TwiddleGeek

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings is a bit hard to explain. It plays something like a standard Tactical RPG, yet the battles are in real time and with slightly more direct control over the units. Each main unit has several supporting units, and combat is basically dumbed down into a rock-paper-scissors type affair that, in the end, doesn’t matter a whole lot. Rather than worry about strategy, a much more effective tactic so far into the game has been to simply Zerg rush whatever enemy I’m facing with all of my forces all at once.

More interesting to me are the familiar, and now uber cute, chibi characters who continue the story of Final Fantasy XII in a strange and barely related fashion, much like Final Fantasy X-2. Personally I didn’t see X-2 as the abomination that many did, so the addition to the story is quite welcomed. The combat is interesting enough, especially if you enjoyed games like Tactics and Tactics Advance like I did. It’s different enough from your standard Tactical RPG though that even if you didn’t, this may still be worth taking a look at.

I don’t think the 80-something missions are going to take very long to play through from what I’ve seen so far, but there does seem to be enough variety to keep things interesting if you’re willing to do the side quests. What currently has me stuck though is a seemingly rather ill conceived stealth mission with Vaan, who is basically getting his ass kicked repeatedly for trying to be Sam Freaking Fisher and failing badly. Why does every game insist on throwing a stealth level into the mix?

With Super Mario Galaxy on the shelves and more Gamecube backlog to get through, I thought I might go back and give Super Mario Sunshine another shot. I rented this one way back when it first hit, but expecting another Mario 64 I found myself quite let down. I bought it used and it’s been on my shelf for quite some time, waiting for another chance. SpaceKitty recently played through and enjoyed it, so I thought I’d take another look as well.

First off, I’m still not a fan of the talking FLUDD, nor of the island setting. Neither feels very “Mario”, really. Mario 64 had some diverse locations, but they felt like they belonged in a Mario game and were pulled from classic titles, from the castle to the desert. Sunshine on the other hand just sorta feels like Mario stuck in a different game. Replace Mario and the toads with generic platforming characters and it wouldn’t be a Mario game at all. The fact that many of Mario’s signature moves are replaced by a water cannon only adds to this feel.

Complaints about it aside, the FLUDD system is rather fun to use. I’m particularly fond of the hover nozzle and how it controls. Switching nozzles however is a pain in the neck, and it would be better if you could simply do so via a menu system. Graphics are generally bright and cheery, though again, questionably Mario. The camera is also surprisingly hard to control, considering how good Mario 64’s camera was back in the day. The obstacle course mini-levels are terribly frustrating, but are also some of the most fun. It’s not a bad game so far, just wasn’t what I was expecting 5 years ago.

Rating:

Prime 2 Echoes was praised by critics early on, but has been somewhat shunned by fans of the original Metroid Prime. While the game features the same great graphics, first person adventure gameplay, and Metroid universe, it just isn’t much fun to play. The presentation may be stellar, but the dark / light mechanic becomes tedious. Suffice to say, Echoes was more of the same and less of what made Prime good.

Unlike Prime 1 where elemental weapons were a great advantage depending on the enemy you were facing, Prime 2 is basically just “shoot it until it dies” with the default blaster. Shame, really. The limited ammo of the light / dark blasters and the strange way of replenishing their ammo by using the opposite weapon makes them hard to rely on for anything other than specific weaknesses and encounters. Many of the power-ups, such as the echo visor, can’t match the awesome feeling of first turning on the Thermal or X-Ray visor from Prime 1. Only the screw attack feels like a worthy successor to the original title.

Also unlike Prime 1, which told an interesting backstory to the series, Prime 2 has a rather forgettable plot about a near extinct race and their battle with an alternate dimension of sorts. Everything about Prime 2 screams filler content, just something to put a few more hours of ‘gameplay’ into the title and another title into the series. I hope for much more from Metroid Prime 3, otherwise it may be time this series got a rest.

It’s really never a good sign for any game when the end sequence is so dull you barely want to play it. In the ultimate spasm of backtracking, the final sequence of Prime 2 involves everyone’s favorite gameplay mechanic: collecting more keys! But not just like the 9 or so keys you’ve already collected, no. These are 9 MORE keys scattered throughout the ENTIRE game. Isn’t that wonderful? No? Well, that’s what you have to do anyway. How do gameplay choices like this keep getting made?

Honestly, I had a hard time booting this up again just to fight the last boss. Thankfully it went down without much hassle, but it just goes to show what should be one of the most exciting times in the game is instead simply one of the longest, and dullest. Everything about Prime 2 screams filler content, just something to put a few more hours of ‘gameplay’ into the title and another title into the series. I hope for much more from Prime 3, when I get around to playing it.