Pokémon Pearl -- Initial Impression.

Yeah yeah, I said I was going to try to knock out a bunch of the backlog this summer and then I turn right around and pick up and start Pokémon Diamond. A game that's been as addictive as crack to an entire generation and one that's the very definition of a time-sink. What brought this on one might ask? I originally spent like forty-five minutes with Pokémon Red back when it initially hit. Messed around with my nephew's copy. I was surprised at how traditional and meaty an RPG it seemed to be at the time. I intended to pick up my own copy and never did. And for various reasons and a lot of bad timing I never managed to pick up a copy from any of the generations of Pokémon games. The series proper is now in its fourth generation with Diamond and Pearl. And the current generation have been out for well over a year and I fully expected to let the fourth generation pass. But I continually play Phantasy Star Universe with Jessica and she's continually going on about Pokémon this and Pokémon that. I ended up gifting her Pokémon Ranch on the Wii which has spurred the latest round of Pokémon discussion. All the while Magus has been going on about how he loved the first one and has likewise always meant to jump into one of the succeeding generations but for some reason also never got around to it. He had been saying he was going to get the upcoming Platinum version of the Diamond and Pearl series. On really nothing more than a whim I purchased Pearl. And if everyone was going to be discussing Pokémon then it brought Magus to the conclusion that this was the time to jump back in. So that's the why of it all, at least. Now what am I expecting of Pokémon Pearl? A pretty decent RPG really. Not much more than that. Will it be like the infamous first hit of the crack pipe wherein you're instantly addicted for life? Will I absolutely have to catch them all? Kids have killed themselves over Pokémon in Japan, Great Britain, and the United States after all. Admittedly disturbed children of course, but still. Time will tell...

Battlefield: Bad Company -- Initial Impression.

Battlefield: Bad Company for the Xbox 360 is the next game up for me. It represents the last day-one title before the summer doldrums get into full swing. There is nothing to buy at all, much less on a day-one level, for the next few months. All the way into September in fact, when a torrential downpour of day-one titles will begin flooding store shelves for what looks to be an insane holiday season. It'll be time to start chipping away at the backlog again. And this summer I plan to knock off an RPG or three. And hopefully I'll be able to plow through a bunch of Virtual Console and Xbox Live Arcade titles. But for right now, the subject is Battlefield: Bad Company. The game is Dice's first real attempt at making a Battlefield game for a console. This isn't a port from the PC. This is built from the ground up for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. What I'm expecting is the same mayhem and madness that has become the hallmark of the Battlefield series. The series has always been great at showcasing the unpredictability of battle in multiplayer play. And with Dice's new Frostbite engine that features fully destructible environments, the game should be even more chaotic. This time around they've also taken a serious stab at an offline single player campaign with full story. And they've included an elaborate reward and unlock system. Hopefully the game will provide some great play that will burn through a big chunk of the summer dry season. We'll see...

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots -- Final Opinion.

I have completed Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the PlayStation 3 with a time of twenty hours and forty-four minutes. I completed the game earning the rank of eagle. Which means I killed a lot of people using headshots. Metal Gear Solid 4 was sold as the finale to the Snake saga. Everything from Naked to Solidus with Liquid and Solid in between. It promised to answer all the remaining questions raised from the previous entries in the series. And for good or bad, depending on your point of view, Hideo Kojima has indeed answered all the questions. You have to give him that much. He's covered all his bases. As I said before, it'll depends on your viewpoint as to whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. If you adore Kojima's storytelling then Metal Gear Solid 4 will only cement him as a genius to you. If you think he's batshit insane then Metal Gear Solid 4 will only further cement his insanity to you. And if you're one of the few in the third camp who believe Kojima is playing a massive joke on unsuspecting gamers then unfortunately Metal Gear Solid 4 isn't going to provide you with any definitive proof of said joke. You will find out everything there is to know about the Patriots, the who, what, when, and why. You'll get the answer to Vamp's immortality. You'll find out what happened to Meryl Silverburg, Rose, Raiden, Naomi Hunter, Mei Ling, and Eva. You'll get the truth behind Ocelot and Liquid. You'll get the answers to FoxDie and everything else you might have wondered about. It's all there. It's all covered. And it all makes sense, in a totally over the top and ludicrous fashion, it all actually makes sense. It works. Don't get me wrong here. I still think he's totally insane. It's just that he's truly gone full-tilt  with it. He went for it. No matter how insane and ludicrous, he stuck to his guns and by the end that actually sort of became charming. I mean, the game prominently features a gibbon monkey named Little Gray who wears silver Lamé underwear. And there is enough silly melodrama with miscarriages and lies and betrayal to fill up a whole season of a Mexican soap opera. And just when you think you've reached the limit they go one further with more melodramatic bombshells. It keeps on going and going right on through to the biggest bombshell of them all which comes in the after the end credits sequence. And somehow thisbecame charming to me where it more offended in Metal Gear Solid 2. I have to say I enjoyed the story of Metal Gear Solid 4. Insanity and all. On a technical level Metal Gear Solid 4 is the best playing game of the series. The revamped control scheme works wonders compared to the other titles in the series. Don't get me wrong, the controls are much improved but hardly perfect. They're still a tad clunky. They're still a tad muddled in Japanese sensibilities. They don't quite come all the way to Western simplicity.  As far as graphics go, Metal Gear Solid 4 is a gorgeous game. And it really comes off as look what the PlayStation 3 can do. They delivered on that end. The music is great. It's a true epic cinematic score. One that smartly pulls heavily from all the previous games in the series from Metal Gear through Snake Eater. The sound effects are also great. The surround sound is especially well done. The gameplay is actually much improved and well varied through the game's five acts. Each act has its unique feel. And the game relies heavily on well scripted sequences which keep things fresh and you on your toes. One area where the game truly shines is in the boss battles. Each one is epic and memorable. Especially the four boss battles of the Beauty and the Beast Corps. Another area where the game shines is in the nostalgia for the series itself. And how steeped in its own history Metal Gear Solid 4 is. Flashbacks during cutscenes which are prompted by button presses keep you clued in and refresh your memory greatly. I'm surprised by how much I've enjoyed Metal Gear Solid 4. I'm going to give the game a 9. I docked it a half point for the controls which while improved still aren't as intuitive as they should be and another half point for the annoying install each act system they've employed. There were still plenty of noticeable load times. Enough that I didn't see any improvement from a standard disc based experience. I have given Metal Gear Solid 4 the same score I gave the original Metal Gear Solid.  With Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater earning an 8.5 and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty earning a 7.5. If I had to rank the series, I'd place them Metal Gear 2, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 4, Metal Gear Solid 3, Metal Gear, and Metal Gear Solid 2. Now, Mr Kojima, bring on Snatcher, and bring on Policenauts and let the West see the full picture...

Toki Tori -- Final Opinion.

Toki Tori is an action puzzle game focused on a lot of trial and error. You control a fat yellow chick thing that's not quite a chicken and not quite a duck. Your objective is to collect all the eggs on the stage which advances you to the next stage through seventy plus stages in all. You can use a variety of items with a set number of uses per stage. It differs for every stage. On one stage you'll be able to create makeshift bridges three times for example and not have that ability at all on the next stage. Some of the abilities include making bridges, vacuuming up enemies, moving columns, setting pit traps, creating blocks, and warping among others. So you have to figure out what to use when and exactly where to get through a stage.  One stage for example sees you needing to avoid  the numerous enemies while you make your way through the stage collecting eggs while altering it so that all the enemies are all on a specific edge on the other side of an egg holding them in place. You'll then have to fall down collecting said egg and then instantly warp across a pit and turn around and ready the tool that turns each enemy into a block of ice. You'll have to time it so you hit each one as they walk off the ledge into the pit turning them to ice and stacking each one upon the others creating a column that you'll be able to fall down onto which tops out just next to the final egg. This puzzle alone will take both nimble action skills and a decent amount of cunning to pull off. And it's one of the earlier easy puzzles. Toki Tori is a great action puzzle game that will test both your action and your logic skills. I'm giving the Wii Ware version of Toki Tori an 8.5. It's good to see some great and worthy titles on Nintendo's service. Now if they could just get a hold of the Virtual Console side of things and get it back on track, they'd actually have something great with their service.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots -- Initial Impression.

I've had precious little time to play anything this last week with my niece and nephew here for the summer, but I have started in on Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots which is exclusive to the PlayStation 3. Metal Gear Solid 4 is being pushed as the title for the PlayStation 3. This is the one that's going to change everything. Make them see the power of the system. Make everyone understand that Sony had it correct all along. Well I don't know about all that. Metal Gear Solid 4 itself is being pushed as the game of forever by the hardcore Metal Gear devoted. The one that will show how much of a true genius storyteller, and how much of a master game maker Hideo Kojima really is. The game that will answer every last possible question one could have from the entirety of the Metal Gear saga. Well I don't know about all that. I do know that the reviews for Metal Gear Solid 4 have been glowing with more perfect scores than any game in recent memory. The press has been gushing. Well I don't know about that one either. I do know that I adored Metal Gear Solid and thought it amazing back in 1998. I know I was there day one in 2001 and found myself blown away by how let down I was with Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. I was not amused by Kojima's joke on gamers nor was I thrilled with the story. I was again there in 2004 with Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. This time I was prepared for the storytelling that would follow by Metal Gear Solid 2 and I was there for the gameplay. What I found was an improvement over the previous effort. So here we are to wrap up the entire series. I'm again prepared for the storytelling style of Kojima and I should be in for a fun ride assuming the gameplay is there. When I say I'm prepared for the storytelling of Kojima, I mean I now understand he's entirely crazy and that I just need to roll with it or risk severe headache. So let's let it roll...

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures -- Final Opinion.

I have completed LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures for the Xbox 360. I ended up with a hundred percent completion rating and all one-thousand Gamerpoints. It turned out to be almost exactly what I thought it was going to be. I say almost because there were a few alterations to the formula based on the license, but more on that in a bit. The game is pure and simple fun for the young and young at heart. You know, why most of us got into gaming in the first place. For the fun of it. Not the hardcore look at me aspect present in a lot of gaming today. The game provides all of the fun action and puzzle based gameplay of the previous LEGO Star Wars titles. It's the same basic concept. Play through the movies as Indiana Jones and have an NPC you can switch between follow you through the level in story mode. Then to replay the levels in free mode with unlocked characters with their own abilities that enable to you solve all the puzzles in the level finding all the hidden artifacts and collecting enough LEGO studs for the true adventurer rating. You'll also need to find and mail a parcel in each level thereby earning full completion for the levels. Just like in LEGO Star Wars there are nearly fifty characters for you to unlock. The same basic concepts carry over in their special abilities. Female characters jump higher. Small characters can crawl into areas too small for the others. Indiana Jones has the whip for combat and mobility. Thugee characters can access secret passages behind Kali statues and so on.  Overall Indiana Jones is both tougher and easier than the LEGO Star Wars games. It's tougher in the combat because Indiana Jones doesn't have a lightsaber so he can't block shots. He also only has a few shots per gun which means he's going to have to use his fists and whip against most gun-toting enemies. Which is displayed perfectly in the achievement for making it through just one stage without dying. Not all of them like in LEGO Star Wars, just one. It's also tougher in the puzzles as there are far more of them. Which is great as it fits perfectly with the license. So younger players might have a much tougher time getting through Indy than they did Star Wars. On the other hand the game is far easier compared to other aspects of LEGO Star Wars. There aren't any vehicle levels on par with the asteroid chase or the speeder bikes through the forest or the dreaded assault on the Death Star. You don't have to destroy every last breakable object in the levels anymore. Things are far more controlled and a lot more forgiving this time around as far as the achievements are concerned. LEGO Indiana Jones is a great looking game. Especially when you turn on the V-sync option within the menu. The sound effects are top notch and sound great in surround sound. The music is exceptional of course, what else would you expect from a predominantly John Williams score? And the humor is still smart and funny and charming. I had great fun with LEGO Indiana Jones and I'm giving it an 8.5. Next LEGO stop, Gotham.

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures -- Initial Impression.

Next up for me is LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures for the Xbox 360. LEGO Indiana Jones is essentially the same winning formula Traveler's Tales used in their LEGO Star Wars games applied to that other LucasArts property Indiana Jones. A cute and cartoony LEGO art style mixed with fiendishly good humor and fun action platforming gameplay with some puzzles thrown in. I'm expecting nothing more, and nothing less from LEGO Indiana Jones. It's a pretty safe bet I get what I'm expecting.

Toki Tori -- Initial Impression.

It's been three weeks since the initial launch of Wii Ware and a second title has caught my eye. Toki Tori is an action puzzle game that was originally developed for the GameBoy Color by Two Tribes and published by Capcom. The game received high praise in the gaming press but went entirely ignored by the gaming public. Now Two Tribes is taking a second shot at it by bringing out a graphically updated version of the game as a Wii Ware offering. The game has you moving around a level tying to collect all the eggs so you can advance to the next level. There is a little bit of action as the levels are populated with enemies. The bulk of the game is puzzle however in trying to figure out what to use where and when to use it. It comes off as a bit of a combination of Lemmings and The Adventures of Lolo. We'll see if it strikes the right balance between the action and puzzle elements.

Ghost Squad -- Final Opinion.

SEGA's Ghost Squad arcade game was developed by AM2, so they more than know what they're doing, and it shows. Polygon Magic is the company that handled the port from the arcades to the Wii. And they've done a great job as they've left pretty much everything intact. You're getting the arcade game in its entirety. That amounts to all three stages. The leveling up system. The unlockable guns and costumes. And all the cheesy fun of the story. And of course, all the great light-gun action. Now some of you might be balking at the sound of a mere three stages but consider those three stages take roughly twenty-five minutes to complete. And consider how Ghost Squad's branching paths and level up system work. As you go through the game you're presented with choices as to which paths to take. Enter directly and secure the room or go around back and give support for example. On the initial playthrough of a level you might have witnessed 10% of what's possible in said level. As you successfully complete different paths through the levels other paths are unlocked and it keeps a running total of how much of the level has been unlocked. And there are a great many paths to be found. Adding to this is the leveling up system. You can level your character from level one to ninety-nine. And as you do, the levels become harder as more enemies are added in.  The levels themselves technically level up. As your character levels up you'll unlock twelve new costumes that feature the extremely cool Virtua Cop uniforms to the incredibly silly panda bear outfit. You'll also unlock twenty weapons that add even more replay value. Each weapon offers a different feel and challenge level to the game. Armor piercing rounds of some of the weapons will allow you to just shoot through the obstructions the enemies are hiding behind or the shotgun for example will allow you to take out multiple enemies with one shot. What starts out as a seemingly tiny little light-gun game soon blossoms into a very deep and packed light-gun game.  The graphics in the original arcade game were workhorse at best. They were never stunning and the Wii's take on them is no different. You're getting a decent looking game but really the graphics don't matter much here. The sound is wonderfully cheesy and straight from the arcade game. The story and voice acting are wonderfully hokey and play into making the game a goofy good time. I'm giving Ghost Squad for the Wii an 8.5.