Blizzard Entertainment, the developer for the upcoming PC game Diablo III, has earned a reputation over the years as one of the best, most consistent developers in gaming today.  Once called Silicon & Synapse, Blizzard was an American developer in an industry still dominated by the far east.  It focused on game ports at first, before going on to developing its own titles in the early 90’s.  The company had some minor hits on consoles with games like Rock n’ Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings, but the developer really became known when it released a real time strategy (RTS) game for the PC titled Warcraft:  Orcs and Humans.  Warcraft was an example of great timing on the part of Blizzard.  It wasn’t all that unique from a gameplay standpoint as the RTS genre had already been firmly established by the Dune series from Westwood Studios, the other big name in the RTS genre.  Blizzard and Westwood would have a rivalry through-out the 90’s with the two producing big name franchises like Blizzard’s Warcraft and Westwood’s Command & Conquer.

What Blizzard is often most credited with when it comes to the RTS genre is adding plot to the game.  This goes beyond merely setting up the conflict but extends to in game missions.  Where Dune was comfortable to have the player focus on annihilating the opponent on a given map, Warcraft added purpose.  There were many straight-forward kill the enemy missions, but there were also rescue missions or establish a satellite base type of thing.  It seems like a small thing, but it did help break up the monotony of the game.  And Warcraft’s setting did go a long way as well as the medieval/fantasy theme worked well within the game and the major conflict of orcs v.s. humans proved surprisingly dramatic.  It wasn’t high brow kind of stuff of course, though the plots would become more complicated in later games, it was basically good v.s. evil but that worked well enough at the time.

Most people today know Warcraft more for the World of Warcraft franchise than anything else.  Like with the RTS series of games, WoW came at a great when the massively-multiplayer online (MMO) role-playing genre was taking off.  Blizzard again didn’t do much to rock the boat from a gameplay perspective, but the Warcraft franchise worked well in this setting and Blizzard made everything easy on the new comer.  This made WoW the most accessible title in the genre and a main reason why it has become the studio’s biggest cash cow.

Of course, Blizzard didn’t just make money off of the Warcraft franchise.  Also paying out dividends was the massively popular StarCraft.  As most would suspect given the name, it’s basically Warcraft in space.  The conflict is new, and has now been expanded to three parties instead of two, but the basic gameplay is still the same.  StarCraft did prove more complex.  While Warcraft and its sequel established a pretty basic strategy, StarCraft’s game challenged players a bit more.  Resource management was more complex and simply overwhelming the opposition didn’t always work as the factions waging war against one another were now quite different.  In Warcraft, the orcs and humans were practically palette swaps as they were so similar.  There were a couple noticeable differences (mainly in spells earned by higher level units, which actually proved to be a pretty big difference as the Ogre Mage’s bloodlust was ultra-powerful) but for the most part each side had its own main melee unit, ranged unit, siege unit, etc.  StarCraft’s humans (Terrans), Protoss, and Zerg each came with their own gameplay strategies that the player needed to exploit in order to win.  A Protoss player would not approach a fight the same way a Zerg player would, nor would he attack a Zerg enemy the same way he would a Terran enemy.  This helped make StarCraft hugely popular online and in competitive settings.  Strangely, StarCraft wouldn’t receive a proper sequel for over 10 years.

Diablo (1996)

Blizzard’s other big franchise, and the one this post is supposed to be about, is the Diablo franchise.  First released in 1996, the Diablo franchise is your basic dungeon crawler.  It’s the most straight-forward and simple title in Blizzard’s catalog.  The first one was especially basic.  It only included three characters: the warrior, rogue, and mage.  Each one had its obvious strengths and weaknesses. The player took the character through the game’s lone dungeon of 16 levels with the main goal of destroying the game’s antagonist, Diablo.  There were quests along the way given out by the game’s townspeople or just stumbled upon while journeying through the dungeon.  None were of the head-scratching variety and merely added a little back-story to why you were killing a certain enemy.  The game’s narrative was mostly non-essential, the real drive was to simply level up and make your character as strong as possible.  Finding loot was the main goal as you never know what the next monster would drop or what would be in the next destructible barrel.  Each level of the dungeon was also randomly generated which encouraged replay.  Once the game was beaten it didn’t end there as the player could continually take the same character through the dungeon again and again until boredom set in.

Diablo was quite successful, and its sequel Diablo II even more so.  Diablo II arrived in 2000 and carried over the same point and click mechanics but added more variety to the character classes.  Where there were once 3, now there were 5.  There was also a skill tree implemented to make each class feel different.  Now the warrior class wasn’t just stronger, he could do special attacks or leap (he was also now called the barbarian).  The game’s expansion would add more classes as well giving gamers far more variety.  The game was also much bigger and more challenging, but was still mostly just a dungeon crawl with the main goal of the player to create the most powerful character possible.

The theme for Diablo II: more is better.

I was hooked on the original Diablo.  I beat the game with each of the three classes multiple times.  My favorite was the rogue, though the mage character ended up being the most powerful if enough time was invested.  His magic was so strong that I rarely had to equip him with a weapon.  In Diablo II, I found myself suitably addicted once more but the game’s massive size cut down on my willingness to play through it again and again.  As such, I only really played through it twice; once with the necromancer and once with the amazon.  By the time I was nearing the end with the amazon (and truthfully, I can’t remember if I beat it or not with her) I had had enough.  By this time I felt Diablo had been eclipsed by Bioware in the dungeon crawler genre.  Baldur’s Gate, and later Neverwinter Nights, offered a more rewarding experience.  Diablo could be boiled down to the fact that you just clicked on the enemy you wanted dead and spammed potions to stay alive.  Diablo II did liven up the experience with the skills system, and some characters introduced supporting characters as well but they weren’t as tactile as the multi-person party found in Baldur’s Gate.

This sort of leads into the main point of this post:  I’m not excited for Diablo III.  Diablo III is set for release this year, and maybe as early as next month, for the PC and Mac.  Whether or not I’m excited to play it is actually irrelevant, as I don’t think I own a machine that could run it.  My laptop can run StarCraft II in the low settings just fine, but I suspect more muscle is needed to do the same with Diablo III.  Even if the game was coming out on Playstation 3, I don’t think I’d have much desire to play it.  It’s possible I’d end up getting it at some point, but unenthusiastically.  That’s fine and all, but I feel like I’m in the minority.  I feel like Blizzard has created a reputation for itself that includes amazing games.  Blizzard notoriously takes forever to release anything with a focus put on quality.  It’s in some ways kind of ridiculous considering it now has powerful financial backing from Activision which means the development teams are much larger than what they once were.  It made sense for a small developer to take awhile to get things to market, but now it just seems like a marketing strategy.  Blizzard cried about not having enough time to get out StarCraft II, so it removed the Zerg and Protoss campaigns in order to make its release date.  It was announced in 2007, but work basically had begun in 2003, and yet the game was released in an incomplete state in 2010.  The not enough time excuse just rang hollow and it sounded more like a money-grab than anything as now gamers will have to buy two more games to complete the story.

Gameplay shot from Diablo III. As one can see, aside from looking better, not much has changed.

Diablo III has had a more quiet release schedule.  Perhaps Blizzard has learned to better manage its resources or just wisely has kept its mouth shut until the game is within a couple of years of release.  Still, I was surprised when I looked up the game for this post that it was announced in 2008, nearly 4 years ago.  I suppose it just feels like it hasn’t been that long because my interest has remained low.  Diablo offers a fun, but shallow gameplay experience and one that just doesn’t work for me anymore. When I was in my teens I could play these dungeon crawl types with more enthusiasm but now they’re just boring for me.  A lot of them seem to receive similar critical reactions to my own, but I suspect Diablo III will be a critical darling despite not doing much different.  Blizzard will deliver a solid narrative, something the company has become well-versed in doing, which will go a long way towards giving the game greater purpose.  Gameplay wise, I suspect it will be the same experience just with a different lens.  For fans of the first two games, that will probably be good enough as Blizzard’s long development windows does help to create an increased interest.  If Diablo had an almost annual release schedule like some franchises it would have died a long time ago.  The same could really be said of StarCraft and Warcraft as the RTS genre really became over-saturated in the last decade to the point of nearly killing it.  Spreading out the releases helped keep things fresh, though Blizzard did justifiably change and enhance the gameplay experience when moving from Warcraft II’s straight-forward approach to the hero one of Warcraft III (which is why I consider Warcraft III Blizzard’s finest hour).

Diablo III will be released at some point, probably sooner rather than later (though one should never hold their breath where Blizzard is concerned) and will probably be a commercial success.  I won’t be among those purchasers though as I feel like I’ve already played it.  This post isn’t meant to slam the franchise, the company, or its fans.  Just the ruminations of one gamer who can’t help but look at Blizzard and wonder what all the fuss is about at this point.  It’s been a long time since Blizzard really did something unique, and if it wants to be considered one of the best developers around, it’s time to see the company do something different.  Diablo III is, without question, anything but different.

Nintendo makes good on its promise with 10 free GBA games!

It was a few months ago when Nintendo decided to cut the price of their new 3DS system by nearly 100 bucks less than 6 months after the system’s debut.  To combat the anger they were sure to receive from early adopters, they offered 20 free games to current owners of the 3DS whom they dubbed “Ambassadors.”  The first 10 of those games were released in September and all were downloadable versions of old NES games.  I went over them here.  These 10 NES games are set for a release to the general public sometime in 2012 for a small fee but will include all of the usual Virtual Console features other old releases benefit from (right now, they’re pretty bare-boned).

It wasn't a big hit, but I still have my GBA Micro and consider it a neat little device.

This past Thursday, Nintendo delivered the rest of the games it promised.  These 10 games are all from the Gameboy Advance platform (well, one is a port of a Super Nintendo game) and as of right now, there are no plans to make any available to non-Ambassadors.  I’m not sure if that’s supposed to give me and other Ambassadors a sense of pride, but it seems stupid to spend the time to emulate these titles and then not release them.  Anyways, this latest round of releases is much better than the NES games.  The NES games were of varying quality and a few were obscure releases given a new chance to shine.  They’re okay time wasters, but few kept me coming back either because they were too simple for my taste or because I already played the Hell out of them decades ago.  About half of these Gameboy Advance games I had never played and thus my impressions are some-what incomplete as a result.  I was a day one purchaser of the Gameboy Advance and have actually owned all three styles (the original non-backlit device, the SP, and the Micro) but didn’t really take advantage of the console.  It came at an awkward time.  It was basically a powered-up Super Nintendo but developers were mostly still focusing on simple, Gameboy type games, or were making ports (even Nintendo was guilty of this as many of their initial releases were ports, sound familiar?) and had a hard time pulling me away from my Playstation 2.  Now that I’m a working man in a commuter’s world, I think I’ll get more out of these titles.  Enough with the overview, what are the titles you say?  They are:

F-Zero:  Maximum Velocity – A solid addition to Nintendo’s flagship racer.  Well, I suppose Mario Kart is the new flagship racer, but F-Zero is a more straight-forward game.  Known for high velocity and punishing difficulty, this one isn’t too bad.  It’s kind of like a portable version of the original SNES game in terms of tech  The 2D and small screen add a bit of extra challenge to an already difficult game.  I’m not a big race fan, or even a fan of this franchise, so I probably won’t dabble in it much.  Those that did like the original though will find few faults here.

Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3 – This one is a direct port of the SNES game Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario World 2.  In it, you play as Yoshi with the task of guiding baby Mario through the Mushroom Kingdom to safety.  Baby Mario is awful, this game will make you want to kill babies as any contact with an enemy causes Mario to wail and scream as he floats around in a bubble until Yoshi catches him or an enemy snatches him (causing you to lose).  Good news though, baby Mario is the game’s lone negative as the gameplay is a blast.  It’s a clever platform title and Yoshi’s new morphing abilities add some spice and variety to many levels.  The visual style is interesting (though it’s not as crisp as it was on the SNES) and suits the tone of the game well.  Unfortunately, the 2-player is useless for this port so a part of the game is missing to those experiencing it on their 3DS.  Still, if you missed this one on either the GBA or SNES now is a good time to experience it.

Kirby and the Amazing Mirror– Kirby, Nintendo’s small-screen star, arrived late

You may have missed this one when it came out in 2004, but it's a solid little title starring everyone's favorite pink puff thing.

on the GBA so this is a fitting port considering many gamers probably missed out.  Kirby is kind of Nintendo’s B mascot.  His games are usually pretty fun, and he adds different play mechanics than Mario, but rarely is one of his games heralded as anything special. Amazing Mirror kind of fits that bill as well.  It’s tried and true Kirby: he floats around, sucks up enemies, and copies their powers.  This time he has a bunch of clones that can be called upon to aid Kirby in his adventure, but they’re mostly a gimmick.  I will say, this one feels a little more challenging than typical Kirby games which is welcomed, and it’s good enough that I’ll play through it and finish it.

Mario VS Donkey Kong – This one’s title implies a far greater game than it really is (though I guess any of the old DK games could have bore that title) as this one is a puzzler.  Mario is once again the protagonist, and he has to get some mini Mario’s through each level to advance.  Apparently this has worked well for Nintendo as this game has spawned many sequels, all on their handheld systems.  I don’t see the appeal, but I’m not a big fan of puzzle games so this one isn’t for me.

WarioWare Inc: Mega Microgame$ – The original manic title that has spawned many similar sequels, WarioWare is an odd title that doesn’t sound very interesting on the surface but ends up being perfect for pick up and play gaming.  The game is a collection of mini, or micro, games that individually last less than 10 seconds each.  They’re usually really quirky like picking a nose and only involve a button press, but somehow it works.  They’re delivered in a rapid succession and after a dozen or so a “boss battle” commences that’s usually only slightly more advanced than what you were already playing.  This is a great title to have on the go, and the original is still the best (well, the Wii one was pretty good too so maybe it’s tied at worst).  Nintendo would be foolish to not release this one on the Virtual Console down the road, though I’m sure there’s a new one in development.

Wario Land 4– Wario, until very recently, basically took over the Super Mario Land

Visually, it gets the job done, but makes up for it with gameplay.

franchise in the mid to late 90’s with a sequence of games.  All were pretty good and received quite a bit of praise with Wario Land 3 perhaps representing the peak for the franchise.  Wario Land 4 is still pretty damn good.  Visually, it kind of lags behind some of the other games released here but it’s fun and differentiates itself enough from the other platformers put out by Nintendo.  Wario has moves unique to him that Mario or Yoshi do not possess like his shoulder tackle and ability to throw enemies like a baseball.  He also has a different feel as there’s no run button, making the transition from Mario to Wario feel kind of odd.  It has its own charms though, and this is another quality release.

Mario Kart Super Circuit – The handheld debut for Nintendo’s cash cow, Mario Kart Super Circuit was a welcomed release when it first debuted in 2001 though it has aged noticeably.  When it came out though, it was my favorite Mario Kart yet.  It’s kind of funny how time has chosen to view Mario Kart 64 with rose-tinted glasses, because at the time of its release it was kind of a disappointment.  Super Circuit better captured that manic feel of the original Super Mario Kart and returned all of the classic racers.  The only downside was the reduced tech which does affect how the karts handle.  This game also wasn’t as balanced as future installments, as the lighter vehicles have a distinct advantage over the heavy ones which is why seemingly everyone would use Toad or Yoshi and stay the Hell away from Bowser.  As an added bonus, the original tracks from Super Mario Kart are unlockable giving the player a lot of incentive to play through the single player mode, which is essential since this release won’t benefit from any 2-player mode.  Maybe that’s why Nintendo didn’t mind releasing this against the recently released Mario Kart 7, as Mario Kart without 2-player feels like only half a game.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones – For a long while, Fire Emblem was a franchise only enjoyed by Japanese gamers as Nintendo didn’t think it could be commercially viable in the States.  Thankfully, they had a change of heart when the GBA was released and The Sacred Stones was actually the second Fire Emblem release for the GBA.  Fire Emblem is a fantasy themed, strategy RPG that should be familiar to those who have played Advance Wars.  I prefer Fire Emblem to the Advance Wars franchise and this is a welcomed release as a VC title.  The gameplay is dense, and while it isn’t the best in its genre, it still proves quite rewarding.  Visually, it’s nothing special but since I never played this one I’m looking forward to spending time with it.  This should provide several hours of entertainment for me and other Ambassadors.

Metroid Fusion – Since release, this one has been retro-actively titled as Metroid 4 making it the most recent entry in the series from a story-line perspective.  Metroid Fusion takes the formula established by the original and refined for Super Metroid and points it in your hands.  For most fans of the Metroid series, the debate over which game is the best includes this one, Super Metroid, and the Metroid re-make also released on the GBA, Metroid: Zero Mission.  I’m partial to Super Metroid, but the fact that this one is even in the discussion is a good thing.  This is a great and challenging run n’ gun game with memorable boss battles and timely power-ups.  I still have this game on GBA so I almost didn’t download it but I figured, why not?  It’s a great game and if you missed this one years ago it may end up being your favorite of the 10 games released last week.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap– This one was a nice surprise.  I figured

Bright and colorful, this one is still a treat for the eyes.

since Nintendo has been selling us all on Zelda’s 25th anniversary that another Zelda title would get released, but I expected it would be the GBA remake of A Link to the Past.  The Minish Cap is a forgotten and overlooked entry in the Zelda franchise.  Stylistically, it resembles Wind Waker but plays like the classic top-down games.  Link has always had great success with Nintendo’s handhelds, and this title may be his best for any of them.  It’s not as gimmicky as the DS games, but more advanced than the Gameboy ones.  I would have easily paid 5 bucks to download this one, maybe more, and had been considering buying this for my GBA as recently as this summer (when the 3DS games kind of sucked).  I missed this one on the GBA, but it’s nice to know I won’t miss it this time around.

I consider it a great thing that Nintendo chose to reward the early 3DS adopters with free content.  I would have been disappointed initially at the price drop, knowing I could have just waited and not really missed out on anything, but that’s the price one accepts when buying new tech.  Often times, that tech is improved upon and made better, cheaper, or both not too far down the road.  In fact, I fully expect a new model 3DS will show up probably within the year that will have better battery life and a second circle pad.  If Nintendo had stopped with the 10 NES games it already released free, I would have been thankful for the gesture, but that’s all.  In truth, I’ve played very little of those games and they fall into the “nice to have” category.  These 10 GBA games though are games that I’m truly excited to have.  While I’ve already beaten or even owned some of them, there are others like Fire Emblem and The Minish Cap that I’m experiencing for the first time and am sure to spend dozens of hours on.  Nintendo, in my eyes, has more than made up for the difference in price between what I payed for my console and what current consumers are paying.  Not only am I getting some kick ass, free games, but I got to enjoy Ocarina of Time 3D during the summer and other freebies.  I’ve never been a Nintendo fanboy, but this is the kind of promotion that does create some brand loyalty.  Well done, Big N!

Super Mario 3D Land (2011)

The Nintendo 3DS had a sluggish launch and one I think I’ve chronicled fairly well here.  Early on it was really a lack of quality software that kept sales slow (and a rather large sticker price) until the arrival of Ocarina of Time 3D.  Not long after that title arrived, Star Fox 64 3D hit stores and represented another quality title.  Throughout that, Nintendo was able to supplement the true 3DS titles with some quality Virtual Console titles.  The problem was, we had already played these games before.  Sure, both Zelda and Star Fox received a nice visual boost but that merely hid the fact that both titles were nearly 15 years old.

Finally, the first Triple A, original, game has arrived and who else could it be in the starring role?  It’s Mario, and he’s back in his first original handheld game since 2006’s New Super Mario Bros. and his first ever original portable title in the third dimension.  And by third dimension, I mean both the game engine and that feature that is supposed to be the main selling point of Nintendo’s latest handheld, the stereoscopic 3D.

Super Mario 3D Land is a title that is right up my alley.  It’s an all new Mario adventure, but it features several nods to the old-school games, primarily Super Mario Bros. 3.  If Nintendo is going to focus on one game to emulate, why not SMB 3 which is in the running for greatest game of all time.  The homages to that title are numerous, the most obvious one being the inclusion of the tanooki suit.  Whenever Mario finds the brown leaf power-up he is given a cute, cuddly, tanooki suit that grants him a tail attack and a hover ability.  The suit is absurd looking, even more so today than it was on the NES, but it’s just as useful as it used to be.  Well, it does lack a true flying ability and initially lacks the stone-form ability as well.  The tail attack is certainly nice to have for those of you used to playing Super Mario Galaxy where Mario has a similar spin attack by default.  The hover ability is also a great safety net for those tough platforming sections and is needed to get some of the games numerous star coins.

Mario showing off his new boomerang suit.

If Mario only had the one power-up though, that would be pretty disappointing.  New to the Mario-verse this time around is the boomerang suit.  Like SMB 3’s hammer bros. suit, the boomerang suit outfits Mario as a boomerang brother.  He’s able to throw one boomerang at a time, that will always come back to him which can be useful for setting up return strikes on enemies.  It also can be used to grab items like other power-ups and star coins.  Also returning is Mario’s trusted fire flower.  You would think the boomerang suit would render the fire flower obsolete but it does hold some advantages, namely that Mario can shoot up to two fireballs in succession and their range is much farther than the boomerang.  There are also some Zelda-like puzzles in the game where Mario can use his fire power to light some beacons.  Unfortunately, Nintendo didn’t take the opportunity to throw in another SMB 3 homage and have the fire flower give Mario an orange suit, instead it’s the traditional white and red.

As for the gameplay, this is pretty much a mix of old and new.  The game certainly has a Galaxy feel to it, minus the funky the gravity.  I would say it plays most like a cross between the New Super Mario Bros. games and the Galaxy ones.  Each level has three hidden star coins to find and a certain quota is needed to advance in the game and to unlock bonus levels.  There are 8 worlds with 5 to 6 levels within each one.  Each world ends with either a trek through Bowser’s castle or an air ship battle with a returning Boom Boom from SMB 3 or Pom Pom, which I assume is his sister.  For some reason, Nintendo chose to go this route for this game rather than to resurrect the Koopa kids from SMB 3.  The boss battles are fairly painless, with the exception of the final Bowser confrontation which caused me to continue numerous times.

Outside of that though, the game is pretty easy.  Most gamers will max out Mario’s extra lives before arriving at World 8 .  Most of my deaths were the result of poorly timed jumps on my part or intentional because I missed a star coin.  The difficulty would have been the number one source of criticism for me if not for the Special Worlds.  The Special Worlds open up once the game is finished and represent a second game.  Opening up the Special Worlds also unlocks the tanooki suit’s stone-form ability and even lets you play as Luigi.  Some of the Special Worlds, like the castles, are just harder versions of the normal level but many are new levels entirely.  Some also include a shadow Mario to pester you and force you to move quickly.  The game will keep track of your speed runs for Street Pass purposes, meaning when you walk past someone who also has this game the system will exchange your best times and give you something to try to beat.

Practice your jumping because this game is loaded with sections like this.

The other criticism I have to levy at this game is the use of 3D.  Many media outlets are praising this game for its use of 3D, but I reckon most are just drinking the Nintendo kool-aid.  Yes, in this game 3D is practically required in some parts which makes this the first game to accomplish such a feat.  How ever, it still fails to elevate the 3D effect beyond a gimmick.  Most of the places where 3D is necessary are self-contained rooms and make for awkward optical illusions for target jumping.  Otherwise, I found it just made negotiating jumps even more difficult.  I did force myself to play with it on at all times, unless I found a section where it was really just pissing me off (like the final battle with Bowser) and shut it off out of frustration.  3D just isn’t a natural thing for the human eye and it just makes Mario feel hard to control.

And hard to control is what has always been in the background for the 3D Mario adventures.  Mario controls well-enough, but he’ll never control as tightly on a 3D plane as he does on a 2D one.  This game made me appreciate the approach the Galaxy franchise took as the use of gravity in those games cut down on death by falling.  Very few of my deaths are actually caused by enemies and mostly are caused by missing platforms.  Nintendo also took away Mario’s ability to double and triple jump for this game, but I found that to be a good thing as it allowed for section with lots of repeated jumping.  Mario can still do a long jump, but for some reason my ability to pull it off consistently seemed spotty.  I never got a great hang of it, but also never encountered a spot where I absolutely had to use it.  Mario can also do a quick side-flip, but I often found myself pulling that off by accident which would only lead to trouble.  He also has a power-up backflip that has its uses.

Annoyances aside, this is a great game.  Yes Mario could control better and 3D is still mostly a stupid gimmick, but he controls well-enough and you can always shut the 3D off if you please.  The main game is pretty easy to get through, but the Special Worlds will test the skills of most gamers.  And this isn’t a game where you should be settled with just beating it.  No, any gamer who picks this one up should aim to collect all of the star coins as that’s where the true challenge lies.  The game is just fun to play and takes me back to the days when I played games for the simple pleasure of it, not to advance a narrative.  Hopefully Super Mario 3D Land is just the beginning in a long line of quality original games to hit the 3DS.  It’s been a long wait.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011)

It’s been just over two weeks since my life was hi-jacked by a little (big) game called Skyrim.  It’s not just been my life either as apparently millions of gamers across the country are watching their free time dwindle away into nothing.  I figured I might as well post my impressions, since a full-fledged review is out of the question for such a massive title (by the time I finish this thing it will be considered out-dated), but first some background.

The full title for Skyrim is actually The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.  Developed by Bethesda, The Elder Scrolls franchise began on the PC in 1994.  It was never on my radar and I’m not certain if I was ever aware of its existence before 2002 when the third numbered game in the franchise was released on the Xbox.  The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind also never captured my imagination.  While I longed to play a fantasy epic that could match the freedom of pen and paper RPG’s (without the geeky-ness) I found myself put off by Morrowind’s first-person perspective.  I also was able to get my high fantasy fix from Bioware’s Neverwinter Nights series, and while I found that game a bit clunky, I really hadn’t played anything better.  It wasn’t until when the fourth game in the series, Oblivion, arrived on PS3 in 2007 that I actually decided to give the franchise a shot.

Oblivion arrived at a perfect time for me.  I had only owned a Playstation 3 for a few months and nothing compelling had been released for it.  I probably was spending more time with the Wii at that point.  I was also in the midst of an RPG drought and needed a fix.  In the summer of 2006 I even resorted to going way back and getting a new copy of Baldur’s Gate II to try and slake my thirst but found the game so massive that I lost focus.  When I initially purchased Oblivion I wasn’t certain I was going to like it.  I’ve never enjoyed the first-person perspective in video games and tried to play the game in third-person but it was so clunky that I succumbed to the first-person.  While I still do not particularly care for it, I was able to deal with it and even grow used to it.  I played as an assassin and ended up spending over 100 hours with Oblivion, finishing every quest.  While the game had warts, it was certainly a compelling and entertaining 100+ hours that I did not regret.  When Skyrim was announced last December, it immediately vaulted to the top of my most wanted games list.

Like its predecessor, Skyrim also comes at a good time.  Not because of a lack of quality software, far from it, this fall is turning into one of the best fall’s in video game history, but because it’s been 5 years since the original release of Oblivion.  I’m ready for a new fantasy epic and nothing in between has really satisfied me.  Dragon Age tried, but couldn’t live up to its lofty expectations.  And even though my journey through the world of Skyrim was delayed almost immediately by a 10 day vacation I had planned starting on the 12th of November, I’ve still managed to log 40 hours with the game already.  I was purposely holding off until I reached my favorite quests from Oblivion, the Dark Brotherhood, before posting impressions.  Well, I found the Skyrim version of the Dark Brotherhood on Wednesday night and it’s only been my reluctance to put the game down (and the Thanksgiving holiday) that has kept me from making this entry.

Skyrim has, so far, managed to meet my expectations though not eclipse them.  Fundamentally it’s the same game as Oblivion but with a few new twists and upgraded graphics.  What’s new?  Well for one, the skill system has been refined.  You still improve your various skills (one-handed combat, archery, pick pocket, etc.) by performing actions related to that skill, but now increasing skills leads to building levels.  Once your level increases, you’re able to select a perk related to one of the many skills or schools of magic in the game.  In order to select a perk from, for example, the archery skill tree your skill level in archery must meet or exceed the perk’s requirements.  If your skill isn’t at the necessary level for a perk you want you can wait and save that skill point for when you can get the perk you want.  It’s not a giant change but it works for the better.  There are still ways to exploit the system if you so choose, but the skill point system helps to keep you check to some degree so even though you might manage to get your sneak skill to 100, you still need to level up several times to get the best sneak perks.

Combat has also received a few changes, though nothing major.  Supposedly the melee combat has been improved upon but it still feels floaty and unsatisfying to me.  As a result, I stick to bows and magic and only pull out a dagger when in close for a backstab attempt.  Magic seems much more interesting to me this time around in both a superficial and tactical way.  I’ve stuck with the destruction school of magic (fireballs and the like) and that’s my go-to method of combat when not sneaking around and picking off bandits with the bow.  In Oblivion I managed to rise to the rank of Arch Mage with the Mage’s Guild despite hardly ever using any magic but this time around I plan on investing some time with it.  At some point I’ll branch out to a second and third school but so far destruction has served me well.

While there are no character classes to choose from, I’ve basically stuck with what would be considered the assassin from Oblivion.  That is, I spend most of my skill points on sneaking skills while also investing quite a bit in archery.  I’ve thrown a couple points into light armor and lock-picking but have thus far neglected the pick pocket tree. My main approach to combat is to not be seen.  I get a triple damage modifier with the bow, and a 15 times damage modifier with a dagger, so I stick to the shadows.  When drawn into actual combat, I often switch to magic or run.  I also still end up doing a lot of the run backwards and shoot technique, even if it’s clumsy.  Despite that 15x multiplier on daggers, I still usually stick with bows.  Daggers usually only deal around 10 base damage, while a good bow and arrow for me totals over 40, so that 15x is quite deceiving.  I have yet to figure out if added enchantments are also multiplied or are just tacked on at the end.  As in, I have a bow that adds 10 frost damage to an attack, but I don’t know if that 10 frost damage is multiplied as well.

I don't think it's friendly...

There’s another major addition to the game that most people are probably already aware of as it’s one of the selling points:  Dragons.  Dragons roam the skies of Skyrim and can attack at a moment’s notice once certain quest obligations have been fulfilled.  When they do, they take precedence.  It’s interesting to watch any and all NPC’s immediately shift their attention to dealing with a dragon threat when the winged beast makes its presence known.  I’ve so far only encountered the standard dragons and the blood dragons, but there are more powerful ones lurking.  I’ve found that taking them down is easiest when there’s something to distract it.  Anything that keeps the dragon’s focus away from me is welcome, and if that means my trusty mount has to take one for the team, so be it.  I think I’ve killed five or six at this point, so it’s not like they attack all the time.  I’ve even had one circle a few times and then move along apparently not even interested in starting a fight with me.  The battles are fun though, and the inclusion of dragons is both welcomed and awesome.

As I mentioned, in order to see a dragon certain quest obligations must be met, but fear not as they don’t take a whole lot of time.  To say I’ve scratched the surface of the game’s main story-line would be an overstatement.  When the game first starts your character finds him or herself a prisoner headed for the block.  This is a spoiler free blog entry, but I don’t think it’s spoiling much to say your character avoids that fate and is able to escape.  That escape represents your first quest, and the next (for me, I’m not sure if it’s the same for everyone as there is a branching point to the first quest) was to speak to a local person and then head to Whiterun as a sort of ambassador.  It’s at Whiterun that you inform the Jarl there of the returned dragon threat and the Jarl organizes a little dragon hunt.  Completing that quest is what triggers the random dragon encounters, and also earns your character its first shout power.  Shouts are like magic, but have different restraints put on them in terms of how often they can be used.  Some recharge faster than others.  These shout techniques are found all through-out Skyrim, I so far have found 5, though the first one is given to you.  Killing a dragon causes your character to absorb the dragon’s soul which unlocks shout abilities.  So you can locate one of these shouts at any given time, but if you don’t have a stored dragon soul you won’t be able to unlock it.  To be honest, I haven’t found the shouts all that useful up to this point and often forget to use them.  Perhaps that’s because few suit my chosen battle technique but I still find their inclusion to be a positive thing.

That's a giant, one strike from that club sent my character soaring through the air like a baseball. He did not get up.

Aside from the main quest, there are dozens of other quests and tasks to soak up your time.  I probably have over 20 active quests right now, but thankfully none have a time constraint placed upon them.  I’ve done several for the Dark Brotherhood and so far have not been let down.  The Dark Brotherhood seems to always have very entertaining missions and their approach complements my play style perfectly.  As a result, I’ve neglected the other two factions that I’ve so far uncovered, that being Skyrim’s version of the Mages Guild and Thieves Guild.  In Skyrim, the wizard college appears to have taken the place of a proper guild.  I’ve done a couple tasks for them and have only just opened up the thieves ones.  Once I have finished with the Dark Brotherhood, I’ll probably focus on the mage ones and continue to build up my magic prowess while also investing some skill points in the more thief oriented skill trees before I dive into those quests.  I’ve also encountered several dungeons and old keeps to raid and clear along the way.  Some contain treasure, some almost nothing, but it’s the journey that is most rewarding.  I’ve also encountered all kinds of wildlife from lowly wolves to deadly sabre cats and giants.  Death is all around you at all times in Skyrim and it helps to be alert to anything.

And while there’s been an awful lot of enjoyment on my end so far, there’s also been some frustrations as well.  With any game of this size, there’s always the concern for glitches.  I’ve heard of many reports of glitches cropping up but so far my experience has been glitch free.  It has not been without technical problems though.  The framerate has become an increasing issue the longer I play.  I’m not sure if it’s because of the marathon sessions I’ve been having with the game or because my save file has become massive (which is rumored to cause problems for the PS3), but there have been many instances of clipping and severe slowdown at times.  I’ve also had the game freeze up on me a few times, one of which was quite an inconvenience as I had just felled a particularly nasty adversary, so I make it a point to save often.  Bethesda is set to release a patch in the near future that will hopefully help to combat these issues.  My last play session ended when the slowdown became too much to bare.  I had been playing for over 4 hours and I’m hopeful that’s the main reason why the performance had begun to lag.  If that isn’t the case and it’s because my save file has become too large I fear it could be a game breaker.  We’ll see.

One area where "Skyrim's" visuals outshine a lot of the competition: horses.

Outside of technical problems, the other areas where Skyrim comes up a bit short are common with that of Oblivion and reside in the AI department.  Sometimes the non player characters are just stupid and it’s especially noticeable for a sneaky character.  Example, I’m in the bowels of a ship and there are two corsairs in a room adjacent to the one I occupy.  I fire an arrow into the room killing one of the two outlaws.  This alerts the second one that danger is near by and she immediately starts looking around the room, but since she doesn’t find anyone, she says to herself, “Oh, must have been my imagination.”  Yes, darling, it was your imagination that killed your buddy who was sitting across from you at the table, and it’s your imagination that is about to end your virtual life as well.  Visually, Skyrim is mostly a pleasure to look at but character animations still leave something to be desired.  It’s very noticeable if you play in third-person as your character moves quite stiffly.  He also doesn’t really conform to the terrain and always has a floating quality to his walking and running.  Other characters seems to animate a bit better, but facial animations are almost non existent.  Everyone looks like a hand puppet with really only their mouth and chin properly animated.  Overall, the people of Skyrim are better to look at than those of Oblivion, but still retain those robotic traits.  Animals animate much better, though are some-what of a mixed bag.  Rabbits and fox tend to suffer from that same floaty thing people do, and some bears just don’t look much like bears, but the horses, dragons, and walrus-like creatures are quite convincing.

Flaws aside, this game has been quite a blast to experience.  It doesn’t reinvent the wheel but it has improved upon Oblivion enough for me to say that Skyrim is the better game, and I have yet to even finish it.  There’s still so much more for me to do and I can’t wait to experience everything this game has to offer.  The one issue lurking in the shadows does revolve around the frame-rate.  Certainly if that does develop into a game breaker I’ll be sure to update this entry, but for now Skyrim comes fully recommended.  Don’t sleep on this one!

Fox pilots his way into the world of 3D.

There’s no denying that the Nintendo 3DS got off to a rocky start, rocky enough that a significant price cut has already taken place less than 6 months after the initial launch of the system.  The 3DS has struggled not because it’s a bad machine, but because the software has been pretty weak.  The eshop wasn’t ready at launch and the closest thing to a killer app the system had was a port of a 2 year old fighting game.  Well, the times are finally changing.

In June the 3DS received its first big Nintendo release, The Legend of Zelda – Ocarina of Time 3D, and now here in September we have number 2, Star Fox 64 3D.  Now, the contrarian is going to argue just how great these titles could possibly be considering both are re-makes of Nintendo 64 games that are each over 10 years old.  And in the case of Star Fox, we’re talking about a remake of a remake as the original was a remake of the original Star Fox for Super Nintendo.  And really, it’s tough to argue the point.  Yes, both are remakes and while the graphics have received a complete overhaul the games themselves are still largely the same.  OOT benefited by having the Master Quest added to the package which had previously only been released for Gamecube as a bonus for those who pre-ordered Wind Waker.  Star Fox 64 3D is still largely the same as well, but there are a few additions worth covering.

A screen shot from the original "Star Fox 64."

First, the game can be played with a new control scheme that utilizes the system’s built in gyroscope technology.  This means you control Fox by moving the 3DS around instead of using the circle pad.  It’s kind of interesting to mess around with, but if anyone claims to prefer this scheme over the circle pad I’ll probably give them a pretty queer look.  It’s just not very intuitive, and I have yet to use it in game beyond the tutorial.  Star Fox also has a new gameplay mode simply called 3DS.  It’s basically an easy version of the N64 game.  Enemies are easier, continues are allowed, and Fox can take more damage.  The one cool addition is the ability to select what world you go to next, rather than letting the game dictate what path you’re on.*  It’s an easier way to experience every level in the game instead of figuring out how to beat each level in order to advance in a different way.

*For those who never played the original, the game advances depending on how you finish a level.  There’s a designated easy and hard finish for each level and opting for the hard way is the only way to experience the game’s true ending.

And a screen shot from the same level in "Star Fox 64 3D," notice a difference?!

The last big addition is obviously the 3D.  I will say, of all the 3DS games I’ve played so far Star Fox 64 makes the best use of the effect that I’ve seen.  Using 3D actually adds to the experience, in a minor way.  It helps you more easily judge what enemies are closest and prevents the enemy polygons from overlapping as much giving you a clearer picture.  That said, I still tend to opt to play with the effect turned off as I just find it too distracting.  I also tend to move the 3DS too much which causes a blurring effect when the 3D is turned on.  Which also renders those special 3DS controls useless if you wish to have the 3D visuals turned on.

Outside of those changes the game is basically the same experience.  That is to say, it’s a lot of fun and presents a satisfying challenge.  On Nintendo 64 mode, the game goes old school and ‘Game Over’ means what it says as there are no continues.  The game does save after each level so you can leave and come back, but it only has one available save slot.  There is however a handy ‘Guest’ mode that allows a friend to play on your 3DS without saving over your game.

The visual upgrade is quite nice and gives the game a nice, clean, look.  Let’s face it, the visuals of the Playstation/Nintendo 64 era have aged rather poorly.  I’d argue even worse than the 16 bit era, so the enhanced graphics are quite welcomed.  The gameplay is fast and frenetic and you may get pissed from time to time.  The good thing though is that practice makes perfect.  I never owned any Star Fox game before this one because I was always terrible at them, but it didn’t take me long to beat this one (not the hard route, mind you).  In fact, that is one of the downsides to this game as the single player game is very short and will take most gamers a little more than an hour at most.  It’s a game that’s made to be replayed though and one that expects you to come back and try to beat your best score.

This game is loaded with epic boss encounters.

There is a multiplayer component as well, but I haven’t tried it.  It’s kind of cool in that you only need one gamecart to play with friends, the downside is that it’s local Wi-Fi only.  Why Nintendo continues to screw up online play in their games is one of the great mysteries of life.   This makes the multiplayer a negative.  Another negative for the game is the voice acting, it’s horrible.  I don’t care for any of the voices, maybe I’m just picky, but I find them awful.  Another negative, and this is going to sound kind of odd, are the ending credits.  They last nearly 10 minutes!  That might not seem like a big deal but this is a portable system.  If you finish the game while riding on the train you’re kind of out of luck for the next 10 minutes while the ending credits slowly trickle by.  I never understand why some games force the player to watch the entire credit sequence, it doesn’t make me appreciate all the hard work these individuals did, it just makes me resent them.*

*Upon paying more attention the next time through, I noticed that you do get the option to skip the credits right away.  Not sure if you’re SOL if you miss that and I think you miss out on the little story-line bit at the end, though no one is likely to play this game for its plot.

The cons for this game are, in the end, pretty minor.  If you’re someone who enjoys arcade-like flight simulators or someone who enjoyed the previous incarnations of Star Fox I’m willing to bet you’ll enjoy this take.  Really, the biggest con for this game is that it’s a remake and I’d understand if some people just aren’t all that enthusiastic about re-buying a game they may have already played to death (especially for those who picked up the Virtual Console version for their Wii).  If you’re in the mood though for some Star Fox action, Star Fox 64 3D delivers.  Now Nintendo, let’s see an awesome, all new, original game for the 3DS please!