TwiddleGeek

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To picture Revenant Wings, imagine a game that’s a cross between the characters and action-based fighting system of Final Fantasy XII, and a sort of Final Fantasy Real Time Strategy game. That is, Revenant Wings isn’t a typical Tactical RPG like Final Fantasy Tactics, FFTA, Disgaea or so forth, it focuses more on a RTS style battle system of “capture resource, make units. Select group, point, click.” What this means is you’ll be less concerned with each individual unit, and more concerned with the group and resources of the map.

This isn’t Starcraft either though, in that the only “resources” you have to manage are basically the summon points and perhaps a soul crystal. Take your enemies’ summon points, and the tide of the battle slowly turns in your favor. Each group of subunits (healers, ranged fighters, melee fighters, flying creatures) are lead by a main party character, and these characters have some of the strongest battle abilities. Perhaps imagine something vaguely like the hero system of Warcraft III.

Revenant Wings is at times a little light on the strategy and heavy on the point-and-click mobbing with a swarm of units, but in the later levels of the game a fairly careful battle must be played or strong foes will easily overwhelm your units and wipe out the party. The frustration of failure is equaled by the joy of success though, and the game’s lengthy 18+ hour campaign clips along with minimal drag and only a little level grinding. If you like RTS games and the idea of one that continues the story of FFXII and stars familiar characters appeals to you, then check out Revenant Wings.

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Unsurprisingly, Mario Galaxy is easily the game that most defines the Wii so far. It doesn’t make nearly as much use of the controls as it could since there’s little here that couldn’t be done with a Gamecube controller, but frankly I don’t think Nintendo really knows what they want to do with their new control methods. Personally though, I still enjoy games that control primarily in old school methods.

It’s a good testament to a game when it’s fun right up to the very last star, when getting every star is fun and fulfilling rather than simply an exercise in obsessive collecting and completionism. I have to agree with what I’ve heard others say though that while I like the star challenge nature of the game for it’s pick up and play ease — the game would have a much more epic feel if it were a seamless linear adventure. At times, the extreme randomness and disconnect between the levels works against it just a bit, but that’s just the nature of modern Mario games.

If you enjoyed Mario 64 or Sunshine, it’s almost a sure bet that you’re going to really enjoy Galaxy. Sure, it’s been somewhat over-hyped, but that doesn’t change that fact that start to finish, it’s a truly excellent game. I’m not rating this game so highly despite the fact that it’s challenging, but rather in part because of it. Sunshine was a cake-walk unfortunately, as was New Super Mario Bros. Galaxy takes large steps in correcting this with enough challenge to satisfy even me, while being accessible enough for even casual players to pick up and enjoy.

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Having read and greatly enjoyed the original I Am Legend novel by Richard Matheson, I was initially rather against a Will Smith action movie adaptation of it. After some time however my love of Will Smith action movies won out, and I went to see it anyway. If you can look at this as an action movie inspired by I Am Legend rather than a film version of the novel, then it’s highly enjoyable.

While the character names and traits may be the same, the whole story has been reimaged into a much more modern story with various changes along the way. All the same Robert Neville acts more or less like I would expect a modern Robert Neville to act. Though the story has been changed, they certainly got the feel right. Though they left out many powerful scenes from the book, they replaced them with some equally powerful scenes. One of my favorites is Neville sleeping in his bathtub, holding his gun in soldier fashion, with his dog Sam curled up beside him. The movie is full of such amazing and often times terribly sad images.

The movie’s version of the ending was, admittedly, quite a let down compared to the excellent set up that had been unfolding, as many critics have pointed out. I’ll avoid spoilers, but suffice to say it just wasn’t what I was expecting and seemed to disregard everything the story had been building to up until then. It’s certainly not bad enough to ruin the movie, but just could have been far better. Regardless, if you see the movie with an open mind and as a tribute to the book, I’m sure it’ll be enjoyed.

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I have to admit it actually took me two tries to read through Sourcery, but I don’t think that’s any fault of the book so much as I was just getting burned out on Discworld the first time through. Having picked it up again and finished it though, I remain convinced the series is funny, witty, and a chip off the Douglas Adams block.

Sourcery focuses once again on Rincewind, easily one of my favorite characters so far in the Discworld series. He gets a lot more character development here than in his previous books, and perhaps more development than anyone else in this particular book as well. Rincewind is just likable in his anti-hero everyday-man nature, and his absolute insistence on being a “wizzard”. Nijel and Conina are both interesting, but Rincewind carries the tale.

On the flip side of the story, the sourcerer boy Coin and the wizards of Unseen University provide an interesting and exciting plot, delving deeper into the magical nature and the lives of the wizards of Discworld than any book before it. Coin is an interesting character in his seemingly unlimited power and complete willingness to use it. The only real fault I can find is that by the end of the book there are perhaps too many loose threads to wrap up, and things seem to be somewhat forced into resolution. Regardless, it was a fun and enjoyable read.