Sly Cooper and the Thievious Raccoonus -- Initial Impressions.

I will be doubling up on some games here due to it approaching the heart of the busy holiday season. While I continue to play GTA: LCS, I have started in on Sly Cooper and the Thievious Raccoonus. SCatTR is a classic 3D platform game that puts you into the character of Sly Cooper, a raccoon from a long line of master thieves. His family collected all their secrets over the ages into a book called the Thievious Raccoonus. On the day he was to come of age the book was due to be passed down to him. Unfortunately a gang of master thieves called The Fiendish Five showed up and killed Sly's father and stole the Thievious Raccoonus. Sly was sent off to an orphanage where he met his friends Murray and Bentley who would later become part of his team. The actual gameplay starts with you breaking into police headquarters in France to steal the case file so you can get the information you need to start hunting The Fiendish Five, who have broken up the Thievious Raccoonus into individual pages and taken them to their individual hideouts. Once you succeed in taking the case file, it's off to the each of the hideouts. I have played the game through the first of the Fiendish Five member's hideouts. The first hideout was broken into seven levels and one boss level. The main thing that comes to mind from the initial playing is the art design and the look of the game. It uses cell-shading and a wonderfully western animation art design that makes it look like you're playing a modern Saturday morning cartoon. The animation is extremely fluid. You really do feel like you're controlling a cartoon. The story and characterization also feel as if they're straight from a cartoon. It's clear the production value is very high, but how's the actual gameplay? Next time we'll find out.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories -- Music Soothes the Savage Beast.

The Grand Theft Auto series' use of music has been one its strongest selling points. I looked forward to the music of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. I was disappointed to find that they only used licensed tracks for a couple of the radio stations. None of the ones I would be listening to featured any tracks I could pick out. They used a lot of bands that have been signed on lower level record labels that most people have never heard of. After a few hours of play I turned off the radio stations altogether and expected to keep them off. Rockstar had advertised custom soundtracks in the game and people have been killing themselves trying to figure out how to access them. Rumors had it that it was a feature that could be unlocked. People believed it was after a certain story mission involving the radio station Head Radio. That proved to be false. People were speculating that it was the reward for finding the one-hundred hidden packages. That also proved false. Rockstar announced that they messed up and didn't have time to include the feature before the US launch and that it was the reason for the delay in the European launch. Rockstar has released a PC download to solve the problem.  The download was supposed to be contained on the UMD disc and was to be transferred over to your PC. The intended use is identical. I've downloaded the program, which is called Rockstar Custom Tracks. It's based on the Exact Audio Copy audio ripper software. The procedure for using this software is a little different. You can only rip from store bought CDs you own. You need to insert the CD into your PC's CD-ROM drive for one part of the program to be enabled. You must also have your PSP connected to the PC via a mini-USB connection. Once everything is connected and a CD is in the drive, the program will access the disc and list the tracks. It will offer you the chance to access the Internet and get the CD information. Doing so automatically enters all the disc info including artist, CD title, and track names. You must have a GTA: LCS save file on your memory stick within the PSP. Once the track information is in place, you select the tracks you want to rip and select the option to start. It scans the memory card in the PSP and asks you to select which game you want to place the files in. Being a Rockstar product, only GTA: LCS will show up provided you have the game save on the memory stick. After that it begins to rip the track directly to the memory stick. It places the tracks in the game folder with a proprietary file extension of .GTA. You can then place more CDs to rip tracks from into the drive and it will repeat the process for each one. When you're done you load the game, and you'll have to select custom soundtracks from the audio menu and enable them. Doing so turns off the radio in the game. You lose the DJs, but gain your custom music. Hitting right or left on the D-pad while in a vehicle now changes the tracks as if it were CD player control. The custom soundtracks greatly increases the fun of the game in my opinion. The Xbox versions of the GTA console games allow for custom soundtracks and retain the DJs. I think it's rather impressive that you can have custom soundtracks within a portable game and I'm not going to be complaining about the loss of the DJs.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories -- Control is Key.

Control is key for any game, but Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories faces a major obstacle in its goal of bringing the full console Grand Theft Auto experience to a portable system. They're attempting to bring the full experience to the PlayStation Portable which just happens to be missing a second analog stick and the L2 and R2 buttons. The way they went about doing it is to add alteration keys. You don't have the right analog stick for looking and aiming. Which means you must hold the L button to trigger being able to look or aim. They call it fine aim, where you have control of aiming. They've attempted to streamline the aiming by having you press the R button to lock on to an enemy. You can then use the D-pad left or right buttons to scroll through the targets. There are a few problems with this system. For most of the weapons, you can't move the character, he's a stationary target. Secondly, the lock on feature doesn't determine any sort of threat level, so you'll lock on to a bystander and an enemy alike. If an innocent person on a motorcycle happens to be coming by when you're targeting and it happens to lock on to them, it tracks them and can have you track from left to right nearly turning you around so your back is to the people firing at you in under a second. The game seems to have mixed AI levels. They seem to be trying to compensate for this new system by having some of the enemies being unable to hit the broad side of a barn from five feet away. While other enemies can kill you in literally under a couple seconds. This is through both your life and bulletproof vest meters. Not having the second stick also changes how you see in the game. You have to stop and hold L and move the analog nub to look around. You're not really going to have the time to adjust the camera on the fly in heated situations and because of that you're left far more at the mercy of the camera than previous entries in the series. Beyond that the game controls rather familiarly. You have the character and vehicle control with the analog nub. The triangle button is used to enter and exit vehicles. The circle button attacks. The X button sprints. The square button jumps. The D-pad up will start special missions, like taxi, ambulance, firefighter, delivery, and the like. The D-pad down will start free aim after combat has been initiated with the R button lock on. The D-pad down also acts as the horn when used within a vehicle. The left and right buttons on the D-pad cycle through the weapons on foot and the radio stations in the car. I have the controls set so that within vehicles the L and R button are for the look directions in drive-by shooting. And I have it set so that X + Square is the hand brake for vehicles. This control scheme, coupled with learning the layout of the PSP has resulted in a steeper than average learning curve for me and the initial stages of the game have suffered in my opinion because of it. I am twelve hours in and about 22% complete at this point. The control has become easier in that time. I don't think the control is going to ever reach fully comfortable levels for me. The game is however fully playable. Let's see if they improve any more as I close in on the halfway point of the game...

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories -- Initial Impression.

I've spent about an hour and a half playing Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories on the PlayStation Portable. I haven't done any missions. I've just been running around taking in the sights. I've managed to find ten of the one-hundred hidden packages and I've completed two of the twenty rampages. In that time I've spent some time on foot and in the vehicles. I've also had a small sampling of the combat via the two rampages. A bunch of things are readily apparent from the time spent playing the game. First off, about the PSP itself, the graphic capability of the system is amazing for a portable system. The sound, and voice offered by the UMD format are equally impressive. Another thing that's impressive is the very fact that it's Grand Theft Auto on a portable system. I can tell a few things are the same already. The humor, the writing, the characterization, the general art design, and the production values of the three PS2 GTA titles are all present here in GTA: LCS. I can also tell that the vehicle control is very well done. I can also tell that the on foot combat is going to take some major adjusting to. It looks potentially deal breaking if I can't wrap my brain around it. I had serious issues with one of the rampages.  The first one I found wasn't really a problem. I had to destroy ten vehicles within two minutes with a rocket launcher. I failed the first time just because I hadn't read the instructions on control and because the aiming of the rocket launcher is very touchy with the analog nub of the PSP. The second attempt was easy as could be. The other rampage was a different story. That one took numerous attempts. I had to kill thirty triad gang members within two minutes with the AK-47. It took some major adjusting to having to fire, then aim. You fire with the circle button, and target with the R button. So you can hit R, and you'll lock on to some gang member and you open fire. That of course causes all the other gang members to want to take you down. So you maintain firing while tapping the R button to target them. It might take a lot of time to adjust, hopefully I can. We'll see...

Shadow of the Colossus -- Final Opinion.

Shadow of the Colossus took me just under fourteen hours to complete. Upon completion of the game hard mode was unlocked, as well as time attack mode. You will want to play this game again sometime down the road. It's that good. Does it go all the way and transcend gaming to become art? Not quite. It's just an exceptionally well made game with a great concept that was executed almost perfectly. It does come closer to being art than Ico ever did. The one flaw in the game is the camera which can from time to time hamper the gameplay. Beyond that one little flaw you have great gameplay. A nice puzzle level in the action. The game pushes the 3D visual capabilities of the PS2 to the utmost limit. You're not going to find a prettier 3D PS2 game. The art design shines in both the world itself and the colossi that inhabit it. The game's score is appropriately sparse and ambient in nature although a couple of sweeping dramatic tracks kick in here and there. The control beyond the camera is great. The ending is one you're not going to forget anytime soon, for good or bad, depending on your take on it. This game is the first one to be seriously considered for game of the year since Resident Evil 4 back in January. I'm going to give Shadow of the Colossus a 9.5.

Shadow of the Colossus -- Questions.

I have killed eleven of the sixteen colossi in Shadow of the Colossus so far in the game. That's eleven very distinct boss battles. Although they share the same concepts and mechanics each one has its own feel. It's own vibe. They all use the find it, climb it, kill it structure. Yet Fumita Ueda and team have managed to make each one feel unique. They all share the same questions. How do I get on it? What little trick is in store for me once I'm on it? Where is its weak point and how do I get there? It's in answering these questions that each one is unique. The colossi are the stars of the game, and they've been exceptionally well thought out and implemented. There is one question that I haven't been able to answer yet. And it's a very different sort of question from most video game stories. In most video game stories right and wrong are black and white. There are a few games that have been successful in dealing with moral ambiguity, but none of them have succeeded as well as Shadow of the Colossus to this point. That may change by the ending, but as of now, Shadow of the Colossus has me wondering if I'm doing the right thing more than any other game before it. The colossi haven't done anything to me. They aren't an active threat to me. It's out of my greed for wanting the woman returned to me that I'm killing these seemingly innocent creatures. The team has done well in making the colossi seem like living breathing beings. Especially number eleven. It showed real fear. It didn't want to die. It made me feel exceedingly guilty in having brought it down. The story is a thing of simple beauty. The game starts with a man on a horse crossing a massive bridge to reach the Temple of Worship. Inside he dismounts and removes the wrapped body from across the horse's back and lays it on the alter. He removes the wrapping to reveal a young woman. A voice from above speaks to the man and informs him that in order for her lost soul to be restored he'll have to defeat sixteen guardians, the colossi. He's informed that his sword when raised in sunlight will point the way to each colossus. You'll then set about hunting the colossi down. Upon finding and killing each one, their souls are drained from their bodies and enter yours which causes you to black out. You'll awake in the Temple of Worship and the voice from above will describe your next foe and off you'll go in search of it. That's all there is to the story. And with that they've managed to set up a wonderful morality question that you can't wait to see the answer for, if one even exists. There is a great aspect to the game I feel a lot of gamers aren't going to appreciate. That's the in between time. Time spent exploring the world. If you go from colossus to colossus to colossus you'll be missing out on a great aspect of the game that feeds into the story. You begin to wonder about the world you find yourself in. Asking questions about why it is as it is. The world sets my imagination ablaze. There isn't any hidden treasure to be found. There isn't any secret goal to achieve. There is just the world to see. You'll be compelled to see it. You'll want to go further down this canyon path just to see what's there. More often than not it will reveal a breathtakingly beautiful view as your reward. You'll appreciate that the designers took the time to create these out of the way spots for nothing more than creating a spectacular world for you to explore. Or at least I do. I wonder how many of the run and gun bang-bang right now type players will take the time to stop and smell the roses so to speak. Not many, I'm afraid, and that's too bad.

Shadow of the Colossus -- Initial Impression.

Shadow of the Colossus is by the same internal Sony Computer Entertainment Japan team who created the critical darling of the small selling game that is Ico. Much of what made Ico a success seems to be present in Shadow of the Colossus. The unworldly art design. The sparse and ambiguous storytelling style. The leaving the player to his own devices gameplay. Shadow of the Colossus appears to be a game of sixteen boss battles with nothing in between, but looks may be deceptive. There are hints of other aspects to the gameplay that I'll need to see in more detail before commenting. The story also seems to be shaping up to be something rather interesting, and again I want to see where it goes before commenting. The controls seem decent enough. The camera seems like it can be a tad unwieldily from time to time. Fumita Ueda, the game's creator, seems to be attempting to make one of the few titles that transcend gaming and become art. Hopefully he'll succeed, but we'll have to wait and see...

SOCOM 3 -- Crosstalk.

I have completed SOCOM 3 on the commander, captain, and admiral difficulty levels. I've logged 24:37 in playing through the game three times.  I've downed 1,660 enemies. Captured 40. Fired 9,756 times with 701 of those being headshots.  391 of those downed enemies never knew what hit them as they were stealth kills. It's nice that the game tracks your career totals in those and many other areas. Numerous would be one way to describe the Crosstalk abilities in SOCOM 3. Crosstalk is what they call the connectivity feature used in SOCOM 3: US NAVY SEALs for the PlayStation 2 and SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo for the PlayStation Portable. In each mission in the single player game there are hidden crosstalk objectives to complete. Doing so causes the entries in the crosstalk section in SOCOM 3 to turn from red to green. There are roughly sixty-five separate entries. A few of them are completed by finishing the game on a certain difficulty. Most of these will reward you with different outfits and weapons for use in the multiplayer games. I say games because you're altering both games by completing these objectives. You'll connect the PS2 and the PSP via USB cable. You'll have both games in the systems. You'll power on and go to crosstalk within the extras section. There you'll be able to select the option of "synch all files." This will overwrite each save with the unlocked entries. The other entries that aren't weapons and costumes have a more direct effect on the games themselves. For example "By securing the cargo in Heart of the Fist, SOCOM prevents a weapons shipment from arriving making heavy weapons and grenades unavailable to terrorists in the Under Fire mission of SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo." By going the extra mile in SOCOM 3, I've managed to help myself later on when I play the Under Fire mission of SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo. Another example would be "News of General Mahmood's capture by the US Navy SEALs cause the CLL to be more aggressive in guarding the tenement building in the Undertow mission of SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo." By doing the right thing there, I've actually made it tougher for myself when I play the Undertow mission of SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo. There are multiple entries for most of the missions in the games. I think this is a very cool concept that's seemingly well executed. I won't know for sure until I get SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo which doesn't hit stores until December. This is the best use of connectivity I've seen to date. Hopefully this will spread to other developers like wildfire. I have yet to play the online game of SOCOM 3, maybe I should do that...

SOCOM 3 -- Not As Retarded.

I have completed SOCOM 3 on the third of five difficulty levels. It took roughly twelve hours. Playing on the commander difficulty level has unlocked some online multiplayer skins and a wide range of weapons for use in the offline mode. It's also unlocked the captain difficulty level which I'm now currently playing through. I'm playing through it as there is more to unlock by completing the captain and admiral difficulty levels. Captain is the only way to unlock admiral. The game is still the same as it ever was as far as gameplay is concerned. The story is the same rather well told political hotspot covert operation stuff it has always been. You control a team of SEALs as they go about their business of saving the world and not being seen doing it. In the previous two games you were able to issue commands to your AI controlled team members. You could do that via the headset with voice commands, which proved rather spotty in the original, and I never tried it with SOCOM 2 or SOCOM 3. In all three games you had the alternative of issuing commands through the menus. You can split the commands to the alpha or bravo elements of the team. You can have the bravo element of the team cover a position for example. You can set the position by aiming your crosshairs to where they're supposed to cover. You could name it directly if it happens to be a checkpoint. You can order bravo element to cover checkpoint whiskey. You have various commands like hold your fire, get down, hold position, clear area, move to, overwatch and more. Issuing commands to fireteam will issue commands to the entire team. SOCOM 3 allows for this just as SOCOM and SOCOM 2 had before, but they've also added a more streamlined alternative. When you reach certain hotspots, like a doorway to a darkened room, a symbol will appear on screen when you position your crosshairs on said doorway. You can then hit the L2 button to issue the command instead of going through the more complex menu tree which happens to pause the action. There are context based uses of this all throughout the game. When there isn't anything context based, a system of cycled commands are available. Hitting L2 will command the fireteam to go to where you're pointing. Holding L2 longer will cycle to the command of hold position. If you've given the hold position command, the regroup or follow me command will be up first in the cycle. It's based on the situation and adjusts itself for what should be the action you're looking for. It works most of the time. It's a nice improvement. When the AI works right, the commands are extraordinarily helpful. When they AI goes retarded, it's extraordinarily annoying. The AI in SOCOM was extremely poor. They would glitch on the edges of things and be stuck. They would allow enemies to come all the way up on you. They would fail more than they would succeed. SOCOM 2 saw a decent improvement, but all the flaws were still there.  SOCOM 3 takes a bigger step forward in fixing these issues. They all still happen, but much less frequently. The strange thing is, when they do happen, because they're not as common, they're infinitely more frustrating than they were in SOCOM or SOCOM 2. Another issue that was problematic in SOCOM and SOCOM 2 was how the programmers dealt with memory limitations. They would place the maximum number of enemies they could on the play field. When you would kill one, it allowed for others to be placed. It wouldn't be so bad if they were placed far from your view, but they weren't. You'd literally see them spawn right next to you. It's terrible programming to allow such crap. But it was slightly better in SOCOM 2. It still happens in SOCOM 3, just not nearly as much. And it hasn't happened right next to me. You will catch one spawn a hundred yards off every now and again. SOCOM 3 is the first real improvement on these major flaws. It's not there yet, but it is actually a big step forward. It's not as retarded.

Capcom Classics Collection -- Day 7 & Final Opinion.

Capcom would change the industry forever with the release of Street Fighter II: The World Warrior in 1991. It was based on the CPS hardware once again. Street Fighter II has you choosing one of eight fighters to face off against the other seven, and four hidden bosses in a 2D fighting game. What Street Fighter II really had going for it was a new control scheme using six buttons and joystick combinations. Three levels of punches and three levels of kicks. Beyond just a direction on the stick and a button, the game employed sweeping joystick movements and button combinations to pull of the moves. You would have to do motions like back, down-back, down, down-forward, forward + kick to execute a move for example. The game also had great 2D art combined with great animation. It set the arcades on fire and started a glut of fighting game contenders. It's cool to have as close as possible arcade version at home without owning an actual machine for the history of it all. I was never a fan of the game though. Even at the time. It's too much based on rock, paper, scissors type gameplay for my tastes. This punch beats that kick in the air or this kick beats that kick on the ground. It created Pac-Man like pattern recognition in the players. They were on autopilot.

In 1991 Capcom released the third game in the GnG series with Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Princess Prin Prin is once again kidnapped and it's up to Arthur to get her back and save the day. They took one step forward and two steps back with the gameplay. The step forward is the addition of a double-jump. The classic move adds a whole new element to the skill needed. They took two steps back with the removal of being able to fire up or down while standing or in mid jump. They added in a middle level armor. You start with the standard armor and the next armor you find will be bronze. The bronze armor powers up your weapons. A new weapon, the bow-gun for example, shoots out two shots when in the standard armor. One shot goes straight out, the other diagonally forward. When you have the bronze armor, the bow-gun shoots three flaming shots that home in on the enemies. When you have the bronze armor and find another armor, it will be gold. The gold armor once again grants you magic you charge up and release. It's again based on the weapon type you're currently carrying. Beyond those changes, the game is very much the same extremely tough game its always been. Great graphics and sound and challenge. It's a wonderful title and series. Speaking of titles, the Japanese names for Ghosts 'n Goblins, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, and Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts are Makaimura, Daimakaimura, and Chomakaimura which mean Demon World Village, Great Demon World Village, and Ultimate Demon World Village respectively. I can't wait for the upcoming PlayStation Portable new game in the series called Extreme Ghouls 'n Ghosts.

In 1992 Capcom wanted to keep the Street Fighter II momentum rolling along so they released an update called Street Fighter II: Champion Edition. It was of course based on the CPS arcade hardware. It featured the ability to select the bosses as playable characters and added in a match of playing the character you selected against a computer controlled version of the same character. It also reworked the Vs screen art and other graphic issues here and there. 

They again released an update to Street Fighter II on the CPS system in 1992 called Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting. It essentially again reworked some of the still art in the Vs and win screens and allowed you to select the colors of your character's clothing. They increased the gameplay speed by about triple the original's. They also worked on balance issues and other real gameplay tweaks.  Nothing about the two updates will change your opinion of the original. These updates are small tweaks for the most part and you'll like them if you like the original. They're meaningless if you don't like the original. I would have preferred Capcom use the space for two other titles, but the series was their arcade bread and butter. Fan demand for the series is still strong, and you can't really blame them for including three versions of the same game.

My final opinion on Capcom Classics Collection is that it's a must buy compilation of Capcom's arcade history. For the most part, the emulation is great. The games look and sound and play great. They're not entirely perfect of course, and nitpickers will be able to bitch about this or that. The presentation is great. No fancy 3D menus or anything like that. Just a simple interface. It works great.The bonus material is great. They could have done more with the developer side of things. But for each game you're getting a mini history, art, music, and gameplay tips. If you can unlock them. That's a minor flaw in the title. Some of the goals to unlock the bonus material border on impossible. The earning the bonus content is fine, Capcom just needs to keep the goals within reason next time around.  This is the best retro collection to date.  Twenty-two games at $19, how can you go wrong with classics like the full GnG series, Final Fight, Street Fighter, Commando, Mercs, and Forgotten Worlds on there? Plus it has lesser known gems like Trojan and Son Son. It has Capcom's first game in Vulgus, which is great for the history aspect of it all. And it has great surprises like Pirate Ship Higemaru which is far more fun than you could have hoped for. I'm going to give Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 1 an 8.

Capcom Calssics Collection -- Day 6.

Ghouls 'n Ghosts was the second game released in 1988 using the CPS arcade hardware. It's the sequel to Ghosts 'n Goblins. It picks up three years after the ending to Ghosts 'n Goblins with Princess Prin Prin being kidnapped again and being returned to Hades where she is being held by Lucifer. Arthur once again sets out to save her by going through six horror themed levels each with a boss at the end. The are some massive improvements all around with this game over the original. The control is tighter and more responsive. The graphics are truly beautiful. The music is easily some of the best music ever composed. They added some much needed new mechanics to the gameplay. You can fire up while standing, and you can fire up and down in mid jump. You can now earn golden armor when you collect armor while wearing the standard armor. While wearing the golden armor the weapons enable magic. If you hold down attack and charge up fully the armor unleashes the magic blast upon release of the button. The magic is different for each weapon type. The game is still easily one of the hardest games ever made and yet is much more fair than Ghosts 'n Goblins. This is one of the perfect arcade games. It's a 10 without question.

Final Fight was based on the CPS arcade hardware and released in 1989. It's essentially Capcom's Double Dragon. It's a sidescrolling beat-'em-up. You have attack and jump. Nothing more. You go through level after level and punch and kick your foes until they drop. The graphics are great. It's a very good looking game. The sound has all the right contact sounds to fit the game. The music works well for what it is. You can play as any of three different characters. With a twist on the ending for each one. The game is notable for introducing a couple of Capcom characters who would later show up in the Street Fighter Alpha and Street Fighter series. Also of note are the enemies in the game. A few of them are clearly based on celebrities of the time. Axl and Slash from are based on Axel and Slash from Guns & Roses, and the Andre characters are clearly based on Andre the Giant.

Mercs was released in 1990 and was based on the CPS arcade hardware. Mercs is the sequel to Commando. It's pretty much the same game with a couple changes. First off is the massive improvement in graphics and sound. Another thing improved on is the scope of the game. Commando pretty much stuck to reality not withstanding the odds of a lone soldier taking out an entire army single-handedly aspect of the game. Mercs throws in actual boss battles with vehicles like Harriers, tanks, PT boats, and the like. It's far more grand in scale. The game also allows for you to power up your weapons whereas Commando stuck with your initial machine gun. You can use three-way shots, flame-throwers, and the like. The grenades are still there, but now they act as smart bombs taking out all non boss enemies on the screen. The game also allows for three players to play simultaneously. Beyond that it's the same run and gun fun of the original Commando.

Capcom Classics Collection -- Day 5.

Bionic Commando was released in 1987 on the aging Z80 arcade hardware. It features Super Joe, from Commando fame. This time around it's a sidescrolling action game. You can both run and shoot to the left and right. There isn't any jump feature. To get around that, you have a grappling hook like bionic arm. You can reach up to the ledges above you, grab on, and pull yourself up. You can also use the arm to knock larger enemies down. It's a cool concept. One successfully employed in the home conversion for what became one the NES' classic games. The arcade version is really short. Five small stages. You can clear this game in under fifteen minutes, if it weren't so freaking hard. Not being able to fire upwards or at least at angles is a real flaw. The enemies are cheap because of it.

1943 Kai is the last game to be released based on the Z80 hardware. It was released in 1987. There isn't really all that much to say about this one. It's essentially 1943 hard version. They did spruce up the graphics and sound here and there. It's still infinitely more playable than 1942.

Forgotten Worlds was the first game released using the new Capcom Play System arcade hardware. Updated versions of the CPS would be used until Capcom left the arcades. Forgotten Worlds is a horizontally and vertically scrolling shooter. You can move in eight directions on the forced scrolling play field. The thing that sets this one apart is that it's designed for two-player simultaneous play. Also, you can shoot in eight directions, but you have to rotate your character around to do it. So you can move and fire independently. Another interesting aspect is that you collect zenny. You can spend it in the shops. You can buy weapons, weapon upgrades, items to extend your overall heal, healing items, and armor. Your weapons are also unique in that they are like little robots that fly near you. They add a separate fire to your primary fire. The game is very bizarre in the themes of the levels and the setting. The game is also gorgeous. 1987-1989 saw a real big step up in arcade graphics and sound, and this comes through clearly with Capcom's first CPS offering.

Capcom Classics Collection: Day 4.

Legendary Wings was released in 1986 and once again was based on Z80 arcade architecture. Legendary Wings is a unique game in that it combines two popular genres of the era. It starts out as a vertical forced scrolling shooter in which you control a human with wings in a Grecian theme world mixed with aliens. You do the standard thing, killing enemies for power ups. You can fire your primary shot which is the one that is powered up. Your secondary shot is a bomb. The bombs are used to attack ground targets and the primary weapon attacks air targets. There are power up items hidden in destructible parts of the field. Halfway through the first section, you'll come across an alien face in the ground. It will open its mouth and attempt to suck you inside. If successful, the game switches to a sidescrolling traditional platform game. Run and jump and shoot. At the end of this section is a mini-boss. Defeating the boss returns you to the main field and the shooter play returns. You can avoid being sucked into the alien mouth altogether. There are items on the field that if you destroy certain ones will reveal a hidden area without enemies and filled with nothing but treasure chests. The play here is again sidescrolling in nature. You fly through as it force scrolls trying to collect as many chest as possible. Once you reach the end of the main shooter level, you'll face another mini-boss that can only be attacked with bombs. If you're successful there, you're allowed into the level boss' lair. This again switches back the platforming gameplay. It's a bizarre concept. It is rather fun.

Trojan was created on the Z80 arcade hardware and was released in 1986. Trojan is a scrolling action game. Trojan takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. It has an ancient warrior mixed with modern day slums vibe. You can move left and right in control of the scroll. You have a sword attack, a jump, and a shield button. You can block certain level projectiles and enemy attacks. Your shield and armor can be broken by a strong enough attack. Each level has a midboss and an end boss. There are six stages in all. Trojan was one of my favorite games at the time. I spent a lot of money playing this one in 1986. I never could make it out of the third level's elevators. I have finally completed the game. Trojan is easily one of the hardest and most unforgiving games ever made. It was very cool to finally see the ending, such as it is...

1943 is the sequel to 1942 and it was released in 1987 on the Z80 hardware. 1943 is a great improvement over 1942 in more than just graphics and sound. The gameplay is much improved. It's no longer near impossible. It's actually much more balanced and playable. The game looks much better. The graphics have come a very long way considering it's only a few years later and the very same hardware. The game plays out in the same way. You're controlling a military plane taking on another country's entire air force and navy. Destroying enemies gets you power-ups. These are more varied and there are more of them. You still have the ability to perform loops for evasion. You start by taking off from your aircraft carrier and fly to where the enemy ships are. Once you get there, your plane dives down to their level and you now take on the planes and ships combined. They've also added what amounts to a magic attack. You can make use of the weather based attacks. Lightning, wind, and the like are available to be used on a limited basis. The biggest change is the one-hit-kill is now gone. They've given you a lifebar  that reflects your ship's hull integrity. There are power-ups to be found that will refill your lifebar. 1943 truly is a great improvement over 1942 and is quite fun compared to the original. It's a great success.

SOCOM III: US NAVY SEALs -- Initial Impression.

SOCOM is the premiere online series for the PlayStation 2. Let's be honest, it's the only real online hit Sony's console has, until Phantasy Star Universe comes along that is. SOCOM 3 is supposed to really shake things up. It features thirty-two players online in a single game over sixteen from the previous games in the series. It features expansive maps. Dozens of vehicle types. New weapons. A redesigned in-game interface. Supposedly smarter artificial intelligence. New locations. Supposedly better online play. A supposedly better online front end. Better graphics. From my initial impressions of playing through the training and the first couple missions of the offline game, I can say that they have changed things around considerably. The game does indeed look better. But it's still well within the range of PS2 ugly. The team member AI seems initially improved. The vehicles will be playing a large role in the gameplay. You can now swim and hold your breath underwater. There is indeed a new in-game interface that might really be an improvement, although its newness is causing mild confusion just because it's not what was in SOCOM and SOCOM 2. There seems to be the same unlockable system as the previous game.  There are nice little streamlined parts to the interface. Once you've been online, the option to instantly go online is available from the title screen main menu with just a simple push of the circle button. Likewise, once you've started the campaign mode, you can resume play from just the square button at the title screen. Or you can pick to enter the main menu options. You can even skip the Zipper Interactive, Inc. logo this time around finally. There is a difference in the online structure. When I went on to register my name and lock it in so nobody else would claim it, I was given the option of verifying my account. Giving them my name and credit card information allows me to access friends lists, clan menus, rankings, and other verified account only services. If you don't verify your account, you can't access these features. This seems designed as a means to curb cheating as they will know who you are specifically and they'll be able to ban you outright. At least in theory. The DNAS system returns, but it seems to be more speedy this time around. Another obvious improvement is in the save file system. SOCOM 2 used an obscene 3,000k of space on a memory card. It just ate up most of the entire card. SOCOM 3 uses 500k. I'll be playing through the offline game the next few days and I'm sure I'll be spending a bunch of time online. We'll see how it goes...

Capcom Classics Collection -- Day 3.

Commando was released on Z80 arcade architecture in 1985. It's a vertically scrolling action game. You control a commando on a mission to raid and destroy an enemy base. You can move in eight directions and you control the forward scrolling. You can't scroll the screen backwards. Your main weapon is a machine gun with infinite ammo. The secondary weapon is a grenade. The grenades are great as there is no pause in your movement to throw them. You'll need grenades to take out enemies behind sand bag barricades and in trenches and other areas your machine gun can't reach. At the end of the level are doorways where tons of enemies poor out of that act as boss battles. There are five levels to complete the first mission. The second mission repeats the first five with more enemies and slightly different placement. The game will reset back to the beginning and keep going forever upon completion of the second mission. The key to Commando is to keep charging ahead. You might think it's about taking them all out, it's more about actually going Rambo on the enemy. The game was great fun then, and was easily one of my favorite arcade machines. It's still great fun today.

Gun Smoke was released in 1985, again on Z80 architecture. It's almost the same sort of action game as Commando with a few differences. The wild west theme being the most obvious. You're out to bring in the ten most wanted outlaws in the territory. You'll have to bring them in dead of course as they're not coming peacefully. While Commando has no power ups, Gun Smoke has quite a few. Boots to increase movement speed. Rifles to increase shot distance. Horses to allow you to play on horseback which allows you to take a few hits before the horse dies. Normally, on foot getting hit results in a one-hit-kill. Another major difference is in how you can fire. In Commando you fire where you're facing along the character's eight way movement. In Gun Smoke, you can move in eight directions, but you do not turn around. You only face forward. Using button combinations allows you to fire in one of six directions. One button will have you firing both guns forward. One has you firing both forward left. Another has you firing both forward right. Yet another has you firing one gun forward left and another forward right, and so on. Gun Smoke is much harder than Commando because it uses forced scrolling. Italso has a traditional boss battle with a high powered character who has his own unique firing and movement patterns. His gang is also in the fray, as while you're fighting the boss, the normal enemies are still pouring out from all over the place. It's tough, but rather fun. And for the era, they really do a great job in capturing the feel of the western.

Ghosts 'n Goblins was released in 1985 on Z80 based arcade hardware. It's a standard sidescrolling action game. Run and jump and fire. A couple things set it apart. First off, the horror theme. A personal favorite of mine. Second of all. It's insanely freaking hard. It's one of the most famously tough titles and series in gaming history. At the time, the game was absolutely gorgeous and the music and sounds were beyond impressive. A person's liking of this title today who wasn't around to like it originally will depend on if they'll dig the challenge of it all. You play as Sir Arthur who is out to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend. You'll have to fight your way through an unyielding horde of demons, ghouls, ghosts, zombies, and countless other horror theme creatures to do it. Along the way fighting the six bosses. The game features one of the most famously cruel jokes a developer has ever played on the player. I won't reveal it here. This was the title I bought Capcom Classics Collection for the most. Being able to continue my way through to the end. Something I never saw in the arcades. As it would have cost a fortune in quarters. I've long used the phrase my kind of poison in describing this series. For some people it's Megaman, for others its Ninja Gaiden or Shinobi. This was my first taste of pretty poison. It's hard and you know it. It kicks your ass and you know it. But for some reason, you just have to eternally try one more time.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow -- Final Opinion.

The horror. I have completed Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow at level 71, and with 99.9% of the castle explored, and 99.1% of the souls collected, just shy of thirty hours. What happened? I have no idea. It doesn't detract from the great fun of this game. The game is great looking. It makes amazing use of the NDS' 3D abilities in the backgrounds. The town, and the top of the castle are great examples of 3D use in a 2D game. The gameplay itself is pure classic Castlevania goodness. It's just about perfect in that regard. The Tactical Soul System is my favorite of the GBA / DS line so seeing its return is more than welcome. The weapon fusion system works great in allowing you to power up the weapons that suit your style of play. The music is arguably the best of the entire series. The composition is brilliant and the sound quality is impressive. The story is well, Japanese dramatic. So for those of you who like that sort of thing, you'll love this. Those of you who don't won't care as the core gameplay is just that good. The touch aspect is the best I've seen thus far on the NDS. It's mostly nonintrusive and forgiving enough so it's a welcome gimmick instead of an unwelcome distraction. It remains fun and never becomes a chore. They need to make this style of game on console. Wouldn't that be impressive? Hopefully the NDS or even the PSP will see numerous incarnations of this line in the series this generation. I'm giving Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow a 9.5.

Capcom Classics Collection -- Day 2

Capcom released 1942 in 1984 for both Japan and North America. You control a W.W.II style military aircraft in a vertically forced scrolling shooter against other military aircraft. It's the standard scenario of the era. Shoot enemies to get power ups to shoot more enemies to get more points. 1942 has thirty-two levels taking place in the air over land and sea. You can loop your plane three times per level. Looping your plane allows you to escape being boxed in and certain death. The planes come in from all angles, including behind you. Every few levels there is a boss battle at the end of a level against a giant flying fortress type bomber aircraft. It was a hit back in the day because of the graphics and the military theme. The game is insanely hard and borders on impossible. This should end up being the clearest example of how frustratingly hard some games were in this era.

Exed Exes was released in 1985 on Z80 based arcade architecture. It's another vertically forced scrolling shooter. This one futuristic in nature. You control space ship invading the planet of Exed Exes in an attempt to wipe out your enemies. A race of insects. The enemies are mostly insects, with a few turrets and ground based systems to take out. The deal with this one is your firing range varies with your position on the screen. The further back you are towards the bottom of the screen, the less range you have. The further forward you are toward the top of the screen, the more range you have. There are power ups that increase your range, and give you an extra beam, and one that lessens your range. You also have a crash bomb that will take out all the enemy shots currently on screen. At the end of each stage you'll face a flying fortress type boss as well as waves of enemies. The bosses are made up of multiple targets. Each target has to be taken out to take out the boss. The enemies again come from all directions, and fire in all directions. There is an amazing amount of enemy fire on screen at one time.

Section Z is also based on Z80 arcade architecture and was released in 1985. This is a forced scrolling shooter. It's broken up into twenty-seven lettered sections. You can move in eight directions within the scrolling field. One button fires, the other turns your character who is a man with a jetpack. You can face left or right. The enemies come at your from all four sides. You're essentially always surrounded and have to move and turn this way and that to stay alive. The field scrolls from left to right for sections A to E. There is a boss battle at the end of section E. Section F scrolls vertically until you fight the boss at the end of section J. The game then starts scrolling right to left until you defeat the boss at section O. The game will then start scrolling downward, and so on until the boss at the end of section Z. This game is surprisingly fun. There are some interesting gauntlets you have to run.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow -- The Devil is in the Details.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrows is the fourth game in the line GBA / NDS line of portable Castlevania games, and it shows. It shows in a good way. It shows in the details. Normally by the fourth game in a series it starts to show its age. It's not so with this line of portable Castlevania games. The systems being employed in each game help to break up bad familiarity. From Castlevania: Circle of the Moon's Dual Set-Up System, to Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance's Spell Fusion, to Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow's Tactical Soul System, how the games worked have been different each time. And that aspect works. On the other hand, there is a good familiarity to this line of games. All the creatures, weapons, castle locations, bosses, and music that appear from game to game help to insure that it feels like Castlevania. Both of these aspects are important and why this series of games has been so successful at maintaining its freshness without straying too far away from Castlevania. With Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow they were able to reuse the Tactical Soul System, given that the game is a sequel to Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. Adding the weapons fusion goes a little way at keeping it fresh. The touch aspect adds a little more freshness. I get the impression that the team knows what it's doing to the point of having it down cold. That seemingly allows for the team to mess around with the details. The little details. The kind of thing that you might not even notice, but they were far enough along and not rushed to the point where they could add these extras. Stuff like snow dropping off the cars in the village. The action specific animations you might never see depending on how you deal with certain enemies. Persephone for instance is a young French maid looking enemy. If you by chance happen to use a certain attack that causes a breeze, Persephone will stop what she's doing, cry out in shock, and attempt to keep her skirt from blowing up and revealing that she's presumably not wearing any panties. There are a bunch of these sort of little details that you just might never see. There are details in the backgrounds that you may or may not notice. Some of these really come into play if you're looking for completion of the soul collection. This game is full of these little details. I appreciate the extra effort. It's something more companies with long running series need to do better. Koji Igarashi really does this the right way.

Capcom Classics Collection -- Day 1.

Capcom released Vulgus in May of 1984 in Japan. It was the very first game the company ever produced. It was never released in North America. It was based on the Z80 arcade architecture. Vulgus is a vertically scrolling shooter. It's a rather primitive game even for the genre and era, but it's surprisingly fun. Tough as hell, but still fun. You control a ship with two forms of fire. Dual machine gun like bursts, and missiles that only shoot straight ahead, but destroy everything in their path. The ship can't be powered up in any way. The enemies, which are various other ship types drop extra missiles for you. You can scroll the play field to the left and right a little bit beyond the size of the screen. You can move in eight directions while eternally facing forward on the forced scrolling screen. It plays like a traditional vertical scrolling shooter mixed Galaxia's enemy formation patterns thrown in. That's where the missiles come into play. You can take out entire formations with the one shot, if you're accurate enough. The single enemies track you and follow your movement. Some of them fire at you as well. The enemies who make up the formations come on to the screen in smaller groups or alone and it's best not to kill them as to allow them to form up into the column that enable you to take them all out with one missile thereby giving you the most points. There aren't any continues. It makes the unlocking of the bonus materials for this one rather tough, as one of them is to actually finish Vulgus, on the single credit.

Son Son was released in 1984 and was Capcom's second game released in Japan. It was their first game published in North America. As with Vulgus, it was based on the Z80. Son Son is a horizontally scrolling shooter. It scrolls from left to right. You control a little guy who can move back and forth while the game scrolls. He can also jump up and down to the floors above and below him. There are six floors on the play field. On the play field are different types of food for you to collect. Collecting six small food types brings out a large food type for more points. Every so often there will be a pow symbol on the field. Collecting this turns all the enemies on screen into large food items for serious points. The enemies have various patterns and abilities. Some of them can only move along the floors. Others canjump up and down between the floors and track you. Others fly set patterns ignoring the floors. Some of them can fire at you. You don't have to worry so much as you can shoot their fire. Still others will come out and pause, locking on to you, and rushing in your direction unable to alter their course or stop. The play field scrolls for twenty mile markers. At every few markers you'll come to what amounts to a boss battle. The play field stops scrolling and a bunch of enemies will be defending a fortress. After a set amount of time the field starts scrolling again. You can also get it moving again by destroying all the enemies defending the fortress. I've managed to unlock most of the bonus materials on this one. It's really frenetic, and it's great if you can get into the zone.

Pirate Ship Higemaru was created on the Z80 arcade architecture and was published by Capcom in Japan in 1984. It was never released in North America. It was Capcom's third game to be released. Pirate Ship Higemaru is a puzzle action game. You play as a guy trying to take out all the Higemaru pirates. The play field is a deck of a ship. On the deck there are a bunch of barrels and a bunch of pirates. You can pick up the barrels and carry them around. You can toss them at approaching pirates. The barrels will knock the pirates off the ship, or they'll knock out a pirate. You need to hit the knocked out pirate again to knock him off the ship. There is a pirate who looks like the captain of the ship, and you can only knock him off the ship for a little bit of time. He respawns and is back after you each time. You can move in four directions on the deck. The barrels create maze like patterns. Picking up the barrels also allows for you to move through the maze walls. Certain barrels are flashing. You need to remove all of these barrels and collect the fish and other objets hidden within to clear the deck. You have a time limit for each deck. If you're taking too long, a couple of skull and crossbones symbols move along the outer edge of the deck, removing the outer most lane of it with each pass until they eventually close in on you. This game is surprisingly very fun. I'm really impressed with just how fun it is.

Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 1 -- Initial Impression.

This is the busy season as far as gaming goes and I'm going to have to be doubling up on the games I'm playing. With Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 1 we have a decade's worth of mostly arcade goodness from Capcom. A couple things come to mind initially with this one. First off, it's a lot of bang for the buck. It's $19.99 and offers up twenty-two games from 1984 to 1992. Twenty-one of which are arcade titles, and one lone console game. The titles are as follows: Vulgus, Son Son, Pirate Ship Higemaru, 1942, Commando, Exed Exes, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Gun Smoke, Section Z, Legendary Wings, Trojan, 1943, Bionic Commando, 1943 Kai, Forgotten Worlds, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Final Fight, Mercs, Street Fighter II, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Street Fighter II Champion Edition, and Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting. The second thing initially noticeable is the quality of the extras sorely missing from Namco's Namco Museum 50th Anniversary are present and well accounted for here. Each title gets sections on history, art, gameplay tips, original and remixed music, and cast information where applicable. The history tells you just that, the history of the game. It also adds any interesting trivia and provides the basic information on the arcade machine classifications.  The gameplay tips are once again, just that. Some of them are well kept not so known secrets. The art section contains the original promotional sales advertising flyers for the machines themselves, and character concept art where applicable. Not all the games feature remixed music, but all of the games have original sound versions of the music available. The games that feature characters have a section called cast in that game's bonus section. Cast will provide you with detailed character background information where applicable. All of these features in each game's bonus section have to be unlocked. They're unlocked by meeting the listed conditions within each game for each section. They range from earning a set point level, to getting to a certain section of the game, to fully completing a game, to performing a specific task within a game. It's a well put together collection, and looking forward from this point in time, it seems like it will be the best collection released to date. Let's see how it stands up once I'm looking back. I will cover three or four games an entry with this one.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow -- A Whole Lot of Soul.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow expands on the very successful Tactical Soul System used in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. The Tactical Soul System allowed you to collect the souls of your defeated enemies and put them to use to your advantage. Based on a chance system, souls will fly out of defeated creatures and rush towards the character of Soma where they are absorbed. They come in four colors, each representing a different category. Red souls are Bullet Souls. They cost MP to use with each shot. As their name suggests, they're projectile attacks. Taking skeletons as an example, in the game they throw their bones at you. If you equip that soul and press attack + up on the d-pad, you'll throw bones just as the skeletons do. Blue souls are Guardian Souls. When using a Guardian Soul your MP will be constantly drained. Guardian Souls have varying effects on your character. They do things like slow your fall, or summoning a familiar creature to assist you, or create a shield. You have to press the R button to activate the soul. Yellow souls are Enchant Souls.  Enchant Souls enchant Soma with different stat bonuses such as higher luck, attack, or defense. Silver souls are Ability Souls. Ability Souls grant you special abilities, such as the double jump or being able to walk underwater. It's exactly as it was in C: AoS, but they didn't leave it there. They've added a use for the extra souls. You can now collect up to nine of each soul, except for boss souls of course. These extra souls have two uses. The first way they change things is in the soul bonuses to your character. Some bonuses have different power levels. For example, one soul allows for you to throw explosives. Having one soul results in a bomb being thrown, having three of same soul on you results in a huge megaton sized bomb being thrown. The larger bomb is far stronger than the first level bomb. The second use for the extra souls is in weapons forging. You can fuse the souls to your weapons which creates new weapons. Fusing certain souls to certain weapons will add bonuses to the weapons beyond just stronger attack power. The game itself plays out just like all the games in the Castlevania: Symphony of the Night / Game Boy Advance branch of the overall series. It's Metroid applied to the original action only Castlevania. You need to play through the maze like castle finding new abilities that allow you further access to previously inaccessible sections of said castle. Most of the abilities coming from boss battles. The key difference between Metroid and this branch of the Castlevania series is that you level up in Castlevania via experience. In Metroid you find your energy tanks to gain more life. Castlevania's system assures that anyone can eventually become strong enough to complete the game. It also allows you to tailor the challenge level to your liking. Want to have to earn it, then advance as far as you can with the least amount of leveling possible. Want to go through like an immortal, then put in the time and eventually nothing will touch you. The Tactical Soul System is my favorite used in any Castlevania game and I like the expansion to it with the weapon fusion. It's welcome extra depth. I am enjoying taking my time methodically collecting souls and then moving on to the next new area and slowly but surely advancing the story. The weapons fusion allows for you to play with a weapon style that works for you. You're not stuck with a sword. You can power up the ax if you prefer its play style. This flexibility is welcome. They've pretty much have gone as far as they're going to go with the basic engine and with each successive release in this branch of the series they're just changing things on the level of pure refinement. This might very well be the perfect Castlevania system. The touch control aspect is used rather well. The best use of it yet, I'd say. It's essentially Castlevania with the touch aspect smartly inserted into the game. They weren't out to revolutionize the wheel with touch. The main touch aspect comes in sealing the bosses. You can only defeat a boss by drawing a seal on it. If you succeed the boss is sealed away forever. If you fail, it revitalizes with some HP and you have to continue fighting it until you get another chance to seal it. Smartly so, Konami has used a system that's thankfully forgiving in the seals. You don't have to draw the seal exactly. It allows for you to color outside the lines so to speak. Some of the frustration I've had in my NDS experience up to this point is the exacting nature of some of the touch aspects to other games. Konami went a couple steps further. First off, they allow you to collect yourself before drawing the seal. When the seal comes up on the screen, you have all the time in the world to start drawing. The timer doesn't start until you touch the screen. It allows you to remember which seal you need to draw, and what's involved in that. It allows you to readjust your grip on the system from the fevered boss battle positioning. That allows for you not needing to hold the stylus while playing the game proper. They went another step further by allowing you to practice drawing the seals all you wish until you have them down cold. You can select to practice the seals from the menu at any time. It's all very considerate on Konami's part and it's something I'm finding myself actually appreciating greatly. I was worried about this aspect of the game. It was my main concern actually. I was hoping they wouldn't ruin the great run of this branch of the Castlevania games they had going. It turns out this game is on track to being the best one in the line yet...

Next time will cover all the little details.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow - Initial Impression.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow marks the fourth game in the current line of portable versions of the series and is actually the sequel to Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. The first thing readily apparent about the game is its dual screen nature. The bottom window is where the game plays out like a traditional Game Boy Advance Castlevania entry. Nothing much different about it there, except some touch use. The top screen however is used very well with it displaying either the constant map, or a combination character status and active enemy encyclopedia. The controls seem tight and responsive, as all the others in the GBA line. Hopefully the touch aspects will be the same. The stereo sound booms from the NDS speakers. The story, it seems is like all the others in the series. Luckily, you don't play Castlevania for the story. Well, I should say most people don't play Castlevania for the story. It seems as if Koji Igarashi hasn't strayed from his winning portable Castlevania strategy at all and has merely made use of the NDS features in a simple and solid way. This should play out to be one of the better games this season, or at least it seems so at this point.  As always, we'll see...

Lunar: Dragon Song - Final Opinion.

The stories of the Lunar series have always been the strongest elements of the game. Lunar: Dragon Song's story is its strongest element, but in a much smaller way. In the other games in the Lunar series, there was massive amounts of characterization and story to be had. The NPCs would have reams of information give you. You could talk to them again and again, three to five times over after each major plot event, before they would begin to repeat themselves. The stories were always love stories. They were always centered on the characters which gave each character a chance to grow. All the characters had actual arcs. They evolved as people. In Lunar: Dragon Song, JAM has gotten straight to the point. The main characters know who they are and what they have to do almost from the start. The NPCs have one line of text before repeating themselves. Only major NPCs have anything new to say after the events of the plot. It's a quality story that takes a few unexpected turns for Lunar series fans. It's just on a small scale. The other Lunar games set the personal love story against the backdrop of world ending epic adventure. Lunar: Dragon Song's villain never reaches those proportions. He's cut off before he ever begins. He's rather unique if not slightly uninspiring. The story does come to a satisfying conclusion and is well worth the thirty-four hours it took me to reach. Overall the game is really solid, if nothing great. Later on the game starts making use of some graphic effects you wouldn't find on the GBA. But overall it's good looking as a NDS game and would be great looking as a GBA game. The music is great. In both sound quality and in the composer being able to mimic Iwadare's very distinctive Lunar sound. The experimental battle system with its switching of items only and experience only combat works well enough. The only real complaint there is still in not being able to select which enemies to attack. They allow you to speed up the battle by holding the R button. It sets the battles to three times their normal animation speed. Allowing you to select your enemies would have sped things along even more. Most importantly is the system is flexible. You're never really obligated to switch to Combat Mode for items to sell except really early on in the game. Once you really get going with Virtue Mode, which allows for experience, is all you really need as you'll be able to find most of the major items sold inshops within the blue chests and the selling of old equipment. The money side-quests are there if you want them. They're not required. If there was one word to describe the overall game, it would be solid. It's good, there's just nothing great about it. And it is really only for Lunar fans. Starting here, even though it's the first chronologically, would mean you were missing out on most of what the story is talking about. It's hinting at future events. Events already played out in the first two games. For fans only. I'm giving Lunar: Dragon Song a 7.5.

Lunar: Dragon Song -- The Ever Diminishing Blue Star.

The world of Lunar seems to be eternally shrinking. The game world of Lunar: The Silver Star and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue were massive worlds. The distances on the overworld were expansive. You would need to cover great distances in getting to where you needed to be, just to then enter huge dungeons. With the remakes, even being spread across multiple discs, they needed to scale down the size of the worlds, because of all the full motion video. They also needed to lower the sound quality, but that's another issue entirely. They kept the locations and the terrain and the landmarks the same, but they reduced the overall size of the overworld to one-tenth of its original size. If you'd never had played the SEGA CD originals, you'd likely never even notice the smaller overworld size as the world still seems large. Only those who have played the original would be able to notice. For the NDS Lunar: Dragon Song, Game Arts and JAM have gone one step further. They've removed the overworld exploration entirely. The overworld is now a mere map with selectable hotspots. In all versions of Lunar before Dragon Song, there were huge villages and cities to explore. Here again, they've employed the map and hotspot system. You'll enter the town and up comes a map with all the possible locations. You'll move the cursor around and select where you want to go. Like Gad's Express, or Moses' House, Goddess Fountain, or the Armor, Weapon, and Item Shops. Inside each location is the traditional 16-bit RPG building interior that you can walk around in complete with the NPC sprites going about their lives. Once you're done with the business in town, you'll select the hotspot for exiting the town and find yourself on the world map. You can't just go from one corner of the map to the other corner in one swift choice. You have to connect the dots, so to speak. You'll have one or two options for where to go from your current location. If one of them is a dungeon, like Thieves Forest, then you'll have to make your way through that dungeon again to get to the other side and come out on the world map with new choices. The dungeons are the same as they've ever been in the Lunar games. Large, multi-sectioned areas with nooks and crannies to explore with plenty of out of the way treasure chests to be had. Since the game was designed for a portable system, it makes sense that the developers would design a game engine to fit playing on the go. I personally don't think they needed to do that with the save anywhere save system they have in the game. It would allow for the traditionally large Lunar overworld, and the large towns, with many hidden areas and secrets. They also have the other aspect of portable RPGs covered. They have a system in place to where with the push a button you're instantly reminded of your current objective in both what you need to be doing, and where you need to be. With both of those in place, there isn't any real reason to skimp on the overworld and towns. Would I prefer the original games' style? The answer is obviously yes. But I can live with the system as is. It's not truly a negative. It's functional and well done. It just gives a slight impression of cutting corners...

The one place they've never cut corners in the previous Lunar games is in the story and characterization. That'll be covered next time. I'm currently twenty hours in, and the story has kicked in proper.