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Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

Tuesday, 23 February 2010 00:00 |

Written by Lydia Koh |

Reviews - Nintendo DS

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Like it's predecessor, Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box packs a powerful punch, even for non-puzzle lovers. This bestselling game developed by Level-5 and later Nintendo boasts a riveting story, beautiful graphics and melodic tunes.

The story starts off with a murder of Professor Layton's friend, and Professor Layton sets off with Luke to uncover the mystery behind the felony. Along the way, various entertaining puzzles will be popping up, and they get tougher as you progress in the game. A delightful add-on from its predecessor would be an additional town. Yes, you get to explore not just one town, but two! Added to the mix is the Molentary Express - a train that leads Professor Layton and Luke to a secret destination.

The storyline is what drives most people forward, but the puzzles add a delightful oomph to this marvelous game. Uncover the mystery of the Elysian box, which is said to cause death to anyone who opens it, and the mystery behind the mystifying town of Folsense. Characters are 3-dimensional and extremely likeable, which adds to the brilliance of this game.

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Besides the usual puzzles from its predecessor, Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box sees some new puzzles thrown into the mix. Most employ new stylus techniques (instead of just multiple choice or circling, you get to do much more sliding, for example), and they never fail to entertain.

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Graphics are crisp without any pixellated edges, and cut-scenes are DVD-like quality. The music soundtrack and voiceovers are also top-notch, as is everything in this game.

The best new feature of the game would be the mini games: you are rewarded for completing puzzles with items to complete 3 quests - collect hamster toys to make an extremely obese hamster exercise and get fit, or piece together camera parts to form a camera, which serves as a tool for a spot-the-difference game throughout Folsense.

You are also rewarded with tea ingredients which you can use to brew different flavours of tea and serve to people all over Folsense, just to make their day (and loosen their mouths a little so you get cloesr to solving the mystery!).

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Like its predecessor, Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box uses only the stylus. You need not worry about memorizing what the A/B/X/Y buttons do, because they don't do anything. Stylus control is simple and pleasant - no worries about frustrating controls.

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box is the 2nd in a trilogy series. The 3rd game is not yet released.

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Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Thursday, 18 February 2010 00:00 |

Written by Lydia Koh |

Reviews - Nintendo DS

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Have a thing for puzzles? How about a handsome, puzzle-cracking professor and his lovable sidekick? Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a riveting puzzle-adventure game sure to thrill even non-puzzle fanatics. Developed by Level-5 and later Nintendo, this is one of the DS games you cannot miss.

The story is fabulous enough to hook any player, even without the puzzles. In fact, the story will leave you scrambling to solve and complete the puzzles, no matter how much as you hate them! Professor Layton and his trusty sidekick enter a mysterious village named St. Mystere. Not all is as it seems, as Professor Layton and Luke begin to discover, because St. Mystere is soon revealed to hide a startling secret. What is that starting secret, you ask? Solve the puzzles and find out yourself.

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St.Mystere is a beautiful town oozing with traditional charm. Graphics are crisp and clear; video segments are narrated with the best sound quality and boast DVD-quality pictures; if the DS was created for a particular game, this is the one. The text is presented in a dainty font never seen before on the DS screen, which proves to add a refreshing touch. The quirky background music and soundtrack also adds to the excellence of the game, and who wouldn't enjoy listening to Professor Layon and adorable Luke discuss the mysteries of St. Mystere?

In this game, all you need is your stylus - it cannot get any simpler. No A/B/X/Y buttons, no start buttons, no siree- this game is purely stylus-controlled. Buttons are sensitive to the touch and the little beep they make at each touch makes the button-pushing oddly satisfying.

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Use the stylus to slide blocks, circle objects, or select from a few choices; the types of puzzles are endless. There are 135 puzzles in all - more than enough to keep you entertained for hours on end. Solve puzzles correctly at the first try to earn more picarats, an in-game currency used to unlock more puzzles outside of the adventure. You'd be surprised at how enjoyable they are once you've gotten the hang of this puzzle-solving thing.

No game is complete without a couple of mini games of their own, and this game isn't about to be an exception. Mini games abound in this title - collect queer robot fragments as you go along and piece them together to form a -CENSORED (discover it for yourself thankyouverymuch), which can come along handy as you progress further into the game.

All in all, even if you are not very keen on puzzle solving, this game will change your mind in seconds. With an entralling storyline coupled with remarkable graphics and sound, Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a game to behold.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village is the 1st in a trilogy series, and TGS will be reviewing the next game, Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, next week.

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Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS)

Monday, 08 February 2010 05:03 |

Written by Lydia Koh |

Reviews - Nintendo DS

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Fancy an easy-going lifestyle frolicking by the sand gathering seashells, fishing, or bug-catching? How about having cute, quirky animals as neighbours and close buddies?

In Animal Crossing: Wild World, the ways you can lead your life are endless. In addition to the above, you can even become your own anthropologist and fill the local museum (empty at first) with bugs, sea creatures and dinosaur fossils you find all over town. What's most important is, this town is yours to decorate, explore, and live in.

The Animal Crossing series has enjoyed overwhelming popularity over the years, making its debut on Gamecube, followed by DS. (There is a newer installment, Animal Crossing: City Folk on the Wii.) With thousands of people hooked on Animal Crossing: Wild World, why would you be any different?

Since Animal Crossing: Wild World was developed by Nintendo, it is not surprising that the graphics are nothing short of superb. The game is presented in stunning 3D, complete with pristine white snow, starry nights and lovable characters. For people living in areas without 4 seasons, Animal Crossing: Wild World will be a joy to comprehend, with white Christmases, trees exploding with colour in Autumn, and sunny Spring/Summer.

Background music is adorable and catchy; you might catch yourself humming the tune in the bath one day. To add freshness you may even compose your own town tune (or grab a couple of suggestions off the web - its easy). And don't forget the charming chirruping of the Animal Crossing: Wild World characters which comes out of their mouths when they speak.

Although some might find the music overly simple, I would say this matches the theme of the game which is living just for the fun of it. One would especially love the relaxing ambience of the whole game. This is a game for those who've had a hard day and are looking to unwind. Overall, music and graphics blend seamlessly into one great game.

There's not much of a storyline embedded in the game because you create your own story. That's right - you get to pick your best friend, your worst enemy (piss any one of them off if you're not in the mood for making friends), whether your town is a mess or a Garden of Eden... it's really all up to you. Will you be a millionaire living in solitude with no friends? Or a social butterfly who's always donating to the needy? You are your own god, and that is what's so likable about this game.

A sure-delight will be the cute characters who will sweep you off your feet with their individual personalities and personal quirks. A favourite would be Stitches (a patchwork teddy bear), who has sent many young girls' hearts a-fluttering. (ahem)

Once in a while special events will occur or special characters will play a visit. These events add extra spice to the game but are not the main focus.

In Animal Crossing: Wild World there's always something to do. After you have bought a fishing rod/bug catching net/spade from Tom Nook (the local general store owner), you can proceed on a fishing/bug catching/fossil hunting frenzy. Thing is, you will never get bored of it because there are so many things to discover! In fact, this little town will hook you the moment you step into it and you will find yourself glued to your DS as you frolic around town!

Another to-die-for feature in Animal Crossing: Wild World would be the home decorating and furniture collecting. Homemaking aficionados will delight in filling their home with all sorts of furniture (ranging from floating moons to a flower-shaped coffee table), and complete the look with one of the many wallpapers and flooring. The technique of pushing/pulling furniture all over the place is easy to learn and one can grasp this in no time. The better you decorate, the more points you earn with the Happy Room Academy (HRA), who may reward you with a bonus item!

One of the downsides of Animal Crossing: Wild World are the controls. Touch-screen usage is kept at a minimum (for designing clothes or transferring items from pocket to Tom Nook's hands, for example) and most would prefer the use of the control pad and A/B/X/Y buttons. It is fairly difficult to control the speed of your character with the stylus, so the writer recommends you use the control pad. Nevertheless, controls are not all that important in this game and since the game works well with the normal traditional controls, it's not that huge a downside.

Although not a very large feature of the game, online play adds punch into the game. You may invite your friends (real or online) over to visit your town, or you may visit theirs. Visiting unlocks several features of the game (for example the last enhancement of Tom Nook's store), plus you get to bring exotic fruits back home with you (They sell for a whopping 500 bells each! Imagine what you'd do when you create an orchard of exotic fruits!). The interaction is a little slow since you have to tap on miniscule letters on the DS keyboard, but who needs to talk when you have body language and so much to do together!

Animal Crossing: Wild World is a delightful game that will captivate children, most girls, and perhaps boys looking for a breather from violence and gore. Although the controls aren't that great and there's virtually no storyline, gamers can revel in a relaxing day at the beach or countryside in the company of wonderful friends/neighbours who will delight young and old.

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Scribblenauts

Sunday, 10 January 2010 18:41 |

Written by Simon Flatman |

Reviews - Nintendo DS

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Scribblenauts
5th Cell
Warner Bros Interactive
Nintendo DS

Anyone caught up in the 2009 E3 hype machine could be forgiven for mistaking Scribblenauts for the second coming. The title screen alone permits more fun than the majority of the games released this year. Simply type in a word and watch your idea come to life. There are over twenty two thousand possibilities and it’s surprising the scope of what’s on offer. Grannies can be armed with shotguns, sea life can be electrocuted by dropping a washing machine into their submerged habitat and cows can adorn halo’s, the depth of possibilities in Scribblenauts is endless.

The main game is split into ten themed worlds each containing twenty levels, ten are puzzle based, the other ten are action based. The aim is to collect the starite in each level by following the onscreen instructions. Progress is slight at first, allowing players to be imaginative. The first stage asks you to topple a set of carefully constructed skittles; type ball, drag the ball onto Maxwell, click on the skittles. Maxwell then throws the ball into the skittles and the starite is won. Alternatively you can simply drop a tractor on the skittles. Each stage can be completed in so many different ways it becomes enjoyable exchanging success stories with friends.

Despite Scribblenauts having a decent system to implement its vast vocabulary, level design is eventually of a varying quality. Most of the time you’ll find that overuse of certain words can completely demean the puzzle sections, it takes willpower not to use death and a pair of wings to complete around half of the levels. A common instruction involves getting person A to person or place B, be it a knight to a princess or a king to his castle. The same method can be used in most situations, summoning a hot air balloon and dragging your subject via a chain or rope is often the best mode of address. Trying any other method is often frustrating because people and objects often behave unpredictably. A task as simple as placing a ladder on a box can become a chore when, with even a slight collision with another object, the ladder will bounce about in an epileptic fashion.

The term ‘difficulty curve’ also seems to be a dirty word in the Scribblenauts universe with difficulty spikes rearing their heads frequently. Towards the latter half of the game the challenge stems from trying to manipulate the awkward scenery , as opposed to thinking of imaginative solutions.

Follies like this can be attributed to Scribblenauts’ somewhat sporadic controls. Maxwell and objects are controlled by the stylus, meaning that if you accidentally miss an item by a couple of pixels, Maxwell will happily meander his way through the level, usually wrecking any grand structures conjured up. The camera also snaps back to Maxwell far too quickly, this irritates immensely when trying to build imaginative constructions.

Though Scribblenauts is frustrating it can provide moments of greatness. Playing hard mode -where each level must be completed three times without repeating a word - is a joy when attempting the more simplistic levels, testing the players vocabulary and allowing experimentation with its vast dictionary. Simply arming a rock band with instruments can be taxing without repeating yourself.

Scribblenauts has an excellent premise somewhat hampered by infuriating controls and inconsistent level design. That’s not to say it’s not enjoyable, playing at your own leisure without having to worry about 5th Cell’s uninspired level design is tremendous fun. Scribblenauts makes a great teacher, we now know knights can drive busses, widows love biscuits and that it takes six balloons to make a cow float. Perhaps the most important lesson here though, is that a great system doesn’t necessarily make a great game.

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The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

Wednesday, 16 December 2009 00:00 |

Written by Davidlee Jolley |

Reviews - Nintendo DS

Let's go ahead and get this out of the way: Spirit Tracks is a better experience than Phantom Hourglass. The storyline is more enjoyable, the touch controls are more refined, there is a better music selection and it offers up more of a challenge. One that thing that didn't change is that you spend more time riding around in a vehicle than anything else. While the train isn't as boring as the boat, it still isn't the most thrilling thing in the world. A good chunk of the game is spent riding from location to location, shooting at rocks to collect rubies, shooting down the random enemies that attack and avoiding evil trains that can't be stopped. Everything else, though, is pure Zelda goodness.

When thinking of Phantom Hourglass and remembering the game's central dungeon – the Ocean King Temple – can make you cringe. Having to race against the clock and dredging through floors that have already been completed was a tedious endeavor. Now there is a central dungeon in Spirit Tracks, the Spirit Tower, that you will have to return to after completing a dungeon, but thankfully you can slide right on by previously tackled floors and there is no timer. Yes, it's actually enjoyable...very enjoyable, as a matter of fact. The Spirit Tower offers up some of the game's best challenges and never feels like a chore to deal with.

Spirit Tracks does feature one of the most likable Zelda's in the franchises history. Unlike other entries where she is present for a small portion of the game and then doesn't make another appearance until the end, she's there from practically the game's beginning. She also isn't a useless character that is stuck in the game to make a comment on the current situation, nor is she there to shout “listen!” at you every five seconds. Without Zelda the Spirit Tower would be impossible to progress through. Inside the Spirit Tower it's all about having Link and Zelda work together to overcome the obstacles the tower throws at you. It may not sound like much, but it's what makes the Spirit Tower so enjoyable.

Dungeons have the usual Zelda fair: keys, switches, mini-bosses, chests, enemies, all the good stuff. They aren't as complex as the dungeons seen in other outings, but they do have some pretty good brain twisting moments. Hidden in each dungeon is an item – such as the boomerang – that usually plays an important role in completing the dungeon as well as felling the dungeon's boss.

There is a musical instrument in the game: the Spirit Flute. It works the same way as the ocarina in Ocarina of Time, except instead of pressing buttons you actually blow into the DS's microphone and use the stylus to line up the needed pipe. Yeah, it's gimmicky, but there is something appealing about pretending to play a pan flute.

Playing through the game and not straying off towards the side-quests can clock in at around 14 or so hours. Take the time to do the side-quests and you can probably get 20 plus hours out of the game. Spirit Tracks has a good amount of things to do aside from the main story arc, from rescuing rabbits to stamping a book for Niko. There are side-quests that will have you giving NPCs a lift to a specific location, which isn't too bad except for the fact that they complain about everything. Don't sound your whistle when passing a sign that signals you to do so – which effects absolutely nothing – because you're too busy fighting off hordes of enemies, then you'll tick off the passenger. Get attacked by an enemy, then it's your fault because you're a horrible engineer. It is beneficial to do side-quests, because by completing some of them new tracks become accessible, which means new places to explore.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks isn't the greatest Zelda ever made, but it is the definitive DS Zelda experience. After playing this game Phantom Hourglass feels like it was released to test the waters, see what worked and what didn't work. Riding around in the train isn't very fun, it's tolerable but it doesn't compare to actually being able to run around exploring the land and fending off enemies. Everything done off of the train, especially the dungeons and Spirit Tower, are golden. If you're a Zelda fan and you own a DS, check it out. Add a comment

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