Like many of the rest of you who rushed out to buy this bundle, I’ve already beaten Portal. My initial impressions… I NEED MORE!!! This was a very refreshing romp through a world with physics and graphics that we’re all used to, but with a new twist. Source still looks gorgeous after all these years and I found myself being blown away by this new space-bending aspect they’ve introduced. Like all truly great games, this one has begun to bleed over into my reality and I’ve found myself studying any white wall I encounter to judge whether or not a portal would fit there and where I might place the other end.

In short, Portal is one of the best PC games I’ve played in a good long while. In fact, it’s good enough to have torn me away from Phantom Hourglass these last few days. The only downside to the entire experience was how short it was. The gameplay mechanics, environment and generally humorous tone were all pretty much perfect. Incorporating the Portal gun into the final sequence proved to be a bit challenging and quite rewarding when finished. I don’t want to give anything away here, but the closing credits made it all worth it as well as making me hopeful for another installment. What we really need now are some good old fashioned mod community maps.

In closing, if you currently own the Orange Box and haven’t tried Portal yet… shame on you. Get your butt home (or wherever you happen to game) and give it try right now. You won’t be disappointed.

In a fit of boredom last week, I decided to try out a few DS games that I’ve had laying around for a while and have never taken the time to play. I can’t say for sure why I hadn’t tried this game until now, but I think it was mostly due to the fact that I didn’t have very high hopes. I realize that it got reviewed pretty well and I realize that most Nintendo games that revolve around first-party characters and themes are usually decent games. But every now and then, the touchscreen seems to “get in the way” a bit for me. For instance… Metroid Prime: Hunters reviewed pretty well and I know a few people who enjoy it, but I just couldn’t get into it. I’m just too much of a keyboard-mouse person when it comes to fps games I suppose. Anyway, I was a little worried that the touchscreen would just be gimmicky… boy was I wrong.

In the case of this game, I personally think that the touchscreen controls actually make the game better than the average basketball game. In fact, I haven’t had this much fun with a hoops game since back in the day when I’d spend hours-on-end dumping quarters into NBA Jam trying to obtain the code to unlock Jordan (how disappointed was I when I figured out it was all a lie. AAARRRGGHHH!). As a basketball game though, it does surprisingly well.

So how is this game different than other basketball games you ask? Well, there are a few things that make this game unique in the b-ball genre. First off is the fact that Nintendo didn’t spend time trying to make this game too realistic (which is definitely the trend for sports games outside the scope of Nintendo). I guess it’s obvious that any game where your team consists of giant lizard-turtle thing, a ghost and a lanky Italian plumber can’t be too realistic anyways. But the list of selectable characters is the first reason I like this game so much. Each character has strengths and weaknesses, but none are terribly over or under-powered. There’s a good mix which consists of most of your Nintendo favorites.

The next thing I enjoy is the unique method of score-keeping. Unlike real basketball, in Mario 3 on 3 baskets are worth 20 points instead of 2. And on top of that, you have the opportunity to gather coins that pay out when you make a shot. These coins can add up fast and pay out big with some good game planning. A well placed 80 point shot can be a quick way of coming back from a large deficit. Another way to make a comeback is to use “special shots”. Each character has a unique “special” shot that is activated by tapping out a specific pattern on the touch screen. These shots can be blocked as you go through the activation process, but once you’ve completed the initiation, they’re basically unstoppable and are worth 40 points.

Another unique aspect of this game is the “Mario Kart” style power ups. During play, the court is covered with floating “?” boxes. When on offense, these boxes provide you with the coins that you collect for points by bouncing the ball on them. When on defense though, these boxes provide all sorts of fun items which can be used to relieve the opposing team of the ball. There are all sorts of items that can be retrieved from the boxes, but I’ll just say that blue turtle shells create the same level of fear in this game as they do in Mario Kart.

With several unlockable arenas and characters this game provides lots of reasons to keep coming back. The online mode offers up a fun opportunity to school your friends in a friendly pick-up game as well. Much like Mario Kart this game is quite easy to learn, but does take some time to master. The AI seems to be pretty decent and offers up a pretty decent challenge as you progress further through the game. Overall, I’d easily give this game an 8 or 9 out of 10 on my scale and would have no problem recommending it as a definite purchase for any DS owner.

To tell the truth, I’ve been a fan of Bust-A-Move ever since I first played it on a friends Sega Saturn “back in the day”. Even before that, I used to love a good session of Bubble Bobble on my old NES. My sister and I even spent an entire afternoon once and beat all 40 million levels (or however many there were) of that mind numbingly repetative game. Needless to say, those friendly little dragons hold a special place in my heart.

Anyway, for those who have never played this game, let me try to explain it a bit. At it’s heart, this is a matching game. You’re presented with rows of colored bubbles which hang from the ceiling and your job is to fire new bubbles towards those at the top of the screen and try to connect 3 or more bubbles of the same color. If you succeed, those bubbles pop and anything that is hanging below them falls. You continue to shoot bubbles until the screen is bubble-free. It sounds easy, but it can be rather difficult. The trick is that the bubbles on the ceiling multiply if you’re not able to pop them fast enough. They continue to move towards you sort of Space Invaders style. If the mass of ceiling bubbles reaches you, you lose. It’s basically Tetris in reverse, and with bubbles instead of blocks.

The thing that really sets Bust-A-Move apart from all the other Tetris clones though is the method used to place new bubbles. Where Tetris allows you to move and rotate new blocks right into the right spot, Bust-A-Move provides you with a fixed slingshot mounted at the center of the bottom screen. From there, you’re required to angle your shots so they contact the bubble mass in just the right place. On the console versions of this game, this is done by using the d-pad to adjust your aim and then pressing one of the buttons to fire off your bubble. The DS version is a little different though and it’s this difference that makes this game such a perfect port for the DS. With your slingshot mounted in the top-center of the touch screen, you use your stylus to draw back the slingshot and adjust your aim. To fire the bubble, you simply “let go”. It’s perfect!

With several single and multi-player modes, this game offers lot’s of ways to get your bubble popping freak on. And although it seems fairly simple on the surface, this game could easily be described with that old tag line used by Mattel at the height of the Othello craze… “A minute to learn… A lifetime to master.” Making sure your angles are just right is a fine art, and if you miss… you can create a big mess real quick. Gamespot gives this iteration of this classic franchise a 7.3, but I’d give it at least an 8 or 8.5 on replay value alone. If you enjoy your DS on your commute or in quick bursts, puzzle games are the way to go. And this puzzle game is one of those that gets funner the more you play and improve your bubble popping skillz.

Anyway, for our first installment, I thought I’d share my thoughts on a fun little game I happened to accidentally stumble upon called Touch Detective. I figured I’d start with this one because you probably don’t need to hear any more about Mario Kart and Pokemon. It was a total accident that I happened to try this game, but I have to say that it’s much more enjoyable than I first thought it would be. The basic story line is that you’re a young girl named Mackenzie who has inherited the family detective business and you get to help her solve her first few cases. The gameplay is nothing extraordinary (it’s basically just a point-n-click style adventure game), but the combination of colorful anime-style graphics, decent character development and a fun humorous approach to the story makes this game surprisingly enjoyable.

For the most part, this game is a flashback to the classic point-n-click adventure genre. If you’ve ever played Kings Quest or Grim Fandango then this game will seem pretty familiar, but the clever and generally humorous stories combined with the unique look of this game set it apart and make it more than just another clone. For the most part, the puzzles are pretty intuitive, but I have gotten stuck a few times as well. As with most other point-n-click adventures, when it seems like there’s nothing left to try… try EVERYTHING again!

At several points throughout the game you’ll be whisked into short in-game cut scenes. I felt like this was one area where this game really shines. In the bottom screen, using the game engine (instead of something cinematic), short scripted scenes will play out between the characters. This helps to develop the characters and give you a much better idea about what type of people they are. During these short scripted events you’ll also be treated to something unique in the top screen. As the scene plays out you’ll be treated to the inner thoughts of the main character in the form of thought bubbles. You quickly learn how your character feels about the other characters and situations she encounters by the thoughts that go through her head as she interacts with them. Although these thought bubbles don’t really do much for the gameplay, it’s a unique way to help you understand and develop a “bond” with Mackenzie.

Where the story and characters set this game apart, the gameplay does not. It’s pretty standard point-n-click and the only control interface you’ll use is the stylus (as the title suggests). When you want Mackenzie to move, you point to where you’d like her to go. When you want her to interact with someone or something, you “touch” it. You’ll gather items that you can inspect and use much like most other games of this type. And like other games in this genre, the items are generally, but not always vital to the continuation of the story. Most of the uses are pretty intuitive, but there have been a few instances where I had to pay short visits to online walkthroughs (this is the best one I’ve found) to figure out what to do next. <RANT>Kinda like the first time I played Kings Quest 5… who the crap would have thought to squeeze the honey comb and use the honey and the gems to lure the gnome out of his hole in order to capture him in the honey. And online walkthroughs didn’t exist back then. I SPENT FREAKIN’ WEEKS TRYING TO GET OUT OF THAT BLASTED FOREST! AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!</RANT>

I’m not sure how much replay value this game has because there’s no room for story alteration from one play through to the next, but it’s definitely worth a single play through, even if you just plan to sell it when you’re done. To be honest, I initially tried this game to see if my daughters would want to play it. I really didn’t think I’d be interested at all, but I found myself immediately sucked in. On a side note, my girls have enjoyed watching me play it, but I’ve spent a lot more time playing on my own than with them.

As I mentioned in the beginning, this isn’t really an official review, but if I had to give it a score, I’d say it’s been one of the more enjoyable DS games I’ve tried. I’d have to say that it deserves a solid 7.5 out of 10. Gamespot only gave it a 6 based on bland gameplay, but if you enjoy the point-n-click genre, this will be right down your alley. If you don’t expect anything too mind blowing and just accept it for the goofy stories and fun characters then you won’t be disappointed. My only real suggestion is that it may be worth picking up used and then reselling due to the lack of replay value. Other than that, I have no problem endorsing this fun little adventure game.

kotaku had a fun post today about one of the best freeware games ever.  It’s One Must Fall, and it features giant customizable fighting robots.  For the record, a pimped Jaguar can stand with anything, although the first time you get a Pyro you have a lot of fun.  If you’ve never played, it’s worth a download.  It was very fast-moving, and the gameplay holds up well in spite of the long years it’s been forgotten.  OMF reminds me how much responsive controls, customizability, and killer gameplay matter in games these days.  Thanks for the reminder of this one, kotaku!

I had heard rumblings about Frets On Fire through the interweb, but I didn’t really give it much thought. I figured it would be cheezy and wouldn’t work very well. Boy was I mostly wrong. After suffering from a near seizure on Friday due to lack of Guitar Hero in my life, I decided to give it a try. I mean, how bad could it be? And besides, it is free after all.

The download and install was totally painless. I fired it up and was presented with three rather catchy default tunes. They weren’t anything I’d ever heard before, but they weren’t bad. I picked up the keyboard and holding it in a sort of guitar-ish position, I gave it a shot. It took me about 15 minutes to really get used to the timing of the keyboard. It is actually quite different playing with a keyboard as opposed to the GH controller, but once I had the timing down, I spent the next hour rockin out to the default tunes. They got old quick. I wanted Crossroads! I wanted Bark At The Moon! I wanted to try Miserlou and Rock This Town! I went into the built-in song editor to see what that offered and I noticed an option to import the GH set list. This was worth looking into. I started through the import process and was told that I needed the insert the GH disc into my computer in order to import the songs directly. Hmmm… As I don’t own the game, this obviously wouldn’t work.

I decided to hit the Frets On Fire forums to see if there were any add-on tunes. I immediately noticed that the community is still in the infant stages. There are a few songs for download out on the boards, but there wasn’t really anything that interested me too much. And many of the posted files were the fret files only, meaning I had to supply the tunes (the game will actually allow you to import and play any ogg audio file). I thought this might be an option, but I quickly discovered that I didn’t really own any of the music that had been “fretted”. I was about to give up when a post about importing GH tracks caught my eye. One of the forum members suggested torrenting the GH iso in order to import the tracks. Hmmm… To each his own I guess. Torrenting files is not really for everyone.

About 2 hours and a couple imports later I was jammin to Freebird like I had written it. This game truly rocks! To be fair though, here’s a list of some of the good and bad things about it:

The Good: it runs quite well on my Athlon XP 3000+ and fully supports 1680×1050 rez, easily imports and plays all tracks from Guitar Hero 1 and Guitar Hero 2, plays almost exactly as you expect it to, it’s an excellent way to grab a GH fix between actual GH sessions, and when it comes down to it, it’s just a dang fun game, plus it’s free. Also, if you happen to be a non-Windows user, its available for Linux and Mac OS as well.

The Not-So-Good (I didn’t use “Bad” becuase I didn’t find much that was actually bad about it): you play on a keyboard (in itself this isn’t so bad, but I’m used to the GH controllers and that really is part of the appeal of the game), hitting fret 5 is rather difficult on a standard keyboard because of the gaps between sets of F-keys (this may also be partly because of my girly nerd hands but it made playing on Hard almost impossible), no multi-player support (again, this isn’t a GH replacement, but it would be nice to jam with a friend), it currently doesn’t support playing the rhythm track on GH2 songs (I actually had to physically delete the rhythm tracks on a few songs bacause they didn’t seem to mesh correctly), doesn’t seem to support power-ons and pull-offs (at least I couldn’t seem to get them to work), no whammy bar/key.

Now please don’t make your download decision based on the volume of Bad in the Good/Bad list above. Although there are some definite gripes about this game, those few things wouldn’t keep me from recommending this game to any Guitar Hero fan. And really, if you’ve never played the real version of Guitar Hero, you won’t even notice most of the items on my gripe list. Either way, they really weren’t that big of a deal to me and I have played the real thing. I’ll mention again that this game can’t really replace the real version of Guitar Hero, but it is an excellent way to get in some extra practice between sessions. And for those that don’t own Guitar Hero, this game is an excellent substitute. All that’s really needed is to find a way to convert a GH controller for use via USB, then I’d be set. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go get my Lynard Skynard on. Freebird here I come!

Well, after about 2 hours of super hero smashing action, I sorrowfully regret… that I ever doubted the power of the Wii. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is a dang fun game (regardless of the control scheme) and I actually don’t feel that the game was hindered at all by the use of the Wiimote. Now, to be fair, I haven’t played this game on any other platform so it’s hard to provide a true comparison, but based on the criteria I use for any other game (was it fun?), I can truly say that I’m a fan.

True, the Wii version is not the prettiest iteration of this game, but as long as you’re not playing it side by side with the 360 version, it’s plenty good looking. And the controls were intuitive and solid. Push the Wiimote forward to perform a knockback attack. A swift flick upward and you perform a high attack. Need a better angle on the action, tilt the nunchuck in the direction you wish to turn the camera (this one is ingenious btw). After about 10 minutes of “warm-up” I was completely immersed and kicking some major super villian butt. Now I just have to get my hands on 3 more friends who own Wiimotes so we can go all multi-player.