première génération 360 jeux. Je n'ai pas 1/4 ans égal dans le jeu encore, mais jusqu'ici Perfection 3 est le jeu meilleur-regarder de Wii que j'ai jamais vu.

Bruit-

Un autre domaine d'amélioration énorme. La première perfection a eu une bande sonore primitive qui a été sauvée par quelques airs familiers, tandis que de la deuxième la collection audio entière perfection a ressemblé à de quelque chose un fou d'electronica composé en son sous-sol en utilisant le logiciel du garçon original de jeu. I’m happy to report that Metroid Prime 3 sounds nothing resembling this.

Most of MP3’s sound effects seem to be refined samples from the past two Primes, but the music is another story. Gone are the grating MIDIs from the past two Primes (save a few recycled, if slightly improved selections); replaced with much grander, more sophisticated orchestral pieces. Much similar to Super Metroid than anything else. This is a good thing, although Retro could’ve done even better with a live orchestra performing the score.

Oh yeah, and everyone talks now….except Samus. Why, oh why, did Retro tweak her body with shapelier legs and sexier eyes and yet leave out the final feminine trait that could potentially reel in thousands of female Metroid fans? I just don’t see the point in continuing to make Samus mute. Why even bother to give her a name if Nintendo wants her to feel like the player? Excluding Samus, though, the voice acting is actually pretty good. Particularly for the Aurora Unit, a “good” version of the Mother Brain who oddly sounds like a combination of Frieza from Dragonball Z and my college speech professor.

Controls-

Relatively smooth, and not as difficult to get adjusted to as one might think. Targeting is more challenging now that you have to manually aim the Wiimote at your enemy after locking on, but I suppose it’s more true to life. It also helps that so far most of the enemies I’ve encountered are relatively slow and stay in plain sight. Turning is slower than it used to be though, and the buttons for missiles and changing visors are also somewhat awkwardly placed. Just wait till you get your hands on the fun Grapple Lasso though. It just might make you yearn for Wii Castlevania.

Gameplay-

Different from the get-go. Unlike past Metroid games, where it was essentially you against an entire planet, Samus has company this time around. In addition to the presence of rival bounty hunters, interaction in MP3 is plentiful. For the first time in a Metroid game you have the ability to talk to NPCs. The Aurora Unit is also a constant throughout, serving as a guiding ear that briefs you on missions, maps your destination and provides hints and advice.

Your travels in Prime 3 no longer take place on a single planet, but several. Let’s face it, constant backtracking nearly ruined Metroid Prime 2. In Prime 3, however, instead of Samus being forced to navigate one giant, confusing map, each world is divided into multiple, much smaller sections. Each of these sections can be reached using Samus’s redesigned ship, which acts as a mobile home base. Not only can you save and replenish your energy and weapon supply, but you can view the inside of the cockpit and use the various controls to find out what your percentage of Phazon corruption is, for example. The ship can also supposedly be summoned for an air strike at certain points, although I haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing this yet.

Final thoughts-

Let me clarify that these are only my first impressions of Metroid Prime 3 and my opinion of the game could change very suddenly, very dramatically. So far, however, this is shaping up to be a most exciting conclusion to the Prime series. I’m very pleased at Retro Studios for the greater emphasis on story and the faster, more action-oriented gameplay. It just feels….right. I can’t wait to delve deeper into Prime 3 and finally figure out how Dark Samus, the Mother Brain and Phazon are connected. Look for my full review in PTD #310.

Mad Max Wept: NCsoft Kills Auto Assault Tonight

All good things come to an end and apparently mediocre things come to an end too. NCsoft announced earlier this year that they would be shuttering the MMORPG Auto Assault and tonight is the final day the servers will be online.

In a message to members, NCsoft thanks the remaining fans for their dedication. It also looks like ‘eligible’ players will receive some type of gift in the form of Tabula Rasa and City of Heroes goodies.

So long Central Wasteland, we barely knew you.

Chicken Shoot

I imagine that the developers of Chicken Shoot thought that it would be a great idea to take a mediocre flash game and put it on the Nintendo Wii. I imagine that everyone involoved were in hopes that the Wiimote would make shooting chickens an outrageous amount of fun. After essentially porting the game over, they made sure to slap a $30 price tag on it in order to say that it’s “better” than the online game. I would also assume that after they finished this project they promptly returned to their “think lab” and resumed hitting themselves on the head with hammers.

Chicken Shoot is, in fact, an online flash game available at www.chickenshoot.com and recently made its debut on the Wii. The purpose of the game is to shoot as many chickens as fast as you can. You aim your Wiimote, shoot to kill, and after a few rounds, you reload. There are four guns: the pistol (unlimited ammo), two machine guns, and a shotgun. There are twelve landscapes and eight difficulty levels.

In all honesty, the game is entertaining, funny, and enjoyable for about the first two, maybe three, levels.

At first I found myself laughing sinisterly at the various sounds of dying chickens and the blood that they would spill right after my cross-hairs had squarely lined up with the poultry’s posterior. Then the second level loaded, and it was all the same except with different scenery. After twelve levels, I was ready join the fate of the chickens.

This game clearly lacks variety and replayablility in the worst possible way. Making somebody pay for this title is a lot like making someone pay $30 for the free food sample at Wal-Mart. Renting this game would be ok. Once.

Some of you may be trying to argue that it would be good for a little gamer to “cut his/her teeth on”. After all it’s full of cute clucking chickens right? The answer is NO. This game is just too violent for the little ones, and once they are old enough to actually play they will get bored too quickly to enjoy it.

Chicken Shoot is best left on the shelves.

From Ergonomic to Bleeding Thumbs: The Microsoft Chatpad

Forget stringing out a full-sized keyboard to get your smack talk on in Halo 3. Microsoft has unleashed a series of product shots for their upcoming Messenger Kit, an accessory to the 360 controller that adds a thumb keyboard into the mix.

The keyboard is backlit and powered by the controller. Microsoft says that the keyboard will still allow player to game comfortably with the accessory installed, although we’re going to have to give one a spin before we agree on that.  The kit also includes a standard microphone/headset.

Straight from the horse’s mouth:

Fall Lineup Ramping Up: More Games Go Gold

Following in the footsteps of the Halo 3 gold announcement yesterday, publishers of forthcoming Stranglehold and  Fatal Inertia have announced completion of their products as well.  You can check out a demo of each title now on your LIVE enabled 360.

Win a Wii Winner announced!

Congratulations to Sarah W. From Washington D.C. With the help of a little random number generator (we use http://random.org) she’s scored a brand new Nintendo Wii from PTD.

Stay tuned for our next contest which will be announced in the upcoming issue of PTD Magazine. You can sign up for your free subscription by using the form in the top-right corner of our page. Never miss another great PTD contest again, get signed up today!

Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition

So what is Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition? A re-make? A re-imagination of a classic title? Or a simple lazy cash-in? There’s not really an easy answer. Well, other than it’s most certainly not the latter.

The obvious conclusion is that this new ‘Wii Edition’ is the definitive version of what’s almost universally known as one of the best games of the last decade.  Combining the outstanding visuals of the Gamecube original, the multitude of hidden content added to the PS2 version, and the use of the Wii’s innovative control method, it’s blatant that this is indeed the complete package.

At first glance, it seems that time has not been too kind in terms of the visual nature of Resident Evil 4.  Despite  a slight drop in visual clarity when compared to the newly HD-ready console generation, there are very few titles out there that can cram in so much dense atmosphere.  Every area you’ll be blasting away in has its own unique charm, and with the lights turned down low throughout the game, there are scares a plenty.

Unlike previous Resident Evil titles, this latest addition to the series focuses more on combat than on brain teasing puzzles. Ammo is indeed still reasonably scarce enough to cause a few tense moments, particularly during the ‘siege’ sections as there are always masses of enemies to dispatch. This change of the focal point is a fantastic idea, particularly with the new control method.  Using the Nunchuk to move and the Remote to aim your weapon brings a whole new realm of enjoyment to what was already a stunning title.

There are one or two problems, unfortunately. One is the strange lack of ability to move things around in your inventory via the Remote.  The second, perhaps more of a game design point, is the sheer number of times you’ll frantically end up firing at the floor or way up in the sky when surprised by  enemies jumping out at you.

There really is no excuse not to own this title, particularly at the budget price it’s on sale for now.  An essential purchase for all Wii owners out there, even if you’ve already played through the previous versions, Resident Evil 4 is a classic video game, retold.

Microsoft Blue Light Special: XBLA Titles Discounted for 48 Hours

Major Nelson has just announced that a few titles on XBLA will be discounted 50% this Labor Day.  Included in the price-chopping are Small Arms and Zuma Deluxe for 400 points as well as Gauntlet and  Dig Dug for a measly 200 points.  If you’ve been holding back on these titles, now is your chance to snag them for cheap.  Who doesn’t have a spare US$2.50 to burn on Gauntlet?  Blue Wizard needs your points badly.

It’s also worth noting that Major Nelson stated that this was the “first ever” XBLA sale, leading us to believe that players can expect more of the same in the future.

LOTRO 7 day trial now available for download

Turbine announce today the availability of a 7-day free trial of their latest MMO, Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar. If you’ve been waiting for an opportunity to jump into Tolkien’s Middle Earth and have 3.98 Gb of drive space to spare, now’s your chance.

More details with the download at http://www.lotro.com/trial.

[ed: The free-trial is currently only open to residents of North America, Australia, and New Zealand.]

Elebits

It appears that I solved the world’s energy crisis over the weekend. My solution has nothing to do with oil or solar power and everything to do with pastel creatures napping in your underwear drawer. My solution is Elebits, and I’m sure the world will thank me.

Elebits, in case you’ve not heard (the news of my discovery hasn’t spread as quickly as I had expected), are tiny creatures that can be harnessed for the electricity they produce. Video game players can practice catching the elusive beasts on the Nintendo Wii title, aptly named, Elebits. If catching brightly colored creatures in order to turn on the lights in your house sounds like your idea of fun, then you’ve come to the right place.

The game is presented in the first person, with the Wiimote controlling your movements as well as interactions with the environment. Once players become accustomed to these controls, which is easier said than done, the players mount the task of gathering the Elebits hiding in a young child’s house.

Equipped with a “capture gun” much like the gravity gun in HL2, this task quickly devolves into a mad rush against time to fling every bit of furniture in a room out of the way, producing a horrendous mess in the process and generally blocking your exit into another room. At least, that’s how I played it, which posed a problem when the game adds objectives like “break no more than six objects or you fail”. Needless to say, I was able to do much better after the excitement of trashing a room I didn’t have to clean up wore off.

As players continue the hunt for Elebits, the game gets progressively harder. After clearing the protagonist’s house of Elibits as well as capturing the “boss” Elibit, the game moves out of the house and into the neighborhood. Gravity goes crazy and from there the flying Elibits from past levels seem like a walk in the park.

As far as games go, Elibits give players a very tactile sense of the game environment. After playing for a few hours, I also began “feeling” how heavy certain objects were as I used my Capture Gun to manipulate them. If you’re a patient gamer, and want to play a title that really gives the Wiimote a proper workout, we would recommend giving this title a shake.

Next Page »