TwiddleGeek

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I’ve owned this game for ages, even carried the cool pack-in Duke Nukem subway token around on my key-chain until it broke, but I’ve never really played very much of it. It’s one of those games that just kind of got swept to the side, and ultimately forgotten in my collection. But, with my consoles packed in luggage for a move, and my new laptop being perfect for some last-gen gaming, I figured this would be a good time to bust it out again.

Manhattan Project plays not like Duke 3D, but like like 2D side-scrolling titles of Duke’s origins. Unfortunately, the gameplay struggles to meet even last gen standards. I can’t even say this is more fun to play than the original sprite based Duke Nukem adventures of old. Level after level plays the same as the one before it, and every single level involves tedious hunting of key-cards. Some interesting mechanics at least take a shot at originality, but still fall short. For example, killing enemies gets you Ego, which is also your health. Unfortunately, this just makes much of the game too easy. The vast majority will be played with the shotgun in hand as the only weapon you’ll need, with perhaps an assault rifle to quickly take down the bosses.

The game isn’t entirely without some platforming fun, but the overall package is just mediocre at best. The production values on this are just rock bottom. Duke’s one-liners are repeated every couple of kills, and never terribly funny to begin with. In one scene a chopper flies away and you can clearly see the seams where the sky texture meets the edges of the cube shaped environment. It’s almost laughable in it’s shoddiness, like watching an old B-Movie. I really can’t think of any reason to recommend that this title to be pulled from your local bargin-bin.

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There’s a new Nintendo console, so of course there’s yet another update to the Mario Kart franchise. Like all the previous titles in the series, it’s a pretty solid all around… Bikes are great additions beside the karts, drifting has been greatly improved, and there’s several fun new courses. Unfortunately, it’s not everything it could have been. For one thing, the graphics have been given a mere moderate upgrade at best. The best improvement is simply the widescreen aspect ratio. Otherwise, nothing much has changed.

Compared to other series updates this year like Smash Bros Brawl and Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart Wii feels a little like a phoned in effort. The same problems as before still apply… blue shells are as cheap as ever, bullet bills can take you from last place to near first, and frustration with the CPU kicks in fairly quickly in Mirror Mode. There’s not many new power-ups — but the midair trick boosts and bike wheelies add a bit more depth to the experience.

Perhaps what many will consider the best addition is the online racing, something Nintendo has been way behind the curve on. It’s horribly lacking in options, but that’s Nintendo for you. The worst part is that the lack of options extends to the single player and local multiplayer. There’s almost no options or customization of the races to be had at all. Perhaps the biggest shame is that battle mode has been reduced to a team-brawl without elimination. Despite these problems, Mario Kart Wii is what it’s always been: a solid and fun racer / party game.

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The Prime series has managed to do what few people, including myself, thought would work: Transform the Metroid series into a successful first person adventure. The term FPS is a little inaccurate for this series considering the majority of your time will be spent adventuring and puzzle solving, but Prime 3’s new controls and streamlined gameplay feels the most shooter-ish to date. The game actually takes elements of story from Prime: Hunters on the DS, as well as a bit of the shooter-ish feel.

Rather than typical FPS running and gunning, Prime is all about the environment and story. Now filled with tons of voiced dialog, supporting characters, lots of scripted events, and — thank goodness — clear objectives… Prime 3 is a far more streamlined game than Prime 1 or 2. In fact, I felt Prime 2 was an absolute mess at times of hard to locate save points and endless expanses to explore. Though Prime 3 gives you a whole system of planets to explore and hop between, this is nicely broken up into nearly linear, easy to follow sections accessible by Samus’s signature ship. For me, this really improved the gameplay by leaps and bounds over Prime 2.

The biggest advancement with Prime 3 over the previous versions is easily the control scheme, which really makes the action feel fast and fun. The developers take advantage of the new found freedom with some interesting interfaces, some nifty gadgets, and even some combat requiring precise aim and strategy. Limited ammo guns have been kicked to the curb, and we’re thankfully back to stacking beam weapons ala Super Metriod once more. While I was a fan of Prime 1, Prime 2 was more of the same and less of what made it fun. Prime 3 is the return to form that should have been, and at just over 11.5 hours my first play-through, great fun start to finish.

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New Super Mario Bros. is an interesting mix of old school and new, hardcore and casual gaming. One the one hand, the game is a complete throwback to the days of 2D platforming Mario. On the other, it’s been given a modern revamp with 3D models rather than sprites, new moves like wall jumps, and a few new power-ups. More interesting, at first glance the game feels so easy that even the most casual player could finish it in a single weekend with little difficulty. But if you play to collect all three Star Coins on every level, it suddenly becomes a lengthy and frustratingly challenging adventure.

If you loved Mario 1 and long for more side scrolling action, you’ll be right at home here. This isn’t a remake, rather it’s a new game in the 2D series that takes the gameplay back to its roots. It’s not even very much like Mario 3 or Super Mario World as there’s no flight, no Yoshi, and no real goal other than reaching the flagpole. If reaching the goal is all you care about, dashing through the 8 worlds is a snap. Too easy, in fact. I was severely disappointed with the game on my first play through due to how simple it seemed to be. But after you complete the game once, you gain the ability to save anywhere. Now it’s time to go collecting, and this is where things get interesting.

Hidden in every level are 3 Star Coins… collecting these can make your life very difficult. Sometimes they’re well hidden, but in many cases they’re tantalizingly just out of reach. Many require some perfectly timed jumps, some tricky use of an enemy head-stomp, or even the use of one of the new power-ups to obtain. To completely finish the game you need to not only find every one of these coins, you also need to unlock every single alternative path via secret exits on several stages. The casual players can easily ignore all this and still have fun, but the hardcore really need to take up the challenge to complete this game in order to get the full potential out of it.