A bit of a random jumble today.

This is part of an answer to a question asked of Heavy Rain writer/director David Cage;
"I wanted to create an experience based on several points of view. I played with this idea since my first game, Omikron, where you could get reincarnated into another body when you died."

I found this interesting and thought it could make for a good mechanic in RPG's. Granted, I'm aware from some friends blogs/reviews that there was something like this in Planescape : Torment which I haven't played, so I don't know how exactly this was implemented. But I was thinking, what if you learned some information as some form of character, but due to some restriction (race, caste, cIass etc) were unable to seek audience with certain people or reach certain areas. But once you die, you can get reincarnated in a new body with your knowledge (or some of it) intact. Then you can go to places you couldn't before to complete these discussions. Or revisit people you have had personal conversations with and have them wonder how you came across such personal information. I can't think of many specifics, but I'm sure there is room for some interesting situations.

Went on a spending spree. Bought Brothers In Arms : Hell's Highway (360), Saints Rows 2 (PS3), Oblivion GOTY (PS3), Valkyria Chronicles (PS3). AU$120 because the cashier gave me $50 off BIA instead of 50%, knocking an extra $20 off. Plus I used a voucher still left over from work (which sadly they aren't doing anymore) so it still puts my spend on games this year probably under $300 which is awesome. I also bought my sister and her fiance a Wii for Christmas which was a bundle. She can have Mario Kart, but I'm going to keep New Super Mario Bros as they weren't actually packaged togother. Not like she can complain, she is getting a Wii!

Also playing Burnout Paradise on PS3 at the moment, which I'm not terribly good at, but am enjoying nonetheless. Had a good time trying some of the challenges with Foolz3h the other day, if anyone else might be keen to play some time let me know and I'll add you as a friend. Keep in mind I'm an aussie though so if you are on the other side of the world I might not be able to play with you that often!

Also finally bought my first Wiiware game, World of Goo. Awesome game. In 3 play sessions I'm up to the end of Chapter 3, so the game doesn't appear to be terribly long but based on my experience so far it is probably the perfect length as I wouldn't want it to overstay its welcome either. I finally completed the Upper Shaft level which was giving me grief, just needed to balance my bridge better.

I was thinking of writing a blog about what you could buy gamers for Christmas with a few ideas, but it is probably getting a bit late. One of my basic suggestions given that retail games are expensive and potentially out of budget, and it can be hard to know exactly what someone likes or has already played without knowing a fair bit about their preferences, is to buy them points for an online store. It shows you've thought about something they like, they get to choose the exact games they purchase, and they aren't prohibitively expensive like new games can be.

I'm refering to games as art. I found it interesting that in The_Druggies recent soapbox entry, I noticed a blacked out comment by grigjd3. Being curious I had to find out what it was. His response to the blog?

Why does it matter?

So it looks like instead of getting a response he got lots of thumbs down. But I'm curious. Why DOES it matter? It has been talked about a lot over the last couple of years, and I'm not ready to put myself in either camp, for or against. But if Roger Ebert turned around and proclaimed that games were art, what would change? I'd still be enjoying games like I am now. Maybe it would mean we would have some more musuems devoted to video games (as I believe there are already some around the world), but I don't see this form of entertainment being validated as an art form having much impact on the industry or our personal enjoyment of it. Does it really matter?

Well, I finally finished it. It was a bit of a chore at times, but I did enjoy it most of the time. I've given Link To The Past a score of 7.0. I wonder how many thumbs down that review will get for giving this 'cIassic' game only a score of 'good'. I make up one of the people in the 5% of player ratings that scored it less than 8. But hey, I can only be honest with my feelings towards the game.

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At the time of this writing A Link To The Past is over 17 years old. So how does this early entry in a revered franchise hold up today? While it has a simple premise and easy controls, the design decisions are a mix of great and dated.

You play the titular Link, who finds himself mixed up in an adventure to defeat the evil wizard Ganon and prevent him from conquering the Light World. The game takes place in an isometric view. Before long Link has access to a sword which will be your main weapon during the game. Link is also able to lift objects and throw them, though what he can pick up is limited to small items at first. Link can head into dungeons and houses, but everything is accessed from the overworld, and there is a handy map feature so you can see where you are, and your next destination is usually pointed out for you to make navigation a bit easier. The overworld is well designed, as there are places that Link can't reach at first, but as he acquires new items he will be able to access additional areas, and you will usually be able to tell what you may need to reach that new destination.

A short time into the game after defeating the first incarnation of Ganon, you will be transported to the Dark World, which shows off another aspect of great design, even so many years later. The geography in the Dark World very closely mirrors that in the Light World, but aside from the enemies, people and shop placement, there are some other differences. With the help of the Magic Mirror, you can transport yourself back from the Dark World into the Light World. By taking careful note of the differences in georgraphy you can transport yourself back into the Light World in a location you couldn't reach before, to reach new dungeons or acquire new items. While the first few hours will be collecting a few essential items you need before your first battle with Ganon, after this point the dungeons you will need to overcome are all in the Dark World. These are all numbered on the map, and while you may be able to reach and enter a number of them, you probably need to finish them in order as the equipment required to complete or access a dungeon is often found in the one preceding it.

The dungeons are where you will find most of the challenge, in both the enemies themselves, various traps, as well as the puzzles and devious design. Usually not too far from the entrance you will find a basic map of the dungeon which shows you all the rooms on all the floors. It doesn't have details of what is in each room, but it is enough to get your bearings, as you will often have to walk back through some areas you have already been. You will find keys about the dungeons, which may be hidden in chests, or you may need to defeat all the enemies in the room. Some doors may be one way and close behind you, or sometimes they might stay closed until you defeat all the enemies in the room. There are some switch puzzles, as there are red and blue blocks which can bar your way; one will always be up, the other will always be down, but these can be changed with the flick of a switch. To progress in some areas this means smart use of your equipment to trigger these from afar. Other obstacles include flying tiles, rotating observation statues that shoot you if you are in line of sight, moving spikes, and more.

Many rooms contain enemies that can be defeated, and these are also quite varied over the course of the game. From skeletons that try and jump away when you attack, to cyclops' that throw bombs, to moving orbs that bounce you away when you attack, there are a lot of different techniques you will need to emlpy to overcome them. Things get further tricky later in the game as the combinations of enemies and traps/obstacles becomes more complex and challenging. Each dungeon also has a boss, and the difficulty of these is a bit varied; a few early ones I found quite frustrating, and some of the later ones a lot easier. These are usually larger enemies that may have an obvious weakness, and often it will be the item that you acquired in that dungeon. However, this is not always the case.

This doesn't apply to just bosses though; the game is riddled with secrets, but there is a problem. Whereby games today don't require you to find the secrets, or offer you pretty strong clues, A Link To The Past does not always do this, and some of those secrets need to be found and items acquired before you can progress. Other times things are obscure and don't make any sense. Minor spoilers ahead. For example, who would have thought that a bug catching net can be used to deflect a fireball? And after a few dungeons of losing health for falling down holes, one of the dungeons requires you to fall down a hole to progress, and if there was a hint that I needed to do this, I certainly missed it. I was also able to face the final boss, but I was unable to defeat him because I hadn't acquired the weapon I needed, but had no idea. I became stumped like this on quite a number of occassions in the game, and I turned to a FAQ quite frequently. Another frustration from time to time was running out of magic. A number of items at your disposal use up magic, and some are required to complete some dungeons. Granted, the first time I entered one of the later dungeons it did recommend not to enter if I had no magic potions, but it is frustrating if you mess up a section a couple of times and then have to go back outside to collect more before retrying. While the controls are generally very good, there were a couple of occassions when they felt a bit wonky; while swimming, walking on floors with ice, and a section where you direct a floating platform all seemed to lack responsiveness and were often frustrating as a result.

All that said if you know the items you are supposed to be using, the game is not overly difficult, but there will be certain bosses or rooms that will challenge you a lot more than others and may cause frustration until you can finally overcome them. As you progress you will find pieces of heart or heart containers, and these will increase your maximum health, and your sword, shield and armour will upgrade as you explore and find new items or talk to people. You can also acquire jars in which to keep faeries who can restore your life, or medicine to restore either your life or magic. If you die while in a dungeon, you can restart from the beginning, but any unlocked doors will remain so and you will retain any items that you had already retreived. In this way even if you die in a dungeon, you have usually still made progress and it often doesn't take long to reach the place where you perished.

I experienced problems with emulation on the Wii, where the screen would frequently black out for about a second, and this did not seem related to any heavy activity on screen. The volume of sound effects also varied frequently for no apparent reason. You will certainly curse if the screen blacks out while surrounded by enemies and it leads to your death, but this only happened to me a couple of times despite the frequency of the black outs. While some dated design decisions might have you looking up a FAQ to find out how you need to progress, it is worth it to see the other great design decisions and the basic action that still hold up well today.

Score 7.0

I will go play something else before I tackle Ocarina of Time. Gamespot gave it a perfect 10 on release, though only 8.9 on Virtual Console (I say only, that is still a great score for a game that old). The last 4 player reviews were all 10's... I wonder if I will get death threats if I think it only deserves a 7.5or something.

So I'm a little perplexed with Link To The Past. I know there is something obvious I'm missing here.

I'm at the top of the mountain, where you first enter the portal that takes you to The Dark World. Unless I'm mistaken, I can't see any way tp get down from here in the Dark World. I can use the Magic Mirror to get back to Light World. Regardless of whether I do that, once I've activated the mirror, I can't use it again and need to go back to that portal to enter the Dark Word again. So if I go back to the portal, I'm in the dark world again in an area I can't escape from.

How do I exlpore the rest of the map in Dark World? I have completed the castle and been transported to the Dark World and was able to explore somewhat (before I had the Moon Pearl) but had to come back to the light to get the Pearl. There is something really obvious here that I am missing. What is it?

The only Zelda I have ever finished is Phantom Hourglass for the DS. You could say I have finished Link's Crossbow Training, but I don't think anyone would count that as a proper Link adventure, and I don't remember if I actually 'beat' the last boss. Previously I had played Link To The Past on a friends SNES many years ago. I have downloaded the original NES Zelda and LTTP from Virtual Console. So I figure it is time to do something I've mentioned a while ago; a Zelda marathon and play all of the games... well, almost. I'll play every game that is available on Wii Virtual Console as well as Wind Waker which I own for Gamecube but have never played, and Twilight Princess. Of course, I've already hit a stumbling block.

Downloading the original Zelda probably a couple of years ago, I printed myself a map and played it for a while. I think I got to the fourth dungeon, maybe I completed it. But it really didn't keep me going. I think I was trying to like it, and it wasn't that it was particularly bad. Sure it was great for its time and perhaps even revolutionary, but it has aged. So knowing I was unlikely to last, for the purpose of the marathon I decided I would pick it up and gave it another shot last night. I lasted about 10 minutes. For one, I had no idea where I was going, and I was not interested in restarting the game. More importantly is that I just wasn't that interested in the gameplay. Being only able to move in 4 directions feels quite stiff. So while not strictly bad, I knew I already had a far superior game in my collection; Link To The Past.

So after my 10 minute foray, I loaded up Link To The Past. Given that it has been over a year since I tried to game (several hours of gameplay), I restarted my adventure. I've played it for a few hours now, and I've beaten my first boss, the set of knights. I ran out of time, but I think I might be at a stuck point, I can't remember where to go from here. The last thing I was told was to go to East of the lake, but I can't seem to make it. Where did I get those flippers last time I played so I could swim? I probably looked that up in a FAQ last time too. I'll try and refrain, but I did find myself checking a FAQ on several occassions on my last attempted play. The game is much better than its predecessor. 8 way movement makes a huge difference, even if you can still only attack in 4. The animation is smoother and the combat flows really well. While some areas are blocked until you have the right equipment It still has the open-endedness of the original, but has a map that highlights points of interest so it's harder to get lost. Even if I have to turn to a FAQ every now and again, I'm pretty certain I'll see this playthrough... errr... through.

Within my first hour of playing Link To The Past I realised I'd missed one and hadn't played Legend of Zelda 2. What do you reckon, skip or play for the sake of completeness? If memory serves, after Link To The Past that will leave me with Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. It will probably take me a while to complete this marathon; I will most likely play some other games in between to break them up.

At the start of this year, I decided to make up a list of games I was interested in, track them on ebay and see what prices they were selling for, and then only offer the lowest amount until I got it. I'm a patient gamer, I can afford to wait until I can get it at the cheapest price. I hadn't really looked at ebay for months, and probably still won't, but I decided to update the list, so I went through the game releases up to date. I have 99 games from this generation I'm interested in trying. Wowsers. There is no way I could play those games in the next few years, let alone the ones that come out over the next few years. And that is not including the downloadable titles I want to try. I think I might need to think about the lesser games on the list even if I think I will enjoy them and focus on the best ones. So I should probably remove some of the games like...

Timeshift. I finished this a while back and decided to write a full review for it, which you can find below. Does anyone find they have a huge number of games that they just know they aren't going to get through? On the plus side, I know that I will never be wanting for games. Interestingly I also noticed that I have 26 Wii games on the list. While that makes up less than the 360/PS3 games, and I freely admit that there are more of those games that I consider more desirable than many of the Wii ones, if that became my only system I'd still have a number of games I think I would enjoy quite a bit. Not bad for a system often maligned for its library.

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Foreword : This review is for the single player portion only.

On paper Timeshift sounds like it has a lot going for it. Some interesting time manipulation mechanics sounds like it could be a nice twist on the first person genre, and while those ideas are fun at first, it doesn't hide the fact that the game is otherwise a generic shooter.

You are the wearer of a time manipulation suit, and that's about all the story you need to know. Mainly because I couldn't make sense of anything that happened. An attempt was made to keep the story in suspense by way of flashbacks, but this method fails miserably to give you any sense of where your loyalties lie or exactly what happened in the first place. All that seems apparent is that you are chasing someone else through time who was also part of the program that you were on. You go back in some alternate timeline, find some people who are willing to be your allies and don't seem terribly worried by your strange appearance or abilities, and that's about all that made sense.

But first person shooters are rarely judged on their storytelling. While there are a few interesting toys to play with, most of the guns are pretty conventional, and you can carry three at a time. Most guns have a secondary function, though I found myself sticking mostly to the same few guns and modes. There is no cover system aside from crouching behind anything that offers it or hiding behind walls. This would lend itself more to a run and gunstyIe though often that will get you killed rather quickly if you don't use your time manipulation abilities during combat. Timeshift adopts the regenerating health game mechanic, but if enemies swarm you it can be difficult to recover that health.

The time mechanics are what makes Timeshift different than most other first person shooters. The suit has its own energy bar that dictates how much you can use its abilties, and as you employ them it uses up that energy which regenerates over time. This falls into 3 categories; time slow, time stop, and time reverse. Each of these does exactly what it sounds like. With the tap of a bumper it activates the ability that is most relevant to your situation, whether environmental or in combat. If you are close to dying, it will activate time stop instead of time slow, although I often found time slow was actually better as it lasted for a longer time and allowed you to get to safety. You can always override it and choose a specific ability by holding the bumper and pressing a face button, but that can be difficult in the heat of combat.

At various points, the time mechanics must be used specifically to solve puzzles or overcome environmental hazards. Some examples are using time slow to navigate moving laser grids or time stop to walk through fire unharmed. Time reverse can be a bit tricker, as it makes things go in reverse, and then back to normal time. This might mean activating a lever to raise a lift some distance away, then reversing time while you travel to it. When normal time resumes, the lift will once again rise and take you to your next destination. However the game never seems to capitalise on these abilities. It feels like the same few puzzles repeated in slightly different ways. Worse is that the game often doesn't give you sufficient warning for some of the life-threatening situations that require your abilities. Sometimes it will give warnings, but usually you have no idea what is coming, and even if you press the bumper as the warning arrives you might still be heading in the wrong direction and to your doom. On the plus side usually the checkpoint is just before these events, but that smacks of the developer knowing it was highly likely players couldn't respond.

Speaking of checkpoints, these were poorly implented in other areas. It seems that as certain events unfold, a checkpoint is unlocked, but this led to some very poor checkpoints. One one occasion I died and went to a checkpoint to get shot in the back the moment I spawned. While not fatal, each of the several times I respawned in that area I had to take a shot in the back while turning to face my foe. In another zeppelin sequence, it checkpointed right before I died; as soon as I restarted I died within seconds and had to restart the entire level again to fix it.

The zeppelin sequence is basically an on rails shooter, but your time manipulation mechanics work here also. There are also some vehicles to drive, but these controlled horribly and were tedious. On some occassions I was driving along and clipped something and died instantly. Enemies can also shoot you accurately from a good distance away even while they appear as a few mere pixels down your reticule, which made some areas difficult if they were across reasonably open terrain. The game isn't overly difficult so long as you make use of your time mechanics, but you tend to become overly reliant on them to survive; on some occassions it became reasonably apparent I was going to die because I ran out of time manipulation and the number of enemies coming for me could simply not be overcome by conventional means.

There aren't a huge number of different enemies to face, but they are all relatively different from each other. While there are conventional run of the mill soldiers, you will also face soldiers who have some method of time manipulation, some that blink into and out of existence, and soldiers with jetpacks. There are a few set piece battles, like going up against a mech and facing off against a huge spider like construction, but most of the battle is against groups of regular foes. You may find some allies from time to time, but they don't seem to do much to affect the outcome of battles. While you will pass through a number of environments, none are particularly memorable. The game looks decent technically, but artisitically it doesn't really inspire.

Without it's time mechanics, Timeshift would be a very generic shooter that would be hard to recommend to anybody. It isn't that it is particularly bad, it just doesn't really do anything particularly well, which makes the flaws all the more noticeable. However, it does have those time mechanics which can spice up the gameplay somewhat, and slo-mo shotgun blasts to the face don't ever really get old. For some time manipulation shooting I'd recommend F.E.A.R. but if you need something else to scratch the itch then you may enjoy Timeshift.

Score 6.0

It has been some time since I wrote an editorial,and I wasn't really expecting all the new trackers. So just wanted to first say to those people that I don't automatically track back but don't take it to heart; I don't blog on Gamespot as much as I used to and I do find it hard to keep up with all my friends blogs (and to those friends, I don't always comment but I do always read!). If you do comment on my blogs, then it makes it much more likely I will have a look at yours. Or if you write something and you get the inclination that I might have something to say about the subject, you can always PM me and I'll head on over and have a look.

Just a quick thought; I don't give a crap about gaming 'news' as much as I used to. It doesn't mean I'm completely out of the loop or anything, but I used to read every scrap of news unless it was something to do with the PSP. Now I skip probably half the stories. 'Uncharted sells 1 million' I don't need to click that link. Finding the ins and outs of how much it sold in each territoryisn't going to make my gaming life any better. I haven't read top 10 charts in I don't know how long, and I only gloss over the more business oriented information now if for some reason I think it will matter to me as a gamer.

The PS3 is a damn noisy beast when the fan is going. It's 39C degrees here today, and my air conditioner isn't working. It broke down at the end of last summer and I forgot to fix it (Australian for those that don't know, we are coming up to the hot weather and have a scorching weekend). It's the second time I've heard the PS3 do it. The first time I thought it was broken or something, it's that loud.

I finished up Pikmin on the Wii today and felt like reviewing it right away. I've still got some games I completed a while ago I might still review too. And Super StarDust HD and Everyday Shooter. I haven't completed them, but I've given them another whirl recently and I've played them enough to review. On with the review.

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Pikmin is an interesting take on the real-time strategy genre. Instead of some omnipresent being managing the battlefield from the heavens, you take control of the alien Olimar as he searches for the lost pieces of his ship so that he can complete his trip home. He discovers the world inhabited by creatures he calls Pikmin, small plant-like creatures, and he uses them to overcome obstacles in the area and defeat enemies, and most important of all carry the discovered parts back to his ship.

The game eases you in with tutorials that are easy to understand. While you discover them one at a time, eventually you will have 3 different types of Pikmin, each with their own attributes. Red Pikmin are fire-resistant and make the best attackers, yellows can be thrown higher and are able to pick up bomb rocks, and blues are the only ones that don't drown and can traverse water areas. Time is measured in days, and at the end of each day Olimar will fire up into orbit, and so will onions (what Olimar calls the pods that store Pikmin).

All Pikmin are capable of performing a number of tasks, used to solve the environmental hazards that are placed in your way. They can complete bridges that have been eaten away by Shearbugs, knock down walls, cause certain tree limbs to grow so they can climb, attack enemies and carry items back to your ship or their pods. Primarily this is how to progress in the game; command your Pikmin to carry pellets or deceased enemies back to their pods. Once they do, this will sprout new Pikmin that can be plucked from the ground. Strategy is involved here as different items take a certain number of Pikmin to carry back, and non-ship items will be taken to the pod that corresponds to the most Pikmin carrying the item. Enemies produce the same no matter which onion they are returned to, but pellets are coloured and produce more new Pikmin if they are taken to the corresponding onion. You need to weigh up which colour Pikmin you are going to need more of in future with getting the maximum number.

Unlike many games these days, you only have a certain amount of time to complete your objective; find the 30 missing parts in 30 days. Once the 30 days is up, it's game over whether you have completed your ship or not. This makes it important to complete as much as you possibly can in each day (about 20 actual minutes of gameplay). You will be warned as you approach days end, and you will need to have all of your Pikmin back near your ship and onions; any Pikmin outside of that vicinity when the day ends will be left behind to be dealt with by the local wildlife. Any damage you have dealt to enemies will be restored, and carcasses that could have been brought to your onions to spawn new Pikmin will disappear. Also interesting is that as the days pass, some of the smaller enemies can grow into larger ones, or if you return to an area cleared some days ago it may have a few smaller enemies that have come back to haunt you. Bomb rocks are usually also in short supply and integral to blowing up walls to open new paths or shorten travelling distance when carrying items, and these respawn each day.

Pikmin can also get stronger. While they start with a small bud above their head, this can grow into a leaf, and then a flower. This can be done by leaving them in the ground for a period of time before plucking them, or by finding nectar around the levels to find them. The stronger forms move faster and can perform tasks faster. You can also only have 100 Pikmin out at a time, and that includes those that are planted in the ground. You can have more available than this, but these will remain in their onions and you will not be able to bring out anymore unless you put some of another colour back into their corresponding onion.

There are a variety of enemies, and as mentioned above if you leave some of them alone for a while they may grow into larger versions. Some are simple to defeat with a few Pikmin, while others will take a big longer to take down. Some of the larger enemies can also be attacked a variety of ways, such as some attacking the feet to slow it down, or throwing them on their back so they can't be eaten with a bite. A few of the enemies are unique and act like bosses, and will drop ship parts when defeated. Once defeated, enemy carcasses can be carried back to the onions, and some enemies will also drop additional pellets. Some also have particular behaviours which can disrupt your strategy. Shearbugs can eat away bridges that you built on previous days if not dealt with, and the ever-annoying Swooping Snitchbug will follow you, pick up your Pikmin and replant them back in the ground.

Smart management of your Pikmin is key to getting the most out of your day. While there are only 5 levels, they are quite large and due to the number of obstacles in your way will take a while to fully explore them. As Olimar collects parts for his ship, it gains the ability to cover more ground and he can land in new locations. On each day you can land at any location that is available, and don't need to collect every part from each area first. So you might have 30 blue Pikmin wade into the water and work on completing a bridge, 20 fire resistant reds attacking Fiery Blowhogs (as they won't be hurt by their flames) while you take a few yellows to grab some bomb rocks and start working on taking down a wall. When there is a task that you want performed, you can throw a Pikmin at it, or you can group command all of your avaiable Pikmin to do so.

In most aspects the controls are great. While I've not played the original Gamecube version, it seems apparent that the Wii control update is an improvement. You can control Olimar with the analog stick on the nunchuk, while aiming at the screen with the Wii remote to throw Pikmin or issue a command to the group. You can dismiss Pikmin with a button press, which has them stop following Olimar and separates them into colour groups, making it easy to reselect one group if you have a task that requires a specific colour of Pikmin. You can call inactive Pikmin by selecting an area with Wii Remote and pressing B which creates a growing circle; tap it if you only want to select a few, or hold it for a couple of seconds if you want to select a larger range of Pikmin on the screen. There are some camera options as well, and it can feel a little awkward turning the camera but generally this is fine. The only issue I had was that when holding the down button to issue a group command, it didn't seem like all the Pikmin were responsive, or sometimes not at all, meaning I would throw each Pikmin individually at the task.

While I found the game thoroughly engaging, two points may prevent people from enjoying it. The first is the strict time factor. At times I felt like I was behind, particularly when you have a day or two where you are clearing parts of the level but not recovering parts, but I managed to complete the game on my first playthrough right on the 30 days. Had I not managed to complete the game, it was certainly fun enough that I would have played it through again, but this may disappoint players late in the game when they realise they don't have enough time to collect the rest of the parts in time. This is somewhat compounded by the save system. You can only save at the end of the day. There are 3 save slots and you can copy a save to another slot if you want a backup from days earlier. I found the lack of saving mid-level a little annoying. Sometimes I'd come across a unique enemy and not know how to attack and lose a lot of Pikmin on my first attempt, and have to restart the day; if I was still stumped this usually meant I looked at a FAQ as I didn't want to waste all that time a second time. Similarly it can be very annoying to get to the last second of a day and have your Pikmin carrying a ship part inside your base but not quite make it in time, whereby it will respawn in its original place (including the creature if it was retrieved from one) the following day. Despite this annoyance, I found that once I restarted a day I was much more efficient and productive because I already had a plan in place. Whether this frustrates you or drives you to do better depends on your own mentality.

Overall Pikmin is a great game. The time limit and lack of free-save may frustrate some, but the strategy itself is unique and engaging. It keeps a record of your stats, so you can replay in future and see if you can complete the ship in the quickest time possible or spawn the most Pikmin. There are also challenge modes, which seem to do away with most of the creatures (I have only attempted one thus far) but fill the level with pellets, and see how many Pikmin you can grow in one day. The whole package is presented in a colourful cartoony styIe, with enemies with bulbous features and cutsey sound effects and ghost images when your Pikmin die. If you like real-time strategy games and are looking for one with a difference, Pikmin comes highly recommended.

Score 8.5

I posted a review as well if you care to thumbs it up if you like it. Now I've got to figure out what's next. I've been working on getting my unplayed games down before buying any more, so I'm left with

Army of Two (PS3)
Burnout Paradise (PS3)
Lost Odyssey (360)
Lego Indiana Jones (360)

plus I've got Overlord and Splinter Cell Double Agent which I tried some time back, but I don't know if I really want to give them a full go. It comes down to what I talked about in my last blog; I don't know if I will enjoy them as much as just buying some other games instead. Anyone want to convince me these are worth trying again?

In the meantime I think I will gofinish Fallout 3. It's been that long that I think I've forgotten how to play it but it should come back pretty quick.

EDIT : So I finished Fallout 3, turns out I only had a half hour to go because I chose the mission that would end the game for me, and the autosave is now inside the final chamber that I can't get out of. So I fired up Lost Odyssey which I've played for about 2 hours. Got to my first boss-type fight and have died 3 times in a row. I think that about ends my time with that game. Needing to grind for the first boss fight? That does not bode well.

Value is an interesting proposition when it comes to games. Before we get into the meat of the article, here are a few quick questions:

You have 12 hours to kill. Someone locks you in a room and you have the option of playing Call of Duty 4, Gears of War 2, or Bioshock. You probably have enough time to play both COD4 and Gears, or Bioshock on its own. Which do you choose? Now take that option and for each game that you choose to play, you have to pay full retail price. How does that affect your decision? What if Jericho was also included but that was free, would you choose that instead of the other options?

There are of course no right or wrong answers as to which games you enjoy, or for how long they are enjoyable to you before you would prefer to either be playing another game, or doing something else entirely. The above example is loaded with my own perception of those games and the value they represent to me. How often do we hear friends or blog/forum posts saying 'It looks decent but it's not worth full price' or '1200 points/$15 is too much for that game'. I've found it interesting how we value games, as my own perception has changed somewhat in the last year. I used to own a video store, and besides a game being rented by a customer, they were all available to me whenever I wanted, and did not cost me any money. I haven't owned the store for a year, and now I have to purchase my own games. So how has that changed how I perceive the value of games?

I see two main values of any individual game; the intensity of the enjoyment, and the length of time that it is enjoyable. Which one is more important to you? Are you looking for the very best experience? Or do you prefer to stretch your dollar further and make sure your games last a long time before you have to go and buy another one? As I play primarily single player, Call of Duty 4 was a short experience for me. However, the intensity of that enjoyment was incredible, I thoroughly enjoyed the 6 or so hours that it lasted. I tend not to replay many games, so that is where the enjoyment ended for me (though it was great enough that I probably will replay it at some stage). Fallout 3 was a great game. I've yet to finish it, but I've put in over 30 hours and that time was enjoyable. Not at the intensity I enjoyed Call of Duty 4, but that's a decent period of time to be enjoying a game.

I imagine most of us don't sit in the equilibrium; we are either time poor or just plain poor. If you just plain don't have much money to spend on games on a regular basis but you find yourself with plenty of time, you may be more inclined to go for a game that offers longer playability at the expense of intensity (of course finding a game that you enjoy immensely and lasts a long time is possible and that becomes the obvious choice). Those of us who are time poor may be able to afford all of the games we have a desire to play, but simply don't have time to play them all; when we finish a game, there are a bunch more that we are interested in. So while there might be 5 games released a month worth taking note of, if you've only got so many hours to play games you might want to buy the 3 games that offer you the highest enjoyment possible instead of the other 2 that might be longer but be less enjoyable. Sure, you've spent more, but you are having a better time.

Of course, games do go down in price as well. This never used to be an issue for me, as all the highest profile games were usually available to me. Now that I have to spend money on my games, I tend to wait til games go down in price. This is not a primary concern of mine when purchasing games, but the list of games I want to play is pretty large, so games released a year ago are still as desirable to me to play as those released today. If I perceive that an older game is going to provide as much intensity and longevity as a current game for half the price, that's a pretty good incentive to go for the older game, and use that extra money on other interests.

I'm also surprised at some of the flak that has been sent towards the downloadable services when a 'premium' game sells for 1200 points or more. To me it still comes down to those two main issues; how much am I going to enjoy the game, and for how long? Castle Crashers was a great game that was more enjoyable to me than a number of full retail games I've played, and is one of the few games I've replayed so provided me a longer experience than some other games as well. Would I have purchased this game if it was a full retail product? Yes (although like usual I probably would have waited until it came down in price or purchased it second hand). Would many other people? I'm guessing not. And probably not because they perceived they wouldn't enjoy it; which brings me to another stigma.

Games can be enjoyable without developers having to invest millions. Yet even those smaller games do cost the developers time and money to produce. It is not my own perception, but I get the impression that there are some people out there who perceive that if a game costs less to make, then it should sell for less. But at the end of the day, you aren't paying because you want to invest in their development tools; you are paying because you want an experience you can enjoy.What if game A offers 8 hours of enjoyment at an intensity level of 7 out of 10 which cost $10million to make, while game B offers 10 hours of enjoyment at an intensity level of 9 out of 10 but only cost $100,000 to make with a small development team? Maybe game B has lower production values, but if the game itself is still great and both these games were offered at the same price, why would you choose game A? Clearly the choice for you, the gamer, is to spend the same money on a game you are going to enjoy more.

I've certainly not covered every aspect of how we perceive value in gaming, and I'd be interested to hear your thoughts. Remember that the games I've listed above are just my personal opinion on their value to me, and they don't need to be shared by everybody. And to poke the bear a little, how much should longevity factor into a gaming review score? Or should they only focus on how enjoyable the game is for as long as it does last? What if the best game in the world lasted 15 minutes?

I was watching some Robot Chicken lately, and a discussion with someone prompted me to get out my He-Man figures, take some shots and add some funny captions. So I decided to post them here for your perusal. I'm no Seth Green, but it's a start.

"Hahahaha, I am going to enjoy torturing you He-Man!"

"How do you like my snake staff nipple clamp He-Man!"

"Now you will taste my purple sword! I Bet-"
"Buttercup! Buttercup!"
"The safe word already? Ok, I guess it's my turn."

"...."

"Yes, MBF? Do we have full dental cover? Excellent. How about optical?"

---

Not brilliant, but I enjoyed brainstorming nonetheless. I've got a few other ideas with the figures, I'll see how those pan out and I might post some more. It acutally led to me looking some of these up online as I'd forgotten a few of the characters names. There were some weird characters in the later sets from which I've got very few or have no knowledge of. Apparently some of these sell for a pretty penny if they are still packaged.

Here's hoping that the movie that is apparently in the works does the series some justice.

I finished the main story of Marvel Ultimate Alliance last night. I only bothered with a couple of the comic missions, and I think I will leave them for now, it will give me something to do if I ever get the itch to play the game again. The gameplay was decent if repetitive, but the motion controls (I played the PS3 version) were annoying. The 'down' motion never worked for me except by fluke; sometimes I would be holding the controller completely still, the indicator would appear for a split second before disappearing while the tone played that indicated success. If I didn't get that fluke, it usually meant I had to repeat the sequence. A-NNOY-ING. Graphically the game was a bit of a let down, but it didn't really get in the way of the game. I still would have hoped for more detail and a solid frame rate. I suppose it will have improved for the sequel.

So I perused to shelf to see what to play next, and saw Burnout Paradise. I thought to myself I didn't really want to play the game, but I suppose I should at least pop it in and install the updates so when I DO want to play it, it's ready to go. As I suspected, there were multiple updates. The first of seven was 385 meg. So probably up to a dozen hours of download time. Great. Then I chucked in Pikmin New Play Control! to give that a whirl. Then the batteries died on the Wii-mote, so I went shopping and hired a movie. Of course, I couldn't hire a blu-ray because you can't download updates in the background... sigh.

So I finish watching the movie in the 360, and what's the first thing I do? Press eject on the PS3, the machine I use to play movies. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!.... is what was going through my head, but upon flicking the channel looks like the download is still going even thought the disc is not in the drive. Whew. With some batteries charged, I continue playing Pikmin.

I've completed day 6 of 30, and I'm a bit concerned that I haven't been terribly efficient and I may not put my ship together in 30 days. But if that does happen, I don't think I will be terribly upset about having to repeat it, because I am enjoying the game so far and once you know where stuff is you can focus on the strategy more. But then again, I may be worrying about nothing; I've got 5 parts in 6 days, which is almost par for course. I've never played the original, but I'd guess that by comparison the remote controls would be an improvment. Some very mild frustrations such as pikmin getting stuck on scenery (especially when using holes which are shortcuts, but you have to go the long way to get them all to follow) and I don't think the group command seems to work the way I think I should and I lose pikmin who should be attacking creatures, but so far I'm enjoying the strategy.

Played a bit of Uncharted 2 around a friends house and that was pretty awesome. At first I didn't think it looked as good as the first and that my friend hadn't set up his new toy and TV properly, but I couldn't find the settings in the PS menu. But it's still pretty. He bought a second controller so we could play co-op.... but it's online only co-op. Damn it. So now I have to consider whether to borrow the game from him to play the single-player, or whether to purchase a copy so I can play co-op with him. And if I'm going to do that, I suppose I would need a headset... Give us local co-op please. Scale back the graphics on the games when there are multiple players if you need to, but I much prefer playing with someone sitting on the couch next to me.

I need to get off my butt and write the the blog that has been in my head for ages about how we perceive value in games we play/purchase. So here is my commitment to write it up by next weekend. It's in my head but every time I've tried to write it, it just doesn't come out right. But I'll just bash it out and see how it falls.

The internet is full of random humour. There are a number of sites I frequent on a regular basis (is that statement redundant?), perhaps while on a break at work, or when I'm just killing time at home (though my preferred method for killing time is slitting its throat when it's not looking). Sometimes I exhaust the ones that I do look at, so I thought I'd ask you fine folks which similar ones you peruse to get your laffs. So in the interest of sharing, here are some of the webcomics ort funny sites that I tend to visit regularly.

Failblog

Here you will find a huge number of 'fails', Pictures and videos of completely idiotic things that people have done, or evidence that some people simply have no clue. Whether it be a sign that makes no sense such as "No pregnant women (or men)", to cars crashed in unimaginable ways (how did that car get upside down on a set of stairs?), or stunt attempts gone wrong, it's great to know that there are so many people much stupider than you are. For newcomers there is stacks of content that will take you hours to go through, so for those that haven't been there before it's a goldmine of entertainment. Some of my favourites are complete lack of thought in architectural or manufacturing design, such as...

Picture Is Unrelated

Failblog has several sister sites, though none as funny... except maybe Picture Is Unrelated. Where Failblog focuses on stupidity, Picture Is Unrelated has you scratching your head wondering what the hell is going on. Mere stupidity can't create these images. It's more like some combination of warped imagination and a heavy dose of drugs... well, possibly some elements of stupidity too. The Japanese seem to have their fair slice on this site. But then there are also guys like this...

Cyanide & Happiness

A webcomic that I'm sure many of you are already familiar with. I like my humour on the 'wrong' side, and these guys cross that line with glee on some occassions. Other comics go off on a random tangent, and others break the 4th wall and the characters are aware they are in a comic, or use self-referential material. 3 different authors produce the work each with their ownstyIe yet still within the same sense of humour.

Coloringbookland

The comics on this site are no longer updated regularly, but for the utmost in vulgarity, I suggest you visit. These are single frames of old school line drawings that look like they are from decades past, but with over the top captions that contrast with the art styIe. It's hard to give any specific examples because I'd get modded for mentioning just about any of them. Here's one that might be relatively safe.

HyperDeathBabies

Another website where the comics are no longer updated, but still some funny stuff. There are several different comics to peruse, though perhaps my favourite is the 50's Apocalypse series where many comics are the same panels with spartan design, but with different captions for each comic.

So what other comics or regular funnies do you guys visit?

So my housemates decided to go on the local zombie walk. I wasn't sure whether I was going to go. I mean, it sounds cool that it's an event an everything, but at the same time, it's just people wearing make up and shuffling down a street which doesn't sound very entertaining. So in the middle of writing the above, I decided to go on short notice and thought I'd talk about it. I thought I did a reasonable job for a first effort, with what looked like a nice patch of dried blood down one side of my face, and a temporary tattoo of a gunshot wound, and some white paint for that pale look. Added the obligatory rips to clothes, colored the edges of the tears with some paint. I thought I looked pretty decent.

Upon seeing some of the other people in town, I felt like I was wearing a garbage bag to a masquerade ball. We arrived late so missed out on the actual walk, but there were some bars that were catering to the zombie crowd for the event, so we headed there. Some people really went to alot of effort on their costumes, and myself and friends felt quite underdone (and one of them used green paint, and looked more like She-hulk than a zombie). There were cop zombies, nurse zombies, council worker zombies, a pregnant zombie with baby arms coming out her stomach, and I didn't meet just one but 3 zombie Jesus' (Jesi?). Pretty sure the one carrying around his cross had the most legitimate claim to being Gods undead son. Next year I think I'm going to see if I can pull off having a pole go through one part of my body and coming out the other side. Though that could look a little hokey as it would to be positioned correctly on both sides and remain there for it to look convincing, I guess. I think the key to looking is good is accessorise. A waitress was serving severed fingers on a plate, a cop had his handcuffs attached to his belt dragging a severed hand behind, and an artist with a brush through her head was using blood from severed fingers on a board to paint. I'm not sure about the stormtrooper; he just looked like he was covered in blood.

But some zombies are just rude. My friends and I were playing pool at one of the pubs, a couple of my friends go outside for a smoke. 3 girls come in and sit down near the table, on the seats that we were using. I'm not too fussed; we weren't sitting down so it isn't like we owned those chairs. Not sure how they couldn't see the drinks in front of them that belonged to us though. So I had to excuse myself to grab them and move them. A minute later I had to take a shot across the table, and asked them politely that I might need them to move aside for a moment while I take a shot. They just kind of looked at me and moved their heads maybe a centimetre out of the way and kept talking away to each other oblivious to the stick near their face. I missed the shot because I was concerned I was going to hit them. Should have just whacked them. They were dead already anyway.

Driving in was pretty funny, staring out windows at others passing by, and just walking through the city seeing the faces of onlookers who had no idea about the event. On a side note, I thought it would have been absolutely hilarious if someone unaware of the event jumped out screaming "Oh, my god! Zombies!" and started beating into someone with a plank of 2 by 4. In all it was a pretty fun night, though when you look at it, it is pretty pointless. Here's to zombie-ing it up next year.

So I finished Prince of Persia. I enjoyed my time with it, though the combat got a little boring for most of them. I can't be bothered going back and finding the rest of the light seeds. It's good, but not enough that I want to go back. Did anyone else find the graphic fliter at the end annoying? I had problems trying to figure out where I was going and what I was hanging onto and kept dying because I couldn't see. I recall a few people saying they hated the ending, I guess I'm indifferent.

While out shopping today I considered buying Scribblenauts, but I asked myself "Am I going to play it anytime soon?" and the answer was probably not. It can wait. My DS is in my work drawer aftergetting beaten in one of the levels and I'm not sure if I can be bothered trying again. Maybe I should have got Scribblenauts. Then I could have seen what happened when you put a cat and a cheesegrater together (waits for someone in the comments to try this and tell me). So now I think it's Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Starting playing with a mate who doesn't seem that interested in continuing, so I guess I'll solo the rest.

Just about finished Magician by Raymond E. Feist. I've had a hankering for re-reading his stuff, but for some reason didn't particularly want to read Magician again. But I decided I had to to get myself back up to speed because I haven't read the stuff in years. Great book. So now I have to decide whether to jump straight into Silverthorn, or read somethingnon-fantasy in between. I've still got a couple of Tom Clancy novels my dad lent me, Patriot Games and Teeth of the Tiger. Raven or Ork can probably advise me, noting that I've only read Hunt for Red October and Without Remose so far from his catalogue if order matters. And I also bought an English Reference Collection today. Yeah, I'm nerdy like that.

Probably a couple of months after I played it, but I decided to write a review for Eternal Sonata.

If I asked you to list games inspired by musicians, it would be simple to cite the multiple rhythm based games currently on the market. On the more obscure end, you have Eternal Sonata, a RPG with a story that revolves around the dreams Frederic Chopin is having on his death bed. While a bizarre premise for a story, it works, and an interesting battle system makes it entertaining to play through.

You begin as Polka, a young girl who possesses magic power. A side effect of being able to use magic is a short life span, and Polka may not live for long. As such she is shunned by some, as they fear her using magic will also negatively affect them. Along the journey she will meet up with a number of other characters, including Chopin himself. Everyone has names related to music, including the likes of Beat, Falsetto, Crescendo and Alegretto. The story is a linear affair, and is broken into chapters. While there is no role-playing or character development on your part, the story is told through cutscenes which are in abundance. The visuals leave a lasting impression, and compare to top-notch cel-shaded anime with vibrant colours. There are plenty of standard cliches like traitors in the midst and loves that can not be had, and while overdramatised at times are still effective. It does present the question, if you think you are in a dream but it feels real, which is the dream? The cut scenes can drag at times, but you are able to pause them or skip them.

Another interesting addition is that between the anime cutscenes and standard gameplay, you are treated to the occassional score by Chopin, while photos of locations he lived or visited or other relevant pictures play on a slideshow in the background, while text fills you in on Chopins life. However, these are unrelated to the game at all, and I found this took me out of the experience.

As there is no character development on your part, the leveling up is old school Japanese fare, in that when you level up, all of your stats automatically increase. You can buy weapons and defensive items, or find these on your travels. Most characters have an exclusive set of weapons and clothing/armour that they can wear, so you can't mix and match weapons. This lends all of the characters a difference in combat, as some have long range weapons, some attack slower, or have wider arcs for their weapons and are able to hit two foes in close proximity.

Combat is turn-based, but when it comes to each participants turn, they have a certain amount of time to act before their time is up and it goes to the next turn. While in control of your characters, you can use that time to run across the battlefield towards enemies, fire long range weapons if you have one, use items, or attack close quarters if you reach them in time. While the combat mechanics get complex towards the end of the game, they are introduced slowly so that you are never overwhelmed. At the beginning, once your turn begins you have infinite Tactial Time to consider your options before you begin moving. Once you begin moving, you will start using up your Action Guage and time will pause if you stop moving if you want to reconsider. As you progress through the game Tactical Time changes from infinite to a few seconds, and finally down to nothing, making sure you are always keeping an eye on whose turn it is next. This procession gives you time to learn the nuances of combat early in the game, and applies pressure to keep you active later in the game. If you time it right, it also possible to block opponents attacks, so battles are always engaging. While your party will grow in size, you can only have 3 active members in the party to partake in combat. Sometimes story-based events will force certain characters to fight specific battles, but these are few and far between. Non-active members still earn some experience, so they are never left too far behind if you do favour some characters.

Upon joining your party each character begins with at least one special ability of Light and Dark varieties, and this is another twist in the combat as they are assigned to the same button. Each combat area usually has some mix of light and dark areas; using a special ability in the light activates your Light ability, and... you get the idea. This adds another layer of complexity to the combat, as the special abilities can be quite varied. Healing abilities are related to the light, so in some areas which are almost always dark, you may have to use up most of your action guage just to get into some light. You may come across a strategy that works for you, only to find it ineffective if light conditions aren't in your favour. As your characters level up, they can master new special abilities, and you can change which ones you want your character to use. You aren't the only one that benefits from light and dark either. Some enemies have more effective attacks in the right conditions, or may change shape altogether and become more difficult to kill.

An additional twist to combat comes a little way in to the game; echoes. Whenever one of your characters lands a blow, it goes towards a hit counter. Once you get enough hits, a multiplier increases in the bottom right of the screen. Whenever someone uses a special attack, the combo meter is used up, and the attack or ability is more powerful by that many times. This makes it fun to have your first two characters wail on one enemy, and in the last split second of your third characters turn activating a special and annihilating another one. An additional layer is added once you learn Harmony Chains; if you activate these while your combo is at a certain level, you can activate a second ability, or even have another character use theirs to assist. Later in the game you will be needing to use these abilities to try and knock out your enemies before they can inflict serious damage upon you.

The enemies themselves are a varied bunch, from the onion-looking things that grow enormous if they are in the dark, to rats that carry their own 'dark source' (making the area around them dark even if they wander into the light), to mechanical beasts. Everything here is far from the standard fantasy affair and generated with a great deal of imagination. Even those that might be familiar still have their own styIe here and are superbly animated. On the odd occassion they show signs of stupidity, moving away from your party or not attacking for no apparent reason, but generally will head towards your characters and attempt to beat them into submission. While the mix of creatures in a given area are often the same or similar, you will move on to the next area before it becomes entirely routine. While many battles will only last a couple of rounds, the boss battles will take some extra work. Sometimes these are accompanied by other lesser minions to take out first, and a few even generate additional ones. The bosses are varied as well, such as the nimble female pirate who will take you out with devastating special attacks of her own, to large lumbering beasts whose attacks can hit multiple targets. It's here that thinking about how best to use your echoes and special abilities come into play. Do you inflict as much damage as possible now, or save up the echoes for the next time you need to heal?

As mentioned the game is relatively linear. There are some areas to explore, but they don't veer too far off the path and usually reward you with weapons or items. There are no random battles, enemies appear on the map and can be avoided if you choose. For the most part save points are spaced well, and you will always be able to save before a big battle. There are a few light puzzle elements, and a few areas where you will have to talk to people you come across, but for the most part you can avoid non-player characters in the game.

The negative issues I had with the game are minor. Sometimes the presentation of the battle map means you can't see enemies until you have begun moving to their side of the screen where an enemy may not had been waiting, wasting time. You can collect score pieces and play these with people you may find on your travels, but this made little sense to me. Being able to more easily select a target for long range weapons would have been nice. It's also worth noting that Beat has special abilities that takes photos of enemies. If you line it up and they are good photos, you can sell them at shops which bring in quite a lot of money... too much money. I took and sold only 4 pictures early in the game, and was able to buy everything whenever something more powerful was available except for one point late in the game where I sold a few things.

Perhaps my biggest gripe with the game is that after I beat it, there was little to bring me back for more. I was hoping for an extra challenge mode or more powerful bosses, but alas no luck. And if that is my biggest gripe, then the game must have something going for it. With beautiful artistic vision, an increasingly rewarding and engaging combat system, and an offbeat story, Eternal Sonata is easy to recommend.

I just watched Highlander, which I haven't seen for who knows how many years, over a decade at least. Didn't really hold up quite as well as I'd hoped, but not bad. But this sequence of events really puzzled me.

Forensic investigator learns that signature matching places Connor McLeod hundreds of years old.

Forensic investigator confronts Connor McLeod regarding the dead person he claims to be.

Connor McLeod reveals his true identity and proves his immortality by stabbing himself.

Sex scene.

What? ok, it isn't defying known physics like Transporter 3, but still. "Oh my god, he's immortal! That is SO hot!"

Just finished Timeshift. Despite tepid reviews, I still want to check it out just to see the nifty time mechanics. I don't usually mind derivative shooters.

Meh.

It was ok for a bit, but the time mechanics aren't enough to really recommend it due to the rest of the problems. Sometimes when driving vehicles you just die from hitting some random piece of geometry. Other times the game says "Haha. Now that that environmental hazard killed you, you will know that you need to use your time powers when you reload the last check point". Sometimes the suit tells you that something is about to happen, but until you know what it can be pretty hard to avoid these things happening. Enemies can hit you from a billion yards away, and in some firefights it is almost mandatory to use your time powers to survive, and if you happen to run out of juice at the wrong time it probably means game over. I have no idea what the story was about. I jumped back in time to chase some other dude or something, I began helping some random people who didn't seem to care too much that I came from the future, and looked like an overgrown can of sardines, and I shot people when my cursor turned red when I aimed at them. There was a flashback of some woman every now and again. I have no idea why. And then the game ends on an anti-climax. I finished the game, but I thought about giving up a few times. On the plus side, shooting people in the face with a shotgun in slo-mo never gets old.

So there is my short review, I haven't been in the mood to write full reviews lately, I might eventually write one for Eternal Sonata. I'd score Timeshift a 6.0. It had some neat ideas, but they don't save it from paling in comparison to other great shooters of this generation.

I seem to try and play shooters between other games, I think there is just something about shooters that seems to work for me, even if they are mediocre ones like Timeshift. But I'm out of options in the collection. Metroid Prime Gamecube; I'd rather wait til I have the Metroid Prime Trilogy on Wii to play with those controls. Medal of Honor Airborne; tried playing that a couple of times and just get frustrated. Army of Two; have started playing this on co-op so I think I will leave that for when my mate comes over so we can continue on that one together. I can't really justify buying any games at the moment when I have a number of games unplayed or uncompleted in the collection. I'm sure I can do without a shooter for a while, though I do need to finish up Fallout 3, so that should scratch that itch, though it's not quite the same.

So what's next? *peruses collection*

Prince of Persia, I choose you.

A car has 4 tyres. In most cases, these tyres are filled with air. If said car were to fall into a lake, the air in those tyres would not be able to keep the car afloat. Thus by extension, if you happened to be down at the bottom of the lake with the car, you would not be able to remove two bags from the boot of the car, deflate the tyres to fill them with air, then use them to float the car to the surface. You have not created any more air.

Transporter 3, I just owned your arse.

Of course movies like that aren't supposed to be realistic. But crikey, how could they let that pass? And why did the bad guy not put cameras and microphones in the car when he decked it out? That was just stupid.

At work, we are playing weekly typing games in teams. The best total team score for the game gets some chocolate bars, with the added benefit of trying to get us to type faster and thus be more productive workers. And you know what; I've taken to playing some of the games at home. Surprisingly not just to practice because I crave chocolate; I actually find the challenge of typing the words fun. See, games can be educational! A few of them are still games in that as well as typing speed playing a contributing factor, you need some strategy. When playing Metoer Typing Blast (Asteroids) you might not want to type out that word as it is about to fly past your ship, or the debris might hit your ship before you can type the new word. Or in Martian City Defender (Missile Command) you might want to type a word ata specifc time so that it blows up another word without you having to type it.

I'm decent at typing (though not a true touch typist) and I've scored first or second in the three weeks we've been running the competition. I wager that the competition here on Gamespot might be a bit higher. There are plenty of options for which letters or areas of the keyboard to use. I tried the 'All Keys' option once... which among normal stuff giving you ocassional 'words' to type like #:"& good luck with speed typing those.

My best score at Spacebar Invaders (guess which game this might be emulating) on intermediate is 115400 using Lesson #9, letters only. I uplaoded my score as bacchus on the scoreboard which puts me at 26th for scores submitted in the last 7 days if anyone here wants to try and top me

http://www.freetypinggame.net/play.asp

How strange that I'm finding myself captivated by these typing games. I might have to look into Typing of the Dead...

I haven't posted anything for a while, and thought it was time I did something, so I wrote a review for Zack & Wiki. I haven't played the game for a number of weeks, and usually I write reviews straight after I finish playing a game so I don't forget anything, or I lose the buzz if I don't write straight away. But I found this one incredibly easy to write for some reason. I haven't been commenting on a lot of blogs because I find I don't have heaps of time, but I have still been reading them all.

I'm off work this week, and I've been pretty lazy. I've been playing Eternal Sonata, which is a great game but the battles are getting slightly repetitive because many of the encounters in an area are identical. I still love the combat system, but usually each time I play I only get up to the next save point before I have to go do something else. I also played through Gears 2 solo (as my co-op buddy decided he didn't want to keep playing) which was awesome, but I don't think I can review it because multiplayer seems to be a pretty large part of the game.

During my week off I said that I would try and write my novel again, I've started a few fantasy novels in the past but haven't really got anywhere with them. In a few days I've managed to finish Chapter 3 of one of them (which I haven't written in for a few years) and start Chapter 4. This is way harder to get back into than I thought! I figured doing it over a full week would get me back into the swing of things, and then I would be in the mindset to do a little bit after work a few nights a week when I go back, but I'm still missing a lot of detail. I seem to hit a small roadblock and then go and play a game or watch a movie. I'm still making progress though, and usually when I reach something that I haven't thought through yet, it is going around in my head and something usually pops up eventually, and I've also developed a Chapter Guide to help shape where I think it is going.

On with the review.

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Point and click adventure games have lost their prominence over the last decade or longer, and their prescence on consoles has been minimal at best. Zack & Wiki manages to take the core concepts and fuses it with mostly great controls and a refined structure on the Wii.

Zack & Wiki : Quest For Barbaros Treasure sees you take control of Zack, who is a lighthearted wannabe pirate. Along for the ride is Wiki, a magical monkey who flies by spinning his tail, and Zack can also use him as a bell. The tutorial level plays out on board an aeroplane piloted by a companion, which gets you used to the controls. Aiming at the screen and pressing the A button will have Zack move to that location. The cursor changes colour to highlight things you can inspect and interact with, and pressing A does so. There is no support for the nunchuk, which I would have preferred for moving Zack as aiming and clicking while the camera is moving can be harder to get pinpoint precision, but this is minor.

It is when you go to interact with items that the motion controls come in, and they are usually not only intuitive, but feel accurately mapped to actual controls. For example, when you interact with a lever, you will have to hold the remote upright in front of you and then pull it back, or you will have to turn your hand in a circular motion to turn a crank. Other times you may have to put puzzle pieces back in their rightful spot, and will have to twist your hands to rotate them and put them in the right way. The vast majority of times that you interact with an object, an indicator shows you how to hold the remote, and figuring out the appropriate action from there is usually intuitive.

The way the game is structured is different than many other point and click adventures, and I feel this is for the better. You won't be lugging around something you collected in the first few minutes of the game in the hopes that it will come in useful several hours into the game. The game is divided into levels, and everything you need to solve the puzzle at hand is contained within that level. This arms you with the knowledge that you don't need to backtrack to find something you may have missed earlier. The first few puzzles are relatively easy, but it cranks up pretty quickly and you may find yourself scratching your head alot. Another refinement is that you can only carry one object at a time, also eliminating the 'collect everything' mindset often associated with these games. This forces you to look at an object you may pick up, and determine whether it is something you can use right now, or where in the level it might come in to play.

Another nice addition is using Wiki as a bell. While few of them are lethal, you will come across some animals or enemies in the levels. If you stand close enough to them and ring Wiki by shaking the Wii Remote like a bell, most of them will turn in to an item. Further, you can ring the bell again to change them into something else. This adds an extra layer of depth to some of the later levels. For example, early on you may need to turn a snake into a Slither Gripper which lets you reach an item you couldn't otherwise reach. Later on, you may need to do that and also drop it near another animal and change it back into a snake to scare the animal and progress further. It's the weighing up of the options available to you with the tools you can see in each level that is so satisfying.

After the tutorial, you uncover the golden skull of Barbaros, a famous pirate who has has been transformed into various artifacts and scattered in chests throughout the land. Our intrepid adventurers agree to help him restore the rest of his body in exchange for his famed pirate ship. It's obvious that Barbaros has another agenda, but it sets up the adventure as you travel to different locales. This begins in the jungle areas, but you will also travel to staple background environments such as the Ice area, the Fire area and Barbaros' Haunted castle. Each level however is individually crafted and they all look great. The game takes a whimsical cartoony approach to its visuals and pulls it off well. The camera automatically follows Zack around, and by holding the B button you can pan the camera around the level to investigate, or click an icon in the top corner of the screen to zoom out and see the whole level.

Of course, the heart of the game is solving the puzzles, and most of them feel very satisfying when you solve them. However, there is some trial and error as there are some things that may appear evident as solutions, but when attempted are incorrect and may even mean you fail the level. Other times you may want to try something just to see if it works, but it may trigger a game ending scene... though they are usually humorous. If you fail a puzzle, you can simply restart from the beginning of the level. You can also consult the Oracle if you have vouchers, and you can restart from the last 'safe' place in the level before you died to prevent from having to go through all the work that you do know how to complete. You can find money in levels to purchase more vouchers while you are at the Hideout between levels. There are also hint vouchers that can be purchased if you are having trouble. They don't spell it out specifically what you have to do next, but they are usually reasonably obvious. However, I was having difficulty on one stage and purchased a hint, but the solution presented was not possible as I had tried it previously; I was unaware until I checked a Game Guide that I had missed something several steps earlier that prevented me from completing the level. Still, that is the only time I had a problem with the hint system. On the one hand I would like to detail some of the solutions to desribe how intricate some of the puzzles are, but this would take away the mystery if you do play the game. Suffice to say, you will have to think about the different ways that items can be used, as while they are repeated in different levels, their applications are not always the same.

You are scored on your performance, and trying something with an object that is incorrect may lead to a lower score when you do get it right (and you are shown the potential maximum score for an action each time you earn points), and this adds up at the end of the stage to show you your rank. There is a treasure hunting side-game which you can activate between missions to find more treasures which contribute to unlockable, but I did not find these very enticing. Once the game is completed you can solve some extra riddles by doing things differently in the stages, and those riddles are found in the treasure hunting, but I would suggest just looking them up in a guide as this is tedious.

Zack & Wiki is a great refinement of the point and click adventure. While each level might only take a few minutes to complete once you know the solution, you might be scratching your head for half an hour or even longer as you try and work out the solution the first time. How can this item be used? What if I change it back into an animal, will that do anything? If I move this, does that mean I can't interact with it later? If I use this item on that item, is something going to move in the level? These are all things that will go through your head while playing Zack & Wiki. If solving questions like that sounds like it suits your analytical nature, you will have a blast with Zack & Wiki.

Score 8.5

It happens in the majority of games I play. You finish the game, and just like a movie, you get the credits. You get the complete list of what everyone contributed to the title, and what their role was. This is to expected; those that contribute should be recognised. But really, how many of us really care? The things is with most games, you can't skip them. With movies, this is fine. I can just turn it off, or skip back to the menu (so long as you've gotten past the VHS era). The problem is with a game, there are sometimes more things you can do once you have finished the game. Super Paper Mario and Zack & Wiki are my recent examples. But I wasn't able to just keep playing my game. The game had to tell me every person who worked on the game.

This isn't a major issue. No-one is going to decide not to buy a great game because it has credits that you can't skip. But I decided to head here to Gamespot to check news and blogs, heading back into the lounge room every few minutes to see if I could keep playing my game yet. For those of us that don't care, why not let us skip them? Add them to the menu so we can go check later if we really want the info. Am I missing some reason why they shouldn't do this? The only thing I can think of is the first sentence of this paragraph; it isn't going to affect sales, and maybe they expect some small smidgen of players who would not have bothered to read it will now do so and maybe learn something from it. Am I missing something?

Super Paper Mario continues the wafer thin aesthetics of of its Paper Mario predecessors, but eschews it's turn based roots for a more traditional real time platforming experience with RPG elements. This makes the experience much more accessible, and while the game is great in its own right, it may not be the sequel fans of the series were looking for.

As usual, Marios friends (and even long-time enemy Bowser) get into a spot of bother with newcomer villain, Count Bleck, who has decided that the world is a terrible place and that he is going to end it all, usaing a Chaos Heart to tear a rift that will swallow everything up. As seems to always be the case, everyone is whisked away except Mario, and learns about the Pure Hearts from Flipside resident Merlon, which can be used to repair the rift. Flipside is a hub of sorts, and here you can ineract with a number of characters and buy items before setting out to recover the Chaos Hearts. The characters you meet have the usual charm you have come to expect from Nintendo. Dialogue is told via onscreen text, and of course Mario never says a word. There are the occassional enunciations from him, for example as he points to himself and mumbles "Me?" in surprise, and the few syllables he does use give him plenty of character despite having no actual dialogue. The villains you will face also have their own identities, and plot twists revealing each of their true intentions are discovered as the story progresses.

Most of Super Paper Mario takes place in 2D and is played in real time, and plays more like Super Mario World than Thousand Year Door. Turn based combat is out of the window, which can make some of the leveling up less meaningul depending on your skill level, as the game is quite easy. The major twist to the gameplay is that while you are in control of Mario, you can turn the landscape into 3D. Objects that may be impassable in 2D might required a simple sidestep in 3D, or disappear completely if they were part of the background. Herein lay interesting puzzle elements. For example, in 2D you may come upon a blank wall; switch to 3D and it might be a staircase not visible in the 2D realm. Or perhaps some seemingly impossible to avoid hazard that is hutling toward you can be avoided by going into 3D where that object is paper thin. The one annoyance here is that Mario can only switch to 3D for a limited time before he begins to lose life. I'm not sure why this limitation was implemented, as you will switch to it frequently while searching every area for ways forward or to discover hidden objects.

Mario is also accompanied by Pixl's. These are neon companions formed by simple shapes, and when discovered grant Mario and his friends new powers. The first Pixl is Tipi, who let's you aim the remote at the screen to highlight objects and give you information about them, and also to reveal hidden objects. You will discover a number of Pixl's on your adventure who give you new tools to search through areas that were previously inaccessible. These range from being able to drop bombs to destroy cracked walls, the ability to flip sideways so that enemies can't see you and to avoid traps, and a hammer to break certain blocks. Tipi is active at all times, and you can switch between the others from a menu.

You won't control just Mario during this adventure. Eventually you will play as Peach, Luigi and even Bowser. Each of them have their own abilities that require their use from time to time. For example, Peach can use her parasol to float across long gaps, Bowsers fire comes in handy at times, and Luigi has a spring jump to reach higher places the others can't. However, you can't flip into 3D unless you are playing as Mario. Thus Mario will be your mainstay character, and I found myself only switching to the other characters at the time when their specific skills were needed before changing back to Mario.

I would assume in the interest of remaining accessible, the game is much less open-ended and each Chapter is divided into levels. Aside from in Flipside and Flopside (Flipsides twin city which you will discover) there isn't a more open world like Thousand Year Door. You are free to revisit levels after you have played them, and these can yield some secrets once you have progressed and unlocked more Pixl's and characters, but the structure is much more rigid this time around. Cooking and arcade games make a return. I hardly used cooking in Thousand Year Door, and here it seemed even more useless. Given that everything is in real-time, I almost never used any combat items, and the game is very easy from a platforming and combat perspective. You will accumulate enough coins that you can easily just buy any items you may need, and not have to wait for an unskippable animation while someone prepares your concoction. Some of the puzzles may be a little more devious, and there were a few head-scratchers that had me turning to a FAQ. Most of them are pleasing to solve, but there are a few dubious design choices that stick out like sore thumbs. Chiefly, the section that demands you hold the right arrow on your Wii remote for about 5 minutes. Without doing anything else. No, I'm not joking. How did testers not insist how ridiculous this was? Secondly, remembering sequences has been around for a long time... but this game has a "left, middle, right" sequence that is about 30 entries long, that you have no hope of remembering unless you write it down. In the scope of the whole game these are minor quibbles, but they are very annoying when they come around.

The Wii remote is all you will need to play this game, holding the Wii remote sideways like an original NES controller, and motion sensing has been kept to a minimum. The remote can be used like a pointer to use Tipi's ability. Once you have jumped on enemies, you can shake the remote after your bounce to do something stylish and earn extra points, which measure when you level up. I found that I forgot about this function, but it doesn't really have a huge impact on the game. The only other use of motion sensing outside of this is in the arcade games. I can't help but feel the game would have been better suited to a more traditional controller, mainly because later in the game you have to navigate menus to switch between characters and Pixls, and the frequency of switching breaks up the immersion. However the platforming and the controls themselves are great, which is what you would expect from a Mario platformer, though it can be a bit awkward to judge distance in 3D. The leveling is also simplified, simply giving you more health or increasing your damage or defense each time your level up; gone is the choice of where to put your points, it is all automatic.

The adventure took me about 40 hours to finish, but even completionists may wince at the extras to collect. There are cards to collect, which can be found in the levels, bought from vendors, or you can use capture cards to capture enemies. When you have a card for an enemy, it increases the damage that you will do to that enemy with each hit. There is also the Pit of 100 Trials, which is 100 consecutive levels that you are unable to save, pitting you against a combination of enemies in each stage, with the objective to find the key to the door which will be dropped by one of the enemies once defeated. After those levels you will fight a boss, which ended the game for me; the rooms themselves were not hard, but I didn't want to replay them just to get back to the boss fight.

Super Paper Mario takes a solid 2D forumla, mixes it up with some interesting 3D puzzles, continues the charming paper-cutout visuals, wraps an amusing story around it, and barring a few odd choices makes it accessible and easy to enjoy. It's major downfall is that after Thousand Year Door, players may be disappointed that this game has been stripped of some of those features they may have enjoyed in the previous adventure. This doesn't stop Super Paper Mario from being a good game in it's own right, but is a different beast if you were looking for more of the same.

Score 8.0